Arc Raiders

[Tombstone]

You can still get this, but generally only if you run free kits. It's obvious the way game works is it puts free kit users with other free kit users, and only breaks from this trend if matchmaking takes too long. But there's so many people doing this that there's constant games. It's extremely rare that I see anything other than a free kit when I take one. But the moment I take a custom with a level 4 Uncommon (green) then everyone has custom loadouts and it flips from 90% friendly to 90% KOS.

The problem is that the game with free kits is like 30% of the game, you're missing out on so much more, the whole pace and tone of the game shifts. People with a lot of utility are harder to fight, can set more elaborate traps, they generally have more tactics available to them, plus you're missing out on a whole slew of weapons.

When I'm not messing about doing silly empty runs, I always run with a lvl 4 stitcher and a lvl 4 anvil (tends to be the best combo for the way I play), I still have friendly experiences 9 times out of 10. It certainly doesnt swap to a 90% KOS for me because I'm running with a lvl4 stitcher and lvl 4 anvil (medium shield, blue lootbox), so it must be down to my peace potion or my game is broken and I only meet friendly people

Though as I say, the sheer amount of runs I am doing and not encountering pvp is starting to become a bit of a problem as now I'm probably much too over looted and with too much of each currency as I havent been killed enough to hinder me. Definitely something they will need to solve if they ever do decide to put in a pve mode, or everyone will be bonkers equipped and with currency and deck points out the wazoo after 1 week of pve-ing.

 

[PrincessFrosty]

When I'm not messing about doing silly empty runs, I always run with a lvl 4 stitcher and a lvl 4 anvil (tends to be the best combo for the way I play), I still have friendly experiences 9 times out of 10. It certainly doesnt swap to a 90% KOS for me because I'm running with a lvl4 stitcher and lvl 4 anvil (medium shield, blue lootbox), so it must be down to my peace potion or my game is broken and I only meet friendly people

Though as I say, the sheer amount of runs I am doing and not encountering pvp is starting to become a bit of a problem as now I'm probably much too over looted and with too much of each currency as I havent been killed enough to hinder me. Definitely something they will need to solve if they ever do decide to put in a pve mode, or everyone will be bonkers equipped and with currency and deck points out the wazoo after 1 week of pve-ing.

I did some experiments, with lvl 4 stitcher and anvil, with a mix of common and uncommon mods (just the guns) start you at less than 20k loadout value. Where as even just a Il Torro and Arpeggio (still only greens) hops you up to about 35, by the time you're up to level 4 epics, 2 will have your inventory value at 50k from the guns and mods alone. I dunno what secret sauce they have for matchmaking, I suspect it places your location server as a priority (EU for the UK) and then tries to match you based on total squad inventory value, which solo is just your own. And it probably tries to cluster players to be ideally no more a certain value apart from each other. My guess is it's probably inside the same 5k or 10k bands or something like that. So like 0-5k, then 5-10k, then 10k-15k etc

But they've kept all that strictly secret so far, so it is just guesses, but it's approximately what I'd do if I was matchmaking.

Subjectively as a player I'm way less trusting of another player if I'm carrying around epic guns, especially if they are level 4 due to the cost of leveling the higher kit, my expectation as a player is that everyone else I'm matched with that has similar guns is behaving in a similar way. When you do loot other players you can tell instantly you're matchmaked based on gear because the minimum you will find in a lobby where you take an epic gun is blues, torrene and more likely renegade as primary with at least a green anvil or possible a venator backup. You also tend to find blue meds and shield regens.

Those are just rules of thumb though, there are free loadouts I take and run into someone with an Il Torro for example, that could just be because they otherwise had a very cheap loadout, or it could be matchmaking made an exception for 1 player because the match was taking to long to start otherwise and they want to keep queue times low. Or it could be they found it in game. I'd be interested to hear your experience as you take rares, or epics or legendary.

 

[Tombstone]

I'd be interested to hear your experience as you take rares, or epics or legendary.

I'll let you know in a couple of weeks, as it stands currently most of the rare times that someone does actually attack me, my stitcher absolutely destroys them, so I just dont have any need to run with a higher gun and if there is indeed gear matchmaking meaning that I wont meet people with higher gear and given that the loot on a map isnt dictated by your gear, then I'm not sure why I would bother to run with higher gear (as my stitcher beats most people of my "gear level") ...however I'll let you know in a couple of weeks because when the expedition is ready to launch I will then do nonstop high gear runs until I've used up all my high gear from my stash before launching the expedition.

 

[BUDFORCE]

I did some experiments, with lvl 4 stitcher and anvil, with a mix of common and uncommon mods (just the guns) start you at less than 20k loadout value. Where as even just a Il Torro and Arpeggio (still only greens) hops you up to about 35, by the time you're up to level 4 epics, 2 will have your inventory value at 50k from the guns and mods alone. I dunno what secret sauce they have for matchmaking, I suspect it places your location server as a priority (EU for the UK) and then tries to match you based on total squad inventory value, which solo is just your own. And it probably tries to cluster players to be ideally no more a certain value apart from each other. My guess is it's probably inside the same 5k or 10k bands or something like that. So like 0-5k, then 5-10k, then 10k-15k etc

But they've kept all that strictly secret so far, so it is just guesses, but it's approximately what I'd do if I was matchmaking.

Subjectively as a player I'm way less trusting of another player if I'm carrying around epic guns, especially if they are level 4 due to the cost of leveling the higher kit, my expectation as a player is that everyone else I'm matched with that has similar guns is behaving in a similar way. When you do loot other players you can tell instantly you're matchmaked based on gear because the minimum you will find in a lobby where you take an epic gun is blues, torrene and more likely renegade as primary with at least a green anvil or possible a venator backup. You also tend to find blue meds and shield regens.

Those are just rules of thumb though, there are free loadouts I take and run into someone with an Il Torro for example, that could just be because they otherwise had a very cheap loadout, or it could be matchmaking made an exception for 1 player because the match was taking to long to start otherwise and they want to keep queue times low. Or it could be they found it in game. I'd be interested to hear your experience as you take rares, or epics or legendary.

Interesting I wondered if there was some sort of matchmaking or ranking system.

But I don't think it's that strict as I've been killed running about with a level 1 ferro and not much else by a guy with rare weapons as it tells you what did damage.

Unless they found them that game of corse.

 

[Ravenger]

Though as I say, the sheer amount of runs I am doing and not encountering pvp is starting to become a bit of a problem as now I'm probably much too over looted and with too much of each currency as I havent been killed enough to hinder me. Definitely something they will need to solve if they ever do decide to put in a pve mode, or everyone will be bonkers equipped and with currency and deck points out the wazoo after 1 week of pve-ing.

They'd just need to up the Arc level. On the night raids it's common to have rocketeers over the extraction point. I had one run ended as I bled out in the lift as a bastion targeted me.

I've died far more times to Arcs than players. It might be in PVE they'd have to buff the Arcs or nerf some of the explosive effects on them.

 

[Wilko_Dog]

Did anyone venture onto spaceport Saturday night / Sunday morning? The big youtubers war was on, mainly people running round in a red outfit killing anyone for not wearing the same outfit but it was funny to see (even spilled out into the EU servers I believe).

 

[bigmike20vt]

They'd just need to up the Arc level. On the night raids it's common to have rocketeers over the extraction point. I had one run ended as I bled out in the lift as a bastion targeted me.

I've died far more times to Arcs than players. It might be in PVE they'd have to buff the Arcs or nerf some of the explosive effects on them.

it is a really hard one to balance and is the bain of "live" service multiplayer games i guess.

because what is easy to 1 player esp if playing in a squad is borderline impossible to another player who may be playing solo.

its not like they can put difficulty levels in - well they could i guess but then i expect it would be a lot of work, and add to that, that would absolutely fracture the player base which I can see would be a problem for a game like this. A game which is built around pure PvE its much easier - ie hell divers, it has 10 difficulty levels and it balances the difficulty around the rewards you get for choosing that level. but a game where PvP is a key part of it not so much........ unless players were for ever locked to the difficulty they chose you can bet your left nut some would get fully decked out with ultra rare or levelled gear then go into "easy" levels to seal club.

personally i am finding the npcs in Arc raiders to be super difficult, but i have not really gotten the nack yet, also i play alone so no one to pick me up or cover my back.

 

[PrincessFrosty]

Interesting I wondered if there was some sort of matchmaking or ranking system.

But I don't think it's that strict as I've been killed running about with a level 1 ferro and not much else by a guy with rare weapons as it tells you what did damage.

Unless they found them that game of corse.

Yeah same, but yes obviously these are rules of thumb. People can find these weapons in game, but matchmaking may also make exceptions to keep queue times down and leave some wiggle room in the strictness of the matchmaking depending on how long people have been waiting. This happened a lot at launch in other similar regards, namely duos would sometimes match with Trios and everyone was irritated by that, eventually with higher player numbers they tweaked this to be more strict, but you can end up queueing a while as a duo.

 

[Tombstone]

They'd just need to up the Arc level. On the night raids it's common to have rocketeers over the extraction point. I had one run ended as I bled out in the lift as a bastion targeted me.

I've died far more times to Arcs than players. It might be in PVE they'd have to buff the Arcs or nerf some of the explosive effects on them.

Yeah they would have to buff Arcs A LOT in order to have a PvE mode because with no pvp to cause you to lose loot, every player would be decked out in tons of wolfpacks and hullcrackers and what not in no time, probably just a matter of days and then 21 players running about on a map with all 21 covered in all that firepower and nobody pvping them, they'd annihilate all the Arcs extremely quickly.

 

[bigmike20vt]

i suppose it depends how many hours people consider to be "money well spent" and whether the devs are happy with selling a game, and people not continually paying for micro transactions.

I paid £25 for the game as near as damn it (i think its currently £22 on Loaded - the site formerly known as CD Keys ).

IF there was a coop PvE mode limited to 3 players in a squad (5 would be perfect for me but that is just my selfish use case of my regular group size and is already not supported by this game) (so no 21 player uber squads in PvE), and throw in some npc raiders as well maybe players would burn through the content a little faster......... but if i got 100hrs out of it I would consider that money well spent tbh and happy to then move on to something else.

but sure, IF the devs hope players make this their go to game for years on end with continual drip feeding to the devs via mtx, then at that point it does become more vital for players themselves to be part of the content for the game.

I have said it before though, i am not the target demographic for this game. i guess its credit to the devs on how good the game is that someone like me actually still wants to play it despite it not being the kind of game i usually play...... So i fully accept maybe anything i suggest for the game would not be a good idea for the majority of players. I will enjoyi t for what it is and either adapt to it i guess or move on.... but either way i think i will get my monies worth out of it.

i read a review of it over the weekend which absolutely nailed my thoughts (not sure where i saw it sorry) but open ended games which relied on other players to make the content was not for them either, despite them liking the premise and the mechanics of the game .

 

[bloodiedathame]

What's great about a game like this is that the basics are really good. They've got plenty of scope to run with it, not only from a narrative perspective but also in terms of game modes, upgrade routes, weapon classes... I'd love to see them evolve it further.

 

[Tombstone]

What's great about a game like this is that the basics are really good. They've got plenty of scope to run with it, not only from a narrative perspective but also in terms of game modes, upgrade routes, weapon classes... I'd love to see them evolve it further.

Yup and as its already the no.1 game in its genre (and frankly it doesnt look like any others in the genre are able to challenge it) , it has tons of impetus to evolve and develop nicely. Its posting player numbers unheard of in the extraction shooter genre and has successfully Blizzarded the genre well.

 

[BUDFORCE]

What's great about a game like this is that the basics are really good. They've got plenty of scope to run with it, not only from a narrative perspective but also in terms of game modes, upgrade routes, weapon classes... I'd love to see them evolve it further.

Yea I agree, given it's so early after being released it's really quite well polished.

There are a few bits, collision over some terrain can be a bit hit and miss, but otherwise it's great.

I just fear, that it'll turn in to a high skilled PVP fest, and once certain strats are learned, you know exit camping or whatever (not saying that is one but believe me people will come up with stuff), but stuff like that, spawn camping, any possible exploits etc, will force the more casual player to either adapt accordingly, or quit.

There are no real rules set in the game which does make it quite unique in terms of player interaction but I can only see it going one way.

If anything I reckon it's best to make the most of the current "honeymoon" period.

If it does go high skilled PVP, I'll probably stop playing. I already play PUBG for that, but more to the point that's first person perspective for me, I do not enjoy any form of more serious PVP in third person and the thing just turns into a massive camp fest being able to still see whilst obscured.

You can see that in PUBG (when in TPP) and sure whilst some people may prefer that it is certainly not for me.

 

[Ravenger]

I got my copy free with a graphics card, and I had no interest in the game, and had no real expectations when I fired it up. The fact it's dragged me almost completely away from playing VR (which is normally the majority of my PC gaming today) is a testament to how good the core gameplay loop is.

If I'd bought it for £25 I'd consider it insanely good value.

 

[Wilko_Dog]

I got my copy free with a graphics card, and I had no interest in the game, and had no real expectations when I fired it up. The fact it's dragged me almost completely away from playing VR (which is normally the majority of my PC gaming today) is a testament to how good the core gameplay loop is.

If I'd bought it for £25 I'd consider it insanely good value.

I got the deluxe for £50 and to me it's been the best game I've bought since Returnal on the PS5. I'm approx 86 hours in, so even if I stopped playing now (which I can't see happening) would still consider it great value for money

 

[steve45]

If I'd bought it for £25 I'd consider it insanely good value.

I paid just over £20 on Loaded with points discount, its been brilliant value for money for me so far.
It was a bit rocky to begin with, there was definitely a bit of a learning curve for me, this was probably my first proper intro to extraction shooters.
Where I didnt really see any realistic longevity in it for me to begin with, I think my opinion has definitely changed. From a solo perspective for me its definitely still a bit meh and repetitive. When squadding up is where this game really shines and its a completely different experience.
Every single run is a different story. You can go to the same location using the same route and it will be completely different vibe. All influenced by other raiders and your interactions or avoidance of such. The more I play of it the more I'm drawn to the PvP element over the PvE side of things, its clear that PvE is more of a means to an end to facilitate PvP interactions.
This is a gem of a game, and it will be nice to see it grow. New locations, new weapons, new Arc. I'd love to see an expansion of missions. I've still got plenty of them to do, however they are all PvE oriented so far. Would be interesting to see if they could factor in some PvP oriented ones, not sure how they could handle it. I could be barking up a wrong tree here but maybe introduce rouge factions into the game or something. I'm not sure if that would tip the balance too far to PvP though and ruin the vibe of the game. definitely interested to see where they go with the game though.

 

[Thekwango]

but more to the point that's first person perspective for me, I do not enjoy any form of more serious PVP in third person and the thing just turns into a massive camp fest being able to still see whilst obscured.

This is my only serious complaint with the game. Tpp in pvp does my head in.

 

[Tombstone]

Another 5 rounds so far today without anyone shooting at me, the tranquil travels of tombstone continue

 

[BUDFORCE]

I've been playing on the North American servers and to be fair it's not too bad, most..... People won't shoot, at least on solo.

I've still been killed several times though.

The thing with this game is unless they are a complete noob (and I have killed a few who shot first) if they got a half decent gun/gear and they shoot first without warning etc your screwed.

 

[steve45]

The thing with this game is unless they are a complete noob (and I have killed a few who shot first) if they got a half decent gun/gear and they shoot first without warning etc your screwed.

I wouldnt say this is the case. Awareness of your surroundings, use of cover is a very important factor. When you get caught in the open I'll concede, its pretty much game over. However this is where tactical movement is important especially when you know you are disadvantaged with low level gear/free loadouts.
I've won multiple fights to superior squads by just being smart about how I position myself. I've avoided even more when they realise its going to be too much effort to fight us. I've seen it quite a few times now when people will take opportunistic shots to gauge how rival raiders react. I do it too!