u/DweebInFlames

https://files.catbox.moe/gcp6np.dmp

Hey guys, infrequently been having issues with random power cuts. Maybe once every 3-4 weeks for the past couple of months. I know what you're thinking, I too thought maybe a faulty PSU, but it's hard to say. It's happened only when playing Tarkov would put a great deal of strain upon my components (exiting a raid, playing one of the newest maps), and it's not something easily repeatable at all - again, I might go several weeks without the PC switching off despite still playing actively in those same situations. I'm wondering if the PSU has degraded enough over the past 3 years that the combo of vodka optimisation + insane base power draw of the 4090 is enough to cause power spikes that just knock the PSU out like a light, but that's my speculation as a clueless nitwit.

I did just have a BSOD, which I'm not entirely sure if is related. I've ran the Windows Memory Diagnostic and checked health of my SSDs with CDI, and those seem to be in a healthy state, or at least nothing recognisable from the software side.

It's a massive tower with good ventilation, so I'm very skeptical of it being overheating; components usually sit idle around 40-50c and then kick up to 70-80c. That should be well within healthy ranges, I believe.

Anyway, components:

7800X3D

G.SKILL Flare X5 32GB (2x16GB) PC5-48000

Gigabyte RTX 4090 AERO

Gigabyte B650 AORUS ELITE AX... don't quote me but I believe it's a 1.2, would have to go back and check the drivers I installed for this one without disassembling my rig

I believe the PSU was a be quiet! 1000w ATX 3.0 modular kit, although it's been a few years since I bought the components and the retailer with the invoice is currently in the process of shitting the bed and no longer has my transaction history (I'm not going to name any names, but if you're Australian you know who I'm talking about), so forgive me if I'm a bit off the mark.

I assumed when they announced the quest rework they'd at least make guns like that a little easier to attain, considering the majority of PvP players would move to a seasonal system and they were already a big grind with not much point to unlocking unless you loved bolt-actions, which not many people in this game do.

Nope, joke's on me lol. They made the AXMC even MORE tedious to obtain. 20 boss kills with a bolt-action vs. the original 'kill Shturman with a certain M700 + scope'. That's fine if you can wail on Glukhar while he's on Lighthouse for an event, but really most bosses are in a dogshit position to kill with a bolt-action, and with their reaction times + aim usually either you hit the headshot or get beamed.

I'm not exactly sure if the M10 unlock quest is still behind both Silent Calibre and Hunting Trip or whether they've changed it to a different quest requirement, but as far as I know the objective still hasn't changed. Who the fuck is going to bother with 20 PMC kills with a thermal to unlock a gun that is situationally ever so slightly better than the one you had to unlock to get to this one? It's silly.

I have no idea why they're so deadset on making guns that aren't even really any more useful to the player than a .308 DMR (or the usual laserbeam AR setup given that most fights happen within 50-70m) such a pain in the arse to unlock. I would also like to remind you those are the only true bolt-actions (not counting the Marlin which is literally not a bolt-action) they've added in the past 5 years. At least there's less bolt-action quests than there were the past couple of years, but I also don't get why they'd limit variety of guns that you had to use for a bunch of your Kappa playtime so heavily. BSG things, I guess.

It's currently fine with the way that they spawn on multiple maps, but I can't see the value in going to exclusively Icebreaker to farm dogtags for gear when half of that shit already spawns on the Icebreaker boys anyway.

From what we've heard so far it sounds like more of a progression gatekeep before players can move down the main story of the game further.

That's fine and all, but I hope it becomes a part of the minor gameplay loop. Not to compare every game within this space to Tarkov, but EFT does such a good job at making sure the player always has options for objectives in raid other than 'kill things', and one of the best examples of that is the hideout system. No piece of loot is unnecessary, whether it's some high-value electronics or jewellery, vs. a roll of duct tape and some tools.

Right now in GZW, it feels like the only things really worth shoving into your bag are half-stripped weapons once you get to the point where enemies start constantly running AK-400s or M4s, or valuables. I think you could include the stuff already in EFT's hideout system and that would immediately be a big boost for the length of time before you get burnt out of Lamang.

Additionally, maybe some other stuff more personal to the player's immediate gameplay than the drug lab or hijacking military electronics as well. Improvised explosives with bigger booms than a standard frag grenade. Jungle taping standard capacity magazines together for quicker reloads. Fleshing out the weapon skin/paint system to allow for people to rattlecan their own guns with a variety of designs. Possibly a custom reloading bench with the ability to make your own pissing hot loads. Seriously, that was so much fun in New Vegas, I'm surprised that these extraction shooters with their own ammo crafting mechanics haven't experimented with adding custom hideout-only crafts.

Cert III in IT. Bunch of my end assessments require me to screen capture a given process.

I would be fine with this if it didn't take three goddamn hours to upload a two-minute video file that is like 720p. What the fuck, man?

I remember the days where Flea Market was completely unrestricted. Buy whatever you want, at like level 5.

You know what happened? People fucking blitzed through progression, a wipe might as well not have happened. Gear that wasn't absolute best in slot became dirt cheap, there was basically no price gap between the lower-middle tiers of items, making 90% of stuff just straight vendor trash.

And people who were good at the game still dominated the game. A meta HK416 with an LPVO isn't going to save you if you run out in the open with no stamina or have no idea where people spawn on Labs.

The idea that opening the Flea Market with no restrictions is going to somehow improve the experience for casuals is plain silly. All it'll do is let players who know what they're doing snowball top-tier kits easier and easier. Right now, you at least have to go into raid and pick up ammo (or kill high level NPCs) or open high-tier areas to find good plates.

If you make the Flea Market open again, enjoy these being totally useless at every single stage of the game:

• any armour below Class V for anything other than shitty scavs

• ammo that doesn't have 45+ pen

• any optic that isn't a Vudu, Razor, SRO or EOTech

• any gun that isn't an MCX, GPNL, HK416, M4A1, MCX SPEAR or X-17

Pointless to use, and pointless to pick up. Looting is a significant part of what drives player engagement in Tarkov. People already complain about how many items feel like vendor trash. You think tanking the price of a bunch of stuff is going to help?

Now, some might say they prefer the game that way. Okay, fine. But look at how many people say they miss the early wipe feel and how all the drops and shit crater that sensation. You think giving people easy access to anything they want by just looting enough nuts and bolts puts the game in a healthy state?

We're already halfway there, but the level tiers at least do a decent job of making people to run some suboptimal gear. Good luck with that if you just pop open the flea with no restrictions at a random low level.

To be clear, some sort of the restrictions are internally inconsistent. TRG M10 being locked for sale when the AXMC and MK18 aren't for example. I think correcting these restrictions to be consistent to themselves, is totally fine to advocate for. But I'm sick of this idea that it's totally impossible to do good in Tarkov right now unless you're a mega-giga-sweat and we totally need the old Flea back when it hasn't been this easy to get gear in over 5 years.

Given that we're apparently getting a few weapons featured in CS, and it'll be the most of any update so far -

• FAMAS (I think this is a given based on the livestream), would be cool if we get both the F1 + G2, and even something like rifle grenades

• Benelli M4 - we desperately need a semi-auto shotgun, the pumps are ridiculously slow to both shoot and load, and this has the best aftermarket of any non-Russian semi-auto shotgun

• AI AWM - I just want an endgame 'premium' bolt-action, man. Could be the smaller AW even, but .300WM or .338LM that was guaranteed to one-tap a chest regardless of shot placement would be incredibly nasty. Plus it's an incredibly sexy rifle.

• HK USP (whether it's just the Tactical or all the standard frame models as swappable parts like Tarkov) - .45ACP isn't very well utilised currently, the 1911 is cool but the capacity is just very lacking. This would at least be a compelling alternative to the 9mm doublestacks. Give me the KAC suppressor as well. Mmmm

• KAC SR-25 - this one's a given. We need a modern DMR. I love the SVD and M14 but they're legacy platforms and you can feel that in their weight and 'jank' modernisation parts. Hopefully the non-ambi receiver with Mk11/M110 parts would be the default, gorgeous gun in those configurations, fixed stocks improve all ARs visually.

• either the FAL or G3 - don't care which comes first at this point. Jungle warfare, son. Cold War surplus battle rifles fits the setting so well. I think the Commonwealth FALs would probably fit better lore-wise, could even add the L2A1 for a bit of national pride.

• some more minor weapon variants - rest of the AK-100s for a mid-tier progression option for AKs, M16A2... not for any real functionality reason, most people will take full-auto over burst, but DA DRIP, maybe another variation of one of the existing pistols, either M9A3/A4 for the Beretta platform, or a doublestack 1911, I think there's a couple of older doublestack 1911s from the 80s/90s that share parts with the classic Colt models.

Thanks for coming to my TED Talk