Arc Raiders Gets a Major Update With Sweeping Changes, Balance Tweaks and More

Arc Raiders' promised Riven Tides update and map—the last of four Escalation updates promised for the season—has arrived, and reactions are mixed thus far. On a positive note, a brand-new Riven Tides map with several detailed locations including the Hotel Panorama Azzurro is included, there's a new Beachcombing map condition, the new ARC Turbine enemy, a new Expedition Window, and several other additions including new items, sets, and the like. The new content has largely been received positively, and serves to add some additional variety to the game.


But the update is not composed of exclusively new content. There's also many balance changes, some of which seem to conflict with each other. Initially, the addition of a "Repair On Upgrade" feature drew a positive reception, since upgrading weapons now restores 25% weapon durability. However, the average durability of spawned weapons has also decreased from 50 to 30, and durability loss on shot has increased by as much as 75% on common weapons. This means most weapons are much less durable overall, but especially the Common and Uncommon weapons that arguably needed durability the most. While the patch notes point toward this being a change in response to player feedback, a vocal portion of players are already decrying the move as too severe.


Last time I covered one of the Escalation updates for Arc Raiders, Flashpoint, I discussed how the game's playercount had seen a substantial decline since its launch window peak. The average of roughly 140K players has also dropped to about 100K in the time since, though more players will likely return or pick up the game with the new content additions.

The game still puts up good numbers for a premium multiplayer title, though. Embark Studios also promises more updates to come, so while vocal doomsayers may be validated by a 40K drop in player numbers (at least on PC) what really matters is how well Embark Studios manages to serve and expand its core audience. Judging by the traffic and wider search trends still reflecting high interest in the game, reports of its death are clearly exaggerated.


It's not like Embark Studios isn't listening to its players. Earlier this month, an overhaul to the crafting system addressed major pain points expressed by the audience. So far, the actually-new content added with Riven Tides seems to be making players happy, with only the balance changes causing any real controversy. Another few weeks will determine how many new or returning players Riven Tides brings to the game, and help players adjust to the new balancing. In that time, the sentiment may shift, or Embark Studios may choose to dial back some of the more egregious changes to weapon durability.

The full patch notes paint a promising picture so far, but as with any live service game, we won't understand the true impact of the patch until the dust has settled.