Tarkov Wipes are a Reminder I Suck.

Yup, that’s me, you know; dying in Tarkov. I’m kind of good at that. Every time this game wipes, and we start over, I am reminded how brutal the early game is these days. Everyone has gotten better at the game, there are a lot of ways to optimize the early game for the maximum amount of progression, and the early days of the wipe are still certainly fun. It’s more chaos than anything. Plus, the anticipation of all the new gear and guns helps create the drive to want to level up and use them myself. Not to mention BSG always adds more stuff than the patch notes lists, so it’s a pleasant surprise when we discover things that were added and not mentioned. I am also reminded how bad I actually am at this game. Don’t get me wrong, I have my moments like everyone else where I pop off and make every correct decision, and hit my shots, but most of the time, it’s me being too greedy, ambitious, stubborn, or impatient (ironic considering I am a fairly patient person IRL). Or the case of a classic shitty spawn than has me at the post raid screen at eight seconds into a wipe (that’s happened on more than one occasion sadly). But regardless, this game always kicks my ass every wipe, and to be honest, I wouldn’t want it any other way. I have talked previously about the game changing over the course of its life and getting easier in some regards. But one avenue of the game that has stayed tried and true is being able to smack me around early game and have me overcome the huge early game hurdles. Like some quests and their ability to not be completed upon multiple tries in a row. They end in death, death, and death. Until the universe and lord Nikita himself blesses you with a perfect attempt. Only to get hung up on the next task. I’m sure everyone has that one task that truly just stumps them for a while and really halts and progress from being made. And it doesn’t even have to be tasks related to RNG like the flash drives or gas analyzers. Deliver from the past.... I can’t remember the last time I was able to not only get the document in one go, but then take it to factory and not die there. I always die on either half of the task at least once, so I always dread it. I wonder what other people’s dreaded tasks in this game are. Maybe shooter born in heaven? Maybe the boss killing line of quests? I’d like to hear what other people have for quests that make them go, aw fuck, here we go.

I try not to get discouraged when these kinds of situations happen. It’s kind of the expectation of this game; that anything can and will happen, good or bad. And it’s up to you to figure it out on the fly and either succeed and be victorious, or die trying and run it back. This idea is definitely carried through the whole game's life cycle, but obviously the most prevalent in the early game. And I think that’s why people enjoy early Tarkov so much. It’s more than just the shitty fights with bad guns. It’s, and again, we’ve spoken about this before, how much more death matters in the early game. Dying sets, you back exp wise, as well as money. You need every ounce of loot, gear, money, and experience in order to keep moving forward. And I don’t know why, but I am SO stingy with money in this game it’s ridiculous. Like, I have a rule in my head that each time I reach a new million-ruble count, I am not allowed to dip below that. It’s so arbitrary, it’s dumb and is literally the antithesis of a lot of what’s wrong with Tarkov, but it’s such a bad habit to break at this point. Literally years in the making. It can come in handy sometimes, but when I can actually splurge on something like a new gun with cool attachments, I usually forgo it for something a little more budget even though I definitely don’t need to. I’m going to make an effort to be less frugal with funds this wipe, I’ll keep you posted on how that goes.

Don’t feel bad about dying in this game. Don’t feel bad if it happens multiple times in a row. We ALL go through something like this at one point or another. It’s about being able to get back up on the horse and keep going. You’ll get that task done; you’ll get those hideout items. You will hit level 15 and make your life extremely easier for yourself by buying your way through the game. Tarkov giveth and Tarkov taketh. And boy when it takes, it takes a lot. Understandably so. But we shall proceed; and grind this game out and see it through to the end. We will have a discussion about the patch and my overall consensus with everything that has changed a later date. I want a little more time with it and to be able to experience so of the new guns myself and see how they feel. So, we will have a more thorough talk about this a little bit later. For now, don’t let early game get you upset. We are all going out our own paces and have our own goals and things we want to achieve in the game. Every survive is a victory; enjoy it.