Is PvE Harmful to Tarkov’s Longevity?

(Intro)

As someone who has experienced as much of Tarkov as I possibly can individually, with the exception of the Kappa container and meeting Lightkeeper, having more than one direct way of engaging with the game is only beneficial to the player base. If you a veteran of the game, have the knowledge and ability to hold your own, you normally go play PvP against AI and the other players. But perhaps you are lacking in one of the departments previously mentioned. Maybe you have the knowledge that Tarkov requires you to have, but you struggle to fight other opponents and win. Or, inversely, maybe you are exceptionally skilled at shooters but with how complex Tarkov is and the amount of knowledge you need to understand most of the mechanics, it can be an overwhelming experience for anyone. Which is why I am glad that the option to play Tarkov fully offline with no one else except for your friends exists in 2024. PvE Tarkov has allowed many people to experience how awesome the game is, under the guise that they don’t have to worry about the other components that have plagued the game’s problem pipeline for as long as they have. The answer to the question posed in the title of the video: does PvE hurt PvP Tarkov? Is a resounding yes. But it doesn’t matter, because the benefits of its existing outway the determents of it not.

(BSG’s disdain for PvE and Especially SPT)

Nikita has gone on the record for saying he does not like PvE Tarkov, and has also made it abundantly clear in the past he hates the existence of SPT (Single-Player Tarkov). Both these versions of the game, one sanctioned by BSG and one not as much (SPT breaks TOS), to him, take away from one of the core aspects of the game. Which is the struggle of fighting over gear, quests items and more against other players. That back and forth, tug and pull is synonymous with the gameplay loop of Tarkov which is dying to other players and losing your gear, and killing other players and taking their gear. Even if you die multiple times in a row, eventually you will have that big payout and it will feel so good. Tarkov lows are very low, but inversely the highs make you feel unstoppable. And while I will agree with the big man himself, that fighting or even just engaging with other players adds a whole other dynamic to the game that harkens to other games and genres like DayZ, I will respectfully disagree that these additional modes of play shouldn’t exist. Why? Well, because it can be made very difficult to enjoy PvP Tarkov when they are bad actors running amuck in the game, ruining everyone else’s experience.

(Cheaters, hackers, and glitches, Oh my!)

It’s no surprise that because of the popularity of Tarkov, scum... ahem, um, other players who want to cheat and use less desired means of playing the game have become a problem. Compound that with a player driven economy that is the flea market, and the inherit risk of losing gear when you die, and you sadly have the perfect storm of players cheating and ruining the experience for everyone else who is playing by the rules. And because every method currently being used by BSG to combat these cheaters isn’t working to the degree players and even the developers would like, they can get banned and within the same breath purchase a new account and go right back to their griefing experiences. No game, no company has or will ever find a way to fully combat the cheaters. It’s a game of whack-a-mole; they will always be one step ahead and it’s the developers playing catchup instead of them being ahead of the cheats. But it still doesn’t excuse how bad cheating in Tarkov has been for the last several years. It’s even bled somewhat into PvE where at one point I recall reading there was a way to get loot that was acquired in PvE over to the PvP servers and up on the flea. Which is insane, because in the late game, the only component that matters is money. But with that being the only exception, PvE is a safe environment to play the game and go to the maps and areas that are normally off limits by the community at large, because they know locations like Labs are just a cheaters paradise. I’ve seen plenty of screenshots from other players with tons on loot on them saying they never knew how good the loot was on Labs, Lighthouse, or even Streets because it gets gobbled up by cheaters. People love this game, and having a way to engage with it by yourself or with some friends and no one else is a good thing. Yes, technically it takes away from people playing on live servers and battling it out against each other. But to be brutally honest, monetarily, I’m surprised BSG isn’t encouraging more people to buy it. Because PvE is an additional purchase after the base game, unless you own either the Edge of Darkness edition which no longer exists, or the Unheard Edition which is EODs replacement. I kind of understand, I think; it’s a pride thing. All that hard work and labor going into a live game, and people are opting to play the offline version of the thing you worked so hard on. I kind of get it, but to be honest I would personally just be happy people are playing the thing, period. Either way, those versions have PvE as a part of those purchases. But, if you have a version of Tarkov that doesn’t come with PvE, and are curious about it, for another $20, you can experience the game against completely AI opponents. Scavs, PMCs, raiders, bosses; it’s a very different experience. It’s not as organic as live servers because the bots need to spawn in and be at certain locations. But it’s certainly better than nothing. And they don’t mess around either. The AI can be absolutely cracked sometimes, but I do genuinely think of PvE as a proper extension to the live game, and an opportunity for anyone of any skill level to experience how awesome Tarkov is. There’s also another way to experience offline Tarkov, but it’s not official and very much frowned upon by BSG.

(SPT = Anomaly)

SPT or single-player Tarkov is a modset designed for the game, that completely changes how many of the games core components work. Weapons, stances, ammo, medication, enemies; it’s a very in-depth tool that people have poured tons of time and effort into. It reminds me very much of Anomaly for Stalker. That level of modularity and customization for almost every aspect of the game is seen in both mods for both games. Again, technically this is against Tarkov’s terms of service. And for the longest time, this subject was extremely taboo. It wasn’t until everything occurred with the Unheard Edition and some OG creators for Tarkov said screw it, we’re going to play SPT and show it off, that BSG gave the soft green light for people to make content openly about it. I honestly don’t know if you can still get banned from the live game. I suppose yes, if BSG wanted to remove this mod from existence. But, considering its free, having to search around for it, and the potential difficulty of getting it setup, on top of the PR nightmare that would occur if they did start mass banning accounts that play SPT, without a proper heads up if they wanted to ask people to stop making content about it, I think the devs know not to overstep. It’s something I have genuinely been curious about trying, but knowing how wishy washy the subject itself was, I stayed away. My advice to anyone that looks up some videos about it and want to try it. If you are a Tarkov player; you play the hell out of this game but you want to try it, I personally would purchase a second account, just a standard one and playing on that instead of playing on whatever your main account for Tarkov is. Yes, it gives BSG another $50+ just to play a free mod, but if you’re like me and have some anxieties about losing access to the live game, it’s one way you can protect yourself. Not saying you should go and do it, but we’re just thinking out loud here, you know?

(Outro)

Yes. PvE and the other modes to play Tarkov take away from the live experience. But I mean BSG knew this was going to be the result and still created it by popular demand. It’s what everyone wanted. It makes people happy PvE exists. Now players can play the game and experience how amazing Tarkov can be, without having to worry about said experience being marred by problematic issues that destroy the desire and motivation to boot the game up. Speaking from personal experience, I have friends that used to play PvP, but because life is life, we all can’t afford to have Tarkov be our second and third jobs. This game requires a lot of skill and knowledge, but also a ton of your time. And it’s something that isn’t mentioned enough. Tarkov is a second job; plain and simple. The amount that you need to put in so your account is max level, all the traders are level four and you have money to play around with, and knowing at some point your work will be reset, it makes PvE that much more enticing. Your account doesn’t get reset unless you do it, you can take your time, and that time doesn’t feel as wasted because loading is generally faster and the experience is just better sometimes. I get why people switched over to playing exclusively PvE; I totally get it. I still get some enjoyment out of the live game, but even my patience runs dry and I swap over to relax and just run around in PvE. It’s like Arena; it’s a stress-free way to play with the mechanics of Tarkov and not constantly having to sweat over the game. There is nothing wrong with more ways to play and engage with it. But for some reason BSG seems to disagree. Either way, play PvE, enjoy it. Play arena and enjoy it. It doesn’t matter how you engage with Tarkov, as long as you do so and enjoy yourself. Thank you very much for taking the time out of your day to watch this video. Let me know in the comment section down below your thoughts on PvE versus PvP, which you enjoy playing more these days and be sure to subscribe for more videos about the unnecessary dichotomy between to modes of play that end up with the same positive result. I hope to see you in future ones.