Latest news with #MikeStubbs
Forbes
28-04-2025
- Forbes
A Major ‘Escape From Tarkov' Patch Arrives Tomorrow
A new Tarkov patch is coming very soon. Credit: Battlestate Games / Mike Stubbs A new Escape From Tarkov patch is set to arrive tomorrow, April 29, and it should bring with it a lot of improvements, including optimizations to key maps and a ton of user-requested features and changes that should make life a lot easier when playing. The new patch is 0.16.6.0, which was initially announced as coming in May, but appears to be launching a few days early. It will now launch tomorrow, April 29, at 8:00 AM BST / 3:00 AM EDT. The installation process for the patch will take around five hours, and during this time Escape From Tarkov will be down and not playable at all. However, as we have seen many times before, there is a chance this downtime is extended further should there be any complications with the patch deployment. While we won't get a chance to see the official Escape From Tarkov patch notes for update 0.16.6.0, we do know some of the things that should be arriving with it thanks to the recent Tarkov TV stream that revealed the Tarkov roadmap for the next few months. In it, a lot of key changes coming in the patch were revealed, as well as some of the changes we can expect in future patches as well. In the new Tarkov patch the biggest changes will arrive at a technical level, rather than in the form of new content. There will be significant optimizations for the Lighthouse map, visual improvements for Customs, which continues to be amazing since the recent rework, and audio improvements on Shoreline. There are also promised fixes for missing armor impact sounds, AI behaviour improvements, and some of the usual balance changes that we often see at this point in a wipe. The more interesting changes come in the promised improvements that have come from the Tarkov Community suggestion site. The relatively new suggestion forum has been a place for players to post their biggest gripes with Tarkov, and it seems that the devs have been taking notice. This patch should include significant quality of life improvements such as highlighting items in insurance returns that are set to expire, auto restarting failed tasks and the ability to buy all items needed for a craft at once. The Tarkov roadmap also states there will be an in-game event with patch 0.16.6.0, however don't expect this to launch tomorrow, as we tend to see new events pop up a few days after the release of a patch at the earliest. Given the last event has also only just concluded, it would be a surprise to see another so quickly, unless it is referring to the promised permanent addition of the areas from the last event. With this Escape From Tarkov patch arriving slightly earlier than expected, it seems there have already been some changes to the roadmap despite it only being shown off a few days ago. However, getting a patch sooner than expected is never a bad thing, and could mean that we get more content even sooner than planned in future.
Forbes
09-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Forbes
‘Escape From Tarkov' Patch Notes Add Weapon Skins And Make Ref Changes
A cool Tarkov patch has arrived. Credit: Battlestate Games / Mike Stubbs A new set of Escape From Tarkov patch notes have been released, and while the main focus is on the link between Arena and the main game, there are some exciting new additions, including the addition of weapon skins. The biggest changes come from the Escape From Tarkov Arena 0.3.0 patch notes, which also launched at the same time as the Escape From Tarkov 0.16.5.5 patch notes. For Arena, there is the launch of the first ever battle pass in the game, which is free and features over 100 rewards to unlock for players. The list of rewards is mostly what you would expect to see, but the big addition comes in the form of weapon skins, a first for Tarkov. Skins in the Escape From Tarkov Arena battle pass are surprisingly complex, with different camos being available throughout the battle pass. Interestingly they aren't just tied to a weapon, but instead can be applied to just a single weapon attachment, such as the silencer, to give you a very cool look. You can have up to three camouflages on a single weapon, although I'm expecting that to expand in the future. The only disappointing part of the new skins launch is just how limited the list of weapons that support them is, with only 13 weapons currently having skins. However, with the dev team clearly wanting to support Arena for a while with more battle passes, you can probably expect that list of weapons to grow as more battle passes launch in the future. The other big change in both sets of patch notes is a rework to Ref and his tasks, with every single Ref task getting some kind of change in the main Tarkov game. They have generally been made easier and given better rewards, meaning there is much more of a reason to complete them now. The full list of changes can be seen in the patch notes, but be warned, it's a lot of reading! As far as changes in the main Tarkov game go, that's about it, however the Arena patch notes make for much better reading with a lot of very welcome changes. There's a rework of the social systems, an English-speaking announcer, a new map for Last Hero and tons of balance changes. This update for Escape From Tarkov Arena will also coincide with the launch of the game on the Epic Games Store, with the release date set for tomorrow, April 10. Hopefully, this will give Arena a new lease of life, with tons of new players discovering the game.
