Tarkov’s Flea Market – 46 Days Later

(Intro)

It has been over forty-six days since the start of the wipe, as of the recording for this video. But this wasn’t just a regular wipe. BSG wanted to try some new things with gameplay mechanics that have been integral since their introduction. One of which was completely locking down the flea market for two weeks just to see what would happen. Funnily enough, it ended up being closer to three weeks when everything was all said and done. It was the first time since the flea market was added that the entirety of it was locked off. No barters, no listings. Nothing. I was both excited and interested to see what the general consensus was going to be from the community. I had a feeling that people would despise the change and just want it back. But to my surprise, it seemed like people were okay with it being gone for two weeks. On top of that BSG was collecting data once the market was back through an in-game survey which we will be looking at and discussing too. So, let’s talk about Tarkov’s flea market, over a month later and how it might not be as universally loved in the early game as some might’ve thought.

(Getting by without it)

Like I said at the start, for the first fifteen levels, you don’t have access to it so it’s the same. But once that threshold is crossed you immediately begin to feel the slight sting of not having it at your fingertips. Those GPU’s you found? Can’t sell them. Any other rare items you want to liquidate for rubles you need to hang onto until the embargo is lifted. But what really opens your eyes to how much this mechanic has impacted the community is whenever you take down another PMC who’s a higher level than you and you look at their gear. It’s nothing too crazy; a lightly modded rifle and some basic protection. Some people can level up very fast in this game. Especially the first fifteen levels; which means if they have some money to spend, they can roll that into a kit that could theoretically carry them for a ton of levels. But without the flea to buy better equipment, everyone feels more in line with what the game would expect you to have. Now there are some exceptions of course; some people might find a level five armor and wear it as long as they can which makes sense. More protection means your chances of survival and completing quests goes way up. They might also be using good ammo they found on woods or reserve. Because surprisingly, good ammo isn’t that uncommon these days to be around maps on small doses. Or big depending on what you find. One hundred and twenty rounds of 5.45 BT do exist out in the wild which for around level fifteen is strong. But still, pre-level fifteen Tarkov even without the flea market feels like the early game of Stalker. The “hobo phase” as it’s called in that game. Where you just using whatever you can get your hands on is the best of times because it feels the fairest. People don’t have level five and six armors every raid, they don’t have SIG Spear’s every raid. It’s broken beat up guns and ammo that isn’t desirable, but necessary to survive. But sadly, those feelings are mostly gone around level fifteen and particularly level twenty.

(Early game only lasts so long)

Even with the flea market out of the equation, there is a limit to how much these feelings will last in regards to the scrappy early game. Because most traders will reach loyalty level two between PMC levels fifteen-twenty. And from there, the early game is pretty much over for the most part. Because even though level two traders don’t offer a huge assortment of items for you to purchase, it’s enough that it feels like a significant upgrade. Kind of like how for some traders, hitting max loyalty on them is only a couple of items you want when you reach endgame. But level two vendors are when you officially hit the mid-game; you have enough guns, attachments and protection on offer that you feel any situation thrown at you can be handled properly if you go the extra mile to make sure you are properly prepared. Of course, how long it takes for a player to hit all level two vendors will differ. Some get it in a couple days, others take a couple weeks or even a month to do so. So, while the early game is awesome and feels the fairest it ever has before, it sadly doesn’t last long. And at this point, BSG has done pretty much everything they can to prolong that feeling except put a limit to how much experienced toy can earn in a single day, or raising the PMC level requirement to drag it out even further. Neither of which are graceful ideas, but hey, maybe needing all the vendors to be level seventeen-twenty is what it will take for the best early game Tarkov experience possible.

(The data speaks for itself)

Once the flea market was back in the game, BSG did an in-game survey and asked some questions about what the consensus was with restricting the flea market on wipe day. And to my surprise, they actually shared the results and data with the player base through the client. So, I figured let’s go over some of those data points and see what the people playing actually think about the flea market. The first question was asking if players found the game more engaging with the flea market closed, and almost fifty percent said yes, they do. Which is honestly the biggest shocker when looking at the three questions they asked. For years I figured because the flea market was so ingrained into the everyday goings of the game, people would’ve said EFT felt worse without it. But then again, those first fifteen PMC levels don’t have it, so what’s a few more levels for some players. Either way, this paints a very different picture than what myself and potentially tons of players in this community thought about the flea market, especially in the early game. It might be time to revisit this mechanic and have a conversation about when, where and how it should be obtained.

The second question asked was what the biggest problems players had when it came to having the flea market be closed in the early game. And while there were eight choices to select, the two highest answers were being unable to buy keys and the general difficulty of finding said keys, and the found in raid requirement for hideout upgrades. This makes total sense; keys have always been tricky to nail down well because make them too common and no quest feels like it halts your progress. Too rare and things like healthcare privacy part two become an absolute slog unless you happen to get lucky with someone else opening the door for you. More barters for keys would solve this problem, and more static spawns for quest keys would also help ease this pain. Even if it becomes a mad dash to get to the spawn location, eventually you will be the one that gets there first and can loot it. The other answer of found in raid hideout upgrades also makes sense. These two changes together were a real one-two punch combo for the entire game. I still personally think that if we are going to proceed with no flea when it’s time for a wipe, we don’t need found in raid for the hideout. If I find corrugated hose and put it in my secure container, there’s no flea for me to sell it. If I die, at least let it be useful to me now instead of having a brick of an item that is not only worthless to me but also to everyone else when the flea does come back. Does it slow the game down even more? Yes, but there isn’t a ton in the hideout that is tied to direct progression of the game. But we’ll save this conversation for another video.

The third and final question asked was what changes to the flea would we make if we had a say. And again, surprisingly, the majority of players are okay with the current way the flea works. The removal of the found in raid requirement shook things up, but upon reflection I think in a good way. It makes selling items just so much easier, and now those items that lose the status still have a purpose if they can’t go towards a quest. It can at least make you some money which is always nice. It also allows people to play the game normally should they find something of high value; instead of desperately trying to just get to an extract. Only to get a run-through because they didn’t get enough experience. Those hurt the most.

(Outro)

Overall, after about a month and a half since the wipe, the game at this point is basically back to normal. The flea market being locked off is generally seen as a positive improvement on the early game and that makes me happy. As a player since 2017, I’m used to no flea market at all, but at the very least since it won’t ever get fully removed, not having it around for the first couple of weeks post-wipe is better. People are playing by the same rules more than ever before. And even if you level up a lot, you only work with the traders and what they have. It generally just makes the gameplay feel a little fairer when it comes to fighting other players for the first week or so. After that, people level up fast enough that the discrepancy between low- and high-level players can be felt. Which you won’t ever be able to fix, and that’s okay. There will be a break off point, but the longer we can delay that from happening, the better. 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 about the flea changes as a whole, the data BSG collected and be sure to subscribe for more videos about how large, sweeping game changes can in fact sometimes be for the better in the short term. I hope to see you in future ones.