Seen a few videos for this game and was mildly interested but with BL4/BF6 out I was going to give it a skip as I'm generally suck at PvP (which clearly why I got BG6.....), but seeing all the positive comments I'm started to be tempted.
Arc Raiders
- Thread starter rumple9
- Start date
You do level/rank up and unlock more perks/better gear etc. as you play - but because of how the game works you're not really at a disadvantage unless you go looking for one. It's relatively easy to go in with a free loadout for your first few levels, grab the gear/quests you need and get out without ever really coming across another player.
Yes you will be at a disadvantage, even if the other players have reset their characters for a new "season" because they will have game experience and map layout knowledge that you wont. So you will be playing catch up at first until you familiarise yourself with the loot and maps too.
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The maps are a good size imo, helped of course by your comparatively slow movement which makes them seem larger. Blue Gate feels like a very large map, theres also decent verticality in the buildings. Exploration kind of comes in bits and pieces, you dont really have the time (or the safety) to just wander about the map exploring, so you kind of have to explore a portion of a map each run as you build up your knowledge of the map. Objectives are the usual fare but sometimes with a slight spin on them
That's not the
I must have been unlucky then. I've only had a handful of games and been killed by other players every time. I thought new players would be friendlier.
Just talk with prox chat before a fight even starts and you'll be fine. I played solo yesterday and extracted with 5 other solo players!
I'm not sure if my mic is working tbh. And because I'm playing on the TV with a controller after moving house, it won't let me bind 'press to talk' on the controller.
I'll have a mess with it and try get the keyboard and mouse setup.
Good game though, very atmospheric and tense.
They feel large, you get a good sense of verticality also etc.
Funny moment last night with a teammate who misjudged the zip line, two of us zip lined to our death
There's a yellow icon that appears next to your name in the bottom left if input is detected.
Prox chat works more often than not. Over ~8 raids I've only had one person kill me after I've voiced.
This guy was going to kill me but didn't take the follow up shot after:
Yep, matchmaking prioritises putting solos with solos, duos with duos, trios with trios. Because its so popular at the moment its likely the whole lobby will be solo/duo/trio but if the player count drops significantly you'll encounter more mixed lobbies to keep matchmaking reasonable.
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Yes you level up, with levels come skill points you can spend in the skill trees, these aren't trade offs they are just straight upgrades but most of them are not combat skills. You use your loot to unlock and then upgrade your own crafting stations at your home base where you stay between rounds, so you can craft better gear over time. You'll also find blueprints to learn which allow you to craft the more advanced weapons.
That said all of this progress can be voluntarily wiped for a fresh start every 8-10 weeks and there's incentives to the players for doing this, so it remains to be seen how many will opt in, but that will keep the balance somewhat under control.
Keep in mind that in any online multiplayer you're going to naturally be at a disadvantage with things like map knowledge, familiarity with the shooting, the looting etc. But that is not something specific to this game, and that gap, as with other games, closes quite fast.
They do range in size but at minimum they are quite substantial, each round you'll only get to explore a small chunk of each map. You can jump in a map, loot till your inventory is full and extract sometimes without seeing anyone. There's a really good balance of both indoor and outdoor areas to explore, and a great deal of verticality. The map spaces feel very 3 dimensional.
There are 2 main objectives. There's quests which are a fixed part of the storyline, most of the early ones are forcing you go and do all the different mechanics that are in the game, this acts as an extended tutorial. There's radio antenna you can use to call in loot drops, there's stations you need to find batteries for and bring them back to open up special loot caches, there's randomly placed higher loot containers like crashed Arc drones. And yes there's kill specific Arc quests and scavenge their body for parts unique to them. This way you learn what Arc drop and what to go hunting for when you need specific parts. But it's not just Kill 20 of this, kill 20 of that. I expect the Quests are a finite list (I don't know this for sure)
The second type are Feats which are ongoing missions you always have 3 of, things like do X amount of damage to players with Y type of ammo. Extract from Map X. Kill X many Arc of Type Y. Do X amount of damage to Arc with Y weapon. They range from easy and broad to more specific you'll have to try to actually get. Feats reward you in game currency called Rep which unlocks all the skins and goodies in the Decks. This is very much like Helldivers 2 model which is honestly quite good.
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They also allow joining mid-round which kinda compresses more people of 1 type into the same player space. Keep an eye on the clock (top middle of the screen) when you join. If it's 30 minutes it's a fresh round. If it's say 20 mins then you've joined a map already 10m in, this affects how you'll play. More places will have been looted and there will be less time on the clock before extraction points shut down. You're more likely to find dead raiders who have already looted stuff and have stacked inventories, other raiders are more likely to have used their supplies and ammo in battle or be a man down.
Got done by my first extraction camper this time around whilst trying to extract.
Previously had two players help me out with Arc whilst I was trying to search an Arc Probe which I did, but hasn't updated in my Quest log unfortunately, so not sure if that's due to failing to extract due to the above camper.
Previously had two players help me out with Arc whilst I was trying to search an Arc Probe which I did, but hasn't updated in my Quest log unfortunately, so not sure if that's due to failing to extract due to the above camper.
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No, quests update in game as done when the criteria is met. A lot of the more special Arc probes and stuff, require you to crack them open at one point, e.g the nose of the probe, then move around the side of them and loot at a different point, you get the quest for looting them.
Active quests and next to your map in game, when quests are done they tell you top left of you screen. Quests are shared among group members which is really helpful. If for example you need enemy Arc kills with grenades, if your buddy in a duo or trio kills one with a nade, it'll count towards you quest. Same with looting probes. For actual items it's different though, they need to be in your inventory and/or in your stash back at base.
Just went back in and did another Probe exactly as I did the previous one with the Breach and checking three panels and the Quest updated this time correctly. Didn't extract as a damn Rocketeer took me out, but I surrendered inside a building as there was another player and said over local chat to take the gear I'd collected as I was bleeding out. Hopefully he extracted as there were other players sat in the hills sniping down towards the extraction.
I just hope it doesn't just turn into a camp fest as that would really spoil the gameplay loop for a lot of players.
I just hope it doesn't just turn into a camp fest as that would really spoil the gameplay loop for a lot of players.