‘Escape from Tarkov’ shakes up meta by ditching high end gear from traders

Escape From Tarkov has made it harder for players to acquire several ammo and armour types by removing them from trader inventories.

Yesterday (January 10), developer Battlestate Games made several major changes to the way that players can acquire upper-tier ammunition.

As noted by Twitter user LogicalSolutions, M61, M995 and PS12B have all been removed from traders’ inventories – meaning that if players want to load a gun with these ammo types, they will need to find them in-raid or craft them as they are also banned from sale on the Flea Market.

The changes have not been limited to just ammo. As of today (January 11), Ragman will no longer sell players the Rys-T, Vulkan-5, or Altyn bulletproof helmets, while the BNTI Gzhel-K body armour can no longer be bought for roubles – instead requiring a barter trade at loyalty level three.

Additionally, players on Reddit have reported that SS190 ammo has also been pulled from sale, and M80 bullets can now be crafted via players’ hideouts if they have a level two workbench.

While today’s changes also brought major price hikes to M62, AP 6.3, M855A1 and M80 bullets, it was likely due to a bug as LogicalSolutions has reported that those pricing tweaks have already been reverted.

It’s a significant set of changes, and makes it far more difficult for those looking to get their hands on the sort of high-quality gear you would traditionally see later in the game’s wipe. While it should in theory mean that newer players run into less geared-up opponents, the changes have received a mixed reception due to players feeling that Battlestate Games is making it too difficult to acquire better equipment.

Escape From Tarkov‘s last wipe took place several weeks ago and introduced Streets of Tarkov, a densely-packed new map that pushes players into tackling the shooter in a vastly different manner.

In other gaming news, turn-based strategy game Xenonauts 2 is due to launch in Early Access in the first half of 2023.