ARC Raiders Fans Petition to Revert a Major Change From the Riven Tides Update

The ARC Raiders community is furious over a major change made to the game as part of its Riven Tides update, which launched on Tuesday, April 28. Following the release of patch 1.26.0, numerous posts have gained huge traction on social media sites such as Reddit, as thousands of ARC Raiders players call for developer Embark Studios to revert a change it made to weapon durability. Many fans have blasted the unexpected adjustment as a “severe lapse of judgement” and a “massive blunder.”

Earlier this week, Embark launched ARC Raiders‘ most anticipated update yet: Riven Tides, which is the fourth and final update on the game’s current roadmap. While previous updates have added map conditions and new weapons, Riven Tides took things to a whole new level with the debut of a brand-new map and a new large ARC enemy. The coastal-themed map is much smaller than the likes of Buried City or Dam Battlegrounds, but comes with the highest ARC threat rating to date. Not only is Riven Tides filled with Wasps, Fireflies, Hornets, and Leapers, but fans can also expect to find ARC Raiders‘ newest enemy, the Turbine.

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ARC Raiders Fans Call for Weapon Durability Changes

Aside from new content for fans to check out, ARC Raiders‘ Riven Tides update also made some major balance adjustments. One of which altered the durability loss for all weapons. According to the official patch notes, Embark says it has heard “a clear frustration” from players regarding maintaining high-tier weapons compared to low ones. “We want high-tier weapons to have more longevity compared to low-tier weapons,” Embark said. Following the changes, Common weapons now lose 75% of their durability from just a single shot, while Uncommon weapons lose 50%. This change has angered fans massively, as the community feels as though some of the game’s most popular weapons, such as the Anvil, now need to be constantly repaired.

Who’s That Character?

Identify the silhouettes before time runs out.

Who’s That Character?

Identify the silhouettes before time runs out.

Easy (7.5s)Medium (5.0s)Hard (2.5s)Permadeath (2.5s)

Since the release of the update, numerous posts have appeared on the ARC Raiders subreddit, garnering thousands of upvotes and comments. One post is petitioning for the weapon durability changes to either be reverted or adjusted, as the poster says, “Revert the durability changes, or at least adjust the numbers…It’s not too late.” A separate post from a player with 300 hours described the recent change as “the worst thing Embark has ever done to this game,” before describing it as a “severe lapse of judgement” and a “massive blunder.”

“Annoyed is an understatement. The ability to craft light, medium and heavy gun parts is locked behind blueprints. This has me rethinking my want to do the expedition. I don’t want to spend my time hunting medium gun parts bp only to be able to play. Guns degrade far too fast now,” one player commented in response to the weapon durability change.

This wasn’t the only controversial change made in the latest ARC Raiders update, as Embark also nerfed the Photoelectric Cloak, one of the game’s most popular items for going up against ARC enemies. According to the change log for Riven Tides, the weight of the Photoelectric Cloak has been increased from 1 to 3 to “bring it more in line with its rarity/cost.” The studio has also increased its power use rate from 2.5 seconds to 10 seconds, as the developers felt as though the item had been “aggressively over-performing.” Fans were quick to blast the change, as a post with over 4,000 upvotes called the Cloak “useless,” with thousands of other players agreeing.

Balance the critic averages

Easy (6)Medium (8)Hard (10)

Embark continues to receive backlash for the balance adjustments implemented in each update, which could be a large reason as to why ARC Raiders‘ player count has continued to dwindle on Steam over the last few weeks. Although the Riven Tides update saw the shooter’s peak concurrent player count reach more than 135,000, it’s a long way off from past updates. Shrouded Sky, for example, saw more than 250,000 concurrent players at launch. Flashpoint, however, saw Steam figures peak at just 158,000. With Riven Tides achieving an even lower number, Embark may need to rethink its approach to post-launch updates if it wants to maintain its current player base.