Arena’s Player Fights Don’t Translate to Tarkov Very Well

(Intro)

The skills and experience you gain when fighting other players in Arena doesn’t really translate over to Tarkov that well. Now that Arena has been out for some time with the revamped 2.0 version, that everyone is enjoying much more; after playing it and even the previous version for quite some time, you’d expect all the fighting you do to have a potentially more positive impact on your skills as a Tarkov player, but sadly that doesn’t feel like the case. Arena is such a condensed experience, that is strictly fighting other players. And while it sounds like that should make you better at fighting other players in the main game, Arena doesn’t take into consideration many of the other outside elements that are out of your control. You’re not always going to bump into another player at this exact spot. Every raid, people go into these maps for different reasons and goals, so how people navigate and make decisions is going to change every time you load in. So, yes, your shooting and aim might get better in Arena, but it seldom does little to improve your engagements in the main game, when it matters the most.

(Why Arena experience is good, but also bad)

Arena in its own vacuum is awesome. A small-scale, more condensed experience where you can play with all the elements present in Tarkov, but without the risk, general load times, and having to build and invest into kits you may lose seconds into a raid. A much more streamlined process to get into games and use the mechanics of Tarkov without building, waiting, dying, and lamenting components of the game that could be improved. And while Arena by itself is cool, if your goal with Arena is strictly to get better at Tarkov, that’s not the intent behind the game. Nor will it create any real promising results. The games are too different from one another in terms of how, when, where, and why you engage with other players and especially AI. Sure, you will fight players more often by probably a percent increase in the thousands in Arena, and your aim might marginally improve when it comes to landing critical shots, but those experiences won’t fully translate into Tarkov because of the circumstances that usually come with the main game. Arena is a means to get into games fast, and fight people faster. Especially if you play either last hero or checkpoint. It's up to fifteen minutes of non-stop fighting. Problem is, Arena doesn’t allow for organic experiences where you can come up with clever ways to deal with problems. It’s more trimmed down to land your shots, and maybe out flank someone. It’s a night and day difference when compared to the main game.

(Fundamental differences)

Tarkov has completely different goals and philosophies when it boils down to engaging with other players. And over the years, that has changed with new additions and mechanics like VOIP and cooperative extractions. You don’t always have to fight someone to get out of a sticky situation. Before VOIP, that was a little more prevalent because using the in-game voice lines to try and deescalate an engagement was and still is tough. But these days, people will genuinely ask each other if they want to fight one another. Some won’t and will just open fire as soon as they spot you, but knowing there is a chance you won’t have to means all that practice in Arena can sometimes go underutilized. Sure, for every ten player encounters, only one might want to just walk away. But Tarkov is so much more than just fighting players; it’s the story. How you spawned in late and managed to get your quest item but then ran into the scav boss, met someone and worked together to take it out. You two split the loot and worked your way to extract, only for your new friend to die. Things like that can’t happen in Arena; that’s not the point of the mode, but Tarkov allows for experiences that aren’t just soaked in blood. There’s a world to discover, and stories to hear. This will become so much more apparent when the game fully launches with the story bits added. But even in its current form, Tarkov is more than just fighting. You need to use your knowledge each map, where quest locations are, and listen out for other players moving through the map too. In Arena, if you hear noise, you run straight to it. In Tarkov, you might not depend on what your circumstances are. Sure, you could go and fight that player, but you could also just leave with the loot and quest items you are carrying. It’s more a matter of risk and reward.

(Arena isn’t bad... just different)

Just because you might not see a one-to-one translation of your efforts make it into the main game, doesn’t mean those experiences aren’t worth anything. Again, there is something to be said about using Arena as a pseudo aim labs; where you can practice with a myriad of different weapons and attachment setups to get the muscle memory down of aiming at head height. Which is something I have always personally struggled with in terms of almost every shooter out there. I enjoy looking around and keeping the center of my screen towards the ground while my eyes scan the horizon line. It's a bad habit that has been around for a very long time, and for me at least, Arena helps to mitigate some of that because there isn’t enough time to be staring around at anything except for what is right in front of you. It can also help establish loadouts and how you want to organize your equipment so you maintain a certain level of consistency between both modes of play. But what makes it so effective regardless of whether or not the skill carries over, is the sheer amount of time you will be actively in fights when compared to the main game. It’s the number one boon to Arena that even something PvE can’t entirely replicate. All you have to do is play two or hell, even just one game of last hero, and you will have potentially experienced more player versus player engagements than ten raids in Tarkov. The discrepancy can really be that high. The volume of fights you will have, even if they aren’t natural and more authentic fights can still have some level of merit. But what truly does stand out in the main game is solving the problem of not just how do I kill the other player, but what’s the best way to maneuver around them? Are there any windows to jump from? Extra flights of stairs? Do I have grenades to distract of flush them out with? Are there any AI in the area for extra information? These kinds of questions aren’t asked of the player in Arena. It boils down to me run, me fight. And to be honest, there’s nothing inheritably wrong with that. But again, if you think just playing Arena will make you better are Tarkov, that’s not how it works, or will ever work. And that’s okay.

(Outro)

Arena is not Tarkov; nor is it trying to emulate the experiences you will have in the main game. And while you’re most likely not going to see a massive translation of the skills you and effort you put into Arena make their way to Tarkov, there is still some level of overlap. I’m not ungrateful for Arena existing, the opposite in fact. Being able to just run around with my brain off and just shoot on sight is something we don’t get enough of in Tarkov. It isn’t all about the fighting, but a single digit percent more engagements across the board certainly wouldn’t hurt. Either way, playing both games will only serve to benefit your ability to be effective. While the gunplay is virtually identical, every other element isn’t; which is something you will always need to consider. You won’t always have your perfect medication setup. You won’t always be rocking that level four armor you like so much. But that’s what separates Tarkov from Arena. For better and for worse. 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 PvP skill translating between the two games, if you’ve improved in one because of the other and be sure to subscribe for more videos about the existence of two games in the same universe benefiting and hindering each other for odd reasons. I hope to see you in future ones.