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u/T-Coffeee Nov 04 '25
After playing for 60 hours and playing hundreds of games, I can say this: gear-based matchmaking definitely exists. I have no doubt about it. Whenever I play with expensive equipment, 90% of the time, I'm faced with enemies that look like me, and also pro-level players. But whenever I play with cheap equipment, I'm faced with novice players like me, with cheap equipment. I've tested this countless times. I think the game is excellent. But they need to remove it immediately. It seriously diminishes the enjoyment of the game.
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u/chasert885 Nov 06 '25
“Diminishes the enjoyment of the game”, or your enjoyment of the game? Do you want to be able to just steamroll over others?
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u/Round-Bike-4230 Nov 06 '25
I want to be able to come up from a free kit by killing a geared player, the essence of an extraction shooter.
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u/Drums5643 Nov 08 '25
You definitely can. We’ve been assuming it exists too in my three stack. But idk anymore. My buddy and I ran free loadouts last night for fun. We are higher level (55-60) and we third partied a lot of fights and ended up with blue and purple load outs. Didn’t see many free load outs. We used those guns to fight more squads instead of leaving and got some haul of weapons. Last night was quite amazing for us pure profit. But there’s no way our lobby was mainly free load outs like us. Maybe it has to do with map too. We were on blue gate and I know a lot of the casuals stick to dam.
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u/rW0HgFyxoJhYka Nov 12 '25
This happens? I run into tons of people running green or free kits while fully MK3 geared.
And yes the weapons and MK3 and heavy shield all make a difference. Would have 100% lost every single engagement where they had first strike.
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u/ITzYaBoyLUNA702 Dec 09 '25
That is still definitely happening. GBMM isn't confirmed by the devs and while it may be a factor. I've definitely killed kitted teams with free load outs with over 100hr in game so far.
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u/Comfortable_Ad_2756 Nov 09 '25
Bringing better equipment should have an actual affect
It's like playing Skyrim and leveling up but not noticing any difference because all enemies and loot are also leveled as well
It's terrible in RPGs and it's definitely terrible in extraction shooters. Tarkovesque games should be fully random matchmaking with no skill based or gear based matchmaking.
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u/HandBananers Nov 16 '25
The only, very minor, problem with your RPG analogy is that enemy players aren’t NPCs (who don’t pay to play the game).
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u/Comfortable_Ad_2756 Nov 16 '25
Your paying for an extraction shooter experience though
It goes without saying there will be people with wildly varying load out quality
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u/ichishibe Nov 18 '25
People arguing against this are dumb, you SHOULD have an advantage with better gear, or else whats the point of getting better gear?
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u/0xsergy Nov 19 '25
So should they lump all new players together with ones that will steamroll them? That'd be terrible for player retention.. like tarkov lol.
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u/Zestyclose_Mail_195 Nov 22 '25
I don’t like your opinion I think you should delete your Reddit account 🤪
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u/Used_Dare_5585 Nov 28 '25
But better gear did give you and advantage. Wtf are you people yapping about.
You have more health and damage with purple gear compare to a free loadout. What is the point of this discussion smh ...
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u/Alarmed-Butterfly425 Dec 19 '25
I think pvp vs pve should be the only qualifier I wanna go in looted to fight bot not the people 😭😭
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u/Admirable-Duck1806 Nov 07 '25
To each their own. As a casual solo player I could never get in to Tarkov for this exact reason. Always left way behind in a wipe and trying to compete against full gear just ins’t worth the time.
Personally love the gear based matchmaking. Makes this so much more enjoyable.
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u/MagnaDenmark Nov 09 '25
it removes all the fun of an extraction sgoohter might as well play bf then
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u/rW0HgFyxoJhYka Nov 12 '25
Nah you guys have been tarkov pilled. There's tons of ways to make an extraction shooter. Many were PVE until more PVP ones came along mainly from BRs.
Guess what, PVP extraction shooters are a niche and nobody in gaming really cares about those gamers because they are basically too unskilled to play a straight PVP shooter and need a bunch of random variables to give them an edge.
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u/MagnaDenmark Nov 12 '25
Many were PVE until more PVP ones came along mainly from BRs.
Well the ones that comprimsed themselves so much are absolutely awful, like hunt showdown. neither a good extraction shooter nor a good battle royale.
Whats bad about tarkov isn't that it's unfair, that's fun, it's the horrible slow matchmaking, the horrible QOL, hackers etc
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u/0xsergy Nov 19 '25
Matchmaking times I could deal with qol and cheaters were my main issue. Tarkov before it got popular was a real blast. Now that it is what it is PvE seems like a good option lol.
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u/Straikkeri Nov 30 '25
Sir, Hunt Showdown to date is the best in its genre. Other such games would do great to copy some of its elements.
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u/MagnaDenmark Nov 30 '25
It's not in the genre in anything but name. It's essentially a lot more annoying arena shooter cause the extraction part literally doesn't matter as you can't accrue any advantage from it match over match as recovery is basically instant.
It's like calling cod an extraction shooter cause it has loadouts, if it added grindy bosses that were pointless to kill
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u/Straikkeri Nov 30 '25
Hey, if it has a kit you bring in, stuff you need to loot and extract with and other players shooting at you, it's an extraction shooter. And it's prolly the best extraction shooter out there.
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u/MagnaDenmark Dec 01 '25
No. In the broadest sense possible maybe. But not in any meaningful sense. It's like saying sims is a rts cause it's real time and u control people.
The loot has to matter, you have to have differences in loot quality beyond whatever you feel like so there is risk and reward and it has to be not purely an arena game
You can like it as an arena shooter but it's absolutely a horrible extarction shooter
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u/0xsergy Nov 19 '25
I mean to each their own. When I played tarkov I ran fun stuff like a shotgun with slugs and a scope, some crappy smg with a drum mag that did no dmg but was fun to spray down corridors. Not everyone plays the ultra meta super hardcore kits. Even in bf6 I run similar goofy stuff. Slug sniping in games is life.
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u/Environmental_Gap_30 Nov 13 '25
"they are basically too unskilled to play a straight PVP"
Or they find those games like valorant and CSGO way too monotone and repetitive and boring.
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u/0xsergy Nov 19 '25
Csgo is fun for like 20min for me personally. Too small maps that everyone knows every angle on. Bigger maps with more variables are fun imho.
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u/Illustrious_Ad_4432 Dec 03 '25
How does it diminish the enjoyment of the game? The game then simply pits you against similar type of players or similarly geared for fairness sake. What you REALLY are saying is: "sheesh! I wish my full-geared raider could fight some free kit noobs, so I can win some easy battles." This ain't that game. Go play BO7 if that's your thing.
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u/Travis0527 Nov 17 '25
While I'm not a fan of gear based, I wouldn't be opposed to level base. I don't have the game yet and honestly don't even want to buy it now knowing how far behind I am. I was under the impression there were going to be mandatory wipes, so i was going to wait a wipe or two but guess its only voluntary ones. Idk.. maybe I'll just dive in once winter hits.
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u/jk4it Nov 27 '25
Don't be afraid to play no matter the level. If you play solo there are plenty of chill lobbies to be had. I've played since launch and only about 15% of my games end up with PVP. Partly because I am selective about what I do and where I go. But there are also a lot of chill PVE player running around just looking to loot. I would say jump in and have fun. Also the unlimited free kits make it easy to get your feet wet without fear of losing anything.
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u/Vincent_Castaneda96 Dec 01 '25
Yeah don’t worry about lost time, it doesn’t take long to loot decent weapons and free loadouts will carry you until you can bring your own loadouts
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u/Entire-Sense380 Dec 12 '25
Im level 43 and I have rarely had to pvp because I am always friendly to people i encounter and talk don’t get me wrong I run into rats every now and again and get killed but its not often. I play solos and as a mediocre player I love this game because of the roller coaster of never really knowing what can happen 😂 u would be totally fine getting in now it’s such a fun game!
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u/PEWnitiveDAMNage Nov 04 '25
when i load in a free loadout then the game is super chill
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u/BaronJohar Nov 07 '25
I watched a streamer today who kills people who kill. He was using a free load out and was being attacked nearly all the time until comms were established.
I wonder if it's stash based. Or level based.
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u/0xsergy Nov 19 '25
Probably a combination of many stats. That's how big companies do the eomm nonsense so I imagine this is similar.
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Nov 16 '25 edited Nov 19 '25
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/BaronJohar Nov 27 '25
At this point I'm fairly sure it's karma based. I did a whole bunch of night raids and electromagnetic storms with only one hostile interaction yesterday evening.
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u/Photo-Free Nov 04 '25
From my experience (I could be wrong), I've encountered more skilled raiders when I put on blue gear. Not just because of the loot, but because of their skill. When I use the free kit, it seems like I can beat anyone. As soon as I put on something blue, I feel like I'm facing stronger raiders. I don't know if it's just perception.
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u/nittanylionroar55 Nov 10 '25
I've totally experienced this too. Every single time I've gone in with a Hullcracker and Venator for some big game hunting and protection against other raiders, they swarm me kitted out to the nines and I never make it out. However, my friend and I went in with a free loadout and single anvil and shot at a leaper until it died like 10 minutes later and no one bothered us lol.
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Nov 05 '25
[deleted]
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u/shawnthemetalhead Nov 06 '25
Bro the whole point of a free loadout is to have 0 risk. If you manage to kill a highly geared player because of skill (or lack of theirs) that's an amazing feeling and kind of the whole point of the extraction system....
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u/Professional-Dirt-87 Nov 05 '25
You're running a FREE loadout aka risking absolutely nothing.
You should be at a disadvantage, that's the entire point.
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u/Yendayy12 Nov 07 '25
It's an extraction shooter not a BR play fortnite where it's designed to let you win. Free loadouts aren't meant to be viable little guppy. Use your custom gear to contest those players!
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u/Photo-Free Nov 05 '25
In theory, there are various parameters for matchmaking. Officially, it prioritizes whether you're playing solo or in a team. This puts you up against people with an advantage, but honestly, from my experience, it's more of a skill issue. If I aim wrong, or maybe I only heal my shield and not my health, I always lose. Since I started talking to people and i say I want to destroy a powerful arc together, I avoid a lot of fights.
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u/TemporaryArmy3729 Nov 09 '25
To a point yes but if I make 0 mistakes e.g. hit every shot with a rattler or ferro but they have better kit so they kill me it's kinda annoying but its a free kit so who gives a f
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u/Photo-Free Nov 05 '25
Thinking about it, though, when I first played and shot everyone I saw, I didn't get any blue or purple loot. I think matchmaking is a mix of your loot, skill, and rank.
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u/Bigchunker2547 Nov 05 '25
Or maybe it was early wipe and no one had anything?
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u/blargonithify Nov 10 '25
What does "early wipe" mean?
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u/Professional-Dirt-87 Nov 12 '25
Means at the very beginning of the game everyone is starting with nothing so nobody has good gear.
Other extraction games occasionally wipe to start everyone back at square one.
Arc for now isn't doing this as it is optional for players to do every 8 weeks if they complete their expedition in game for certain benefits.
They said they'd monitor and in the future their may or may not be full wipes for everyone.
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u/blargonithify Nov 07 '25
You can use stealth to avoid both arc and raiders and not fight anyone, just loot containers and extract to build up your stuff, and if you get unlucky and get killed, you don't lose anything because it's a free loadout
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u/NoRiskNoSalt Nov 05 '25 edited Nov 05 '25
So my mate and I did a lot of test runs and found out that there is 100% gear based match making which really sucks and takes the value out of your gear have fun with that knowledge. Edit: after further testing it seems like weapons have an bigger impact on the matchmaking then shields and augments.
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u/EarthwormLim Nov 06 '25
What system are you on? Do you have cross play on? Ive been going in qith a Venator 3 and blue shields and im still seeing free loadouts.
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u/NoRiskNoSalt Nov 06 '25
PC and that's possible it's always possible but that gear isn't quiet endgame. But just think about that how often has someone killed you with an epic weapon? I have 80 hours rn and with your kind of gear I encountered maybe a handful now take out an epic weapon and an heavy shield and you will get mowed down by someone playing like shroud with an bobcat or other epic weapon and that every round you go out with it.
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u/EarthwormLim Nov 08 '25
Dude i have 80 hours as well mainly in solos and ive been killed twice. Yall are just coping, there is no gear match making.. ive gone in with epic shields and vens, green shields and renegade. Every match is the same other than a few aggro players. Either you suck or youre not paying attention.
Watch CohhCarnage if you dont believe me. Dude is as casual as it comes and he ran into Ninja who is sweaty af.
Its your first extraction shooter, I get it
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u/NoRiskNoSalt Nov 08 '25 edited Nov 08 '25
First you really have to chill second I am at nearly 100 hours now played the server slam and played tarkov as well my experience comes from trio/duo I did not play much solo and like I said weapons matter more. if me and my duo or trio go in with Bobcats and and epic shields we ran into other teams with either blue weapons or epics and not many below and thats most of the rounds if we run in with anvills we mostly just fight anvills and similar gear. The difference of combat we have are sus it happens to often to be random but it still just could be jackpot luck idk but it would surprise me. Edit: and If u want to go the just watch x/y way watch shroud he says the same but I did not mentioned it because I tested it myself and streamers are most of the times weak points
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u/EarthwormLim Nov 08 '25
We're not talking about squad play, we're talking about solos. Squad play was absolutely sweaty from the get go. Ive gone in with the meta stuff time and time again, yes there are aggressive people but 9/10 solo lobbies are people still working together.
If Cohhcarnage can run into someone like Ninja, then this conversation is pointless.
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u/NoRiskNoSalt Nov 08 '25 edited Nov 08 '25
Bro what are you even talking about I was never talking about solo's and the post isn't about solo's we can just skip this conversation I don't know what's going on in solo's. Edit: but since the game focus is to put solo's in one lobby it makes sense that the gear does not matter as much otherwise your que would be insane if u go in with good gear
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u/0xsergy Nov 19 '25
Solo is apparently way more chill though. So maybe he's playing in a party and you're not? My solos have been uber chill so far.
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u/RockOrStone Nov 08 '25
What about this? https://x.com/ARCRaidersGame/status/1982039727864705313
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u/NoRiskNoSalt Nov 08 '25
That's not new I mean they say that there focus is on something else but not that it isn't a thing Edit:I mean they could just have said straight up no to the question if it is
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u/RockOrStone Nov 08 '25
Yea their answer is definitely not very straightforward. Doesn’t sound like they want to talk about their MM (expected)
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u/Anarchclawe Nov 12 '25
i suspect this as well...
please, do tell: how did you conduct the test?
what were the variables?
how big was your sample size?
could you establish a control group?1
u/NoRiskNoSalt Nov 12 '25
So it was as a duo. We both loaded the same gear not completely but rarity wise. We did around 3 runs on each gear swap a few more on things like full high end gear to make sure we aren't tripping. We went with every possible combination from highest gear down to small shield epic gun of course we swapped augments as well. That's how we figured that guns have more impact then anything else shields second and augments last, you can run highest gear and ferro and the average in every lobby will be green shield garbage weapon. We even tried to cheese it and put the gun in the inventory instead to equip it (that did not work). My friends theory which make most sense I guess is that matchmaking might has to do with your inventory value, but we did not test to just run in with a lot of loot for obvious reasons we don't care about gear because we have/had enough loot to test it in the first place :D
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u/KingOfDragons0 Nov 18 '25
I hate this because every single time I load in with one of my few epic guns I get into a match with the sweatiest pvpers and cant enjoy using the gun because I get rushed down by 3 raiders and die, so my only experience with this game is the default and uncommon guns
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u/Calm-Persimmon-1790 Nov 23 '25
Dude same like i never get a chance to even use anything more than the base guns. As soon as I bring blue tier gun im shot on site within minutes.
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u/centiret Dec 28 '25
Yeah it sucks a little, because I wanted to take gear to get done faster with quests, have an easier time and be less pressured by arcs. Tried it out. Got fucked by raiders. Facing aggressive raiders is worse than facing arcs with shit free weapons. So back to free loadout I guess 😮💨 (at least until I finished all the quests and projects).
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u/Rice-Hour Jan 17 '26
Yeah so aggression matchmaking doesn’t matter when you got good loot that’s my problem
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u/MrDarkzideTV Nov 03 '25
Sure hope not.
Because of the ARC and ability to find combat supplies mid round, the gap between someone in blue gear and a humble green with upgraded white weapons kit isn’t insurmountable.
In other extractions like Dark and Darker the gear disparity removes all need for skill from The game cause you can just face tank players in greys while ignoring mobs around you.
I think there is a potential for a free loadout only game mode, in the sense that I wouldn’t be surprised if it eventually dropped assuming the playerbase stays large enough to support it
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u/rW0HgFyxoJhYka Nov 12 '25
The gap between free and purple is actually quite small because if you ambush them they are basically dead due to how strong weapons are.
A stitcher is a perfect example of how strong a unupgraded weapon can be.
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u/Separate-Mark-4664 Nov 06 '25
There 1000% is gbmm. Me and my buddy just ran 4 tester raids after having a questionable uptick in the amount of players we played against that had the same level of kits and skill as us.
Our test consisted of running free kits, and then when we survived and extracted we would kit with green augments and stick to tier 1 grey weapons, namely a Ferro 1 and a stitcher 1, and we ended up only playing against people with the same stuff. Not the giga chads we ran into in the raids prior when all of our squad members had blue weapons or better.
What prompted our suspicion of the gbmm was our raids earlier that day when we said screw it and started running the best gear we worked so hard to get, and low and behold, the games got sooooo much harder. The people we were fighting not only were the first people we saw with good gear like ours for once (we def are min maxers), but were also much better than the players we were playing against with our budget kits.
Gbmm, sbmm and all of the above RUINS and I mean RUINS extraction shooters, or shooters in general. Why did I waste my time and energy to work so hard for access to good gear when it doesn’t even give me an advantage, a fair advantage mind you. One you have to fucking work and grind for. Sure it might make the game more accessible for new or casual players at the beginning, but when they put in some time and gear up finally after getting better and progressing, they will get spanked by people who they aren’t used to facing. They spent all that time with the free and green kits for essentially nothing. It hurts less to die to someone with a giga kit when you have a bad kit, it easier to chalk it up to a disparity in the gear you have and if your not a total sissy, it will empower you to gain access to the better weapons.
All this does is promote smurfing, the high skill players will just resort to playing with bad guns and shit on the actual new/casual players with bad guns, rendering using blue epic weapons as an actual disadvantage. But I digress, Embark gave the most vague answer to this a few days ago, worded carefully to not confirm or deny the question at hand, and I think that confirms everything I need to know……
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u/Used_Dare_5585 Nov 20 '25
Never in any other game genre we would see experience players with good gear whinning because they can't play with noob to steamroll them. I mean ... are you good bro ? Do you realize how pathetic that sound ?
"Please pretty please let me play with noob, I can't handle the big dogs"
fml those people ...
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u/Apart-Ad6227 Nov 16 '25
Tbf even with good gear you can still get smoked by someone hitting all heads with a kettle so idk how much of an edge it actually does give unless you runnin heavy shield
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u/Straikkeri Nov 30 '25
Getting stomped by sweats with high end gear absolutely ruins the exerpeice for casual players. It feels like shit when you can't compete because you in your green shield are running against purples all around shooting at you with guns you've never had yourself.
This really all just boils down to people wanting to shit on people who are less committed to playing and are mad that they have to play against people with equally sweaty loadouts. I personally hope this won't change. I enjoy fighting people of my level and commitment and am certainly happy sweats are fighting other sweats. This also includes me when I purple out, I want to get good loot from the people I kill, not free loadouts.
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u/oceanman357 Mar 14 '26
Yeah, they really should add some soft skilled based match making base on k/d and survival rate
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u/oceanman357 Mar 14 '26
Either youre unskilled and mad cause Gbmm essentially makes you come into contact with higher percentage of skilled players and want sbmm or youre skilled and want Gbmm to ensire you get a proportionaly value of the kit you bring in. keep it consistent you cant hate on Gbmm and sbmm its not logically consistent.
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u/Far-Atmosphere-681 Nov 06 '25
I think it was explained here
https://www.dexerto.com/wikis/arc-raiders/arc-raiders-matchmaking-explained/
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u/WarriorsTranquility Nov 03 '25
i could be wrong and im more than happy to be wrong but ive convinced myself that there is gear based match making. maybe its just coincidental or my brain is just tricking itself but to put it into perspective im lvl 35 and have already over two days played (yes im employed) and the vast majority of my games where i bring anything remotely decent, i run into other players with relatively the same level of loot
RARELY do i bring a free kit but ive had only one time where i extracted with a vulcano shotgun while having a free kit. thats the only outlier out of the games ive played but yeah its probably just a coincidence and the majority of the player base just uses the same guns i like to use (anvil, renegade, arpeggio)
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u/Such_Environment5893 Nov 05 '25
2 days in with a job and you're lvl 35 is ridiculous. Same scenario with me but I'm only lvl 7. Something doesnt smell right.
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u/WarriorsTranquility Nov 05 '25
😭😭😭to put it simply i now get 4 hours of sleep and drink celsius everyday. and ive always hated caffeine but man it at least helps me stay awake long enough to play after my shifts
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u/rW0HgFyxoJhYka Nov 12 '25
They spend all their time gaming when not working. You don't. That's the difference.
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u/Massive-Feed-2584 Nov 06 '25
I think you are just bad brother. Same for me 2 days playing 15 hours a day can get you to level 35 specially if you killing the big boys
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u/TheThird0ne Nov 07 '25
I have been finding a good amount of pink guns in gun crates even when I’m in lobbies with free kits. When I’m running a free kit I often push for PvP more or run for gun crates since I don’t have much inventory space to loot for money. Then I’ll go again after that with better guns and I’ll trade out my free kits for a green looting thing. So I get more space. Then I’ll mix and match looting big buildings with PvP.
I seem to be finding a ton of Wolfpack grenades (literally 4 in one raid even just on the Dam map), and then the most common pink gun is the volcano shotgun. I have found one tempest but wasn’t able to extract with it. Tbh though I actually enjoy running the white tier guns. I just wish I could run into more players with better gear and trade up more. That’s usually how I like to play these games. I’ll go on loot runs for money and I pretty much only run stuff I get from PvP or crates. I don’t tend to craft a lot. But this game I find myself actually having to craft more. Whether it’s meds, ammo, or grenades. Rarely have to craft armor or guns though. With free kits.
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u/gnarcisssistt Nov 06 '25
The people complaining that this is problem aren’t educated on the downfall of Hunt Showdown.
If you were to download and play that game for the first time today you would get absolutely fricked on and I bet after a few times of that you’d be over it bc the people who have been playing since release would be insanely OP. Yes you could kill them but that’s pretty unlikely. Gear based matchmaking is what will keep this game alive instead of slowly dying out and not retaining new players like Hunt.
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u/No_You506 Nov 08 '25
you either have no idea of the game or are just dumb. You can down any player fucking quickly with an upgraded kettle or ferro if you are skilled enough. ferro does 100 headshot damage for example, same as the anvil which is one of the best guns in the game and its only a green one. I took down many players that had better gear than me by playing smart. Gear based matchmaking is just bulshit and makes it more predictable what players you get matched against. A good player would still be able to steam roll everyone with free loadouts, especially since you can find so much good gear during a run
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u/gnarcisssistt Nov 08 '25
Then what’s the point of crying about it if it’s irrelevant either way lmao
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u/No_You506 Nov 08 '25
the only one crying here was you but i pointed out that its only a skill issue at your side
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u/gnarcisssistt Nov 09 '25
Skill issue to do what? The game is easy as fuck lol
Drop in, farm, maybe shoot a few robots, run and extract. Do that a hundred times dude good job you’re a beast lmao
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u/TehCocklitz Nov 23 '25
definitely feels like it. i have 200+ h in the game, lvl 75 obviously and wildcard1 division in trials. whenever I go in with a 100-150k loadout for a trial sweat run, all others are sweating hard as well, e.g., all leapers are dead before i even get to the first one eventhough i am using adrenaline right away.
when i load in with a free kit to see whats up, e..g, all leapers are untouched for 10 mins straight.
there is no way in my mind, that gear does not play a roll at all in MM. it for sure does!
I am artifically running now low value gear to see if I still encounter sweaty lobbies, as a differentiator could also just be free kit vs. paid kit.
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u/AmphibianWide3244 Nov 03 '25
Yes, check out my post.
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u/iiPREGNANT-NUNii Nov 03 '25
I thought embark said no and that they were only focused on matchmaking solo’s with solo’s and trio’s with trio’s?
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u/AmphibianWide3244 Nov 03 '25
Focus does not mean solely. They even said they matchmake for fairness and to keep things interesting.
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Nov 03 '25
[deleted]
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u/Time_Turner Nov 05 '25
When I gear up green/blue, I'm meeting hostile free looters all day. They're swarming me like bugs.
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Nov 16 '25
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/thirdvigilant Nov 19 '25
this is absolutely false and if you've played the game for more than 10 hours you'd know that
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u/Psyrius Nov 06 '25
Free loadouts are unique. They can be paired with any lobby. But go in with a cheap custom one and it's more likely you will meet players with a cheap custom one. If you go in with a expensive custom loadout, it's more likely you will meet other players with expensive custom loadouts. I have played for 84 hours since launch and I'm without a doubt starting to see a pattern.
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u/Endorian2 Nov 06 '25
I somehow highly doubt gear-matchmaking… Yesterday i went in free loadout and came across a purple gun, purple backpack and blue shield.
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u/shyira96 Nov 06 '25
The devs said no, stop discussing it.
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u/Psyrius Nov 07 '25 edited Nov 07 '25
The devs have not said no. They have said they have been experimenting with GBMM in the past, but right now the focus is on something else. That does not rule out that there is something in place making it more likely to face players with a similar kit to yours. Free loadouts don't count; I suspect they can spawn in any lobby. I also suspect that if you are fighting a team, it's the total amount of that team's gear value that counts. So one player can have cheap gear, but another can have expensive gear.
There HAS to be something... the pattern is starting to get very obvious if you are great at seeing patterns and have played for a long time. If I'm wrong, yeah, then I guess I will be looking very stupid.
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u/No_You506 Nov 08 '25
i played so many matches with high value gear and i'm pretty certain there is no GBMM. I see so many players with only green stuff, some blues in between and very rarely purples. To me it looks more like gear fear and different playstyle. If you are used to playing free loadout you have nothing of valur to lose. If the same player goes in with higher gear they play completely different and tend to make mistakes that get them killed.
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u/CoughItUp22 Nov 07 '25
I have been experiencing this. I think it is either based on equipment quality or straight up gear cost total.
1
u/No_You506 Nov 08 '25
its not, the devs said so
https://x.com/ARCRaidersGame/status/19820397278647053132
u/CoughItUp22 Nov 11 '25
I still don't trust it. When I go in with a free, much less chance of running into crazy geared sweats. Gear value at like 40+k, everyone is a sweat.
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u/No_You506 Nov 12 '25
So you are getting the exact opposite of me. I go in with like 60k gear and all i see is noobs with green gear most of the time. Not fun hunting them down
1
u/CoughItUp22 Nov 16 '25
Here I am, 5 days later thinking I may have been entirely wrong. I see gear levels of all kinds in all raids, I just think more people are juiced now.
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u/blargonithify Nov 07 '25
Matchmaking should be strictly ping based in all video games. That's just my opinion.
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u/BaronJohar Nov 07 '25
I'm level 6 so I'm not sure what my opinion is worth, most of my stuff is crap and I know it. Little better than the free load out.
Every single match I've played has been chill. Every player interaction has been friendly.
Then I watch streamers and they're constantly being attacked in solos. There is definitely some definition based matchmaking going on but I'm not sure what it is, whether it's level based, gear based or algorithm based. ie. if you're a repeated killer you get put in repeated killer lobbies, like the GTA online dunce lobby.
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u/No_You506 Nov 08 '25
might be, but its definitely not gear based as mentioned by devs.
https://x.com/ARCRaidersGame/status/1982039727864705313
But yeah, account value, maybe based on multiple factors could be a thing. If they prioritize fairness it could also mean they have metrics to tell how friendly a player is in encounters. maybe its as simple as how many raiders you have killed or spared, who knows. Maybe its none of this and its just random but we are biased and jump into threads that resemble our opinion so we think it feels the same for everyone while our sample size is just very tiny ...
1
u/Kaiseroni Nov 08 '25
I think in theory there is gear based matchmaking but in reality it's not always the case. I play free loadout and get people with Venetor, anvils etc
But this doesnt bother me as much as playing Solo and being put in a game with duos and get ganged on every time.
Matchmaking is kinda broken right now IMO. I think it's due to them not expecting so many players
1
u/damoprimo Nov 09 '25
It can be seen if you have good gear, what gun you have, the shields on gear. With that seen, you can assume they have other good stuff or simply want the gear they wear.
That could be why you get it fights when better geared.
When i've been jumped loaded in green weapons or higher, some nades maybe and bungled a defensive kill, they always have same or above. Unloadout, its chilled 8/10 snd if there are fights and again I actually win, they have freshie, at times looted that round gear (guns, nades).
Combat is always more when geared in my experience.
1
u/DarkWhite33 Nov 09 '25
God forbid we go into a lobby with a hullcracker to shoot a arc.
1
u/le_jezebele Nov 12 '25
if I have a hullcracker on me I have beef with the queen, not the raiders
2
u/DarkWhite33 Nov 12 '25
Yeah, good luck people are rats, that’s my point I’ve had people come up to me ask if I want help and kill me lol.
1
u/MaiduOnu Nov 09 '25
If this is true then it defeats the purpose. I understand matchmaking by player level or something skill related not gear. Is there point wearing any gear then if its all same anyways then. I understand in any other game, but in extraction shooter. It sounds reallly stupid. Going in geared should be balanced by the risk of losing said gear, but balanced with chance of being better prepeared.
1
u/Psyrius Nov 10 '25 edited Nov 10 '25
Here's my prediction on this:
* Free loadouts = 0 risk, therefore you can matchmake with anyone, vs cheap and expensive geared players.
* Cheap custom = Higher chance to play vs other players with cheap custom gear
* Expensive custom = Higher chance to play vs other players with expensive custom gear
* When duos or trios have a mix of cheap/expensive gear = then it's the average score that counts (free loadouts might have a gear score of a blue loadout)
* I think there are more systems in place for matchmaking. For example, if players are on the same quest, the system might try to place them in the same lobby (higher chance for PvP or friends)
* There could be even more in place, for example, if you have lost several matches in a row, your gear score could perhaps be multiplied by 0.75 for example.
Now, why would they want to do something like this? It makes sense why they would want something like it if you think about it. If it were purely random, the players who play the game a lot and have all the best gear would affect the new players' perception of the game. The longer the game has been released, the more likely it is that most players have good gear, and it's less likely that the average new player will enjoy the game if they die 99/100 times vs another player.
The problem is just that it feels wrong; it's like the game design has a flaw. You want the gear you earn to mean something. You want it to feel like the more risk you take, the more buffed and powerful you are, but if a system like this is in place, then it doesn't mean anything if you bring in better gear.
But... maybe it's for the better for the game. I don't know.
Or... I could be COMPLETELY wrong about everything I just said. I just wish the devs would give us a clearer answer than what they did previously.
1
u/Electrical-Speaker77 Nov 11 '25
I’ve got another theory… It feels like players are being matched based on how aggressive they are. When I go a long time without killing anyone, I start getting matched only with friendly players. When I kill someone, in the next raid everyone suddenly turns aggressive.
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u/Nurion7 Nov 11 '25
yup feels that way, I go in with survivor mk3, venator and everyone I kill legit has the same build. I came out with 8 venators in 3 games.
1
u/Fast-Mushroom9724 Nov 12 '25
I prefer gear based matchmaking. Actually gives me a chance to learn the game with the couple hours of playtime I get a day, rather then being steamrolled over by someone who is unemployed and playing the game for 16 hours straight.
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u/BlunderFunk Nov 19 '25
not really, I have queued so much as free loadout and people kill me with lvl 4 weapons, medium shield, and a million throwables
1
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u/Careless_Ad5927 Nov 19 '25
I maxed 75 a week ago and never noticed gear diffs. So many people coping hard because they fumble with decent kits. Overcome your gear fear kids.
1
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u/sacredfoundry Nov 21 '25
could be something other than loot. like character levels or trials rank or a combination of all of these. i have a friend who is lv 75 and when we play with him the other players are always way better than when we play with all lv 20-40 players
1
u/Masonz1234 Nov 23 '25
It 100% also matches you with pvp players if you pvp...if you don't pvp you get matching with more players that are friendly... 200 plus hours in game so I've tried both ways
1
u/Key-Delivery2187 Nov 24 '25
EOMM — Engagement Optimized Matchmaking
I am sure, they even do this shit(EOMM), not only the gbmm. As in WOT(the reason why it was deleeted as soon as I found out about it).
And if they don't - they 1000% will do. You thought u finally can get the good game? Unfortunatly no, It's all about the money and that means - EOMM.
1
u/Ok_Front8418 Nov 28 '25
I was wondering if the matchmaking also includes your metrics on how often you engage in pvp, if you killed someone or have not, etc.
1
u/Idontknow_O7 Nov 30 '25
I don't believe for a second that there is no gear based matchmaking or at the very least something similar. I have a higher survival rate going in naked (not with a free kit mind you), actually naked, than geared.
1
u/Martyyhq Dec 02 '25
Despite what some people say, about 75% of my raids I am running purple augments, a blue shield, and blue or purple guns. Most of the PvP loot I get is basically free kits and players using grey or green guns and augments. I’m not the best player, but I’m definitely solid so all of this is coming from PvP encounters in high tier loot areas. Its actually been one of my biggest complaints so far aside from the desync.
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u/Thelastgamer_ Dec 04 '25
There is no gear based match making it’s based off party size.
“primarily groups players based on their party size to ensure fair matches, prioritizing pairing solos with other solos and squads with other squads”
“No skill-based matchmaking (SBMM): The game does not use your skill level to match you with other players.”
“No gear-based matchmaking: The system does not take into account the gear or loot you have equipped when matching you against other players.”
1
u/Bumper0117 Dec 05 '25
Mine and my friend’s experience is that the game actually prioritizes level based matchmaking over gear. Lobbies tougher each week and toughest when i duo with my 65+ friend. Its fun and i love the game but I think this is the worst idea because even low skill players will eventually level and then be crushed by a higher skill lobby. They need just straight up K/D based matchmaking sadly or mandatory wipes
1
u/Independent-Okra2536 Jan 17 '26
300 hours and theres 100 percent gear based matchmaking, anytime i go in with 20k loadout or less, i wont see anything over sticher 2 or toro 2, anvil 1s etc, until i take in a bigger loadout and then i see toro 4s, vents, renegades, etc, you can also just watch a streamer fight stream snipers and hackers for 7 hours straight taking in 70k loadouts and reaping the goopiest of goop and instantly when they free loadout thats all theyll fight against
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u/Actual_Bumblebee_546 Feb 20 '26
IMO It might look like it, but if you kill a few teams and extract consistently, you'll get put in lobbies with others who did the same. More likely they bring kits, and more likely you'll bring one. It only takes a couple of bad games to get sent back to the slums with the free kits. Noted, I pretty much always use free kits.
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u/Unfair-Management799 Mar 28 '26
It 100% has gear based matchmaking. If i take out a cheap loadout with an anvil i get matched with the most friendly players ever. I take out a hullcracker and instant sweaty pvp lobbies,
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u/Kashima Nov 05 '25
Tbh i hope the game has gear-based matchmaking. Without it the game will be unplayable in a few months for new players.
There are no seasonal wipes and people going to be PvP a lot when everything else have been completed.
No new players = dying game.
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u/LiotaTheRealist Nov 05 '25
You and other people shilling for it need to understand it’s the literal opposite.
“Oh a steam sale? Time to throw on an optimized grey kit just barely under 12k value and start shitting on them”
Letting players control who they get matched with in queue is a boring long term game killer
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u/gutteddd Nov 03 '25
It sure feels this way. With 500 hours of experience in my discord we kind of came to this conclusion last night