ARC Raiders Players Are Seriously Unhappy With Expedition 3 Changes

The ARC Raiders community is criticizing developer Embark Studios over a significant change being made to the shooter’s Expedition feature later this month. Unlike other extraction shooters, ARC Raiders handles progression wipes a little differently, by giving players the choice to reset their character for some in-game benefits and rewards. This time, however, things are changing, and players are furious.

ARC Raiders sharp rise in success following its launch late last year can be attributed to numerous factors, but one that often gets cited by players is the shooter’s attractiveness to casual gamers. While similar games, like Escape From Tarkov, often appeal to hardcore gamers due to its complex systems, ARC Raiders is easy to understand and far less punishing. One way it achieves this is by giving players the option of resetting their progress, instead of forcing seasonal wipes on all players. However, a recent ARC Raiders third Expedition hasn’t gone down well with the community.

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ARC Raiders Fans Think Embark Is “Dropping the Ball”

ARC Raiders‘ next Expedition Window will officially open on April 28, the same day that the highly anticipated Riven Tides update will release. Players will then have five days to get their affairs in order and sign up before departure on Monday, May 4. However, unlike previous Expeditions, the third reset will require players to complete a damage challenge instead of accumulating enough Stash/Coin value to receive all five Skill Points. This change hasn’t gone down well with fans for a variety of reasons, as some believe this is just the latest example of Embark “dropping the ball.”

The main issue players seem to have with the change is that there are only five days to complete the damage challenge (the specifics of which have yet to be revealed), whereas fans have been under the impression for many weeks now that they would once again need to accumulate enough Stash/Coin value for the third Expedition. “I saved up 3 million credits throughout this entire season to ‘chill’ on the last phase of the expedition. It’s practically worthless now because of the lack of communication,” one user said in a post that has garnered almost 4,000 upvotes. They go on to call the five-day window “absurd,” noting how players have lives, vacations, school, etc. “I’m okay with a time limit, but 5 days is just too tight, it should be 10 or even 15 days. 5 is ridiculous,” another user said.

Another post, which has over 2,000 upvotes at the time of writing, says this is the latest example of Embark “dropping the ball.” They say five days’ worth of damage should not represent the entire 60 days before an Expedition, and, as many others have already pointed out, not all players will be available for those five days. “Why did you wait until 2 weeks before the expedition window to communicate this? Are you guys still on vacation?” the user said.

The post also goes on to call out the numerous issues that have been present since launch, such as ARC Raiders‘ severe cheating problem, constant crashes on consoles, lack of endgame content, general lack of content, and much more. Others clearly are in agreement, as one fellow player responded by saying, “I agree. Love this game, fantastic game. But the late expedition change really highlighted Embark’s many screwups you listed.”

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The change has clearly angered much of the community, but Embark has yet to address the issue head-on. In the past, the studio has said that ARC Raiders‘ Expedition will change with further improvements, but the lack of communication so close to the next Window has left many disappointed. As the game’s player count has also dropped by more than 80% on Steam since the beginning of the year, Embark may want to think carefully about any future changes if it wants to hold on to the remaining player base.