Arena Gets Patch Ahead of Free Weekend

Escape From Tarkov: Arena has received a long-awaited patch with quality-of-life features and balancing changes initially trialled on the main game.

Patch 0.2.1.0 for Escape From Tarkov: Arena comes a day before the game’s first-ever free weekend.

Arena has had a mixed reception since its release in December 2023, leading BattleState Games on a charm offensive this month on TwitchCon San Diego and the Tokyo Games Show.

This outreach campaign is part of a wider effort by BSG to improve its standing with players, after a colossal PR disaster earlier this year upon the release of the ‘Unheard Edition’.

The developers managed to turn things around with a successful string of patches and better communication, living up to the adage that you can never escape from Tarkov. The mood is still far from what it was before the Unheard crisis, however.

If the free weekend goes well, Escape From Tarkov: Arena will be on its way to fill the odd niche of ‘Counter-Strike gameplay but with mil-sim mechanics’.

Some players in the main edition keep hoping that Arena’s popularity will finally let them enter the Resort on the Shoreline map without getting trick-shot. Odds are it will only result in more quick and dirty firefights.

Patch Notes v0.2.1.0 Explained

Here are the changes introduced with patch 0.2.1.0 and the technical update released shortly after.

Task Widget

The Operational Tasks tab is now accessible as an overlay in-game, and they will be accepted automatically upon launching the game.

The Shooting Range

Arena now has a shooting range accessible through the preset menu. This has targets at multiple ranges, programmable poppers, and a training mode.

In-Game Region Selection

Players can now pick the regions without having to quit the game. You can choose up to three preferred matchmaking areas.

If the ping is higher than recommended, the game excludes that region. When this happens to all three, it defaults to the automatic selection.

Preset Changes

Players can change their preset during a Blast Gang match if they pick the wrong one.

The preset picker no longer allows two identical weapons, finally killing the tactic of switching to another primary weapon instead of reloading.

Damage Model

Blunt damage is now based on the energy of the bullet instead of using raw total damage as before.

This damage will also carry through armor better, with soft ballistic effectiveness slashed in half.

The Vulkan-5 helmet no longer feels like a tank, with its armor class set to 5 instead of 6, and its total armor points are now 75 rather than 99.

Network Improvements

The server tick rate has been improved, while frame time (and by association latency) is lower. Hit registration is significantly better after months of ‘ghost’ bullets.

Pricing Changes

MP costs were rebalanced across the board, as follows:

• Back-only ballistic plates (-30%)
• Pistol and shotgun attachments (-50% and -30% respectively)
• AK-pattern weapons except for the Saiga-12K (between -15% and -30%)
• Increased cost for bullpup rifles
• Armour and ballistic plate cost adjusted to new damage mechanics

Check if your favorite preset needs adjustments before launching the game, as it may be out of MP limits due to the changes.

Ammunition Changes

The damage values to multiple rounds now match those in the main branch of Escape From Tarkov again. The new damage is as follows, with the previous value in parentheses:

• 5.45x39mm
  • SP: 67 (65)
  • US: 65 (63)
  • T: 59 (57)
  • PS: 56 (53)
  • PP: 51 (50)
  • BT: 54 (48)
  • 7N40: 55 (52)
  • BP: 48 (46)
  • BS: 45 (43)
• 5.56x45mm
  • M856: 60 (64)
  • FMJ: 57 (59)
  • M855: 54 (57)
  • SOST: 53 (55)
• 7.62x39mm
  • HP: 80 (87)
  • T-45M: 65 (64)
  • PS: 61 (57)
  • PP: 59 (55)
  • MAI AP: 53 (47)
• 9x19mm
• 9x21mm
  • 7N42: 49 (45)
  • BT: 52 (49)
  • 7U4: 53 (47)
  • PS 59 (54)

Hotfix

The Skybridge map is available on Team Fight now, while the Last Hero versions of Bay 5 and Equator have been scaled down.

Issues with freezing after leaving the shooting range, missing character model when respawning, and FPS limit when using Nvidia Reflex have been fixed.