Tarkov's Arena Mode is Fun Again

Okay, I know about a month ago, I made a video talking about how Arena was pretty much dead in the water, and that the future of it was hanging in the balance of how BSG handles the 2.0 update. And to my surprise and delight, they delivered. Simply put, Arena is fun again. In fact, it’s more fun than it was when they initially released it. So many problem points that we had with it, are gone or at the very least significantly better than they were previously. The new custom presets, the integration of Ref and the linking of your Tarkov account; it all feels like how this game should’ve launched the first time. Because if it did, I can honestly see their vision of Arena being this bigger E-sport becoming a reality. Sadly, I think that ship has sailed a long time ago, but that doesn’t mean Arena still can’t be enjoyed both alongside regular Tarkov, and by itself. So, let’s go over what’s new with Arena and why it’s so much better.

Right off the bat, the ability to make your own presets with weapons, attachments, ammo, armor, and everything else exactly how you want, was the best decision they made. Just this alone would’ve been enough but there are more changes to go over later. To balance this new system so that people aren’t running around with level 6 armors and mix/maxed weapons, there are three parameters that your loadout will consist of. Lethality, so gun, attachments and ammo, protection so your armor, and utility, being chest rigs, and medications. These add up to give you a total gear score value and you need to fall in between two values for the entire kit to be usable. Being higher or even lower will lock you out of using it. And depending on which class you are playing; the three parameters are balanced a little differently. So the Enforcer or tanky class has more points allocated for armor, whereas the Marksmen has the most for lethality so you can use the ultra-powerful ammo available. Assault and scout are more jack of all trades, allowing for a lot of creative freedom, but scout has better ammo offerings. Either way, you start with one free custom loadout per class, and can unlock up to three per class, so twelve custom loadouts total. Which is a decent amount. I imagine in the future we might get one or two more. But for now, three is solid.

Ref also being fully integrated into both Tarkov and arena means no matter which game you are playing, you are actively leveling up your character. Your account level, soft skills are synched up so playing on one game is as if you are playing on the other. However, for balance's sake, your skills are capped at level thirty in arena. So, you can still level them up, but you won’t get the benefits of those skills past level thirty which is a good choice. It means people with elite level skills can’t take advantage of them in arena. Evens out the playing field a little bit more which is what old arena was lacking. But the existence of Ref really makes playing both games interesting. Because you can transfer money and GP coins from Arena over to Tarkov. With a limit of one point five million rubles a day. You can also complete daily and weekly challenges to earn more exp, money and coins to further your progression in both games. I didn’t realize it until last night, but the existence of Ref kind of breaks the pacing on normal Tarkov. Because technically, you could play arena until level fifteen and then open Tarkov for the first time and have access to the flea market. Now, you still need to grind quests and experience for the other traders, but having an active arena account where you can send money and GP coins over really makes money even more of a non-factor than it already currently is. This might break the game entirely to be honest, but for right now it’s too early to tell. We’ll come back to this idea potentially in another future video, but just know; there are tangible benefits to having Ref unlocked in Tarkov and engaging with him in arena.

Does Arena feel any different to play? It’s hard to say exactly, but when everything is working correctly, and people have some diversity with their loadouts, Arena feels like how it should’ve day one. A fast paced, aggressive alternative to the slower more methodical gameplay that Tarkov has. Tarkov is all about the story, and how each raid you go into tells a different one. It can be I spawned in and then eight seconds later I died to a player, or it can be this epic about how you crossed all of Customs with no stomach and how you befriended another PMC and worked together, but then he died so you avenged him and extracted with his tag which you now keep in your stash. Meanwhile arena is the equivalent of that meme of SMG goes brrrr. They are two different games under the same engine. They require different skillsets to enjoy, they are trying to do two different things. And that’s what makes them so great together. If you are having a bad day in Tarkov, go play a couple games of arena to cool off. Not only is it a good time (especially the free for all mode which is the best), but even in arena you are earning your progression. And it carries over. Does it kind of feel like cheating? Honestly, a little bit. It wouldn’t surprise me if at some point BSG kind of nerf the amount of exp and money you earn because in one free for all game, you can earn as much exp as a Tarkov raid where you kill a dozen scavs and then extract, in a shorter amount of time. It’s kind of ridiculous how fast you can level up. Granted, we are still very much in the early game, and after about level twenty-five that exp will feel like peanuts compared to what you actually need. So, maybe that’s where it will begin to balance out, but right now, it’s pretty strong.

But I was wrong about arena. It’s not dead. Not anymore, at least. And I am glad. I never wanted it to fail. But it was difficult to support and engage with when the community at large pretty much detested its existence. I’ll still never understand how it released the way it did many months ago. It’s been almost a year since we’ve been able to play it, and this if the first time I am struggling to choose which mode I want to play. Tarkov because it obviously wiped and I want to play through it all over again and see the new stuff on offer. But I also want to play arena because it’s pretty much a brand-new game. It’s not perfect and there will be some tweaks needed to some of the values of items, but this is literally better than I could’ve hoped for. If you haven’t played it yet, please do. The team that worked on this deserves more praise. They brought this game back from the dead. And it’s so much fun right now. Thank you very much for taking the time out of your day to watch this video. Let me know in the comments if you’ve played Arena and what your thoughts are with the overhaul to the game and be sure to subscribe for more videos about how BSG managed to actually do right by the community, for once. I hope to see you in future ones.