ARC Raiders Confirms 1 Feature is Likely Never Coming to the Game, and It’s Splitting the Community in Half

Despite being an extraction shooter at its core, ARC Raiders has walked a tightrope between its PvP and PvE elements since launch. While ARC Raiders has risen in popularity largely due to its accessible gameplay loop, there exists a major divide in the community over the use of PvP combat where some players would prefer to keep the game PvE only. This split has led to the implementation of an aggression-based matchmaking system in ARC Raiders, and now seems to have also prevented another feature from ever being introduced.

As ARC Raiders continues to grow, it’s likely that there will be more changes made to balance its PvP and PvE elements. The upcoming nerf to the popular PvP Stitcher weapon is just another example of Embark pulling back the throttle on PvP gameplay. In another blow to ARC Raiders‘ PvP fans, the developer has made it clear that a leaderboard feature will almost certainly never be implemented in the game, and the two sides of the community’s PvP or PvE debate are split.

“It Can Be a Tremendous Benefit to Players” ARC Raiders Boss Defends Controversial AI Usage

Embark Studios CEO Patrick Söderlund defends the use of AI in ARC Raiders and urges players to “step back” and understand how it can help developers.

ARC Raiders Will Likely Never Get a Leaderboard, Embark CEO Confirms

According to a recent interview with GamesBeat’s Dean Takahashi, Embark CEO Partrick Soderlund expressed his thoughts about a player kill leaderboard system being added to ARC Raiders. Soderlund claims that a leaderboard like this would lead to a greater emphasis on PvP gameplay, something that would upset the delicate balance that ARC Raiders has tried to foster. However, the community reaction to this information has been met with mixed responses, and both sides have solid arguments to be made.

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The Pros of Having a Leaderboard in ARC Raiders

Other extraction shooters have this feature
Encourages players to keep coming back to improve their standing
Compliments the existing leaderboard for Trials

Player kill leaderboards are nothing new in extraction shooters, with games like Hunt: Showdown 1896 tracking rankings for stats like Banishing Streak, Total Bounties Collected, and Kill Streak. While ARC Raiders doesn’t have a bounty system yet, it could offer a variation of these types of PvP stat trackers like players killed or kill streak to encourage new gameplay opportunities within matches. With aggression-based matchmaking already present in ARC Raiders, including a PvP-centric leaderboard wouldn’t disrupt the players who tend to stick to PvE and are generally friendly toward other raiders.

ARC Raiders‘ Trials already feature a leaderboard tracker for players to compare their standing against others in regards to the weekly PvE challenges on offer. Adding a similar leaderboard for PvP would be a nice complement to ARC Raiders‘ Trials for players more interested in playing the game for PvP.

The Cons of Having a Leaderboard in ARC Raiders

Encourages an overemphasis on PvP
Likely to have cheaters fill the top spots

On the other side of the coin, there are some drawbacks to a PvP leaderboard that ARC Raiders is rightfully dodging by avoiding this feature. The obvious stated issue of encouraging more PvP gameplay is a detractor for a game that strives to balance PvE alongside it. But a further likelihood with the addition of a leaderboard for PvP is it becoming filled with cheaters taking the top spots with impossible to beat scores.

ARC Raiders already allows players to see their individual kill stats via the in-game Codex, so a leaderboard that tracks these stats would only serve to create competition among PvP players that ARC Raiders‘ aggression-based matchmaking may have a hard time filtering out. That may not be the worst idea in the long run, but it isn’t a necessary feature for a game with a community that is already divided on the subject of PvP and PvE gameplay. Ultimately, Embark likely made the right decision to keep PvP leaderboards out of ARC Raiders, but there may be room for a watered-down version of the feature that still appeals to PvP players to make its way into the game in the future.