You’re Better at Tarkov Than You Think

(Intro)

I can’t be the only one who has moments when playing Tarkov that makes me go, man, am I really that bad at this game? Whether it’s poor positioning in a fight, completely whiffing an entire magazine of ammo, or letting the scavs have their way with me, speaking only for myself here, there are a lot of times especially recently where something happens in Tarkov because I make a dumb decision and I beat myself up for it. It's this, unfortunate downward spiral because Tarkov is the kind of game that it is; this cycle of playing the game, losing, getting upset at both the game and yourself, putting it down for a little while and then coming back to it because you can’t stop playing. And as someone who has been playing for eight years, allow me to be the first person to say that if you have a similar mindset or this resonates with you even just a little bit, you aren’t as bad as you think you are in Tarkov. In fact, I would go so far to say that you’re much better than you give yourself credit for. This game isn’t a single straight road. There are tons of twists and turns; places to veer off and other roads you can merge onto at any time. And just because you might be weak in one area of EFT doesn’t mean you don’t excel in others. All I’m trying to say is give yourself some more credit when it comes to Tarkov. No one is perfect, and if you’ve been playing for any length of time, compare yourself now to when you first started. You’ve come a long way. And you’re only going to keep improving.

(This game is HARD)

No matter how you slice it, Tarkov is a difficult game. I mean, we all know that and were most likely aware of the difficulty before buying the game. But that’s something you always have to remember. This isn’t a game to be rushed or one that you should take lightly. At least for me, this is easily the hardest game I’ve ever played. Both in terms of mechanics, knowledge checks, and patience. EFT can very easily get under your skin and set you off if something goes wrong. Especially, if the thing that goes wrong is some kind of bug, glitch, error, or crash. In a game where losing means you just lost whatever you brought in with you; there will be moments where Tarkov feels like it stole from you. All that time, kitting up a gun you’ve never used or just really enjoy that’s hard to come by, with powerful attachments to boot and then thirty seconds into the start of a raid, poof! It's gone. Sometimes you get lucky with insurance, and other times not as much. Anyone understandably would be upset whenever that happened. But that doesn’t mean you are bad at Tarkov. Sometimes, it comes down to luck with spawns or who is in that raid with you; two elements of the game that are completely out of your control. There is no matchmaking for skill or gear score as far as we know, so sometimes you’ll get players who are on an equal footing as you and other times you’ll be fighting the literal definition of Chad itself. Regardless, those moments do not define a Tarkov player, but what you do after it does. In the moment only matters until it’s over, whether that’s surviving the raid or not. And Tarkov like other games out there can really be boiled down to the journey across the game, and not so much the destination.

(The journey is more important)

For the longest time, Tarkov had no real end game. There were just ways of keeping the most ardent player busy; the carrot on the stick if you will. But now, 1.0 provides a proper end game, albeit not the most easily accessible if you aren’t on top of progressing the story. But even with a goal that anyone can work towards, I’ve always found more enjoyment of the journey towards a goal, rather than the completion of it. Quests in this game are binary; you are either working towards completing it, or it’s completed and turned in. Obviously with harder quests like the guide and a shooter born in heaven, people can spend weeks or even months on those. But with each raid, with each opportunity for failure comes a chance to learn something about that particular map and improve as a player. They might be hard and you may say screw this quest once you do finally complete, but I don’t know, maybe I’m a weirdo (well, I know I am but that’s besides the point), I enjoy the process of these kinds of quests. It really feels like you’re tackling something much bigger and more formidable, and with each PMC kill you get one step closer. Now, some are just bad; anything related to Lighthouse can get put right in the dumpster. But besides that map, most quests that will require more than one raid to compete are at least to me indicative of your progress. It might take a ton of raids, kit after kit, but each time you get even just one kill, you check your task mid raid and you can literally see the improvements. To me, that’s some of the underlying beauty of this game. This tangible sense of getting better, going further, and learning more. That’s where the addiction to learning and just playing more comes from. And it’s where you as the player, can begin to figure out what you enjoy in this game and to truly find your own version of fun in Tarkov. Because surprisingly, it varies from player to player.

(Find your own fun)

We’ve talked about this before on the channel, but the only way sometimes you can get out of a bad death streak or just general game slump, is to mix it up, try different weapons or builds and just find your own ways of enjoying the game. For some that simply means completing the majority of the game as fast as possible, racing to be the first to do something specific, or creating challenges within an already challenging game. One of Tarkov’s greatest strengths is the ability to play it in so many different ways. Sure, we might all need to do the same quests, but how we approach them can vary wildly. And thinking outside of the box, or trying a road less traveled is going to offer an experience that can be hard to beat. It’ll also make you stand out if that’s something you’re interested in. In any case, you know you’ve achieved a certain milestone of skill in this game when you are able to break out of any potential norms or ruts you’ve been in previously, and just do some wacky stuff in Tarkov. Again, the game has so many tools at your disposal that you’re bound to come up with something unique and interesting enough to feel like you’ve discovered something that you can apply to other parts of the game. Whether it’s for entertainment purposes or if you truly believe this new discovery is the way going forward, there is plenty of fun to be had in Tarkov when it’s firing on all cylinders. And sometimes… okay a lot of the time it isn’t. Again, that’s not your fault; it’s just the nature of the beast. But if you’re trying something one way and it isn’t working, mix it up a bit and approach it from a different angle. Sometimes that’s all you need, and you’d be surprised how effective this can be in EFT. Remember, this game is a marathon, not a sprint. Don’t gas out at the beginning and you’re well on your way to success.

(Outro)

Tarkov because of its genre, has a way of making you feel like you’re the worst player ever. But here’s the thing: we all get that feeling every now and again. Sometimes we just mess up the most trivial things, and we beat ourselves up for it. I know I have. But that doesn’t take away from everything that you’ve learned and applied up to this point. EFT is a wild game; for better and for worse. Sometimes you might need to just take a break, try something different, or approach it with a different mentality. This game is going to wear you down and kick you when you think you’re at the bottom. But the fact you’re still around despite everything, means you’re willing to get your ass beat, learn from those mistakes and get better. Which is what separates you from everyone else. Don’t sweat the small stuff in Tarkov; you got this. Just take one step at a time, alright? 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 where you think you sit in terms of your skill as an EFT player, how far you’ve progressed from learning more about the game and be sure to subscribe for more videos about messages you may or may not have needed to hear that.I hopes resonate with at least one of you. I hope to see you in future ones.