Escape from Tarkov’s latest hotfix rebalances both gameplay and the economy

Escape from Tarkov is in a very rough spot right now. From a cheater epidemic to communication issues on the part of its developer Battlestate Games to in-game systems being rife for exploitation, players are rightfully upset. BSG seems keen on fixing as many issues as possible, and today released a hotfix addressing a few of the problems plaguing the game, namely fixing boss balance and the economy.

Scav and World Boss spawn rates were increased a few weeks ago, but Reshala was something of a ghost, though he should be easier to run across after the hotfix. Like their AI Scav counterparts, bosses were also far too quick to beam you from across the map, and that’s also been brought to heel. While player Scavs are not the biggest problem by a long shot, they could enter Raids mere minutes after PMCs, which was causing a significant loot crunch on maps like Streets of Tarkov and more unfair fights.

Unlisted in the notes but no less important for hardcore players, the Shooter Born in Heaven quest had its distance requirement reduced from 125 meters to 100. So while you still need to get three long-distance kills on each listed map, they don’t need to be quite as long anymore. Most weapons also saw their visual recoil reduced by around 20%.

The economy update was twofold. Over the past several days, BSG removed barter trades on the Flea Market, Tarkov’s in-game store. The Flea was a major victim of real money trading (RMT), where players would spend actual cash for high-value items they could then quickly flip on the in-game marketplace. Bitcoin prices were raised by about 100,000 rubles seemingly to compensate.

Additionally, as a possible olive branch and straight-up quality-of-life update, BSG rebalanced the Flea Market ranking system, making it much easier to unlock additional offer slots players can use to list items on the Flea.

Now, instead of being stuck at two offer slots for dozens or even hundreds of hours, players can get to three relatively quickly. Reaching four slots and up is still quite the climb, but having just one extra is a godsend. This hotfix doesn’t address every concern the community has, but it show go quite a ways to fixing these specific issues.