Scav Health buff – BSG needs to get a grip

For context, a lot of people have reported that scavs are taking a lot more damage than they should be, and for a while I myself just assumed that it was a server side error accompanying the plentiful other server issues this past week and a half. Turns out, scavs got a stealth buff to their potential health pools they can spawn with.

Onepeg made a great video explaining the change: BSG's Stealth Scav Buff – Escape From Tarkov News – YouTube

TLDW: Scavs can now spawn with different tiers of health, tier 1 = 440 hp, tier 2 = 540 hp (40 head, 100 chest+stomach, 80 and 70 to legs+arms) and tier 3 = 740 hp (40 head, 150 chest+stomach, 100 legs+arms)

That's right, normal scavs now have a chance of being just 12hp weaker than fucking Reshala. I understand what they were going for, Onepeg explains that Nikita/BSG wants scavs to get harder as the raid gets later, which I think is a great idea – up to a certain point. Scavs this wipe have clearly been tuned up a bit this patch, they move a lot more unpredictably on top of not having to move with inertia like players, they're a force to be reckoned with. (and to be clear, I think scavs should absolutely pose a threat to PMC's) They could easily just tweak the loot they spawn with as the raid gets later; instead of fearing that AI will become bullet spongey like the Division/Destiny, I'd be inclined to hunt scavs later in the raid if they have better loot, while still fearing that they might have good/decent ammo/armor.

The problem for me is when it breaks the bounds of what's realistic. I'm not trying to be one of those "muh immersion" gigavirgins, but how in the fuck does an untrained, out of shape gopnik who just so happened to pickup a shitty toz has nearly double the health the PMC I spend hundreds of hours leveling. BSG knew scavs wouldn't get inertia this patch, and they not only tuned up their abilities, but made them tanks for seemingly no reason.

Whoever approved this change is severely out of touch with how the game actually functions, I shouldn't be surprised that BSG has no idea how to balance this game, but you'd think after the plethora of past incidents of additions/changes they'd learn something.