Escape From Tarkov has never been kind to new players. You load in, you get shot by someone you never saw, and you lose everything you brought. The 1.2.0.0 update, which is out now after a long wait, finally gives newcomers a way to survive that first stretch: someone experienced to follow around.
That someone is the point of the new “EXFIL Brothers” program, easily the biggest piece of this PvE-focused patch for the extraction shooter. It rewards veteran players for teaming up with fresh accounts and teaching them how the game works, and both players get paid for it.
Operators and candidates
The setup is simple. If you already have a level 30 character, you’re an “operator.” A “candidate” is a new player whose account is no more than seven days old.
Run a raid together and you’ll both get a 5% XP bonus. The bigger payouts come later. As the candidate hits level 10, 20 and 30, both players receive “in-game roubles, bitcoins, and various cases,” the news release said.
Operators get a little extra on top. The release said the veteran will also earn rewards “based on the game edition purchased by the candidate, including TarCoin, posters, the operator upper, and the basic training hideout customization.” So yes, the better the edition your new recruit buys, the better your cut. Tarkov stays Tarkov.
Prestige comes to PvE, and it sticks
PvE players are finally getting prestige, with six levels in total. And everything you earn through it is permanent, so a wipe won’t take it away.
The rewards include TarCoin along with unique versions of the NKVD Finka knife, the Akula dagger and the Gamma secure container. For players who’ve watched their progress disappear in wipe after wipe, the permanence matters more than any single item.
The bots got smarter about where they fight
The PMC bots have been completely reworked too, which may be the change you notice most once you’re in a raid.
“They are now distributed across the map more logically, with a greater concentration in quest areas,” the press release said. “They engage in firefights with each other less frequently, preferring to attack scavs instead. In addition, bot gear and weapon loadouts now vary depending on their level and faction. New PMC bot spawns have also been added to the Labyrinth location.”
Read that again with a new player in mind. More bots near quest areas means the spots you need to visit just got busier. Fewer bots fighting each other means you can’t count on them thinning out their own ranks. And loadouts that scale with level and faction mean the bot coming around the corner could be carrying anything.
Which is exactly why the game is now paying someone with a level 30 character to stand next to you when it happens.
