Tarkov's Icebreaker Event is Problematic Once Again

(Intro)

The long-awaited ice breaker event for Tarkov was released on May 25th and it’s been an interesting one to not only witness but also try and be a part of. I use the word try heavily here. What I originally thought was just going to be another run of the mill event for Tarkov, is something that is way more involved, and what seems like is here to stay. A whole new chapter has been added to the main story associated with this event and the new location you can infill to. And as of writing this, I haven’t finished all the steps necessary to see it with my own eyes. I’ll be honest, I haven’t watched any footage of it because I really want my first time experiencing the map through my own effort. And right now, I’m working through it. But man, is it quite a laundry list of things to do, places to mess up and things to go from bad to worse. So, let’s go over the ice breaker event. What most of the steps required entail, whether or not it’s fun and whether we see more events like this for Tarkov in the future pop up in the same manner. It’s cool, it’s interesting, but I really do wonder how many people by the end of it if there is one, are going to see it all the way through.

(The event itself)

This has probably been the most teased and hyped-up event battle state has ever put on for the game. Months upon months of talking about it, different screenshots, and video teasers showing just enough to entice players to care and give it a try while also not spoiling or revealing anything that would ruin the surprise or experience. Which is crazy considering at one point we had literal zombies running around causing problems for players which I think people forget because again, very similar to ice breaker, the fact we had zombies in the game was amazing, but their implementation and execution left something to be desired. And I think that feeling is very similar here. Most of the footage you will see in the background is me going through the first handful of steps, but there most likely won’t be any of the event itself. Because well, getting there is incredibly difficult. Like I said, the first few requirements are too bad. And this comes from the perspective of very little main story progression. Go to Customs, grab a poster, then head over to Woods and repair a tower, then go to Lighthouse and grab some other documents in the trainyard, then head over to Reserve and take out thirty enemies, use a flair at the Woods transit, and grab a special fuel can for Prapor. All of that isn’t too bad and can be done mostly in a few hours. But in the latter half, this is where I imagine many people are going to check out of this event entirely. Because now you need to interact with the BTR driver. Who only spawns on two maps and depending on how far your progression with him is will require a few different items to wrap up this chapter. Luckily, it doesn’t really matter how far along you are in his questline because he is more than willing to assist you in getting to the boat. I was really worried that if you weren’t actively doing his quests, he would just refuse to help, and it would essentially soft lock you out of this event. Thankfully that isn’t the case, and you only need to do a handful of steps after to be given access to the boat transit. Either way at the end of the day, this is a lot to just to see the new map. What compounds this even further are some of the changes that have been actively happening as people have worked through the event.

(What’s making this kind of frustrating)

It would appear as though battle state doesn’t entirely want everyone to engage with this event because some of the changes they’ve been making are questionable at best. The only way to access the map is to load into Shoreline and use a new boat after you’ve completed the story chapter that takes you onto the boat. Sick, sounds awesome; I’m a weirdo who doesn’t mind the transit points in order to see new content. I’ve been an advocate of this system even when it was at its worst, so seeing it used once more for another event is cool. Do I wish it was on another map other than Shoreline? Yes, I am getting sick of Shoreline Lighthouse being the great equalizers for most of the new cool stuff coming into Tarkov. I get it; they’re the only two maps on the coast, and since this is a boat themed map, you need to be able to sail over. They even cover their own ass here because at one point you help Prapor get a helicopter prepared to get you on the ship, only for him to say it’s too dangerous, now the heli is for extraction only. Having two modes of entry would take some of the stress away from the singular location that’s available that everyone now has to fight over. What makes this even worse is that battle state in their infinite wisdom and as a general screw you to the entire community not only moved Sanitar to the pier on Shoreline as his only spawn, but he’s now up to seventy-five percent spawn rate and likely to go higher as the days go on. It’s not like some people are spending days to figure this out and work their way through just to see a new map, and now if they finally manage to get everything prepared and head over to the transit point, they now have to fight one of the most unbalanced and aim botty bosses across all of the locations in the game. Of course, I think that title has been trounced with the inclusion of the black division, which is something that needs to be mentioned as they plan a hand in how your experience on the actual boat will play out.

(The boss and their shenanigans)

Again, I haven’t seen any footage of the location, but from what I am reading online, the computer opponents on it are just on a different level. We knew from terminal that the black division was insane, but this is getting to a point where it’s becoming quite untenable. Instant aim snapping, walking through doors which is pretty par for the course with most computer enemies and a general lack of what feels fair, which again is another trend for this game. With how much effort that goes into even just attempting this event once, when players lose to the game's shenanigans, it stings just that much more. Most of us are used to the crap the bosses and guards can pull in this game but apparently, it’s so much worse here. Although, there was a way to essentially cheese most enemies on the boat, it was recently fixed. A major trend when it comes to anything new that gets added from battle state. It releases, people are excited, the people most dedicated manage to actually see most if not all the new content, to which a few days later, battle state either makes it harder for everyone else to see it themselves, or adjusts something so it isn’t as easy. And when I say easy, I usually mean fixing ways to break the game. It feels like we’re in limbo, because this is maybe the third or fourth event that released where it was cool at the start and then the problems quickly started showing, to a point where the general sentiment with the event will most likely land on, it was okay.

(The shape of this event and future ones)

Tarkov has always kind of struggled with these larger scope events. Their teases are always incredible; the premise makes sense within the world and lore, and generally people always get pretty excited to see what’s going on. But then quickly after they are added people find all the holes and cracks associated with the event. The zombies one became frustrating after a single day; the mortar strikes were obnoxious from the start, and transit when it was first added didn’t work right. So many awesome ideas, brought down by their implementation. And I would go so far as to include ice breaker in this as well. How much effort that goes into even just seeing the boat a single time, and battle state’s meddling to make it even harder than it already was feels like a slap in the face. Not to mention I think there is a bug right now with using the boat that it takes all the money in your wallet unless you have more than like eight hundred thousand or something, which is like come on man. Also needed two and a half thousand euros and a flare to get out is just the icing on the cake. We just want to see the map and experience it once or twice. Actually, completing it feels like beating terminal at this point which has still been done by a minority of the player base. It’s always kind of baffling when these events roll out. For months we’ve known about this, they delayed it because they wanted to make sure it was perfect when it was released, and now we are seeing retroactive changes to make it more annoying to get on the boat. I understand this shouldn’t be for literally everyone; it’s a late game addition that feels like it would happen after you’ve escaped at least once, but don’t you want more people to see all the work you’ve put into this thing? We’ve done this song and dance numerous times, and it feels like the developers constantly end up in the same pitfalls every time. I don’t want them to stop with events; I want them to keep adding cool and interesting interactions across the game, but I just hope that the onboarding experience can be a little more toned down going forward. Sure, the final last step can be bonkers and only the elite echelon will ever complete it, but if most players can get ninety five percent of the way there, that feels like the sweet spot. Especially if it doesn’t require everyone to fight for the same single point of interest where the event is being held.

(Outro)

Another Tarkov event, another mish mash of the good and the bad. The idea, the lore, the lead up to it. Brilliant; battle state knows how to hype something up and knows how to make trailers and entice people to come back. However, once you’re actually in the game, trying to work through this even to see then new map the new boss and just experience a whole new story chapter to boot, that’s when things start to fall apart. The many steps needed to engage with this event, the lack of locations to complete causing mass fighting across any zones that need your presence, and the doubling down on trying to even get to the transit point from battle state again has me asking a simple question: how many people do battle state expect to not only finish all the prerequisites but also are willing to fight tooth and nail to get on the boat, and then die in the first thirty seconds so they can repeat these steps? The sentiment seems to be that it’s an awesome idea, but wildly out of control and not executed well. People across the community not only hate transit, which I understand but also hate having a single way of getting to something new. I wish there were multiple places on Shoreline and even Lighthouse just to help ease the stress on the pier. We’ll see if they continue to make further changes and entice more people to try and see this through to the end. It’s certainly quite an accolade to say you managed to conquer the vessel and everything before. Now normally, this is where I wrap up the video, but luckily, I managed to finish everything and actually get onto the boat, so I will add my first experience in real time with this event, regardless of how long I manage to last. Either way, I am happy I was at least able to see with my own eyes, but whether or not I put more effort into clearing out the entire boat and officially finishing this chapter, is a whole different story entirely. I’ll see you in future ones.