Loot Drop Off Zones in Tarkov – The Missing Ingredient

(Intro)

Tarkov does a lot right when it comes to making sure the risk factor of your equipment is high as you enter a raid. Even if you’ve never played, if anyone has ever described the game to you, one mechanic that is always mentioned is that if you taken out by another PMC or AI, you lose your gear. It adds a layer of stress and the constant need to double and triple check your surroundings so that you don’t get ambushed. But what if there was a way to offload items you find in your raids? Those being things spawned into the raid itself, or any gear that was from another player. And not only that, but being able to offload loot and stay in that current raid. It’s an idea that has floated around the community for a long time; I believe many refer to it as “infill”. Where essentially there is a location that allows you to drop a bunch of loot off, whether it’s in a backpack or not, have it sent to your stash but you stay in the raid and continue doing whatever you want to do. It’s not an actual mechanic, but enough has been said about it that a conversation about how this mechanic might work is interesting to me. So today, we’ll be going over theoretical loot drop off points in Tarkov, how they would function, the kinds of locations you’d find them, the drawbacks of adding something like this, and everything in between.

(The idea itself; explained)

The idea of dropping off loot is not new to games, especially other extraction shooters. But within the context of Tarkov, it’s an idea that has floated around for a few years now. The execution is straight forward; there would be one or multiple locations across each of the maps that allows players to deposit loot that they have collected over the course of their raid. And depending on the items they players is trying to send off into their stash, it would cost a certain amount of rubles for the transaction to go through. After a certain amount of time, the items would get removed from the raid and sent to your stash for you to collect. Again, a relatively simple idea on the surface, but depending on how crazy we want to go, this mechanic can have many more layers. For instance, the first question that pops up in my head is, how many of these spots would there be on each map? Does that number change depending on the size of the map? A map like Factory might have one or even none at all given how small that map is when compared to something like Shoreline or even Streets, which each map having potentially two or more drop-off locations. Now, your initial thought is most likely, well we technically have that with the BTR. And you’re right; you can deposit loot into his container and have it hauled to your stash. But in this case, it would behave a little differently.

For one, it would be somewhere out in the open. I’ve always loved how the van extractions in the game work; where you pay them and then need to defend yourself until the countdown runs out. How if you aren’t paying attention you can get to the car too late and it will drive off without you. In this case of dropping off loot, it would work the same way. You select what you want to deposit, or even easier, you drop a backpack off with whatever you want inside of it, pay the cost and then defend that spot until it gets take away. This way, it isn’t instant; you need to protect the gear you want to get out. And should someone come along and take you out, they may have a chance to steal the bag or whatever contents are inside of it. It creates this single point of tension; you must defend your loot. Lest it be taken by someone else. And nothing hurts more in Tarkov than taking down something like a three-man team, only for other players to snatch the loot away while you weren’t paying attention. Whether or not the other players are alerted of the spot being used is something that would need to be tested. But since the van tells people, perhaps there would be an alarm, a flare that is shot into the air, or some form of way that all players in that raid know a drop off spot is being used, but not which one specifically if there are multiple. This single mechanic opens the game up to some interesting circumstances. Almost to the same degree game modes like capture the flag or domination do from other titles. Of course, it’s not perfect and adding loot drop points would most likely create some new friction that would need to be ironed out.

(The potential complications)

My first thought when it comes to what could go wrong with this mechanic is that depending on how many times the service is usable in a raid, it could potentially be exploited by a single player. If one drop point is usable multiple times in a single raid, and one person almost wipes an entire lobby, then that means multiple trips to that point for a single person ruins the opportunities for anyone else still in the raid. Of course, in that specific example, an argument could be made that this individual deserves to use it more than once because he took out the most players compared to everyone else. And while that is certainly true, it would make more sense to have these drop off spots be a one-time-use; meaning they can’t be used, and then after a cooldown period, are usable a second time. No, it makes more sense to have them be usable only once per raid. But then another question pops up; what’s the spawn rates of these drop off locations? For something potentially this powerful, would a one-hundred percent spawn rate make sense? Well, if there are multiple spots for these drop zones to exist, then maybe it is. A one-hundred percent spawn rate, but with the added unknown factor of being in one of multiple different locations. It kind of reminds of the Jaeger stashes scattered across the maps; how there are always some around each raid, but which ones is unknown until you go searching for them. It would give players incentive for investigating more of the map. Perhaps they’re the first one to find the drop zone this raid, so they get to dump whatever they want into it and protect it. Another problem point I could foresee is, are you allowed to transit to other maps after dropping stuff off? This is a relatively new feature in the grand scheme of things. The idea of going from one map to another was always there, but it was only last year when it became a reality. So, dropping gear off and then using a transit point to another map makes sense, but I suppose the only caveat would be that the timer needs to complete, otherwise, it would be a similar situation when you pay for the car but someone else takes it. So, with that in mind, once the countdown is over and you see your loot get shipped off, that’s when you are free to travel to a new map. Imagine that: Getting a bunch of gear, going to an infill zone, dropping the loot off, transiting to another map and doing it all over again. That would be a wild story to tell your friends, that’s for sure.

(The idea makes sense in Tarkov)

I hate to overly complicated something like this, but the idea really does just make sense in the world of Tarkov. Again, yes technically it already exists with the BTR. But to me, this is a much more fleshed out mechanic that stands by itself and doesn’t rely on something else determining if it even is in the current raid. Having spots across each map that can serve as secondary objectives for players to seek out gives those parts of the map more life and use than they otherwise currently have. BSG could even, if they wanted to go here, add intel to those drop zones like how they have with some of the hidden extracts. Even if you know its location, without the paper on your person, it cannot be accessed. Meaning, that players now would need to seek out the information to utilize the mechanic at all. Maybe this is a step too far, but it could be one way to balance the drop zones if they were added and become problematic. But something to this effect should exist in the realm of EFT. It makes sense; this kind of stuff always revolves around either the scavs or the cultists. The scav case and cultists circle both add credence to this mechanic making sense within the world and its inhabitants. Since Tarkov is a no-fly zone, a helicopter taking your stuff out doesn’t work. You could always add a vehicle specifically for this, or add include this feature in the van extract we already have. But either way, drop zones in Tarkov for your loot I think, could go the distance. And be a system worth looking into and exploring in the future. If we ever had a form of pseudo-open-world, this would make even more sense if you’re spending potentially hours in raid without going back to your stash. Just the thought of all these systems being place makes me sad because there is a good chance, we won’t ever see it come into realization. But, it’s still really fun to think about.

(Outro)

Loot drops zones in Tarkov make sense when you think about it. Technically it already exists, but to dedicate an entire new system to it; with its own UI, and rules that people would need to learn and understand. This also kind of reminds me in something like DayZ, where you dig a hole to store some extra gear in case you need to respawn. You have something ready to go tucked away from the masses. And being able to take an entire kit from another player, send it to your stash and keep playing the raid out is something that I feel as though many players would benefit from. Either way, it’s an interesting conversation to have and I would love to know what you think. 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 this mechanic, if it’s feasible in Tarkov, would you like to see it happen and be sure to subscribe for more videos about the potential for really cool ideas to unfortunately never be added into the game. I hope to see you in future ones.