What I hope Arena inadvertently does for Tarkov

With the recent news that Arena mode for Tarkov is not only real, but being tested later on this year, I figured it would make sense to go over some hopes and anticipations for what Arena mode will bring and ultimately what kind of impact it will have on both the game and community as a whole. This is something a lot of us who have been playing for years now have known has been going on in the background. But to be honest, I really never saw it coming to fruition, simply due to the fact that Tarkov has evolved into something I don’t think BSG every really imagined would happen with their game. I’m sure they are happy so many people are playing and enjoying it, but the scale is something I have a strong suspicion they were never ready for. But they have made solid strides to rectify those kinds of issues and are on their way to releasing another sizable and monumentally game-changing patch for Tarkov with patch 12.12.xxx. There’s a lot to be excited for, but to me personally, the new and updated animations are incredible and will make life in the game so much better. Everyone will actually look like they are carrying guns and running around with them as they should. Instead of the strange hand-over-rifle pseudo reload animation they do currently (if you’ve ever looked at a faraway PMC through a scope you know exactly what I’m talking about). But there’s a ton of goodies coming that we also don’t even know about so get hype; it’s going to be a good patch.

Now that we have officially seen Arena mode, and we know some details about it, the question then becomes, how will this effect Escape From Tarkov, and the community at large? Well personally, I see it having some bigger implications. For one, anyone who owns the Edge of Darkness version of the game will have free access to it when it releases for free. Meaning, we will have a seamless way of switching between both the vanilla game and the arena mode. I am curious to try it myself and get a sense as to what the overall experience will be like, but will I make the switch and have it be the more focused mode of my attention? I don’t think so. There is still something to Tarkov’s gameplay loop that is addicting. I appreciate the more open maps, and how large they can be; how every map you won’t always run into players and how it feels kind of like a moment of brevity in this grueling game. Tasks, while certainly beginning to grain on me somewhat for their repetition and lack or order or structure change at all, still allow me to feel a sense of purpose every time I go into a raid.

The overall mindset of the game will be different and you’ll have to adjust your thought process when you play arena. It will be way more focused on Tarkov’s pvp, and the best thing that will come out of that is everyone is going to get better at playing the game. Your accuracy, reaction speed, recoil control; all of that will improve when you spend time in the arena. Because the problem I’ve had with trying to get better at this game over the years is the lack of consistent fights against other people. Fighting bots, while certainly valuable especially as a new player, will only take you so far. It’s fighting other people that gets you better. And factory can be a place to hone these skills. But the problem is that you’re still playing Tarkov; if you die, you lose gear; you actually feel the penalty for trying to improve. And yes, we will also be losing gear in arena as well, but other people have echoed this sentiment too, so this isn’t my own original thought. But you’ll always have to have gear to fight in arena. Otherwise, people who only buy and play arena would get shafted if they ran out of gear to use a day after they bought the game. So, it will still be punishing, but at the same time more forgiving than Tarkov, which is a good thing. What will most likely end up happening, and I’m making this prediction now because why not, people will play regular Tarkov, grind to level 42, get all the gear they would want, and then switch over to the Arena mode for a long time and grind that out. Because EOD users will be able to take their main PMC into Arena, it makes sense that people who are good at PVP will use this as an opportunity to play the arena mode with potentially a more powerful character (we don’t know how skills and stuff will be affected but this is assuming worst case scenario where nothing is scaled at all for PMC’s).

If you’re worried that this will split the player base and make raids in Tarkov or queues in Arena too slow, I wouldn’t worry. Again, this game has grown beyond what anyone was originally expecting and that’s a good thing. So, there will always be people in either or playing. And even if you have a quiet raid here or there, or Arena isn’t as booming as it normally is, then you just switch to the other game if you have it. That’s the beauty of this honestly; the hopefully seamless transition between each game will make everyone so happy, and allow us to experiment and switch back and forth when one isn’t going so well. There is a LOT of potential with the arena mode. Especially on the more competitive side of things. If the servers are as responsive as Nikita said they will be (upwards of 100+ tick rates), this could be the birth of a true competitive Tarkov. Now, personally I’ve always been of the mindset that vanilla Tarkov would and should never be competitive. That’s not the reason why we play the game. The arena mode however... well, that’s fair game. And if spectating cameras and quality of life things are implemented correctly, that arena is definitely going to facilitate those people who have the competitive itch. And hell, it might even pull some people into the game who haven’t played it before. But I do see a future where big stages have room for competitive Tarkov arena; I actually think it would be super cool if this game got professional stage time somewhere.

Overall, Arena is an interesting addition I didn’t think we’d actually get. I will absolutely be giving it a try when it releases, of if I get super lucky and get to test it beforehand (but I severely doubt that will be happening). Let me know what you are looking forward to in both the arena mode and the new patch coming hopefully soon. Likes, dislikes, questions, concerns; I’m curious how the community at large feels about this mode.