Tarkov’s Season One Update is Somehow Even Crazier

(Intro)

For anyone who has looked at the brand-new season one battle pass for Tarkov Arena, is anyone else slightly concerned with what they are seeing? Not only in the contents of the pass itself, but how things are now being obtained by players. The tone feels much different from season zero where it was kind of just hey, here are some cool cosmetics and some crates you can unlock if you want to. But it didn’t feel like there was this pressure to grind the whole thing out. I guess the biggest upside was that the pass lasted for what, three months? It felt like a long time, so anyone who wanted to engage with it had plenty of time to do so. But with this new pass, we or at the very least I am unsure from what I’ve read online if it will go away come 1.0s launch or if it’s going to stick around for as long. But let’s get into now both the free and paid passes and see what about them creates this slippery slope that I think a lot of us expected, but not in the way it was implemented.

(The Free pass clothes)

The free pass is only okay overall. Your opinion on these cosmetics is definitely a subjective thing, but personally I’m not a huge fan of a lot of the clothes that are on offer in season one. We’re already starting to creep out of the territory of immersive post-EMP war torn region locked Norvisnk, and instead the clothes are becoming more fanatical and less focused on military style clothing, which was the main appeal to some of the clothing in the previous pass. Because it was either new stuff we haven’t seen before that, you might expect a PMC to wear or recolors of existing clothes so that you could make more tactical and cool outfits, which personally was my favorite part about the first pass. But now there’s sleeveless sweatshirts with tribal tattoos, crazy patterns and designs on armors and clothing, and just some let’s say interesting cosmetic choices.

At the end of the day, clothes are again very much a subjective thing. If you don’t like them, which I’m not a huge fan, you don’t have to buy them and you don’t have to wear them. But just their existence leaves the door open for the pendulum to swing in the other direction. It’s similar to what’s happening with Battlefield 6 right now, and how some people are upset at some of the outfits on offer. Not only that but their promise to keep things grounded relatively, and how it’s been only three weeks since launch and more wild and outlandish colors and outfits are being added. I mean, to be fair, most Tarkov players don’t care about this kind of stuff and in fact they kind of like it. Do you know how many people bought the new vacation clothes? Too many to count. But what has people more concerned with the pass are some of the items you can unlock and use in both Arena and Tarkov proper.

(The free pass gear)

There are a few particular items that have people who are going through the pass concerned with what’s to come in Tarkov proper. The biggest one being the new Peltor-300 in ear headphones. A new headphone type is always appreciated because it could add a new sound profile people like, but the biggest potential problem with these is that they can be worn with full face covering helmets, like the Altyn. Which is antithetical to that helmet’s entire purpose, being full level five head protection at the cost of being able to hear your opponents. It’s not the only helmet that can take advantage of this, but it’s the easiest to use as an example. Even if Altyn’s are hard to come by these days, just the thought of someone running around with that on and being able to completely hear you is concerning because it goes against half a decade's worth of balance as an unwritten rule. You can wear this and feel really powerful, but you need to pay attention otherwise people are going to sneak up on you. But now, that delicate balance has been thrown out the window entirely, which is a big problem as we approach 1.0.

It also goes for the newest helmet that was added, the Champion’s helmet. This can be combined with not only those in ear headphones, but apparently Tagilla’s face mask as well. Which I’m not sure if that’s intended or not. It feels like it shouldn’t be, but if it is, I’ll just shut up. They also added the first new weapon in the pass, the Radian Model One FA, which is another 5.56 rifle that’s similar to the Colt M4. From what people are saying online, it’s generic until you modify it in which it becomes a powerful rifle. But again, we’re starting to see more items added into the pass that people won’t have access to unless they engage with not only it but Arena itself. I don’t know if this has been confirmed, I’ve looked around online to see, but if BSG plans on adding all these items into the normal game for everyone and this is essentially just early access, then it’s fine... I guess. It still feels kind of scummy, even if the pass is free. Considering they now added ways to buy your way through the whole thing. And even more so, the paid battle pass.

(The paid pass)

Luckily, the paid pass is only cosmetics, but the pass itself is fifteen dollars so it’s not cheap. And honestly, the only thing I personally would want out of it, is ironically the Nikita announcer pack for Arena. I don’t know, just hearing him yell in Russian as I run around could be funny. And it also comes with their weird Customs map that from the sounds of it you progress through the map placing tokens and that’s how you unlock the pass items. It seems kind of cool, whether it’s cosmetics or the announcer. And it has a token currency exchange system; I don’t know it feels like a ton of extra steps for like six pages of items. But like I said that a fifteen-dollar barrier is enough to probably sway people away from buying it unless there is an item or two that someone really wants.

(Game direction and hypocrisy)

In general, these things are harmless enough that it really isn’t a big deal. People have wanted more cosmetic items for years and now they get to finally work for them. But to me, it still feels like we have entered a new era where the genie can’t be put back in the bottle anymore. Who remembers over the course of a few years, Nikita was so anti-micro transaction. For years he always assured people that you’d buy the game, and the only other things you may need to purchase would be big DLC expansions if you didn’t own the most expensive versions of the game. Well, that all kind of went out the window. Again, I understand and honestly don’t blame them; I guess we should be thankful it took this long to happen. I just wish the things they were selling were just more in line with the rest of the games tone. Sure, the more outlandish and colorful items can be in Arena. I feel as though Arena in a vacuum can be crazy and wild. Cool, no problem with that. It’s when most of these items bleed over into Tarkov proper; that’s where I personally have a problem with it. Not people using them, but that they exist in the first place. We even have actual loot boxes in the game that give you a random item out of a pool. Sure, the odds are displayed and go up as you open more crates, so technically you will unlock everything eventually, but seriously? It’s definitely an entitled opinion, but I know there are others that share this mindset. And to see not only the entire vibe of the game change, but now the balance of it with these powerful new equipment options, I don’t know how to feel about it other than, I wish things were different.

(Outro)

Tarkov’s season one battle pass is certainly an interesting conversation to have. From the cosmetic contents all the way to items that may now be pay to win. Whether or not they get introduced into the normal ecosystem of the game so that everyone has access will determine how bad this ends up being. Because if this is just for people who play Arena, they get to use the new shiny stuff first, I don’t think it will be as bad as I am thinking in my head. But for some reason, I have reservations about whether the entire community will get to use these items if they don’t work through the pass. But again, all of this hinges on that ever so important release date. It's kind of crazy how important 1.0 is becoming as we barrel ahead towards November. Now more than ever, a lot of things revolving around Tarkov ride on how all of this is handled in an official release capacity. But, like I always say, we shall see. 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 the season one battle pass, whether or not it feels like pay to win and be sure to subscribe for more videos about the incoming wild updates and changes that are bound to happen with not only Arena but Tarkov too. I hope to see you in future ones.