As we saw on tarkov TV today, we are getting an overly complicated "realistic" armor hitbox rework. While yes, the system is certainly as realistic as playable, I can't help but be worried about how it will negatively impact the game.
Tarkov takes a ton of time to prepare raids as is. And now its going to take a lot longer especially if you are min/maxing plates and armor. The Preset system really isn't as great as people think it is, global limits, personal limits really fuck over how many times you can run a kit. Also questing in the early game, you have to wear specific things or use specific guns. Makes the preset system tough to work with.
It won't make terrible ammo meta or viable either. As we saw on the demo, the class 4 armor had lvl2 soft armor. Ammo such as 5.45PRS, HP, SP, US, 5.56RRLP, HP, the myriad of shotgun rounds, most of 9×18 all have less than 20 pen. At the end of the day, people are still going to choose either the highest flesh damage they have, or the highest pen they can access. I feel like all these hitbox zones are going to do is add an extra 5-10% nuisance deaths (equivelant of head,eyes) to your raids.
Lastly I don't think this will positively impact armor diversity. As we see with helmets currently in the game, there's a handful that get used and the rest are completely ignored. We'll probably see the same 4-8 armors (ones with side protection) be used, and everything else kicked to the curb. There will be no reason to run a slick, because you can make a PACA lvl6 (potentially) and it has side protection. A decent sized portion of the playerbase already thinks helmets are useless or just scav protection. I'm not excited for that attitude to come to armors as well.
It may even destroy some of the risk/reward scenarios we see in tarkov. One of the videos showed off a THOR IC (class 6 armor). Most of the armor is lvl3, with lvl6 plates in the front and back. What will be the point of ever running a heavy armor like this, if its going to get shredded up by 5.45PP? Leg meta is already strong enough to take down a zabralo user.
Ultimately none of our opinions matter anyway since its coming. Even if its complete dogshit and breaks the game they wont revert it. Shoutout to the flechette bug a wipe or two go that caused people to disconnect with you shot them with it.
