User blogs

The launch of a new website suggests that Escape From Tarkov players are being blackmailed by a mysterious character known as Lightkeeper, and must collectively pay an exorbitant fee in order to bring traders back.

READ MORE: ‘Sniper Elite 5’ preview: more ways to explore with just as much gore

Yesterday (April 27), traders and the Flea Market were removed from Escape From Tarkov. According to a letter shared by developer Battlestate Games, this is in response to “threats from the lightkeeper” – who is presumed to be an electronics-based trader who will take up residence at Lighthouse.

Today (April 28), things have taken an even more dramatic turn. Scav Cases – a hideout upgrade that sends Scavs out to retrieve items in return for valuables – have been changed to only take roubles, however EFT Roubles players don’t get anything back for paying their Scavs.

The change has coincided with a new website launched by Battlestate Games, which features two numbers: the first is how much money players have already paid, and the second is how much is left to collect. The site also includes the same letter shared yesterday, which claims traders are being extorted by Lightkeeper.

Battlestate Games COO Nikita Buyanov has since shared a screenshot of an online chat room, which confirms that LK (presumably Lightkeeper) is “extorting money” from players.

“He will get what he wants and it will de-escalate for sure” reads the photo’s last message, confirming that traders will return once players pay the full price listed on the website.

Battlestate Games has also shared a letter in Russian, which further confirms that the money being sent via Scav Cases is going straight to Lightkeeper.

As translated by Twitter user Bakeezy, the letter claims that Scavs are currently transporting large amounts of money gathered from Scav Cases to a “scary as fuck” client.

“While I was carrying the bags around Tarkov area I also saw something interesting. Some guys are carrying money from Scav Cases and the funny thing is they are just taking the money from Scav Cases and are not bringing anything back,” adds the letter, confirming that players will not receive any in-game items for sending roubles through the Scav Case.

“P.S. It’s time to find out whose getting all that money. I’m really curious and nobody is talking. Maybe it is somehow related with all the traders’ shops being closed? I heard they lost big money, I’m extremely happy about that,” ends the note.

At time of writing, Escape From Tarkov players have Escape from tarkov roubles raised just 108billion in roubles, with a staggering 1.3trillion left to pay.

One of the major changes in today's technical EFT Roubles update was the new Anti-RMT feature which will block the exchange of some items between squad members during the raid.

Specific items, mostly the valuable ones, without the found in raid status, will no longer be droppable by the player during the raid as the item will get destroyed if the player tries to.

With this feature, Battlestate Games are trying to combat cheaters as well as players bringing in raid valuable items and giving them to other players, and helping them progress through the game faster.

As for the cheaters part, they are known to roam the map, being able to see what every player is carrying and blackmail them into giving them valuable items for a safe passage. This should demotivate a lot of cheaters as looting will be far less worthy.

The player will get a warning for the items in question, and if he chooses to ignore the warning, the items will be destroyed. 

The same will apply if he tries to place items inside backpacks, pockets, chest rigs, or even if he tries to drop the backpack including those items, so there seems to be no way around this blockade. 

Items will also get destroyed if a player gets killed by another player. However, if the players die with the items inside their secure container, items will not be destroyed.

The changes will apply to the following items:

All barter items (with some permissions below) .

Keys and Keycards. 

.

Money (quantity based).

Containers .

Specific armbands.

Info items.

Specific melee weapons (UVSR Taiga-1 survival machete, Red Rebel ice pick, Miller Bros. Blades M-2 Tactical Sword, Kiba Arms Tactical Tomahawk)

As for the items that are quantity based like money, the rules are as follows:

Golden neck chain — 3 pieces .  

Gunpowder “Kite” — 3 pieces .

Toolset — 2 pieces  .

Paracord — 1 piece.

Silicone tube — 1 piece.

Injectors — 1 piece each type.

Roler Submariner gold wristwatch — 1 piece.

As always, players seem to be divided over the issue as there is an ongoing heated discussion happening both on Reddit and EFT Roubles for sale on Discord. 

Will this shape the game for the better is to be seen.

It’s a bittersweet farewell for many EFT Roubles players.

There’s no definite date yet, but these two features will disappear in EFT soon. While the director doesn’t specify why they’re removing these two, we can speculate a few reasons. We’ll also examine how it will affect the flow of Tarkov items in the Flea Market and what their disappearance means for players.

But first, what are these two features?

Barter and Examine Mechanics

The first is relatively straightforward. In the flea market, instead of putting a price on a Tarkov item you want to sell, you can trade it for something you need that (should have) a similar value. Some people have been abusing it by offering needed items while asking for rarer, more expensive ones. Everybody needing those items must pay for the convenience or fight against RNG to get one themselves.

On the other hand, examining lets players identify items they don’t know on the market. This gives them experience and knowledge of the objects, which is essential in the wipe’s early portions. Losing this ability would remove one of the ways players get easy experience. However, that’s just a tiny blip in player experience.

Reasons from Speculation

Between the two of them, barter is the more exciting feature. That predatory method of getting rare items is primarily used by real money traders or Tarkov account sellers. On the one hand, this prevents the practice from continuing. On the other hand, it makes getting currency a critical task in the early portions of the wipe.

Removing it will necessitate the continued use of currency in trading. Therefore, players need those resources to supply themselves from the Flea Market. Still, veteran players should have backup methods to obtain the cash they need, but beginners would need help.

Also, as the abusers have shown, the system is easy to manipulate. Objects

Of course, this will cause some trouble for players using the former method, but it will be small. Some adjustments would be needed, and it will become routine in weeks.

As far as examine is concerned, its function is relegated to the early game as it is. After that initial burst of identifying stuff on the market, players forget about it until the next wipe. It’s barely being used, so why keep it at all?

Improvement Through the Advancement of Time

Something that people forget most of the time is that Escape from Tarkov is, had it been released on Steam, in ‘Early Access.’ Yes, they are playing the game, but the developers admit it is still far from their vision of the complete game. They’re testing systems and mechanics in a (hyper-)extended beta test.

That also means the developers will remove or add features as they see fit. These two are just recent casualties, though the blow to RMT is a nice side effect. It won’t stop the traders from continuing, but they’ll be troubled for some time afterward.

It has been years since EFT got soft-released, and it’s been improving. It’s slowly creeping toward the vision of the complete game the developers have. Judging by their pace, it can take many more years to finally be called ‘complete.’

While this is a benign change, other controversial ones could hold the game back. That’s normal. Sometimes, you need to take a few steps back to go forward. There will be no if or doubts about it. It’s an inevitable part of the refinement process.

In the Meantime, Enjoy Escape from Tarkov!

Even in its incomplete state, EFT is a challenging and engaging game. The thousands of online players every day prove it. Well, it only shows that the core gameplay works. However, the tiny details and small mechanics are proving troublesome to develop.

Still, there’s enough content to play. With several raid maps, hundreds of quests, and other personal goals to achieve, EFT can Buy Escape from tarkov Roubles provide hours of entertainment in its unfinished state. More than that, upgrading the hideout is a task that can also take a long time.