I jumped into the game because a few of my friends were playing and they talked me into it, I'm familiar with shooters and gaming in general.
I currently have 66hours in game, mostly with friends, I'm level 9.
Tarkov basically feels like it has a real hardcore "perception" to it while not really being that hardcore and often treating a lot things with kids gloves.
It feels incredibly punitive to not be level 10, not having access to the good ammo/armor/weapons and basically you just grind and hide if you want to get anywhere. I've ambushed people but because I can't get good weapons or ammo it's like they are the main character in a movie and I'm a henchmen.
I've never once experienced "gear fear" because I don't ever have gear I'm scared of losing. Buying the game I thought it would be cool to save money, build out a gun, play super safe so I don't lose it etc…
instead its pretty boring because you can't make anything until you are 10. You don't get to explore weapons, armor, and ammo at all until you walk face first into the meatgrinder. It has nothing to do with me as a player, it is just a pure time sink.
Hacking is also bad in this game, If I had known how bad that alone was I wouldn't have picked it up.
Gunplay is weird too, I'm no solider but I've been to a shooting range a few times and can aim better with a semi-auto then my PMC… the recoil on a semi auto is insane, it makes no sense from a gameplay or realism perspective.
All the clips I see are of people with full autos spray and praying while somehow having less recoil then semi autos. I thought the game was suppose to have some sort of realism aspect?
I've checked around the forums/online and the M4A1 full auto wins at all ranges. Why take a shotgun close range when you could take an M4?
Why take an SVD at long range when you won't be able to 1 tap someone, and the M4 can literally spray and pray long range and kill peeps.
The game makes plenty of sacrifices for gameplay > realism (Helmets stopping a lot of rounds they shouldn't, which is handholding I disagree with entirely).
The problem is it makes gameplay and realism sacrifices that don't make sense, and often times are purely punitive for a new player. Like, CSGO has more realistic gameplay than this, how are people ok with that?
the advertising of the game, and a large portion of the player base both seem to have a weird perception of the game that just simply isn't true. The game isn't that hardcore nor is it that realistic. It is simply more hardcore starting out until you can get the good armor and ammo.
One of the parts of the game I found to be more fun then I thought I would is the looting. It's fun to sneak around looting or go to an area that is contested and fight for loot.
The main point of this post is I'm curious how people few the problems I listed – but also I feel like the perception of the game by the players is so, so far off from what the game actually is.
