Tarkov’s Event Oversight is Obnoxious

(Intro)

One of the many ways Tarkov can have some life given back to it is whenever BSG decides to add in-game events to spice up the currently gameplay loop. Something as simple as having bosses spawn more or all on a single map is an extremely effective way to bring back players to the game and also get people playing on a certain location or spot on a map. Sometimes less is more and the boss events are some of my favorites. But BSG over the years have been experimenting with lots of different styles of events with lots of mixed results. Some interesting, some that had a solid foundation but needed some ironing out, and others that are just plain bad. No matter what the event might be, it has become an unfortunate habit of needed to be adjusted by BSG at some point for one reason or another. It’s rare they release something and don’t need to touch it because it just works as intended out of the gate. They’ve done so many events overtime that it’s tough to remember the really bad ones as examples. But this recent cultist event was somewhere in the middle. But regardless of which event we talked about, they all have some semblance of oversight from BSG that really prevents any of them from being engaging experiences for players. So, let’s talk about how BSG somehow keeps screwing up events in some regard and the things they can take into consideration for future ones that will hopefully make them more enjoyable to play and even more memorable by the community.

(Variety is the Spice of Life)

This problem begins once we get deep enough into a wipe cycle that people begin to taper off of the game and become apathetic towards it. Sadly, this period of time seems to creep earlier and earlier with each new cycle. I suppose this wipe period is especially impacted by the Arena changes and how beneficial playing that game mode can be for your Tarkov character. Easier money, consistent experience; people are hitting the end game of Tarkov much faster than we used to in the past. Whether or not that’s a direct cause of Arena being good, the community getting better at the game, or a combination of the two plus more, we’ll leave that for another conversation. But one thing that BSG does that always revives the community into coming back and checking out the game are events. Opportunities to flex their creative muscles and create some buzz around the game; events usually comprise of an adjustment to an element(s) of the game, and associated quests that can be completed alongside the event itself. An easy one for example, all bosses on one given map. I can’t speak for anyone but myself, but I would take a guess and say these are some of the most popular events by the community. Bosses have been a touchy subject for years now; their inconsistent spawn rates, cheater-like difficulty and aim, and general disdain for having to hunt them down, all kind of go out the window when these events occur. A guaranteed 100% spawn rate of all the bosses and their guards, all stuffed onto a single map. Chaos ensues; which is a good thing. People bust out the big boy gear and trek out to whatever map they might be on. Customs, Shoreline, Reserve, even The Lab. A very simple concept, but there is a ton of challenge but also fun to be had here. The last time the bosses were all together was on Shoreline and it was a wild time. So much chaos from each of the wings, plus outside in the courtyard. It was so much fun. There’s an example of a simple but extremely effective quest that people can just log in, jump into a couple raids, and experience either by themselves or with some friends. But unfortunately, not every event is created equally.

(Some events feel out of touch)

An example of an event that sounds interesting on paper, but in practice doesn’t really land was the mortar event that occurred a couple weeks ago. Adding an environment hazard like mortar strikes into the game feels... obtuse to say the least. On-brand for a game like Tarkov where challenge, difficulty, and having it feel like even the world is out to get you makes sense on paper. But how it was implemented felt as though the devs didn’t quite know what they wanted out of it. On certain maps, at certain hotspots after about five to seven in-raid minutes, mortars would begin to rain down and deluge a specific part of whatever map they could occur on. The ice cream shack on Customs, the resort on Shoreline, the Knight buildings on Reserve, and the Lumbermill on Woods. And once the mortars began, they kind of just went on until the raid was over. To me, the idea of being in a place where the chance an explosive from the sky killing me sounds dangerous. And if I needed to go there for a quest or just to cross that particular part of terrain, I would want to do it swiftly and get in and out before the mortars start. Sadly, once they start that area of the map was essentially locked off unless you wanted to just explode out of nowhere. Sure, there were some quests to go alongside the mortars and even a new device that would vibrate like a phone if you were in the splash zone, but something I learned the hard way, was that the device was loud enough to give away your location, and I promptly died because of it. My assailant was kind enough to message me after the raid and let me know, so shout outs to that guy. That should’ve never been the case; why add the device if it is only going to get me killed doing the thing it was intended to do? Why add quests that require to me to basically forfeit a life and get close to the strikes? Again, an event like this sounds cool on paper, but when the mortars hit only a small part of the map, added utility does more harm than good, and the first quest to get into the event basically says hey go die to the event once, it feels disconnected from what people are hoping to get out of Tarkov events.

(Some event quests are designed for no one)

The most recent example of an extremely interesting event idea that still has problems, is the on-going cultist event as of the recording of this video. To boil it down, cultists have their spawn rates increased, they are on more maps, and there are three new cultists bosses that can also spawn on certain locations. With new quests to coincide with the event as well. Immediately, this event idea is perfect. An enemy type in the game that is severely underutilized and appreciated by the developers, finally getting a chance to shine. These guys do not mess around, and are genuinely scary under the right circumstances. So being able to see them more and fight them proper is a nice change for the time being. What isn’t so nice however, is the final quest of three that came alongside this event. The first one is to simply hunt down five regular cultists. Pretty easy enough. The second part is to take out all three of the new cultists' bosses. Doesn’t have to be in one raid or one life, but kill all three. Again, easy on paper, but these bosses are tough and have very powerful gear. So, it’s a challenge worth trying. But the third quest as soon as I read, make me give up on the event all together. You need to go to every location where the cultists’ spawn and kill them fifteen times. That is a grand total of one-hundred and five cultists before the event is over. Who is this quest made for? I’m sure some people will be dedicated enough to the cause to finish the quest, but with the cultists not having a one hundred percent spawn chance, you might run multiple raids in a row and just not see them. This event has been going on for four days now, and is likely to end soon. This is another high point of contention with a lot of past events. Some of the quests just feel designed for bloat to give people something to do instead of making something more interested, hand crafted, or exciting. And the rewards feel so disproportionate for what the quest is asking of you. Seventy-five thousand experience, half a million rubles, marked keys that have been nerfed into the ground, and some thermal goggles that don’t work on the cultists because they are immune to thermal optics. I feel as though these rewards at least the money and experience should be double, if not triple what they currently are. To be fair, a lot of Tarkov quests and rewards especially ones located at the end game have this same problem. A ton of bloat just to keep people busy and quiet. Like Lightkeepers final task is kill each boss fifteen times. Just the fact they don’t have a guaranteed spawn rate is enough for me to never do that ever. I’m sure some people see these kinds of quests are excited they can just grab a kit and run the maps over and over immediately resetting once they know the boss isn’t there. I’m sure for some that’s their thing. And I’m not trying to yuck anyone else’s Yum's. But these kinds of quests irritate me the most because they are some of the laziest ones in the entire game. For an opposite comparison, when the marathon mode was still in the game, and fence had the quest to visit and extract from every single map in the game without dying, that was a challenge; something that we kind of already had to do because of the guide. But now, the stakes are even higher, and the rewards for that quest were perfect. A ton of experience, money and a thick items case. If you want to create something difficult, but also engage with good rewards, that quest was the perfect example of it.

(Outro)

Tarkov has had events for a longtime now. What they entail and how long they last are always in the air. You can technically consider whenever BSG makes everyone has max level traders with every item being cheap an event. That always happens right before wipe. And it’s a good time to mess around before the game resets once more. I am always down for them either changing elements of the game, or adding new ones to think about, that culminate into a timed opportunity to play Tarkov with some slightly new bells and whistles. I just wish that the events would take into consideration the fact that they are indeed timed. This cultist event will be ending at some point, but to add a quest to kill one hundred and five of them feels lazy and doesn’t benefit anyone who enjoys the event. It’s a reminder that sometimes, BSG has the best of intentions but they don’t always know how to follow through whenever they do come up with an event that is actually fun and awesome. They’ve done it before with many of the different boss events; it doesn’t make sense that all the other ones can avoid the pitfalls of having events feel more obnoxious than fun, or the quests that are tied to them feel rewarding and engaging, instead of just a complete grind fest. Which is something late game Tarkov is starting to feel like more and more. 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 this Cultists event or any of the events that have happened in Tarkov, whether or not you enjoy them and be sure to subscribe for more videos about the extra parts of the game that can either feel genuinely like a good time, or some mobile game grindy schloop. I hope to see you in future ones.