Lee's Pitch — My Take on Map Transits in Escape From Tarkov

Watch it from YouTube.

First of all, I am neither a Tarkov player nor understand game development. Well I used to play Tarkov until I dunno, 2019? But it was very hardcore and has a lot of glitches, bugs, some gameplay mechanics that I do not understand and such. But I think the game has its potential and recently Nikita tried to push the ‘Map Transit’ feature as hard as he could but failed.

I think with some core changes it would work better – I wanted to say flawlessly but opinion may be vary so I stepped down a bit. So, here’s my take on Map Transits on Escape From Tarkov.

Spawn & Transit Locations

Before talking about the core changes, I think we better start off with the transit and spawn locations. As I heard, the transit/spawn locations are so little that most of the maps only have one to certain maps. This led players to join and spawn the map in one or two specific locations and ended up causing them spawnkilling massacre.

This obviously is not good for the gameplay either for core players or for hardcore players. Making multiple spawn locations is very well needed. Do we agree? Let’s move on to the next one.

Server Structure

Screenshot from Reddit

In the current state, everyone who has done map transit needs to wait for the server to fill. That led people to wait until 40 or even a whole hour before map transit to finish. This hurts the game flow and causes people to drop out, letting them not enjoy the map variant that BSG made for the players. In order to change that, I think the server structure must be changed. We need servers that run continuously. No more lobbies that only run 45 minutes or so. And I know you may ask “how is the server going to handle it?” I have ideas just for that.

From video

Let’s just say, one player made a way from Customs to Woods. Let them join new or ongoing servers that are running Woods right away. Give them a 40 minute time limit until exfil or transit to another map – pretty much the same right? But here’s the catch; no more shared time limit. Every player has a unique time limit until the exfil. It lets them freely roam around the map more, even if they have bad connections or loading time. Also while we are doing that, give the new players — that are either not in the same squad as other players or did not transit at the same time — a 5 minute delay. Since we are giving more spawn locations already, this will reduce some spawn kills. Also I would love some transit cutscenes while we wait for the delay.

Item Regens

I know, the next question must be “How about the Items? If servers are running consistently, won't they be looted already?” And I think this will be either easily fixed or make them more conceivable. For an easy way, just regenerate the items that are not in populated areas every time a new player has joined. If you are going to say “That doesn’t feel like Tarkov.” I have a more conceivable way.

If a new player joins, spawn a scav in unpopulated areas that have been looted that has an item that correlates with the areas they have been spawned. It gives player immersion that scav has looted the items and fills more attached to Tarkov’s lore.

“But what about marked rooms?” Simple, reset them every 30 to 40 minutes, but if players are nearby, trigger a new event. Spawn cultists or any other NPCs that have basic loot on the outskirts or nearby-locations and let them close and lock the doors. And reset the loots inside the certain rooms.

Boss Respawn

For the bosses, I think it can be improved by a huge margin that is very close to Tarkov’s lore. Since we are talking about Woods, let’s say Shturman has been killed by some player. After an hour or two, spawn Sanitar and their crew near Outskirts, make them move towards a Mill, recover Shturman and their crew’s body that despawns – until the new Shturman spawns near to the edge of the maps. Replace Sanitar if they haven’t killed, repeat. The bosses won’t need to be limited to the Shturman and Sanitar, giving a percentage to spawn random bosses in the same faction will do the trick just the same or even better. Since it will give much gameplay dynamics.

Server Overload

So, how are we going to stop servers from overloading? Since we are running the server continuously, it will overload overtime right? I said I have ideas just for that. Before server overloads – let’s say about an hour or two, block players from joining to that certain server. “That was easy” you said, well… I am not done yet.

Even if servers are going to reset after every player exfils, I think the new event that is related to it will change the game dynamics and it will be fun and lore-accurate. I want to call it ‘Overload Events’

Overload Events

So, “what are you pitching?” You might ask. I have two separate ideas for Overload Events. One for the maps that are set outside – like Customs, Woods, etc. One for the maps that are inside – like The Lab, Factory and Interchange.

For outside maps, I want to pitch an ‘End of the Time’ event. Just 30 minutes before server resets, flares and smokes that have wacky colours emerge on random parts of maps. Eventually fills the map with deranged colours of fog. And spawns a horde of cultists that chase down the players that still remained on the map.

Image from Massive Entertainment

For inside maps, I want to pitch a ‘Purify’ event. Since we are inside buildings and such. Suddenly lights cut off, and you hear some noises from the edge of the map. Lots of scream, sudden horrors crawl to your skin. And you see some orange flames in front of you. You shine light in that general location, and see the cultists that are wielding a flame thrower. He was hunting down other PMCs, that have not been escaped, still shooting flames ashes that once were human beings. You flinch a bit, make noise, a Purifier slowly turns head towards you. Shouting a mumble that is unbearable because of the masks and makeshift face armour that he is wearing. You try to shoot him, but the gun jams right away. He is slowly coming towards you while it seems to be checking the pressure of the flame thrower. You ran. You ran towards the exit. Just to stumble on some corpses. You panic, trying to unjam the gun. He is coming. Suddenly you hear gunshots. The purifier's gas canister is hissing, and you pull up the pistol and shoot. The purifier burst up into flames, and you hear someone talking in Russian behind you. You look up, there is BEAR PMC giving hands to you. And you finally escaped.

After that the server resets and repeats again – that was out of hand I know. If you die while Overload Events are happening – especially Purify events, you can’t recover your insured items. But you may be able to loot the certain quest items – such like broken flame thrower that are unfixable.

So that was my pitch to the current Escape From Tarkov’s Map Transit system. I hope you are interested and intrigued. And share, like and comment if you liked the idea or have other ideas to share!