Escape from Tarkov Releases Massive Update, Full Patch Notes

12/27/2023 02:39 pm EST

Escape from Tarkov quickly became the hottest extraction shooter on the market when it entered its closed beta period in 2017. Since then, the developers at Battlestate Games have introduced tons of new content and updated features in their quest to build the best version of Tarkov possible. Today, players were treated to yet another new content drop. The 0.14 Escape from Tarkov patch is chock-full of new things to do, including a new map called Ground Zero which is intended to be a location best suited for beginner players. 

On top of the Ground Zero location, players will likely come across a new boss named Kollontay who is now roaming the streets. Plus, the boss Kaban has beefed up his security by adding two guards Basmach and Gus. These two "dandies" should make it a bit tougher to take him down. Battlestate has also introduced a full Shoreline rework, added several new weapons, and implemented a host of bug fixes and updates.

Below, you'll find the full patch notes for the 0.14 Update. Escape from Tarkov is available now on PC.

Escape from Tarkov Update 0.14 Patch Notes

We present the Escape from Tarkov 0.14.0.0 patch notes. There will be a wipe with the patch. This update will not affect Escape from Tarkov: Arena and player progress.

New content:

Ground Zero

The Ground Zero location, situated in the city center of Tarkov, has been added to the game.

Location features a large number of infrastructure facilities of the modern city: banks, cafes, restaurants, stores, pharmacies, and so on. All this is towered by the skyscrapers of Tarkov. In the very center of the location is the main Russian branch office of TerraGroup, where the original conflict began. The most violent clashes between USEC PMC operatives and OMON took place on the facility's premises.

• The location is intended for beginner players from level 1 to 20;
• PMCs of higher levels (20+) will not be able to access the location;
• Scavs will have access to the location at any player level;
• New starter quests have been added to the location;
• Visual cues for new players have been added to the location;
• Quests "Debut", "Checking" (renamed to "Background Check"), "Shortage", "Supplier", "Gunsmith – Part 1" received updated text descriptions.

New Boss – Kollontay

A new boss Kollontay has been added to Streets of Tarkov. He is a former officer of the MVD (Ministry of Internal Affairs), during his service in law enforcement he had a reputation as a vile man, whose behavior was sometimes feared by his coworkers. During his work, he often resorted to his favorite method of interrogation – a rubber baton, as well as other non-statutory pressure on someone who was not to his liking. Thanks to his physical strength and bold temperament, after the events of the TerraGroup scandal, he formed a gang and began to do what he himself was recently supposed to combat – looting and banditry. However, even before the conflict, he often provided protection to local "businessmen". For example, his good relations with Kaban are well-known.

Kollontay has a small number of guards, prefers to stay in one position and occasionally patrols his territory. If he feels he has the upper hand, he may switch to his police baton. He lives in the area around Klimov Shopping Mall and the Tarkov Academy of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

Kaban's new guards

Boss Kaban is joined by his closest associates, Basmach and Gus. Since the time of Kaban's active involvement in business, they have served as his loyal associates, solving many delicate issues for him. Their loyal service and their exuberant character made them his most trusted confidants. In their spare time, these two "dandies" liked to dress up at Ragman's place and organize illegal street races through the streets of Tarkov in tuned cars from Kaban's dealership.

Basmach and Gus always stay close to Kaban and charge into battle for him. They prefer their unique clothes to their battle gear, though there are occasional exceptions. Basmach has a special fondness for machetes, and Gus for crowbars.

Shoreline rework

• Visually reworked most of the landscape, keeping the main points of interest intact;
• Added a new area – a small cattle farm which is home to smugglers and Scavs;
• Updated the light sources;
• Optimized most of the location, completely redesigned the culling system;
• Reworked location borders: concrete fence replaced by minefields and snipers in most areas. The location is also slightly expanded in some areas;
• Reworked some points of interest, including the addition of new quests and activities in several previously empty zones;
• Some areas have been reworked to improve gameplay: added a river crossing, reworked almost all elevations and sniper positions, as well as Scav areas of interest, etc.;
• Added more than 30 new containers and Jaeger stashes;
• Fixed over 1200 visual and minor bugs.

New weapons, equipment, loot

Added a number of new items, weapon modifications, equipment, and customization.

New weapons:

• KBP 9A-91 9x39 compact assault rifle;
• KBP VSK-94 9x39 rifle;
• SIG MCX SPEAR 6.8x51 (.277 FURY) assault rifle ;
• Degtyarev RPD 7.62x39 machine gun;
• Degtyarev RPDN 7.62x39 machine gun;
• Updated the models and animations for Simonov SKS 7.62x39 carbine.

Changes and new mechanics:

Achievements

An achievement system has been added to the game:

• Players will receive achievements upon completing various objectives;
• Earned achievements will not be lost with wipes;
• You can view the earned achievements on the "Achievements" tab on the character screen.

Hall of Fame

A new Hideout zone, Hall of Fame, has been added to the game.

• The zone serves as a place where you can display mementos:
• For displaying the dogtags of players of the opposite faction killed by your PMC, you get a bonus to combat skills leveling;
  • The higher the level of the eliminated player, the greater the skill bonus.
• You can add items to your favorites. Such items will be displayed in your profile.

New hitbox and armor system

Hitboxes

• The head is divided into separate simple hit zones, which coincide with the protection zones of helmets and masks;
• Three hit zones have been added to the head area: front neck – Throat, back neck – Neck, and a Face collider;
• Thorax and stomach hit zones are divided into front, back, and sides;
• The pelvic hit zone is divided into front – Groin, and back – Buttocks. Hits to these zones cause damage to the Stomach zone;
• Forearm hit zones have been reduced in diameter;
• The death screen now shows more detailed information about the area that was fatally wounded. For example, "Thorax, Upper back".

Armor

• 37 ballistic plates have been added to the game: 7 for the chest section, 6 for the rear section, 20 universal plates (for the chest and rear sections), and 4 for the side sections.
  • Ballistic plates have their own parameters specific to armor: strength, material, armor damage absorption, ricochet parameters, armor type, etc;
  • Ballistic plates are divided into different "formats" depending on the size and format of the armor section;
  • Ballistic plates cannot be inserted or removed while wearing the body armor. It must be removed first;.
  • The visual appearance of a ballistic plate depends on its durability;
  • Ballistic plates can spawn in appropriate areas and containers on locations;
  • Ballistic plates are affected by the "Light Armor" and "Heavy Armor" skills depending on the type of the ballistic plate (Light and Heavy).
• Added separate ballistic plate zones on the character, visually matching the location in the body armor:
  • The hit registration zones of ballistic plates of the same format have the same position in all body armor and plate carriers with slots for this plate format;
  • The dimensions of the ballistic plate zones are the same as the average dimensions of real ballistic plates of that format.
• Ballistic plate slots and integrated armor slots have been added to body armor vests and plate carriers:
  • All ballistic plates of the corresponding format can be installed in the armor plate slots. The slots of some armor plates can be fitted with plates of several formats. For example, the chest section of the ANA Tactical M2 plate carrier can be fitted with SAPI and Granit format plates;
  • Body armor protection is no longer uniform. It now depends on what areas the body armor visually protects. For example, no body armor protects the armpit area;
  • The durability of body armor has been converted to the durability of installed armor; 
  • An armored collar that protects the neck hitbox has been added for a large number of body armors;
  • Body armor vest cost, weight, and penalties have been adjusted – some of the cost, weight, and penalties have been "moved" to ballistic plates.
• Integrated armor slots have been added to a large number of helmets:
  • Helmet durability has been converted to the durability of the integrated armor.
• Integrated armor in body armor and helmets:
  • The protection of armor and helmets is divided into separate zones, depending on which section this zone protects (sometimes several zones). These are the slots with integrated armor;
  • Integrated armor zones have their own separate durability. For example, you can now reduce your opponent's chest zone armor durability and not damage the durability of other armor zones if you shoot them in the chest;
  • In the inspection window, you can see exactly which areas of the vest or helmet are protected and what their durability rating is; 
  • Integrated armor cannot be removed or replaced;
  • Each integrated armor has its own armor-specific settings: durability, material, armor damage absorption, ricochet parameters, armor type, and others;
  • Integrated armor is affected by the "Light Armor" and "Heavy Armor" skills depending on the type of the armor (Light and Heavy).
• Balancing
  • The damage parameter on various armor materials has been adjusted to reflect the new durability values.
• Repairs
  • When repairing body armor, durability is distributed according to the following priorities: ballistic plates (chest, back, sides) and then integrated armor (chest, collar, back, pelvis, sides, other);
  • You can also repair ballistic plates as separate items;
  • When repairing helmets, durability is distributed according to the following priorities: integrated armor (face, top, eyes, jaws, back of head, ears, other);
  • Integrated armor can receive an enhancement when it is repaired; 
  • Chances for armor to receive common and rare enhancements while being repaired have been increased.
• Interface
  • You can now see the durability of different armor zones and ballistic plates by hovering over the durability digit of a vest or helmet. This also works for Flea Market offers;
  • You can see brief information about the presence and quantity of ballistic plates in the posted Flea Market offers;
  • Slots for ballistic plates and integrated armor (if the vest has them) have been added to the vest and helmet inspector screens. The order of the slots is always the same;
  • Armor class is now displayed with a Roman numeral icon on the ballistic plate icon and in the Armor Class list.
• Flea Market and trading
  • The Flea Market ban has been removed from a large number of body armors;
  • Ballistic plates of protection classes 5 and 6 cannot be sold on the Flea Market;
  • Ballistic plates have been added to the inventory of various traders.

Vaulting and obstacle interaction

• Obstacle vaulting has been added to the game;
• There are two types of vaulting:
  • Climbing the obstacle and remaining on it. For example, climbing a crate to fire at the enemy from top of it;
  • Vaulting over an obstacle. For example, jumping over a small fence to take a shortcut.
• Each of these types has different animations for different heights, different parameters of stamina and arm stamina consumption, and different action speeds, depending on the negative effects;
• During a sprint, you can jump over obstacles without the goal of climbing them (Vaulting);
• If vaulting is performed while walking, the loudness of such actions will be noticeably lower than jumping and sprinting;
• For the convenience of overcoming obstacles an option has been added to the game settings: "Vaulting over medium obstacles", where you can choose "Auto" or "Hotkey". If you select "Auto", your character will climb over medium and low height obstacles by himself. If you select "Hotkey" you will need to press the "Jump" key to initiate vaulting, but this way you can control the character's actions more precisely;
• The character now stops if he hits a wall while walking or sprinting.

Shoulder transition

• The ability to move firearms from the right shoulder to the left shoulder and back has been added to the game. This can be useful when you want to fire from the left side while behind cover;
• Shoulder transition is available during walking, crouching, leaning, and other actions;
• Shoulder transition is not available while prone and overhead and side blind firing;
• Positioning the weapon on the left shoulder imposes a penalty – the weapon has additional sway when moving.

Controls settings

Warning: All controls settings have been reset to default.

• Added "Shoulder transition" action, default key is "Mouse4";
• Added "Vaulting" action, default key is "Space", press type is "Continuous";
• The "Jump" action has been reassigned to "Spacebar" key with "Release" press type. Try these controls settings in-game before changing them.

Preset ammo loading

• You can now save settings (presets) for loading ammunition into magazines sequentially, as well as quickly loading magazines using these presets; 
• Players can name each preset, select the appropriate loading preset, view its contents, and compare it to other loading presets;
• The magazine loading preset is divided into three blocks:
  • "Top" – How many and which cartridges will be at the top of the magazine/belt, i.e. which cartridges will be first; 
  • "Loop" – How many and which cartridges will be cycled in the magazine/belt; 
  • "Bottom" – How many and which cartridges will be at the bottom of the magazine/belt, i.e. which cartridges will be last.
• You can create up to 30 unique magazine loading presets, with a limit of 5 presets per caliber.

New recoil mechanics

• The recoil mechanic has been improved to make it more realistic and comfortable for players. A special emphasis has been placed on improving the feel of semi-auto and short burst shooting;
• New recoil mechanic now includes a variety of flexible settings, allowing for balance adjustments based on analytical data and player feedback;
• All weapon recoil parameters have been rebalanced.

Lightkeeper services

After completing certain Lightkeeper quests, you will be able to unlock access to the following services:

• "Sacred Amulet" service – Lightkeeper gives the character the item "Sacred Amulet". While the character is wearing the amulet – all cultists on all locations do not attack you unless provoked;
• "Rogue Support" service – When a player purchases this service, in that raid, Rogues will not attack the player who ordered the service, regardless of their faction. In addition, Rogues will provide fire support by attacking targets that the player who purchased this service has directed their attention to;
• "Zryachiy Support" service – When a player buys this service, in that raid, Zryachiy will support the player by firing at the targets the player is attacking.

Weapon Rack

Now you can add the displayed weapon to your favorites. These weapons will be displayed in your profile.

Viewable profiles

• Added the ability to view another player's profile page;
• In a player's profile, you can view:
  • Gear equipped by the player;
  • Brief statistics; 
  • Rare achievements earned;
  • Favorite weapons displayed at the Weapon Rack;
  • Favorite items displayed in the Hall of Fame.
• Player profiles can be viewed on any screen of the game (including the raid exit screen after dying to another player).

AI

Adjusted peaceful and combat behavior of AI when moving from one area to another within one location.

Balancing changes to trading

• Changed the trader prices and availability of ammunition in the following calibers:
  • 12.7x55 mm;
  • .338 Lapua Magnum;
  • .366 ТКМ;
  • 5.45x39 mm;
  • 5.56x45 mm;
  • .300 Blackout;
  • 9x39 mm;
  • 7.62x39 mm;
  • 7.62x51 mm;
  • 7.62x54 mm R;
  • 9x18 mm;
  • 9x19 mm;
  • .357 Magnum;
  • .45 ACP;
  • 4.6x30 mm;
  • 5.7x28 mm;
  • 9x21 mm;
  • 12/70;
  • 23x75 mm;
  • 7.62x25 mm TT
• Changed the trader prices and availability of armor on all loyalty levels;
• Adjusted various trade offers and barters of weapon attachments and other items.

Balancing changes to quests

• Expanded quest rewards: you will now be rewarded more often with unlocking previously unavailable trade offers, barters, ammo and armor crafting recipes;
• Changed the order of Skier quests between "Friend from the West – Part 2" and "Setup":
  • New order: "Friend from the West – Part 2" – > "Setup" -> "Informed Means Armed" – > "Chumming" -> "Bullshit" – > "Silent Caliber"
• Changed the quest objectives for:
  • The Punisher – Part 2;
  • The Punisher – Part 4;
  • The Tarkov Shooter – Part 4.

Balancing changes to crafting

• Adjusted armor crafts: now to make an armor vest you need to find a set of fabrics and a ballistic plate that fits the form factor;
• Adjusted ammo crafts. Reduced the production time and cost of cheap ammunition.

Balancing changes to ammo

The damage and armor penetration parameters of different caliber ammunition have been revised and adjusted.

Balancing changes to muzzle devices

The muzzle devices have been rebalanced: suppressors, muzzle adapters, flash hiders and compensators.

BTR

• A BTR-82A has been added to Streets of Tarkov, traveling between different stop points in the city;
• The BTR driver offers various services to his passengers:
  • "Taxi" service:
    • The player can travel to any available point in the city in total safety.
  • "Move items to stash" service:
    • The player can send items to the stash with the status "Found in raid";
    • This service is available only for PMCs.
  • "Covering fire" service:
    • The player can order covering fire with the help of BTR weaponry, which provides the safest possible drop-off at the stopping point;
    • The service is available only after purchasing the "Taxi" service;
    • The service is available only for PMCs.
• List of stop points on Streets of Tarkov:
  • Pinewood Hotel;
  • Rodina Cinema;
  • Collapsed Crane;
  • Cardinal Apartment Complex;
  • Tram;
  • City Center.
• The BTR is neutral to all players, unless a player starts attacking it first:
  • If someone purchases the "Covering Fire" service, the BTR becomes hostile. When the service ends, the BTR becomes neutral to all players again.
  • The cost of the service depends on the faction (BEAR, USEC, Scav), Scav karma, Charisma skill level and travel distance.

QoL

• The visual effect of the painkillers has been changed;
• The door to the expanded part of the Hideout is now always open after construction;
• Changed the camera system in the Hideout from railed to free camera:
  • To move in space: WASD;
  • To rotate the camera: Hold MMB + Mouse Movement;
  • To zoom the camera: Scroll Wheel.

List of changes:

1. Fixed several visual bugs and artifacts on Streets of Tarkov and Shoreline.
2. Fixed incorrect spawn points of random containers on all locations.
3. Fixed a problem that led to the lack of damage registration from melee weapons in some cases.
4. Fixed incorrect behavior of Rogues when attacking the hangar buildings on Lighthouse.
5. Fixed an issue where killed bots would remain standing.
6. Fixed the lack of muzzle flash when looking at a shooting player.
7. Fixed AI behavior when interacting with stationary weapons.
8. Fixed incorrect values of some parameters in character statistics.
9. Fixed incorrect camera behavior in the Hideout when scrolling in UI elements.
10. Fixed several compatibility issues with weapon attachments.
11. Fixed the ability to hear outdoor sounds while inside the bunker on Reserve.

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