Tarkov Patch 12.12.30 - How's it Going?

Well since Patch 12.12.30 has been out for almost 2 weeks, I figured I’d pop in and ask how everyone is doing, and how their wipe is going. So far, it’s been not bad for myself, currently level 22 or 23 I can’t remember. But for the most part still enjoying Tarkov, the wipe and the early game. Although to be fair, we are seeing the beginning of creeping into the mid game, but it’s still early enough. Anyways, so what’s new? Well, a decent amount of stuff. We got the Lighthouse expansion which I haven’t seen because I have neither attempted to go to it, nor have I even played Lighthouse once so far. Sooner or later, I will have to, but I’m trying to stay off that map as much as possible. Let’s just say I have some... grievances with the design of it and how the spawn's work. We got new guns which is always a good time. And the animation changes have been stellar so far. From a third person perspective, they look so good and smooth and as if someone who actually uses firearms daily knows how to run with them. Granted, it wasn’t horrible before, but this feels much more natural and looks good even out to longer distances. Which was my biggest complaint with the old animations; it just looked like you were kind of reloading a gun but not really when afar. But no, these are an awesome addition to the game. And the best part is that a lot of actions can now be performed while running and not stopping. Before, you had to start a reload animation or something before you clicked the sprint button. But now, you can just run and then do whatever it is you need to do. So, a pretty solid positive.

The only new gun I’ve messed with is the Benelli shotgun, and oh man is that thing sick. It feels so smooth and responsive, which is really welcome. You’re seeing me use it here and the ability to switch from semi to pump makes it so versatile. I honestly think this might be the best shotty in the game from what we have. The only issue with it is we can’t put a flashlight on it. Hopefully this is a “yet” situation where they add the parts necessary to do so later down the road like they have with other guns. Because once we can add tactical devices and foregrips to the gun, it will then easily be best shotgun. No questions asked. I’ve seen the G36 online and I wasn’t too impressed. I guess BSG wasn’t either because they’ve already buffed some of the base stats on the gun to make it handle better. Which is good, because I saw some shit that was downright egregious in terms of recoil. I want to like the gun, but I will need to mess around with it before giving a verdict. The SV-98 got a lot of love too! All the animations are new and the gun model has been adjusted as well. It feels much more like a sniper rifle now when you hold it. Before the hand placement on the gun was okay, but felt a little wrong. Makes much more sense now. And it even got new chassis’ too; so, it’s much more modular than before, and can have much higher ergonomics, even with a suppressor. And it helps that the new bodies that can be put on it looks really sick too, so that gun is definitely going to get uses much more than before. Other than that, what else? Scav quests are cool, makes it a little easier to get karma and rewards when you have something to work for other than just loot. And I’ve noticed quests in general behave differently this patch. For example, before, when you did Signal Part 1, you could hit each satellite dish one at a time, and even if you die, your progress was maintained if you got one. Now, that’s no longer the case; you need to hit BOTH in the same raid and not die for it to count. Otherwise, you need to do it over again. And that’s not the only task that behaves like that now. Reserve from Yeager does, and I haven’t tried it, but I bet Spa Tour part 4 does as well with the generators in the resort. And speaking of these kinds of adjustments, 556 got better this patch a couple days ago; they buffed the flesh damage on almost all the rounds and took about no more than 1 point of pen from them. Hopefully now, these rounds will feel better at rang and not feel like a wet noodle when shooting people in non-armored areas. And m80 is not at Peacekeeper level 3, which, it’s going to sound crazy, but I have been anticipating this change for two wipes now. I have literally told myself right before the wipes that this is when they will raise it to level 3; glad I was finally right. But if I may, can we please get these kinds of changes day 1 of a wipe? Please? It’s kind of annoying because now some people bought a crap ton of it and others didn’t. But I digress.

Other than that, game is the same. So, how has your wipe been? My start was kind of rocky, but has steadied out somewhat and I got some momentum going right now (knock on wood). I can’t tell a lie though; I was feeling the fatigue earlier than I normally do. Way earlier; which is strange, but now that I have a bunch of different tasks to do to occupy my time, it should go away. Tasks are nice, I just hate doing the exact same ones in the exact same order a million times. That’s my biggest gripe. Is the order; if they just mixed up a tiny but I’d feel better. But new ones, and adjustments to older ones can help facilitate the same feelings. Either way, these are all just paving the way for the biggest patch in this game's life; Patch .13. When that hits, oh man, I imagine the game will fundamentally change in every aspect. But until then, we will have to just grind this out with what we got and hope they add some more QOL stuff in the future, as well as new attachments for guns that need them. If you have any noteworthy stories from the first day of wipe, share in the comments. I’m sure others would love to read them like myself.