I played a lot of Tarkov 3 years ago and just go back into the game less then a week before the Halloween event, here are my thoughts on how Tarkov has changed. (Mostly solo play, haved played with buddies but enjoy solo best)
- Loading times, all of them. Switching between pre-raid screen, loading raids, being in raid, post-raid screens. Everything is a lot faster.
- Weight system forcing me to value each pound is peak military realism for me. More pounds, more pain. Trying to stay below yellow weight with each armor/gun combo I've done is really fun, sometimes having to forgo backpack, rig, spare ammo, meds, etc. in exchange for better armor, grenades etc. adds a whole new dynamic to building a loadout.
- Flea Market changes, I used to be able to make more money buying/selling on the flea then actually running raids. It was a big reason for my initial reason for leaving. I think Tarkov would be best with no Flea and instead focus on the hideout. I think its weird how some things such as good ammo can't be sold on the flea, the devs need to pick a side. Either you can buy meta loadouts on a player market every single raid if you can afford it, or you are scavenging together builds from equipment you found/produced. Saddling between the two half-assedly feels arbitrary and confusing.
- Hideout, production options have gotten better. But what is production without automation? Developing the hideout further and deleting the flea would be my ideal world. Solidify the laws of "use it or loose it"
- Map expansions are a huge plus, as are timer expansions. I like the new bosses. I found myself actually having fun running Factory as a PMC instead of hating it, hoping I didn't get the delayed hallway spawn that would mean a bullet in my head as I spawn. I haven't had new quests on the Lighthouse map yet and only scaved on it a few times, like a pre-expansion old Tarkov map in a lot of ways. But you never really now how a map plays out until you're actually spawning as a PMC.
- Audio seems a lot better and more consistent.
- Daily quests are a nice addition, as are the revised quest requirements. Only requiring to spend 10 seconds stashing that quest item on Factory instead of 60 was a very nice surprise.
- Halloween event power-leveled my Metabolism skill, but I can't help but feel like if I didn't already have a lot of map knowledge, without access to the flea or a decent hideout my low-level PMC would have been totally fucked by the event if it was a new player. Rewards beyond leveling my Metabolism skill very quickly were basically nonexistent, I hated the super low raid timers of old Tarkov, this made me feel like I was playing back in 2018 but not in a good way.
All in all I've been having a blast with an all time high of a 60% survival rate even though I joined late wipe. Although on that point, not a big fan of forcing wipes. I think it should be a voluntary prestige system or something instead of just wiping everyone's progress all the time. Currently at 7 survivals in a row having a blast ragdolling motherfuckers with an ASh-12 I found on Interchange. Silenced subsonic rounds that can obliterate any limb it hits are quite fun.
