Tarkov’s Hideout Changes Might’ve Ruined It, Unless…

(Intro)

So, alongside the huge changes to Tarkov’s flea market, there was another line immediately after that also gave me whiplash upon reading it. Something I have feared for honestly years. As integral as the flea market has been since it was introduced, it doesn’t hold a candle to how vital using the hideout has become in our day-to-day Tarkov operations. These two-game mechanics go hand in hand. Need something for your hideout? Check out how much it costs on the flea. To me, the hideout is synonymous with buying the last couple items for a module upgrade because you’re either too lazy to look for it, or because the item basically doesn’t spawn. However, those days are going to be gone sadly. Because now, your hideout items need to be found in raid in order to count towards a module upgrade.

(The impact this single change has)

I mentioned in the previous video going over the flea market changes, but there is an argument that no longer allowing items of any status to be used for the hideout is more impactful than the two-week flea market ban. This fundamentally changes how people are going to approach leveling up their hideout. Items can’t just be put in your secure container and you’re good; you know this spark plug is going to be useful for your generator. Or these lightbulbs for your illumination. This is something I wasn’t expecting; much like the changes to the flea. It comes as a one-two punch combo. We get no listings for two weeks and now getting components for the hideout just got a LOT harder. I worry that people won’t even bother with this mechanic anymore. Because as tedious, lethargic, and honestly ass-backwards the hideout can be sometimes, it’s fundamentally a vital tool for getting guns, ammunitions, medications, and more ready to go in the background whilst you are in raid completing quests and looting. This is very much an anti-causal change, as much as I personally don’t like using that term, and it’s something we will need to sit with for a while to feel the true impact of it. We won’t see the ramifications of this until a couple months after wipe. Now, people might immediately jump on this and say well, Tarkov isn’t meant for causals; true. It was never designed with a more leisurely group of players in mind. Tarkov wanted to differentiate itself from the competition by being obtuse and unusually difficult. And it worked. But that ship sailed a long time ago. Everyone and their mother know about this game in some way shape or form. If you play this game, you knew going into it was going to be both challenging and a grind. And while I’m normally on board with making things harder or steps being taken to bring us back to the older versions of Tarkov, this doesn’t succeed in either or those camps. Unless there are some compensations to go alongside this massive nerf to a gameplay mechanic Nikita himself wanted in the game long before it actually was introduced.

(This can be remedied in one of two ways)

This change by itself in a vacuum is concerning. Early on, the basic level one modules don’t require a ton of components so it’s not too bad to find what you’re looking for and use them for installation. It's when we get to level two and even worse, level three versions of the modules where it becomes a problem. We now need fourteen found in raid lightbulbs. My god is Techlight on Interchange going to be a warzone. Even still, I had a thought about this change that could remedy it to be not as awful as it might become. And that is, if BSG is willing to meet halfway when it comes to loot. By simply buffing the spawn rates of these kinds of items in raid so that they are more commonplace, it makes it at the very least not feel like a desolate wasteland whilst you look for your last working LCD screen. Either that, or they keep the item spawn rate the same, but lessen the number of items needed to upgrade modules. Either of these two changes work together with the flea market embargo, and the found in raid requirement for hideout items to make the process somewhat bearable. They don’t need to do both, but one or the other would be fine. I doubt either will even be considered, but it’s a suggestion nonetheless.

(It also lessens the impact the flea has)

It’s crazy to think that by making hideout items need found in raid status, the number of transactions that are going to occur on the flea just got knee capped. We don’t even have it yet, and I can already guess that a majority of people at least early on use the flea to purchase the final item(s) needed for a module. It’s so weird; the flea has become such a vital component to EFT, that by both removing it at the start and then making hideout items need to be found in raid, I question how much people are going to interact with it. Obviously, people will still use it of course, it’s not going to become obsolete. But we did rely on it for so much in Tarkov; now some of that functionality is gone. What makes this whole thing even worse, is that by making items need found in raid, the barters some of the traders have for hideout items have become useless. Even the Twitch drops we have been getting just switched to being found in raid as I write this script on January 1st. They weren’t at the start. Meaning, BSG didn’t initially realize how narrow-mindedly they thought about these changes, and how much of an impact they will actually have across the game. Messing with the flea or found in raid in any way, has profound impacts across the entire game. Like I said, the flea has sadly become the cornerstone of how the game is balanced. Not even just in terms of economy, but how quests work. Found in raid was created to both differentiate between items bought on the flea, and to prevent hatchet runners from gobbling up items with zero risk involved. It’s also why the run-through status exists; again, to prevent people from playing the game with little to no risk and all the reward. It’s been seven plus years of band-aid fix after band-aid fix; instead of focusing on core, root problems that have plagued the game since its inception. At this point though, we’re too deep in to try and retroactively fix it. The game would need to be taken apart from the inside out, and with the goals of BSG loosely laid out for us for 2025, I doubt there will be anytime to fix it one hundred percent.

(Outro)

No flea market for two weeks is awesome. Genuinely glad they ripped that band-aid off (see what I did there). What hasn’t gone over so well for myself is the hideout adjustments. For how much you need to invest into it, making it even more of a grind makes me not want to interact with it. They could up the spawns of those items so they are a little more common out in the field. They could reduce the number of items needed for each module upgrade. Something else they could do is make it so that you could still use non-found in raid items to build, but if every item is found in raid, the build time is reduced by say, twenty-five percent or more. Giving people a reason to maybe wait and see if they can find one more screw or pack of nails with found in raid. So that two-hour build time is reduced to ninety minutes. Again, just a spit bald idea, but anything to allow players the choice of whether or not they want to use all found in raid items. It’s crazy to me that for these first two weeks of wipe, found in raid was still even a thing. If there’s no flea market, then there isn’t a reason for the found in raid status because people aren’t becoming millionaires just off of selling stuff. Let people stuff their last salewa in their secure container for the quest. What’s the harm. It makes the RNG quests like the flash drives less painful. It’s why people usually prefer quests like the pocket watch. Because that’s a static item, that is always there if you have the quest, and you just need to get out with it. The pressure is on you to play well, and make the right choices in your raid. Not if the game is willing to throw you a bone this time.

I digress; this has been a tangent long enough. I am worried about the hideout changes, but at the end of the day I know deep down it’s ultimately not going to change that much. People that normally finish will still do so, but it’ll take a little longer. And those that seldom used it just won’t touch it. Either way, it’s a change I wasn’t expecting, and at this point I am just more curious what things will look like and what people will say in a month or so. 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 found in raid items only working for the hideout, if you prefer that or not and be sure to subscribe for more videos about literal game changing adjustment to mechanics that are so much more integral to the game than many players or even BSG give them credit for. I hope to see you in future ones.