Arena's Least Played Map is.... and Why?

(Intro)

If you had to guess what the least played map in Tarkov’s arena mode was, which map would you say it was? Spoiler alert: it’s Sawmill. It’s always been Sawmill. Ever since we got the first version of the game available to the public. This map, while interesting in its own unique ways, doesn’t really jive with the purpose of arena existing. It meets somewhere in the middle between a small battle arena, and a chunk of a normal Tarkov map ripped out of the game. Because technically, it kind of is. It’s a chunk of Woods taken and modified to be an arena map. Which isn’t a bad thing, the concept and execution are both solid. But when you are at the map selection screen, you are most likely not selecting Sawmill to be in your map rotation. So why? What’s the reason(s) that people don’t play this map? Is it bad? Does it not make sense to be in arena? And can you even play the map this deep into arena’s life?

(What makes Sawmill interesting)

Before we start berating the map with what’s wrong with it, I think it would make sense to briefly go over what does work. Sadly, there isn’t a lot to highlight, but enough that we can still have a conversation about it. Firstly, it’s the only map in the game that is completely surrounded by foliage. There are other maps also outside, but this one feels as though you are truly out doors in the wilderness, away from civilization. It has an atmosphere to it that doesn’t compare to any of the other arena maps on offer, and that works to its strengths. It’s the largest map out of the bunch, and has the longest sightlines of all the maps. Because of this, the map is tailored to weapons like DMRs and bolt action rifles. Or at the very least, weapons with scopes on them. You can get away with red dots but you’ll need to play much more carefully than just running down a lane and setting up an angle against your opponents. And I can’t lie, it’s nice to have a map that really leans in on a playstyle the rest of the game kind of shuns against. I mean, we have Bowl as another alternative to the arena formula, that allows for both close and long-range gameplay with the two sniper towers, but Sawmill really feels like it doesn’t want you using a just a red dot or holographic on your gun. And as someone who enjoys playing regular Tarkov at distance with snipers and scopes and the like, it’s something I can personally appreciate a lot. The gameplay of Sawmill should be slower, more methodical; you need to keep your head down and constantly be moving from cover to cover, otherwise their enemy sniper is going to take you down before you even hit the halfway point of the map. Again, comparing it to the other maps, it’s a night and day difference, and it’s nice to have that variety in the game. It’s just unfortunate then, that this map is extremely difficult to play on, if not impossible sometimes.

(What people don’t like about Sawmill)

Obviously, the vast majority of players for arena must disagree with me, and that’s perfectly fine. The only problem is that now it’s almost impossible to get into a game of Sawmill. Over the past three days, I have tried for ten minutes three times each day to queue into Sawmill. Last hero, team fight, it didn’t matter what mode I was playing. There is just sadly no one trying to get into this map. Maybe it was just some back luck with when I was trying. But for the morning, afternoon, and evening, not once did the queue even pop to confirm that I wanted to play. It was just searching. But other maps work with little to no issues. It’s a shame, really.

(Sawmill is antithetical to Arena)

My biggest guess as to why Sawmill isn’t so popular, is because it’s directly antithetical to the goals of arena. The whole point of arena existing is to play short, fast-paced micro versions of Tarkov raids with little to no risk. Its so people can experience what it’s like to play Tarkov without having to worry about their gear or as many knowledge checks the game kind of requires from you at this point. In arena, it’s very much streamlined to be simply, if you see the enemy, shoot them before they shoot you. And with the 2.0 version of arena, with the ability to make your own classes, this only helps to cement the role that arena is supposed to play. A supplementary, extension of an already existing complex game. And Sawmill doesn’t facilitate that style of gameplay as well as the other maps do. Chop Shop, Equator, even Bay 5 all really isolate the experience to these small stages where anything can happen. Whereas Sawmill genuinely feels like you’re just playing on Woods. Which don’t get me wrong, that’s not a bad thing. But it’s also not what people imagine when they think of arena for Tarkov. It can be too slow, with so many different angles and locations to get killed from where you have no idea how it happened. Most of the time on other maps, the deaths feel like they make sense within the confides of the map they occur on. You can usually see the person, they just hit the shot before you did. And things usually happen much closer to you, so it can boil down to getting caught out while sprinting, or the other player heard your footsteps if it’s a one-versus-one situation. There are a lot more practical reasons for death in the smaller maps of arena. Where on Sawmill when you die, there is a chance the kill cam will just be a guy sitting in a bush with a scope and you had no chance of ever seeing him.

(Is Sawmill a bad map, design-wise?)

All these negative points against the map, beg one question: is Sawmill a bad map, design-wise? And the answer is no, it’s not bad. It's just different. BSG must’ve wanted to have some variety not only in terms of the locations and environments on which you fight at, but also the distances and style of weapons you would be recommended to use. Again, some people like it and appreciate the break up from always playing on maps that have you duct tape your W key down and just run at your foes. And others have this disdain for playing arena and having even a single round go into overtime to capture the objective. At the end of the day, it’s what you want to get out of arena, and at least we have variety to break up the monotony that can sometimes come from playing the same one or two maps all the time. Some like it and others don’t and that’s okay. There is something here for everyone, which is what I appreciate the most about Sawmill. It may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but there is a group of people who enjoy playing it. And that makes me happy. Plus, it has the largest exp boost of all the maps at 1.7x. Which hey, if you get lucky and pop off on that map, you’ll be leveling up in no time.

(Outro)

Sawmill is definitely the least played map in the game, and it’s not even close. Well, maybe Skybridge is a close second but that’s another conversation for another video. As a sawmill enjoyer, it’s sad to not be able to play that map when I have the desire to. But I understand why. It kind of goes against arena’s core principle of fast, aggressive, and repeatable. If you only have an hour to play, you are not going to pick sawmill as your map of choice. It's too slow, and at this point you’ll spend more time in queue than if you were to just pick a different map. Hell, you could probably get two games of last hero on chop shop in the time you’d be in queue for sawmill. But, if that’s what players are going to choose, then who I am or anyone else to disagree with what they want. Maybe in the future they can update the map to make a little more interesting and engaging to play so people would be more willing to play, but who knows? 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 Sawmill as a map, whether or not you enjoy it and be sure to subscribe for more videos about parts of arena that might be subjectively interesting or fun, but is kind of objectively hated by the masses. I hope to see you in future ones.