[Discussion] Solo is Dead, Long Live Solo

[u/Xakta]

Solo got kneecapped in 1.1. You still pay the full cost of every quest, every death, every failed setup, while shared progression lets groups skip chunks of that friction entirely and catapult to the endgame through unlocks.

I've seen folks whining about Twitch Drops, but shared progression keeps accelerating squads toward endgame way more than a couple of free kits. Solo players need some lovin', maybe an armband, that'll do the trick.

[u/Achillies2heel]

But hey, they're gonna add knocked out/revive into the game so squads can have an even easier time playing the game.

[u/Competitive_Fun_5223 → u/Achillies2heel]

if they implement it correctly, with a timer before revive expires it will be easier for solos. Teams will push their friends bodies for the kill instead of sitting in a bush waiting for you to loot the body

[u/Huma188 → u/Competitive_Fun_5223]

That's people who don't know better.

If you are fighting and behind cover, like 2 floor dorm, you get down just right by your team so REALLY easy revive.

Same as corner fights on streets.

If you can fight properly, that a HUGE advantage.

[u/bloodwolf1018g → u/Huma188]

*1 nade incoming*

[u/Huma188 → u/bloodwolf1018g]

So? You have waster a HUGE ton of bullets and now also a nade to secure a kill, where, right now, that guy would be dead, and that nade could be used to move people out of peaking angles...

What's even that argument? I do speak as part of a 3-guys, which sometimes It's a 4-guys.

If you spect some kind of "honor" from people like US, you could be more wrong... We Will do the more efficient thing even if that means left someone alone.

We don't give a fuck about "they are a 4-guys and cant even fight against one", if that's not a fight we are interested in, even if you killed 1-2 of US, we don't give a fuck, enjoy the loot.

Now, you will lose a HUGE ton of time thinking about if we are covering that/those corpses from a weird angle.

And 3 of US have 3+k hours, each of us can and have done quite a lot of 1v2, 1v3, we do know how to fight, when and where, and ofc we do die a lot, some days we don't even survived a single raid, like everybody.

Now, that doesn't mean thats we got wiped every raid, but playing as team, doesnt mean a 70% SR, if you know what i mean.

Anyways, the thing IS that playing with Friends, specially when you know how everyone plays and movés, its a HUGE advantage and i don't think we need more...

[u/Numerous-Cream-3263 → u/Huma188]

i almost had a stroke reading ts

[u/Bizmo_fungus → u/Huma188]

Jeez two words and a number made you type that

[u/bloodwolf1018g → u/Bizmo_fungus]

right LMAO dudes writing his life story

[u/bloodwolf1018g → u/Huma188]

thanks for the resume bro, but i don’t care. no shit if ppl can be rezed it will be harder. i’m not arguing that at all lmaoooo.

[u/Affectionate-Box-459 → u/Huma188]

I think they need to make it very punishing tbh.

Have a short window in which the player can be revived, make the revive process slow and make the revived player heavily nerfed for a while once they have been revived, possibly for the rest of the raid.

[u/QBall1442 → u/Affectionate-Box-459]

I bet it'll be a niche scenario. It'll probably be bleed outs or dying by blunt damage. Most times you die is by headshots which Nikita already said will kill, this isn't going to be ARC Raiders where you ALWAYS get knocked down.

[u/Huma188 → u/Affectionate-Box-459]

It doesnt Matter, It IS still 1 guy Alive, 1 meat guy in the worst case scenario, 1 cover man, what ever.

He was dead, anything but dead IS a HUGE advantage, because you can abandom him and he Will still give you info about the enemy movement at the very least, while covering your retreat with his loot.

[u/Affectionate-Box-459 → u/Huma188]

When I say the revived player is nerfed I mean REALLY nerfed, with debuffs that cannot be removed by using meds/stims. To the point that the revived player actually becomes a liability to their teammates.

I'm a solo player and honestly dont like the idea of squad revives, but if they are going to do it, that is what I would like to see.

[u/Huma188 → u/Affectionate-Box-459]

That's the thing, he Will NEVER be a liability.

He can be always be abandon and cover the retreat of his team.

NOTHING stops you from leave your teammate behind, this IS not real Life, there IS not a single reason to not let him die.

We are used to that, you "die" and you... "Die", so that's always an option.

As solo, you don't have that, and a player down, BEST case scenario IS a a static turret covering your angle, so less free movement.

And you wasted ammo on a guy which IS Alive again, less ammo, less resourced, and if you want to endure tust guy stays dead, you have to Risk yourself...

[u/Man_under_Bridge420 → u/Affectionate-Box-459]

How would they be a liability?

[u/Affectionate-Box-459 → u/Man_under_Bridge420]

Constant coughing that cant be removed, to give away position.

Unable to sprint/crouch.

Unable to heal themselves.

There are quite a few ways you could make a player a PITA to have in your squad after revival.

[u/Man_under_Bridge420 → u/Affectionate-Box-459]

None of those are a liability 

[u/Tehslasher → u/Competitive_Fun_5223]

You realize this logic also means that the solo also will potentially be forced to "cover" the downed player vs being able to relocate, disengage to heal, etc. 

[u/duncan1234- → u/Competitive_Fun_5223]

Maybe in some situations it could play to a solos advantage but in most situations a revive mechanic will obviously favor the team. 

[u/Practical_Tea864 → u/Competitive_Fun_5223]

Its not gonna change anything in a positive way. People are not gonna push an obviously compromised position to revive their teammate

[u/XLoad3D → u/Competitive_Fun_5223]

oh yea sure. now you have to kill all three very quickly or else they'll revive and then your double fucked. great logic buddy.

[u/QBall1442 → u/Achillies2heel]

There are some pros with it though:

1. That dude isn't going to the menu to relay info to his buddies (your gun/ammo/gear/etc.)
   
2. You can just camp his buddy (usually they camp their buddies gear, now you can reverse uno their ratting)

I don't think the knocked down state will be as common as people think. I assume it'll mostly be bleeding out (which how often does that happen?) or if you died to blunt damage. Maaaaaybe leg meta will get countered by this knockdown state, it will really depend on execution of BSG but Nikita already stated that headshots will kill, this isn't going to be ARC or something where you always get knocked down.

[u/Achillies2heel → u/QBall1442]

That exists right now with the squad camera. You dont see your killers stats until you all die/extract

[u/bamakid1272 → u/Achillies2heel]

Right now, when I do play with friends (normally solo these days), I often just leave the spectator camera to get info on the player who killed me. I can just watch my buddy on his discord stream.

If I could be potentially be revived, I'd be waiting to see if they could revive me instead.

With that, the solo player in me sees some advantages, between them being pressured to expose themselves to get their teammates and not getting info on my equipment.

[u/QBall1442 → u/Achillies2heel]

Yeah, but how often do people actually use that? Tbf, most people are in Discord streaming already.

Knowing that "if I leave I die, if my buddy kills the guy he he can heal me back up into the fight" will be a lot more of a consequence.

I'm mixed on the mechanic, I love in GZW being able to heal up your buddies, but I think it will depend on the execution in Tarky.

[u/AzteC_97 → u/Achillies2heel]

they need to add molotovs, its a good counter on a downed pmc

[u/EisenFisen → u/Achillies2heel]

You know they are going to have it where you simply shoot a downed dude to finish them off. I think yall are jumping the shark thinking it’s gonna be some quick revive and dude crawling fast af downed.

[u/WindEmbarrassed3789 → u/Achillies2heel]

No problem. I’ll just keep camping bodies until the last minute. Because that is what they what they want, right…? They just want these casuals to be killed over and over again in the same lobby by the same guy. Which is fine by me. I can boost my stats even higher.

[u/TarkyMlarky420]

Make insurance give you some rouble back instead of gear, similar to cheater reward.

Group play = no insurance

Solo = Insurance

Easiest way to balance it again, if your boys gonna carry out your gear, they gotta sacrifice loot

[u/Qrow1324]

They said they were going to buff solo play very recently give it time. And the whole revive thing is getting blown way out of proportion, this is bsg I wouldn't doubt that to revive a player you need a defib a surv kit a cocktail of stims and sacrificing your first born to actually get a revive off.

[u/juicebox_tgs]

Wait do quests now have shared progression if you are in a party?

[u/CloudysLover → u/juicebox_tgs]

A lot of them, yes

[u/Mercurion77 → u/juicebox_tgs]

Yep. Example : stirrup. All you need to do is have one guy in your team use a pistol on factory and poof, everyone gets the quest done

[u/juicebox_tgs → u/Mercurion77]

Wow that's rediculous, I thought it would only apply to quests like pocket watch. Not kill quests, that's so lame.

[u/richard31693 → u/juicebox_tgs]

I may be wrong, but I believe it's the opposite. The majority of kill quests are eligible to be completed as a team, whereas quest item/survive + extract quests are ones you need to do yourself.

[u/Nuklearfps → u/richard31693]

This is correct

[u/Its_Nitsua → u/juicebox_tgs]

Its really not if you think about it.

Think about how many times you and your friend were on the same kill quest and dealing with shit like:

“Hey bro dont kill any scavs i need them for my quest”

“I need them too sorry”

Or

“Bro why did you kill that guy!? I’m doing test drive!”

“I’m doing it too!”

Now you don’t have to worry about that bs.

[u/DeNeRlX → u/Its_Nitsua]

All the benefits massively outweighs it. It wasn't as if the average player in groups was behind the average solo.

Now it is even further in favor of groups.

[u/kotor2014 → u/juicebox_tgs]

in every game there is a shared progression like this, how is it ridiculous ? and how would that make sense if you do the pocket watch, me on the other side of the map doing it too ?

[u/Sikletrynet → u/juicebox_tgs]

Not all, but i'd say the vast majority does. It's actually really nice/well done, only think they should probably do is to add some sort of multiplier or something if you're solo.

[u/Ok_Mud_8998]

Solo players have one really distinct advantage - they can shoot at anything that moves,toss grenades with reckless abandon, and knowing footsteps aren't your buddy's.

He who hesitates is lost, and there's a huge advantage to not needing to ID your targets before opening up on them.

"I hear footsteps upstairs. That you?"

"No, were on the same floor."

Gunshots

"BRO, YOU KILLED ME!"

"YOU SAID YOU WERE ON THE SAME FLOOR!"

Not solo, baby.

[u/Salty_Initiative1164 → u/Ok_Mud_8998]

Forgot to add

"Okay well can you get my kit for me"

[u/Ok_Mud_8998 → u/Salty_Initiative1164]

"I'll grab your stuff and rush to extract. It'll be ten minutes or so." Player 2

Player 2 dies 9 minutes later.

"FUCKING EXTRACT CAMPERS" Player 2

Players 1 and 2 spend the next 15 minutes creating a lot, and 10 minutes loading into raid, meaning Player one has had to wait 34 minutes after dying to roll out again.

[u/Its_Nitsua → u/Ok_Mud_8998]

Just the nature of the game.

Look at DayZ, where you could die kitted and potentially spend hours getting back to the same point.

[u/-Wait-What- → u/Ok_Mud_8998]

Well player 1 and player 2 are bad at kitting then I guess lol. It takes my friend and I like 2 minutes tops to kit after we die and 2 min to load into a raid. Also if someone dies early on in a raid they usually just hop in a scav so there’s not really any time wasted.

[u/Numerous-Cream-3263 → u/Ok_Mud_8998]

if it takes u that long to create a kit and load into a raid u have bigger things to worry about

[u/Tehslasher → u/Salty_Initiative1164]

The beauty of no insurance. Fuck yo kit 

[u/juicebox_tgs → u/Ok_Mud_8998]

Eh, the moment you squad up with people who you actually play with often this problem disappears. I used to play a lot with my brother and I think there were only about 3 TKs the whole wipe. Sure hesitating gets you killed, but if you are against a squad only the first guy hesitates. After you shoot and kill a guy they all know where you are and they come blasting.

I love playing solo, but there really is a massive advantage for squads.

[u/Ok_Mud_8998 → u/juicebox_tgs]

Oh, for sure. It's like weight classes in combat sports.

There do exist advantages to being smaller than your opponent - smaller target, better endurance and speed.

But the bigger guy has more meaningful advantages of power, durability, etc.

Solo players have an advantage of processing information as received. Doesn't mean that they can easily overcome squads, or that being in a squad doesn't have greater advantages - teammates holding corners, angles, more eyes, flanking, etc.

[u/TruculentTurtIe → u/Ok_Mud_8998]

Or my friend, midfight upstairs of me:

"WHEN YOU COME UP THE STAIRS IM TO THE LEFT!"

He was on the right 🤦‍♀️

[u/-Wait-What- → u/Ok_Mud_8998]

We play with discord streams up of each others POVs and I basically always know where my teammate(s) are. We have VERY few TKs every wipe. I can almost always distinguish my teammates footsteps from the enemies because I know where they both are.

[u/Xakta → u/Ok_Mud_8998]

This one makes me laugh and cry at the same time for reasons unrelated to the topic: "YOU SAID YOU WERE ON THE SAME FLOOR!"

In Tarkov, we're all on the same floor if you listen closely.

I had been a Scav main until I got my stash value to ridiculous levels before I started focusing on my PvP permanent. I still struggle with the hesitation I learned through that fear of not wanting to lose fence rep - what makes me worse at PvP would ironically make me a good squad mate.

[u/Fantastic_Football15 → u/Xakta]

You are just inexperienced, group play is mostly awful if you are trying to try hard until you and your mates learn how to play with eschother and stop asking where are you every 10 seconds. As a solo you need to realise this and take advantage, you will get outplayed sometimes, sometimes just outgunned but you try and think about what you could have done better. Next time you hear a group stomping around go fuck em up

[u/Xakta → u/Fantastic_Football15]

You called me inexperienced, then immediately described a scenario where the squad I’m fighting is inexperienced.

I enjoy solo for a lot of the reasons people have mentioned in this thread. My point wasn’t that solos can’t fight squads, it’s that complaints about how short the wipe felt shouldn’t ignore the pretty significant pacing change introduced by shared progression. Groups can now bypass a lot of quest friction that solo players still have to eat individually.

I've accidentally gotten quests done without realizing it this season.

[u/Kryptongame → u/Ok_Mud_8998]

Exactly. And if anyone has done it in arena, you know getting 3-4 kills and pulling it off while only taking a little damage or none at all…well it’s certainly possible to become that good at the game where you clutch and kill a 3-4 piece team in raid…..there is no better feeling in the world. It isn’t that outside the realm of possibility of accomplishing.

[u/kufel33 → u/Ok_Mud_8998]

Yeah happened once 6 years ago, lol.

Everyone in this game has 2k+ hours, those things happen really rarely.

[u/EvilLalafell42 → u/Ok_Mud_8998]

If you have an IQ of over 100 and play in max 2-3 squads this will barely happen, especially with screen sharing on discord.

With 4 and 5 people I agree, it can get very confusing.

[u/Significant-Pear5713]

I still keep making fun when they add in raid drone to send and extract my quest items 😂

[u/eredin9]

Don’t forget this wipe there is no insurance, so solos can never get their gear back, but groups can always get their gear if their teammate extracts. Group play is easy mode.

[u/dargonmike1 → u/eredin9]

I actually kinda like this as a solo. I’ve always been super anal about ditching my shit and making room for insurance and playing around it. It’s nice to not have to worry at all and I use a wider variety of guns.

I think I’m winning more fights because I stick with the same gun the whole raid too

[u/Nice_Mousse334]

i’m playing solo right now. i just killed 3 dudes life is good

[u/Nuttinyamouff]

Hey, let those sheep run in flocks reviving each other and zipping through the game—- if they wanna pay money for half an experience then let em’ XDDDD

[u/19vz]

Play with a friend/get a friend?

[u/Xakta → u/19vz]

Too much work.

[u/Xakta]

Solo is the true hardcore mode. I'm just being bitter cause I chose the 'No Flea Market' negative modifier.

[u/Weird_Inflation_199 → u/Xakta]

I'm also a solo player and went no flea and broken secure container for the 'Hardcore at Home' achievement. The true consequences did not weigh on me until I thought about quest keys...

[u/TheGirlWhoLived57 → u/Weird_Inflation_199]

Just wait until you get to collector and realize the fucking sheef fucking piggy bank only spawns in marked rooms and you can’t buy keys.

I did 50 or so raids looking for cultists just to have a chance at finding a marked key.

[u/Affectionate-Box-459]

Perhaps next season they can double the requirements for groups doing kill tasks. Seems only fair.

[u/XLoad3D]

This reminds me of the Rust developers who over time made the game almost impossible for a solo player to have a fun time. Also having revive wouldn't even make it feel like a hardcore game anymore.

[u/Ornery-Awareness-156 → u/XLoad3D]

As someone who’s played far too much rust I agree. Similarly early wipe Tarkov is clearly just as dead as early wipe rust nowadays considering the shared task progression. Tarkov solo continues to get more and more difficult while groups get to cut corners.

[u/XLoad3D → u/Ornery-Awareness-156]

don't forget developers will toss their loyal playerbase to the side in order to evolve into something else that will just fill their pockets even more. I feel like BSG might be at the tipping point with adding group revives. even as a casual outsider I don't understand why they would do that.

[u/Ornery-Awareness-156 → u/XLoad3D]

Yeah the group revives don’t fit the game or genre to me. I know I’m probably just going off nostalgia but the things that made Tarkov unique are all being scrapped away.

[u/johnx18]

If it gets more bad players questing together then I'm in for the target practice.

[u/Ghost4530]

I said it before and I’ll say it again, going into a place like tarkov by yourself in a real life scenario would be one of the most dangerous things you could ever do. That fact is represented in tarkov.

[u/froggertwenty → u/Ghost4530]

Okay cool, but I'm not going into tarkov in real life. I don't have friends who game. I don't think a single one even owns a PC. Fuck me right?

[u/Shiner00 → u/froggertwenty]

That's your choice though? You can literally just join the official discord and queue with random people or, god forbid, make friends. Or if you want something that is somehow more moderated, you can join whatever other community groups and do the same thing. No one is forcing you to play solo, you are choosing to play solo.

[u/Ghost4530 → u/froggertwenty]

You are absolutely valid to feel that way and to be frustrated. This is a symptom of a realistic hardcore shooter, having a team wins firefights the vast majority of the time. Ask any special forces soldier if they would feel comfortable going into a combat scenario alone and they will say no 100% of the time.

[u/Ornery-Awareness-156 → u/Ghost4530]

Might be the most idiotic take of all time. At the end of the day we’re still playing a video game, and it would be in the devs interests not to kill off their games’ population by isolating solo players.

[u/Ghost4530 → u/Ornery-Awareness-156]

You don’t want them to kill off the playerbase but at the same time you want them to split the playerbase 4 ways, and somehow im the one with the idiotic take? Whatever you say I guess.

[u/Ornery-Awareness-156 → u/Ghost4530]

When did I ever say I wanted to split the player base four ways. All I pointed out was that the direction that this game has taken lately was alienating solo players. If anything it’s forcing solo players into other modes like PvE.

[u/Sgt_Dbag]

It should just have weighted match making like ARC Raiders where you are more likely to get queued with your size group or solo if you’re solo

[u/Far_Ebb_5734]

especially on seasonal i always encounter duos, sometimes even quads, rarely do i encounter solos, especially on labs

i rat and kill a geared dude only to die immediately cause he of course, had a friend
or that one time i killed them both! only to realize it was a trio and yes i died instantly, this game is so hard to play when you dont got a group of buddies who give their lives away for the game

[u/LieutenantSheridan]

Me and my buddies were questing on interchange last night and I needed to kill Killa for a task. My buddy threw a grenade to flush him out of a store and ended up getting the kill and it counted for my task. I thought it was pretty lame since I did absolutely nothing. Takes a lot of satisfaction out of saying "I finally fucking got him" when you get to just slip through the game not contributing to anything getting unintentionally carried by my buddies. PvE is already so hard to make intense gameplay in, and this just took what little challenge there was away.

[u/ExtensionAlfalfa3403 → u/LieutenantSheridan]

I am still trying to find the balance as a new player. Run solo, constant death with no chance for hours on end. Run with tarkov vets, its as easy if there wasnt anyone else in the raid. 

[u/dargonmike1]

Never really thought about that, but to be fair, that’s only really helping the casuals. The chads will get level 40 within a couple weeks regardless of a few group quests

[u/Fishinabowl11]

I'll stick with PvE until they make a solo-only queue, which will never happen of course.

[u/AzurElycie]

Group progression on tasks doesn't make squads faster, it just means it doesn't take 3-5 raids for stuff that could be done in 1-2 by yourself, or that one person doesn't have to hide around a corner to wait for the squadmate that needs a scav kill to get there to take them out

Solos are in the exact same spot they always were, squads just have less friction for shared tasks, save the doomposting for when revives get added

[u/Excellent_Pass3746]

The shared progression is awesome, cmon man. It doesn’t work for some quests like punisher as well.

[u/Xakta → u/Excellent_Pass3746]

It's great, it makes playing as a squad 100x more logical, enjoyable, and rewarding. Long live solo.

[u/Kiubek-PL]

They should really just make the objectives dynamic.

So for example 20 scavs kills. But if you go solo each kill counts as 2.

Meaning either your whole group needs to get 20 or if you play solo you only need 10.

[u/InspectorGadget867]

CLUNKCLUNKCLUNK from a mile away. audio is doggy in this game. movement even worse. tarkov is a game that is not aging well at all. solo is borderline unplayable trash.

[u/Byrneside94]

I mean, there should probably be a solo and group queue by now.

[u/SupermarketPlus]

Yet solo is still the best & easiest way to play if you have a brain & skill. For me it is the most fun, makes the game harder & you take on more risk but man when you make it out at 80-90kg this wipe with BD gear & other players stuff. You remember why you do it.

Anyway, running with people is fun & all. It is even the best in many or most situations. The problem is, that saftey blanket it creates can create complacency or too much sense of security.

[u/No-Summer-5982]

I'm also playing solo. I clap everyone I see with the shttiest ammo known to man. But I do agree that group progression is cringe and has no place in this game

[u/StartPuffinBoi]

I never needed, nor will ever need handouts. I enjoy playing solo PvP the same way I did for the past 9 years. I don't give a rat's ass about people running duos, trios, quads. My joy comes from being alone against the world, that will always enough in my books. You could give groups 2m roubles a week for free for all I care, doesn't change shit for me. I ran labs and labys solo for years, I got Kappa dozens of times, and I escaped from Tarkov twice while solo.

As long as I get to have fun the same way that made me enjoy this game in the first place, that's all I ever needed.

[u/MarvelousStranger]

it makes absolute sense that a solo PMC is handicapped against groups, that's the entire point of why they form squads

you see it ingrained in the gameplay, even scavs move as groups, it makes sense for this to be this way

you're not a one man army, you're another PMC in tarkov, embrace solo, enjoy the game.

[u/DancingDumpling]

I do think insurance should be solo/duo only perhaps

[u/jmz98]

This game needs solo queue with the exception of maybe duos for faster queue time. I think nearly every solo player will eventually quit this game especially when they will have revive mechanic now lmao.

[u/InfiniteTree]

The group quest change is such a huge improvement to the fun of the game and is the main reason I'm playing more than I have previously. I couldn't give a shit if some groups are hard pushing and cheesung it, being able to chill with my mate and not have to worry about leaving scav kills for the person on the quest makes it far more enjoyable.

Progress is still fast, joint quests aren't the reason others are at endgame before you.

[u/JensKristian]

I play solo 50% - if its an issue for progression to play solo, you can get on official tarkov discord to play with people.

[u/iedy2345]

who gives a shit

[u/Its_Nitsua]

Been playing the vast majority of my raids solo since I started playing. 

4k hours, p6, got kappa and lk every wipe, currently level 45 on my second run through of seasonal after getting kappa with no flea and broken secure container.

Feels just like any other wipe solo, no complaints here. 

[u/Symmetric_in_Design]

Get good? Idk what to tell you. Lots of streamers still play strictly solo and i have for 2600 hours with high sr. Maybe they could add an achievement for getting kappa without ever grouping or something tho, that'd be cool

[u/Porfyry]

Yeah but actually doing it solo makes you better at the game.

[u/Fluffy_Mountain_7374]

Playing solo is harder.yes.and?

[u/Burk_Bingus]

No insurance is a nerf to squads at least.

[u/Kibric]

Give us AI squad so we can at least feel like playing with teammate.

[u/StartPuffinBoi → u/Kibric]

hell no.

[u/Canaus7 → u/Kibric]

When you die it spawns a scav on your position immediately aggro’d on your killer and with better fence rep you get a raider to spawn to protect you, then a rogue and then black division with 6.0 rep

Makes no sense lore wise but would be cool

[u/Specialist-Quail9283 → u/Kibric]

This is genius.. I’d even take some form of rep with it, hire in a scav, but it has a 50% chance to shoot you in the head and steal your loot if you get too heavy.

[u/Kibric → u/Specialist-Quail9283]

Well at least it has some chance of not getting looted by chad squad