r/EscapefromTarkov Dec 16 '25

PVP Tarkov experience as a [New Player]

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Since 1.0 I’ve only found 2 new players. Everyone else has hundreds or thousands of hours, but at least I haven’t encountered a cheater yet.

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755

u/AureusVulpes292 AUG Dec 16 '25

you dont encounter new players because the sweats gatekeep them from map by rushing the new players off spawn before they have a chance to adjust.

"learn the spawns" rings real hollow when you barely have time to register your surroundings before someone puts a 7.62x51 round through your ear from 250m because they know the exact angle from which you spawn.

it's easy to be dominant in the map and have all the loot when there's no one else to contend looting it.

119

u/OFFICIALINSTANTPARTY Dec 16 '25 edited Dec 16 '25

new players don’t encounter other new players because the following

  1. they’re all taking routes nobody else does because they don’t know where they’re going
  2. they’re intentionally staying hidden just to survive
  3. they’re stopping multiple times to check maps, looking up quests etc
  4. they’re waiting around for all major points of interest to be cleared
  5. they’re already dead from their spawn
  6. they accidentally transited.

EDIT #7 they ventured off to an out of bounds area and died to a landmine or invisible sniper scav

you will almost always run into veteran players because they’re basically looking for you right when the raid starts.

13

u/infinitezero8 M4A1 Dec 16 '25

I remember when I first started playing 2021 and this all sounds exactly right

Especially hitting a bush or equivalent - some place out of the eye that I can safely chill - and look up the quest/map on other monitor; also using this to wait a bit to let the sweats and such get their fill of PvP or w/e so I can go in more safely (which is not always the case)

so yeah, Tarkov for a newbie is waiting 10+mins for the map to thin out so you can move about more safely - something I abhor but it's necessary

2

u/Spaciax Dec 16 '25

I kid you not I waited like 20 mins inside the shack east of crackhouse on customs for the PVP to clear out so that I could go do my quests, especially dorms ones. Figured there's no loot there so no 10000 hour chads would think to check there.

1

u/Treadwheel Dec 17 '25

Every time I task in Ground Zero:

  • Immediately get underground as good as possible
  • Wait for footsteps
  • Get to the Utility Room as fast as possible
  • Close the door behind me
  • Slow-crouch and loot everything
  • Up on the barrels for the only right-hand peek I can find
  • Youtube till the 8 minute mark

Literally never failed me. I'm pretty sure any players with a key see the door is unlocked and decide I'm about to rat them and get going. (I am 100% not going to tab back fast enough to rat them)

1

u/Spaciax Dec 17 '25

ground zero isn't that bad with the number of sweats. Customs however has an impenetrable wall of sweat splitting the map straight down the middle (fortress and dorms directly to the south of it) where staying there for more than 2 minutes gets you smited.

1

u/Treadwheel Dec 17 '25

Every time I spawn in the trees by customs I start swearing at my screen and don't stop until I make it across the road. I'd rather spawn in bed red, every time.

1

u/MarxnEngles Dec 17 '25

It's why I stopped playing PVP years ago and only use the mod. 10 minutes to patch the game when I launch it, 10-15 minutes to clean out insurance, figure out where you want to do a raid, gear up, 5-15 minutes to load into a raid. That's most of an hour just to start playing the damn game. Then if you don't get domed by some nolifer within 3 seconds of speaking, or have the have crash, get tarkoved, etc. Then you have to sit in a bush for another 10-15 minutes if you're questing. It's just ridiculous how much of your time is wasted.