‘Escape From Tarkov’ Event Brings Flea Market Changes, Makes Labs Free

A new event has launched for Escape From Tarkov that makes big changes to the flea market, removes the requirement of a keycard to play the Labs map and adds some quality of life tweaks.

The headline change in the new event, which is available in-game now, is the removal of the found in raid requirement for items to be listed on the flea market. This essentially means that any item you find, be it on another player or as loot, can be listed on the flea market providing it isn’t one of the restricted items. It also means that any items you bring out in your secure container after you die can also be listed.

This change has already proved a little divisive among Tarkov fans since being announced yesterday. Some are happy to see the experiment and feel the found in raid mechanic is a little outdated now. However, others have said that this will see a return to players running around with no gear looking for high-level loot to stick in their secure container with little risk. I’m quite excited to give that strategy a go to see if it really works or not.

The other big change in the event is one that is typically reserved for the final few days of the wipe, with the requirement of having a keycard to enter the Labs map being removed. Now you can play the map for free, which with the found in raid change is likely going to mean a lot of players will head to that map looking to grab the high level loot.

Loot across all maps other than Streets of Tarkov has also been improved and the chance of rare loot spawning in locked rooms has also been increased, so you will likely see a massive crash in the value of high level items on the flea market in the coming hours.

There’s also been some changes to help you carry more of this loot, with the base inertia strength being reduced by 20%, the overweight limit being increased by 15% and the base stamina capacity being increased by 15%.

Rounding out the changes for the event are increased AI scav spawns on Interchange, an adjustment of the number of slots you can have on the flea market and the value of PMC dog tags has been increased.

Overall most of the changes for this Tarkov event seem to be an experiment around the overall economy and how much this change will impact it. I can only assume that the value of almost everything in the game is about to drop massively, but it could make loot runs a lot more fun. There is currently no word on how long the event will last or if a wipe is coming soon.