Battlestate Games has discovered that a brand new update is on the rise. Titled as 12.8, the upcoming patch in Escape From Tarkov is small but determined to bring many new features to the game. It won’t wipe the player’s progress (at least nothing was mentioned about it), which means players will keep all their scavenged items in their inventory. We have managed to get a couple of stream highlights and combine them in a list below, so we would strongly advise you to keep on reading.
Escape From Tarkov Podcast #5 – 12.8 Livestream highlights
Below you can find the complete list of changes announced throughout the stream. Keep in mind that most of the upcoming changes weren’t shown during the broadcast as they’re being kept in secret. The full patch notes for 12.8 will arrive in a couple of days from now (at the start of the next week). For now, we can consider the contents below as unofficial patch notes.
Just before you jump on the highlights, Nikita has noticed the phenomenon behind every patch released daily. They will most likely continue to arrive as they improve the anti-cheat, minor bugs, networking issues, and more.
General Changes
- Inventory sort button – a button that will sort all of the player’s inventory by item’s type
- Experimental option – Toggle High-Quality Color On/Off – could potentially increase the game’s performance when turned off
Cosmetics
- BEAR Upper and Lower Body Cosmetics
- USEC Upper and Lower Body Cosmetics
New Weapons and Mods
- M45A1 .45 ACP Pistol
- New stock and Silencer for Verp Hunter/VPO-101 7.62×51 Carbine
- Kel-Tec RFB 7.62×51 – semi-auto rifle
- Lancer LCH-7 12.5 inch M-LOK handguard for AR-15
Armor, Rigs, Backpacks, Headset
- Rys-T Helmet – similar to, but better than the Altyn helmet in-game. As Nikita referred, it’s the actual helmet that is present in PUBG. Expect to be more expensive than the Altyn.
- Galvion Caiman Ballistic Helmet
- Class 5 “KORUND-VM” Armor Plate
- Direct Action Thunderbolt compact chest rig
- New low-quality SCAV gear – Armor, Backpacks, and more.
- 30 Slot Eberiestock F15 Switchblade Backpack
- 30 Slot Eberiestock F5 Switchblade Backpack
- Headset – Walker’s XCEL 500BT Digital headset
First Aid Items
Two new items will be added to counter heavy blood loss.
- 3 stack CALOK-B Hemostatic – Syringe with 3 sec use time that stops heavy bleeding
- Esmarch bandage – hemostatic tourniquet
New Game Additions and Features
- Compass
- Keybind for fast backpack discard without doing it through the player’s inventory
- New Blood Loss Feature – A wounded player will leave a trail of blood which can be noticed by other PMCs as well. This explains the two new blood loss items being added to the game.
- New 0.5L Bottle named Kvass “Yadreniy” – Slavic drinks – Usable in-game – Grants +15 Energy and +65 Hydration.
Maps
Woods expansion in the works. I am glad that we got that right in one of our previous articles. Woods will be reworked and spread a territory of around two times larger than its current state. Shturman will also get different spawn points alongside new extractions for PMCs and SCAVs, and understandingly, better loot tables too. The map expansion is estimated to arrive somewhere between patch 12.8 and 12.9.
Streets of Tarkov was also discussed and will be one of the biggest maps ever made in Escape From Tarkov. It’s like an environmental combination of multiple already existing maps in the game.
Quest Changes
- New Cultist Quests???
- Nikita mentioned something about new quests, but we’re not sure if they’re tied to the upcoming Cultists in the game. Because no concise answer was given and we know that Nikita promised the Cultists would arrive as a surprise to take players out of their boots, they might be coming with patch 12.8 as well.
Last but not least, the game may receive a brand new build on Unity 2019. It will be available as a different instance on the launcher and players will be able to test it out before it traverses into a live client. Battlestate Games is also working on the storyline quests that are in plan to arrive as the game development tops slowly. Bugs and, network and technical issues will remain the top priorities for the company.
If you wish to rewind the stream by yourself, you can find it below:
