Fence in Tarkov – An Old, Wasted Gimmick

(Intro)

Fence has always been an… interesting trader in Tarkov, to say the least. A mysterious fellow who for the longest time, was kind of just around as a trader of random items. For years, he had no quests, no real purpose, and no progression. Essentially, he acted as a sort of beta test for the flea market, if you will. Because any items sold to Fence could be purchased by well… anyone. As long as they were on his menu when that item was sold it would pop up in his inventory, they could get that item at an increased price. But as time has gone on, other new mechanics that were more flushed out were introduced, making his gimmick feel both old and somewhat useless. They have tried to give him purpose with new quests as well as linking him to your scav karma, but ultimately, he still feels underutilized to an extent. So today, let’s talk about Fence; his role early on, what he evolved into, how he could be potentially spruced up and what he could theoretically look like when 1.0 drops.

(The OG Flea market)

Way back when, we’re talking early 2018 and before, Fence was such an anomaly of a trader in the game. He never had any quests for the player to accept, and his wares were always more expensive than anyone else. On top of that, he only had one loyalty level so there was no progression with him. But what he offered, was an early concept of a player market. Where if you sold something to Fence, it would appear in his inventory until someone bought it. And while most of his items were essentially junk, like broken weapons, armors and the like, every once in a while, he would sell a vital item for you to progress a quest, such as a flash drive that someone didn’t want or need. So, if you happen to get really lucky and check his inventory, you might’ve found something you desperately needed and had been searching for. It’s kind of like nowadays when you search for something on the flea market, and someone screws up and lists an item for way cheaper than it should be. Same concept. But because there were significantly less people playing EFT back then, Fence was kind of seen as just a weirdo. Whether or not he was used as the foundation for the flea market, remains to be seen. But it really does feel like this guy had the potential to have a fascinating mechanic players could engage with, if it was flushed out just a little more. And sadly, that never really came to pass. His inventory works the same way it did almost a decade ago. But now, it’s filled with the modern EFT items that can’t be sold to anyone else because their durability is too low, or simply no one else takes them. However, there was one addition to him that on paper, was going to be awesome. But in practice, ended up being yet another nothing burger.

(Scav karma and Fence level two)

Scav karma was BSGs answer to players always fighting each other when playing as their scav. Whether or not they wanted us to behave that way from the start is again, up to speculation. But BSG adding a mechanic that would positively or negatively impact your gameplay as a scav was an interesting choice to say the least. By being friendly to other players, successfully extracting, helping scavs in their time of need, or cooperating with PMCs to extract together, you earned positive karma. Anything else essentially net you negative karma. And Fence is the ringleader of the scavs; so, it makes sense that the karma ultimately ends with him. By ascending higher levels of karma, you scav would be off cooldown faster, spawn with more powerful gear and also have more chances to spawn with rare items. And of course, the worse your karma was, the opposite would happen. On paper, this idea was sound; a way to have players not constantly fighting each other all the time and allowing them to actually barter with items they find in the raid with other scavs was worth the implementation. But it could’ve been done so much better. At this point, whether it’s a hardcore wipe or not, many players simply don’t engage with scav karma that much anymore. The hits to your reputation are sometimes worth taking out an entire scav boss, or worse, taking out the guy that just got them all and rounded up the loot. The penalty isn’t harsh enough to warrant people not fighting each other, and the benefits take too long and are honestly not worth it other than the reduced scav timer. There is one other major mechanic associated with Fence, but like a lot of other things in this game, it’s been flawed since it was introduced.

(Max Fence sucks)

If you take the time (and it will take a long time) to get Fence all the up to maximum reputation, being 6.0, you unlock access to a second inventory page containing, what I believe to be uninsured player items, or just loot that was left behind in raids. Meaning, you have a chance to purchase items that not that many other players will have access to. And again, while it sounds cool on paper, ever since it was added it’s been a barren wasteland of useless items that aren’t even that cool or rare. It hasn’t been iterated on once since its introduction and has kind of just been forgotten for years now. Kind of like this trader in general. It’s a shame really; for what Fence is supposed to represent and act as in the universe and lore of Tarkov, he does pretty much anything but that. This elusive, mysterious figure who is most likely not just a single entity, but instead a unit; a legion of people working together behind the scenes. Pulling the strings, making events play out to whoever pays the most. It’s interesting stuff, and if it was ever to be flushed out more, Fence could be made to have some serious and heavy gameplay implications across certain elements of the game. Yes, having max karma also means bosses are cool with you when scaving but, in the grand scheme of things it doesn’t add much to the experience. Imagine if he gave us quests that we in some way shape or form had to complete, which would mess with your reputation with the other traders. And failing to comply with his demands just meant everyone turns on you. He very much reminds me of the cultists; their addition was truly terrifying the first time you encounter them. But shortly after, are just a gimmick fight that doesn’t yield anything too special. I’d love to see both these entities get some love, but perhaps that’s not in the cards for 1.0 or anytime soon after.

(What could fence look like in 1.0)

A question I'd like to pose is simply this: the version of Fence we have isn’t flushed out too well. But what if he was? What could Fence look like in a 1.0 world for EFT? We talked about it a little bit a few minutes ago but giving him quests for us to complete from the start would allow Fence to be much more involved more in the inner workings of the world. Allow him to set us up for some circumstances where we need to make big quest decisions that will have massive implications across the other vendors. Also, a simple way of introducing the flea market is making us work with Fence to get access to it. The flea market could also be seen as somewhat of a black market for goods that the vendors either can’t sell or simply refuse to. Fence out of all the traders, has the most potential to be incredibly interesting and engaging. Use him as an option if the player wants to go full scorched earth mode to screw over everyone else not involved. There are ways to make Fence cool, with new mechanics while also improving what he already has. We most likely won’t see it, even post 1.0, but the thought makes me excited.

(Outro)

Fence has been in the game since almost the start. And very little has been done to make him interesting or even just different from his day one version. A sadly wasted mechanic once his replacement was added: the flea market. There is a lot they could make Fence more interesting both as a vendor to the player, but to also inject more of him directly into the lore while also keeping him obscure and almost ethereal. A man, or group of people who have way more power and control than he’s letting on. Someone essentially pulling the strings in the background, watching PMCs squirm and dance for his enjoyment. I almost want Fence to be the bad guy in all of this that we must work for otherwise we have no chance of getting out of Tarkov. Imagine how cool that could be? 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 Fence as a mechanic, whether or not he’s worthless at this point, how you would improve him and be sure to subscribe for more videos about insanely old mechanics that could be wicked sick if they were flushed out just a little bit more. I hope to see you in future ones.