Ever since Escape From Tarkov came along, it was all about realism. Patch by patch, Battlestate Games added something more realistic, making the game more interesting to those who enjoy such mechanics. However, it seems that they took one step too far in the most recent patch.

Yes, it’s great now that Interchange has more exfils and cool interactions and that the stamina indicator is divided into arms and legs. The endurance and strength stats reset was probably a legit thing to do with all the glitch abusers appearing in the recent Factory. But the new weight mechanism is a disaster. It’s been about a couple of days since the new patch has rolled out and the communities are already in rage.

- New mechanics, overweight. The character receives various debuffs while carrying a certain amount of weight (increased equipment noise, movement speed limits, increased stamina consumption, etc.)

This is what Battlestate Games stated in their patch note. Just looking at the patch notes, it doesn’t seem that harsh and it could seem legit. However, going into the game, it’s a lot more punishing than what it seems to suggest.

Before the patch, there wasn’t much, if any, penalty to carrying around 100+ kilograms. With the new weight system, the debuff starts at 40 kg (when the patch first rolled out, it was 30 kg). Stamina gets drained a lot faster than usual and it doesn’t regenerate unless you stop completely. The more weight you gain, the slower you get, and if it breaches 70 kg, you can barely walk. It’s as if both your legs are broken for carrying around such heavy weight.

The biggest problem is that if you set up your character for combat with good (not to mention expensive) body armor, a fully-modded weapon, and a few grenades, you’re already at 35 or so kilograms. Picking up two fuel tanks would already give you a debuff, and it would make it impossible for you to fight while moving around strategically. Even if you were to win the fight, farming the enemies’ equipment would put you much over the bar, making you slow and easy to target. It’s like you can’t get rewarded from putting on heavy equipment.

This leads to another problem: camping. Camping near exfils can be considered a “strategy”, but there’s nothing more annoying than having a good farm run only to be killed right near the exit by a thorax or head shot from the Mosin or Hunter. The increased debuffs of the weight system make it forever to reach exfils and some players would just simply camp and wait for other players to deliver items. It would be easier for them to exit since they would be right close to the exfil, so they don’t have to move far with the heavy weight. This situation could result in many keyboards getting smashed from slamming the players’ fists on them. Whoever had experienced the situation would know how frustrating it is, and the patch is actually encouraging users to camp.

As mentioned earlier, the players worldwide are in rage, requesting for a rollback or pitching various ideas. Loyal players have been playing the game despite the fact that the servers aren’t in great shape and that there still are tons of bugs and glitches, but the new weight system may drive even them away, eventually killing the game.

The entry barrier for this game is already quite high so it's important to keep the loyal users continue playing the game. Obviously, as it is beta, there will be more changes to come, but if Battlestate Games still wants to have this new weight system, it would be necessary to rework it with more precise details ASAP, possibly making it more acceptable to the many users that enjoy Escape From Tarkov.

Images via Battlestage Games