Tarkov Seasonal Characters are Coming and It Might Be Nuts

(Intro)

So, we already talked about one half of the latest Tarkov livestream, which has changes coming in the future to tackle some of the problem points in the game that could make it easier and more of a streamlined experience. Which if they can nail these without new issues being attached to them, Tarkov will look much more enticing to new players. But what the other half of the stream talked about is something that I haven’t been this excited for in a very long time. Seasonal characters are coming, and with them some insane changes to how we will engage with Tarkov as a whole if everything comes out as specified, which I know is a tall order for battle state, but I can’t help but see what they’re talking about and what they showed off as exciting and an opportunity to revitalize this game with tons of new features and permutations that will have everyone thinking outside the box once again. Because for the longest time, the optimization of Tarkov’s progression and how you work through it has been a huge hurdle; the developers have been unable to crack. Keep the flash drives, keep the fuel conditioners, and keep the pilgrim backpack. All these things that are essentially just a checklist that if you know about them from day one, you can take advantage of this and have your progression be that much smoother. But now, with seasonal characters and what they might be doing to them, this game could be wildly different for the better. Or it could be a huge mess and a complete disaster. Who knows!? That’s the beauty of Tarkov; you never know if a new mechanic or addition will make the game better or just create more problems that the game already had. But let’s go over seasonal characters and what their plan is with this addition. This once again has the potential to be awesome, but we’ll need to see how it’s implemented first.

(The stagnating gameplay loop)

Before we go over the changes coming, let’s go over the current gameplay loop and how it feels somewhat stagnant without anything special occurring. We know there is a huge event coming very soon, or it might already be out depending on when this releases, but whenever there isn’t any kind of event or special occasion happening, Tarkov is what it’s always been. Even the release of 1.0 didn’t change things all that much. It added the main story for sure, but the general day-to-day operations of Tarkov are the same. Do your quests and now every once in a while, sprinkle some main story progression as well. Because while it’s cool, they managed to implement something that is somewhat cohesive and tells a narrative; you need to really go out of your way to work on it and progress through it. And like most things you want to see through to the end in Tarkov, it can take a long time and a huge investment, which if you’re a Tarkov player, you’re most likely okay with that investment because it might just have your full attention for the time being. But the core gameplay loop hasn’t seen a major shakeup in years. Until this livestream and what is planned with seasonal characters.

(What their plan with seasonal characters is)

This is easily the largest shakeup to the core gameplay loop of Tarkov we’ve ever seen. The first season is being called: “Kord Breach”. Each season will last for a predetermined amount of time, which they haven’t locked in yet. My hope is that they don’t go longer than four months a season. This way it could be three seasons a year, which is close to what they do in Arena, so I feel as though they could handle that amount. Worst case scenario would be every six months or two wipes a year. We did that for years in the main game and by the tail end it was painful. Either way, there will be multiple seasons a year which means the game will wipe alongside every new season, giving players the chance to always have a clean slate when checking out the new stuff. They showed off some new user interface elements that will be coming with the updates, and they look clean across the board. Being able to choose which character you want most likely at the initial boot up of the game instead of that silly button in the bottom right to switch modes is a much clearer way of seeing which version of the game you are playing. These seasonal characters will also be played on different servers from your character that isn’t a part of the new season. But I think the biggest inclusion to seasonal character are all the new perks that will be available to choose from when you start a season.

Essentially, it seems as though battle state wants to lean harder into the role-playing game elements that Tarkov has honestly been lacking since its inception. Sure, the character skills are one way of going about it, but stuff like this, being able to have an extra ten percent arm and leg stamina but at the cost of becoming allergic to certain food and water items is interesting. This screams project zomboid where you make a character with all these different permutations with positive and negative attributes. And I’m sure the developers will come up with some interesting tradeoffs. I think one example they thought of during the stream was allowing you to start with the kappa container, but you get a ton of negative side effects to compensate. It’s basically what we’ve wanted from Tarkov for years. We don’t know if you are able to completely opt out of this system and just not pick anything, or if you will be forced to spend a certain amount of points or whatever the currency ends up being, but I feel like even if you could choose nothing, why would you not mess around with this new system? This is such a fresh take on what Tarkov can do as a game, and tapping more into role playing elements just makes the experience all the more interesting. Because now, there might be extra elements you need to think about before you engage with another player or try and go for a boss. On top of individual perks for your character, they plan on adding global modifiers that everyone has to deal with together. Simple ones being no insurance or no found in raid status for items in your hideout. Those are just examples, and I imagine we could finally see things like radiation zones where you need a gas mask to enter certain spots on maps. Or how certain stimulants might have increased negative effects that deter people away from using them except for a last-ditch effort to stay alive. With how many systems Tarkov has running in the background, the opportunity to really flex some unique and creative muscles with these modifiers cannot be ignored. And with season one looking so strong from the little we know about already, it has me thinking way too far ahead at future seasons and where they can go after this first season.

(Where else could this mechanic go?)

The best thing about such a new mechanic like this is the iteration that can happen. I can absolutely see problems with balancing the perks and having some that are just superior to others, but the best part is that with new seasons, they can get feedback from the community on what works, what doesn’t and what people would like to see turned into new and different perks. Season one will most likely be a little rough, but again if seasons are only a couple of months before a reset, this means that it won’t be long before a whole new set of perks will be available to mess around with. And if they have this much figured out, when the time comes to launch all of this, it hopefully won’t take much iteration and feedback to get into a place where the community finds the modifiers unique, rewarding or satisfying to specialize into. Global modifiers have me even more interested because they could go absolutely wild with those. Boss spawns, scav karma alterations, trader restrictions, flea market changes; there are so many different places where they can mess with the game, we’ve been playing for so long to make us really have to work around these modifiers. There can also be positive ones too, but I think the real challenge and creativity will be coming from what they can do to take elements away and what the community does in response to that. I just really hope that the modifiers actually have some impact and aren’t just small percents up and down with certain mechanics. The most boring thing to happen would be we get plus and minus ten percent on our skills, or something mundane like that. One that I thought of, that would be stupid and silly, but hilarious would be increasing a player’s head size by like thirty percent, but you get double head health. Like old school goldeneye big head mode. Something really stupid but fun and part of the charm when it comes to wacky and outlandish character modifiers. Does it take away from the immersion of Tarkov? Yes, but who cares at this point. Seasonal characters to me are so much more about making the game fun and fresh. Each season provides a new opportunity to be like here is a bunch of new stuff you need to keep track and think about during raids, enjoy. And if they can execute this idea even remotely well, seasonal characters might end up more popular than the normal game. Which would be a sight to behold for sure.

(Outro)

The idea of seasonal characters has been floating around Tarkov for many years now. And it always kind of just got put on the back burner because other systems and ideas took priority. But with the full game out, the opportunity to change up the gameplay loop at a close to fundamental level with the inclusion of character and global modifiers has piqued my interest. Again, I haven’t been this excited for an update to the game since Reserve; further ways to really make our character our own. With more opportunities to embrace role playing, I can see some players leaning heavily into this and making a character with a ton of downsides and using in game chat to come up with a narrative or story about how they got all these problems. Again, just more opportunities for fun, which is what this game has needed. Will it be perfect when it is released? Most likely not; I foresee tons of balance problems, but with each new season they will refine this system more and more until they have a clear understanding as to the kinds of modifiers people are interested in and that create diversity within the player base when it comes to choosing. We’re still a little way out before this gets introduced, but I am hoping it comes out swinging. Thank you very much for taking the time out of your day to watch this video. Let me know down in the comment section below your thoughts on the seasonal characters, if you like the idea of modifiers for your character, if you think it will create more problems than it’s worth and be sure to subscribe for more videos about new and potentially huge mechanics and shifts to the gameplay of Tarkov coming in the not so distant future. I hope to see you in future ones.