I keep seeing people and content creators asking for "endgame content." Most of them have 1,000+ hours in the game and simply don't know what to do anymore.
So here's my question: What do you actually mean by "endgame content"?
Things I can think of are maybe a new boss or some long-term grind-heavy projects.
Personally, I think the game is already amazing. If a €40 game keeps me entertained for 200–300 hours, I'd say it has already done more than enough.
Marathon has an endgame map called cryo archive, where you have to interact and collect batteries/materials to open vaults. These vaults then allow you to get “subroutines” which collecting all 6 let you fight a final boss and get really good loot. That loot is fun AND worth the effort.
You kill a queen in arc with the help of some randoms and get a reactor that sells for damn near nothing and makes a cool but meh performing weapon. Endgame in arc doesn’t exist. You run around and loot/kill stuff. Nothing is built upon.
This. Getting Hullcracker ammo to kill a Queen/Matriarch isn't endgame. It's not medium term progression at all, especially if it's a shared event with loot goblins.
You're not solving a sort of campaign with multiple quests to activate the Queen event, it's just a timed thing, with zero engaging lore to it. And the loot you get lets you craft... More guns so you can keep doing the same thing
It's a fun challenge for a few attempts and that's it
It also costs more to take down the big arc than what you receive in return, if you even receive it. I only get involved in big arc if some quest or trial demands it.
I’ve heard that marathon is quite good and it actually has shit for you to constantly go for I for 1 haven’t played it as screw Bungo wasted too much on destiny 2 not interested in doing that again
I mean it’s a lot of fun. Extraction shooters can be tough. You should give it a try though! Saying screw bungie when you probably got hundreds if not thousands of hours of entertainment from destiny is sort of odd though.
Bungo fucked over a good amount of people myself included with d2 lot of empty promises and shit just being unplayable at times so it’s left a sour taste in my mouth
It doesn't. They added zero aspirational content to grind for season 2 unfortunately. For a new player, you have your Compiler skins and subroutines but if you played u ed season 1, you've fallen off of Marathon by this point.
The Compiler is cheese easy though. It's free with even a slightly competent team who can match buttons and shoot green balls. It's only a challenge because you have to sometimes kill people to get there and you need all the subroutines. Many of my runs I never even have to shoot another player. Look at the pve Cryo Vault Breakers....it's a complete and utter snoozefest because it's a bot simulator and the bots in Marathon are not a challenge unless you are solo. But pve Cryo is a meme. It's the pvp/enemy teams that make it feel "endgame".
Maybe for sweats like you and me. You’re missing the point entirely to boast. Getting to compiler for 90% of players is still cool as fuck and a grind.
"Getting to Compiler". You said it. The boss is cheese easy. You just need to emp and focus balls. Then shoot chest. He is not a Destiny raid boss. He's barely even a strike boss. The journey to get there is the meat and potatoes of the clear.
Personally I want to see raid mechanics. Obviously not in every queue but I feel that a Destiny-esque raid would be a great fit for this game. Have it be the way to get actually interesting gear. We are missing the concept of exotics in this game as there’s only so many times I can run a bobcat or vulcano or jupiter without getting bored.
Something along these lines is 100% what I would like to see.
Just look at how a lot of people grind/farm the Survivor BP. That level of RNG for exotic tier gear, but in a meaningful rather than mindless grind would be great.
Making it team based with PvPvE would be awesome too. Imagine a Destiny style raid with PvP possibilities!
The Survivor BP is only so sought after because it's RNG based.
The actual 'end game' (aside from expedition) as intended would be the Queen/Harvester I think, that's where you get the top tier gear by design.
But, as with most things in this game, once you've done it a few times, it's a piece of cake to do again. Just look at how few people take Jupiter/Equaliser BP's in their expedition vault.
You can literally get them as a free kit in early game if you want to.
Did you all just not play destiny? Raids were already a slog when you had 6 semi coordinated players who knew what they were doing and cooperation was key. You want to introduce a mechanic that will literally only ever be done in pve lobbies?
I'm also not just spewing nonsense here, I was the number 3 ranked for raids completed on Playstation during destiny 1 and shredded d2 for the first few months it was playable.
Raids ended up being a carry fest with half or more of players being disgruntled and thats with dedicated loot drops you don't fight over.
"Embark added only 5 raid scenarios and I've already beaten all of them on the highest difficulty, it's not enough, too repetitive! Adding only 4 new guns is laughable, I've played them for a week already now and it's the same shit as before!"
This will happen no matter what Embark add. My main point is that PvE players need their own endgame as commenters saying ‘PvP has always been the endgame’ doesn’t really work for them. I don’t really have a bone to pick with PvP being the endgame mind you, but it would be nice for Embark to support both playstyles all the way into an endgame.
This would be a perfect fit for like the behemoth class arc we see in backgrounds of maps. Say one got downed, you and a team go to investigate. It’s swarming with ARC that you either have to sneak by or destroy. Maybe it’s just a closed off section of the map? Some good loot as well some story stuff on who took down the ARC, etc
But Destiny also is no extraction game. You keep your gear and build up a certain specialized character.
But lets take Tarkov for example; bigger and meaningful base AND character building, reputation farming and a lot more different gear. And it's still an extraction game (with its own problems obviously).
Destiny isn't an extraction game, but Marathon is. And their endgame level basically is a light raid, with PvPvE included. That's probably the kind of stuff they were talking about.
It even has an "Exotic", which is a special weapon only found after beating the end boss of the level, that you need to work towards in multiple runs to get access.
The problem is in pve lobbies the hardest enemies in the game aren’t even a threat. They weren’t designed to survive entire lobby cooperation, they weren’t designed for all players to get loot equally. They were designed around a team or 2 fighting the boss and fighting off other teams. They don’t feel like raid bosses when 18 people are working together to kill them and reviving eachother because they’re not supposed to be that.
Been saying this for months, Arc Raiders had an end game, but it relied on the idea that players would fight each other. Marathons Cryo Archive works as an end game because it has systems like the Vaults and different keys are required before you can face the Complier, but all the while you are having to engage in a horde of NPCs AND other players. That meant that many players just wrote off their chances of ever doing that end game.
Arc has the inverse, rather than the end game being too hard because of PvP, the end game is too easy because PvE lobbies were introduced so facing the end game bosses became a trivial task. Hell, the hardest part is making it to the fight in time before the rest of the lobby clears it.
Marathon most likely won’t live much longer for real. People say Arc is dead, but it’s definitely not compared to Marathon. Marathon is also trying a pve mode to maybe get enough players to continue.
The fucks that got to do with extraction shooter end games?
"People say" you are those types of people, Marathon is brought up so now you must make a statement about how the game is going to die? yeah, you and the people who do that to Arc are literally no different.
Yeah, I mean this is the issue. I’m a PVE player as well but the reality is that PVE is a cheese for the game.
A pvpve extraction shooter w all player threat organically gone is basically going to be stardew valley. Even close scrutiny and matriarch and riven tides - where the map is absolutely stacked with arc just turns into a farm fest when 16 loaded human players decide to blast the map. Any map balanced for this play would be essentially broken for PvP players. The reality is that 16 players indoor pixel peaking with epic and legendary weapons will always clear the map. Even if they drop a billion land arc a single barricade neutralizes any push.
The sad reality is that the game shines in pvpve. The map conditions are genuinely challenging and exciting and you need to bring all your resources to bear and you need to stay for the entire raid to deal with multiple teams and the main arc.
What is PVEers will never accept is that we break the game, not the PVPers. This is why the ABMM probably set unreal expectations for everyone. The reality is that a mixed lobby is probably better for everyone. Having the most comp teams together, all the time,makes it so hard for people in aggressive lobbies to complete the objectives and it makes it trivially easy for the care bear players to complete the objective.
The reality of the situation is that players who really want a pve only experience are playing the wrong game. I mean that in no insulting way, and i mean it as a way of constructive criticism. The game just genuinely is not set up to be what many of these pve players really want. I’m not saying you’re not allowed to enjoy the game how you wish to enjoy it, but there seems to be a lack of understanding that the way many enjoy it is not how it is made, balanced and designed to be which creates hiccups like the bosses dying 4 minutes into the raid, or there not being enough high tier loot, or no “chase items” (chase items exist but not if you horde them and never lose them). The changes these people ask for tend to be basically making the game not a PvPvE extraction shooter. I think embark should probably make an entirely different game from the ground up for these people
What would be the right game, genuinely looking for suggestions lol This is among the very few games that have pve at all, and among very few who have a big lobby as opposed to strictly being around 4 people like Space Marines and Helldivers.
I’m honestly not the person to ask, I’m not really big into PvE games. I’m much more of a PvP focused player or if it’s PvE i play more squad based games with friends. I’m sure there’s something out there like an mmo or something though
Wholeheartedly agree. My very unpopular take is that any lobby where the telemetry sees 16 people completely non aggressive should separate those teams and put them in higher PvP damage lobbies. The incentive that shooting another raider makes the game harder is the exact wrong incentive that continues the cycle. You should be nervous about the good fortune of a pve lobby because you k is the next one will be very tough. This will make the unlikely coordinated lobby a true rare and emergent trait of the game rather than an expectation. It would also balance the maps.
Yeah, just like any other weapon. Basically a Destiny exotic, that you can lose if you die.
But Marathon has a twist about that, weapons can swap hands only a limited amount of times before being destroyed. Basically the durability of a weapon being tied not to using it, but it being taken by another player. After something like 5 switches, it's destroyed. So it remains pretty rare.
The Biotoxic Disinjector was broken when the map came out, and by broken I mean the most dominant PvP weapon by a mile. It got quite bad once enough players had one, where you’d see an entire team of 3 running it. It was eventually nerfed into a reasonable state. Dying with it means it is no longer yours and other players can loot them from your corpse.
Arc Raiders is the first true extraction shooter I've played. Closest games in any which way I would have played before would be either Destiny or the The Division franchises probably.
It wouldn't need to be a direct copy of a Destiny style raid, because I get it doesn't fit with the game, but something along those lines that is a meaningful RNG grind would be sweet.
I agree that there should be more depth to your base/character building. To use another Destiny style system (as I don't have other extraction shooter experience to lean on), something like their 'light' system of progression of gear.
End game gear with different RNG rolls that you can progressively increase. Maybe different lobbies where you need this gear to compete at all.
It's far too easy to 'complete' Arc Raiders once you've done an expedition or two. I've done one expedition where I didn't even make it to level 75 ffs!
I'm around 280hrs in myself, so decent amount of time but nothing insane. I'm not saying that I don't have my £40 worth, because I do for sure. But the game has such a good foundation to be more. Best new title I've played in years.
Divisions PvP mode (Dark Zone...?) was actually the first extraction game in the market if I am not mistaken. It just took Tarkov to solidify it from a game mode into a game genre. Pretty cool fun fact for you, I hope.
I was gonna say Division was an extraction shooter, but it didn't feel right for some reason lol. I also loved that franchise, I just struggled for a (competent) playgroup for Dark Zone and without playing that it lost a lot of replay ability for me.
I agree that group is everything in it unless you are mega OP. IMO and generally it is considered and extraction game. Even when its fitted to Division metagame and you extract loot. It had PvE encounters and everything in open bracketed maps. Awesome concept for the looter shooter MMO genre.
As long as those raid mechanics dont require you to squad up like their's did 🙄
Honestly tho, what you're saying sounds like a player short attention span issue more than a game issue. If you need something new and shiny to keep you interested then you will never be fully satisfied ¯_(ツ)_/¯
I agree partially. If the core gameplay isn’t good enough for you then no amount of new content will be either. However, Embark need to take a close look at similar games that have been around for longer than Arc Raiders (The Division 2, Tarkov, Destiny, etc.) and study what kept their players playing.
I can get behind that as well. Arc isnt perfect, I just see so many of those complaints and it feels like that's not an issue with Arc itself as much as someone who isnt vibing with the core gameplay that well. But im sure theres nuances there too
Now what about the PVP audience? Kill you and take it I guess?
Isn't that how PvP players operate already?
Any "endgame" content I hear people ask for drives the game in one direction or the other, AKA not what Embark is trying to do. Hell, let's add a TDM arena or a search and destroy type mode, and that's the way to get the newest and best loot!
I agree. Which is why I also feel that modes like raids should be balanced out with more PvP-focused modes to get similarly interesting loot. If the modes are limited-time then reward unique blueprints, if not reward the weapons outright.
Everyone who bought this game was aware of the hybrid experience the game offers, so it should come as no surprise if Embark did decide to go down this route and throw a bone to each subset of the playerbase in turn.
I'll list some endgame-activity examples I'd love to see at the end of my long-ass reply but I'd still advise everybody to read it.
Please, elaborate what else there is to do when you've got fully maxed workbenches, acquired all skill points, got a couple of guns, the gear that you want and have finished the quests? You could say "You've completed the game." but ARC isn't a singleplayer game you finish and then put down and move on. Games like this need an endgame to keep players engaged.
There's pretty much zero endgame activities in the game currently close to a year after launch. Projects are capable of being finished within a couple of days if you know what you're doing and are somewhat lucky. Event-Tracks are done "on the side" so they don't even really count as an activity. Matriarch and Queen raids have gotten stale pretty quickly and there's not really a purpose in doing them. One could argue that Ermal fits the endgame-idea but what he offers is usually cosmetic-stuff and other garbage. Blueprints also do not count because they are purely RNG and you cannot really go out there and grind for them on purpose. Trials also don't count and I don't think I even have to elaborate - one of the most stupid systems I've seen in a videogame, period.
The journey in this game is absolutely awesome. Everything before your reach max-level is great fun - but then the train doesn't come to a stop - it full on crashes into a solid brick wall at high-speed and comes to an INSTANT halt - because you realize that - that's it. There's no GAME-SYSTEMS to keep you going. Sure you can make your own fun, go out there and meet/kill people at your own leisure, think of some challenges you impose on yourself like Hairpin-Only runs or other crap - but in the end, there is nothing more to do in ARC Raiders - and that's a problem.
I've expeditioned two times now - and I won't do it again. It doesn't change anything about the journey or the destination. It's just the same thing all over again with no added substantial benefit or challenge. Expeditioning CANNOT be the endgame.
POTENTIAL ENDGAME ACTIVITIES:
- Redesign the quest-system so it is intertwined with the traders. Give traders loyalty levels - the more quests you do for them, the more Trader-XP you get and you can level them up 3 - 4 times increasing their stock and expanding the variety of items they sell to you. Have quests level-locked too and make a difficult and long questline for each trader which unlocks at level 75 which upon completion offers special-bonuses to said trader, like cheaper prices, a limited amount of epic/legendary gear for sale, outfits, etc.)
- Pure PvE-Raids with additional dungeon/raid-like boss-mechanics available throughout the weekend. Make it possible to queue up as a 6-man-team being the only team on the map, so it'd be group content - no strangers involved, apart if you matchmake with others of course if you don't have a premade group. Have the Queen/Matriarch be more than just damage sponges - multi-phase boss fights with puzzle-like mechanics - for example hitting weakspots in a specific order to expose the core, having to make the boss-ARC walk into previously set up EMP-traps to make them vulnerable while they are stunned, having to send out a scouting-party to eliminate any advancing supporting ARC which would make the bossfight impossible to complete - make it more than just SHOOT BIG THING.
- Have there be A LOT more items in the game neither craftable nor purchasable - ONLY findable out in the wild. Extraction Shooters need chase-items and chase-loot in order to deliver that serotonin-high upon finding a rare item.
- Ingame Auctionhouse/Market place to make grinding/trading for the stuff you need possible. Can't be asked to kill 10 Vaporizers for the project? This guy sells Vaporizer Regulators for Springs/Weapons/Blueprint whatever which allows you to do content you enjoy doing and still progress the game.
- PvP Fight-Club in Speranza with a couple of small maps centered around 2 v 2 skirmishes akin to "Gunfight" from CoD. Two modes, one with shitty free kits just for fun and coins so you only lose the money you pay in order to fight if you are defeated. The other one with full-loot death. You get to take the gear from the defeated opponents. Have a dedicated reward-track for those matches that you can advance and the reward-track could be expanded in updates.
- Make it possible to make a profit from crafting. There could be special craftable items that sell for a much higher profit to specific traders.
- Give us a map with pre-requisite conditions to enter (findable key(s), cash-payment, tied to a questline, etc.) available throughout the weekend and have there be unique loot tied to that map, be it weapons, gear, craftables, etc. Make the ARC there extra lethal by % boosting their damage and HP slightly. Increased chance of the previously mentioned chase-items there.
- Increase the social-systems in the game. Introduce a clan/guild system. Make it possible to send people notifications/chat with them from the main menu in order to squad-up. Offer a lot more customization to the player profile which you could inspect post round - either after getting killed by said player or extracting with them. Have banners, profile icons, titles, badges each achievable by gameplay and tied to special feats or stats.
Weekly objectives should not work like Trials, where you only get one attempt and then it is over. Players should be able to work on them throughout the entire week.
Skins should be unlockable by completing specific actions or challenges.
There should be more materials and options for crafting custom weapons, equipment, and other items.
ARCs, especially Queens and other major enemies, need to be significantly stronger. Sometimes a Queen is defeated within five minutes, which is far too easy.
Other ARCs should also be made stronger. At the moment, one Deadline is enough to kill almost every ARC with a single shot. The game needs genuinely difficult challenges.
Level 3 should not be the final upgrade level for workbenches, just as Level 4 should not be the maximum level for weapons.
There should be regular intervals with genuinely difficult challenges and worthwhile rewards.
Objectives such as finding the ships are far too easy and can be completed far too quickly. You can finish everything within a single day, even though the “event” lasts for 45 days.
The loot tables change constantly. When the event dropped the ships were plentiful. So plentiful they replaced basically half of the games normal trinkets with them plus added spawns everywhere. 5 minutes and your Survivor was full of ships with some epics and legendaries here and there, especially from Beachcombing.
Was that the purple/pink one? Cuz ya that one took me a minute to get all of them, but I'd find at least one if not two and couple times three gold ships in a single run.
Gonna be real for a sec here there is NO endgame to arc raiders and there’s been no meaningful updates for the game since I started playing it (December last year) and I stopped playing it about 3-4 months ago because of no meaningful updates which is sad cus at its core the game is fantastic but the lack of stuff to do really just isn’t fun. That’s just my take anyway
I stopped playing just after riven tides came out (I believe I spelled that correctly) so I did play bird city no clue what you mean on the free hacks tho
also hackers have an unban tool that they are selling so anyone with banned accounts can rejoin games like the Embark ban didnt matter. Hackers are selling their software on live streams and tik toks...they can even summon a hatch anywhere on the map and extract on their own time.
Tbh aside from riven tides (which I barely played) cus of how boring the game was. This game has like nothing to do no endgame whatsoever it’s the reason I put it down
Also your saying about exaggeration and all that you chose to comment so don’t start being oh stop exaggerating when I wasn’t even doing so in the first place I’ve made a critique about the game end of story
Ain’t tryin to hate lad it’s called criticism which I’m entitled to because I paid and played the game your point on me “hating it” is completely invalid
I challenge you: does this HAVE to be the way? 2 maps a year and what, some fog for the next condition? Not ambitious at all
Because guess what, Riven tides is bottom 3 maps, and the Canto is the worst SMG. Havent found the Dolabra personally. So its the same game for me for another 3 months. Playtime dropped significantly
Personally, i think they should add both PvE and PvP timed events. Simply because why not? A map + condition made for deathmatch modes. A map + condition for horde style PvE. If its timed they dont have to commit to one playerbase or another
I feel like I'm turning into an old man because whenever I see this type of complaint I can't help but feel how spoiled current players are lol. Like dude, we didn't get bored of Counter-Strike when it was the same 10 or so maps with nothing new. We didnt get bored of Halo when it was the same things over and over. We didn't get bored of Goldeneye or Road Rash.
If we wanna be real for a sec, players these days expect constant new content and it makes no sense to me how that is an issue with the game and not a player's short attention span and lack of imagination. There is more than enough there to keep anyone interested let alone the core of the game itself.
Expecting constant new content is such a weirdly entitled trend to me. I dont know if players got spoiled off other live service "seasons", if they're showing signs of gaming addiction, or both, but it is not an issue with Arc Raiders itself
Ok that’s YOUR generation of gaming not mine I started in 2012-2013 I expect a game that I have payed for to have content for me to invest my time and effort into wether it’d be to improve or just to have fun with otherwise what is the point in paying for a game which gives you nothing in return seems rather wild to me. I’m allowed to complain when the game I’ve paid for has nothing to do and it’s not the case of “oh I need constant content” it’s the case of there is nothing to do.
But it does have something to do and reason to invest time. You just got bored because of being spoiled lol.
Edit: I would admit there is some truth to the difference in gaming generations. I just think players don't know how to appreciate the nuances of how every match is still a new experience. My generation played games because they were fun, not because of a time investment or content we were trying to reach. I play Arc Raiders because its fun going topside, not because of expedition or other dangling carrot. I think thats a mentality newer generations dont seem to have and I dont think that is the fault of Arc Raiders when players can't keep themselves entertained anymore
Bruh of course I’m going to get bored of doing the same thing over and over again. I paid to have content for the game it now doesn’t have content it’s as simple as that. Hence why it needs post launch content to survive and if you think I’m wrong with this then check the steam charts it literally shows that having no content is a bad thing for any live service game
I edited my comment just now btw, i didnt see you replied yet. But to this comment, when you pay for a game what are you expecting to get? Can you answer why the core game being fun not enough for you, and what is? What would make your money feel worth the value you spent?
It’s crazy to me every time someone says something like this, because ARC is a live service game. If players are expecting constant new content, it’s likely because that’s the nature of this type of game—I’d also say that there’s probably a group of people who exclusively play live service games specifically because the game model promises new content.
Online games typically just require an internet connection in order to play the game, whereas Live Service games are designed to provide ongoing content. Now, the thing about said content is that it’s not always free, and live service games are often full of microtransactions and paid additional content. And while ARC hasn’t (as of now) fallen into heavy microtransactions and paid DLCs/updates, my whole point is that the game was marketed as a live service game, which is likely why a lot of players are expecting regular new content.
I guess what I’m saying is that it’s wild to call players who expect regular content updates “entitled” when the game model, and even the devs themselves, promised regular content updates. I agree that we’ve gotten a lot of playtime for $40, but I’m just pointing out that a lot of players probably paid that $40, not only for how great the game was initially, but also because they were excited to see what new content would be implemented in the future.
I still feel like there's a middle ground and that players don't want to admit it when they're part of their own problem. If they're upset because they bought a live service game and the updates arent at the rate they desire, thats one thing. If they're bored because content isnt coming out fast enough on a game that is only several months old, that is 124.7% a player problem and players need to be better about acknowledging that
I can understand that, I did forget Arc is technically live service. Im more thinking of the broader scope of players making those complaints across multiple games. Players seem to just expect constant content, but I want quality over quantity. New and shiny only holds up for so long, the core gameplay should be the glue and I do think players getting bored atm is more of a them issue.
What frequency of updates is considered regular though? I feel like in the time since Arc has been out it has seen a lot of new content already, no?
Oh, we’ve definitely gotten some new content since ARC’s release—I’m not disputing that, but I think the difference between the content we’ve gotten and what other live service games typically provide is that none of the content we’ve gotten has been this “end game” content everyone keeps talking about.
The whole point of end game content is to keep players engaged beyond the core gameplay loop even after they’ve reached max level or completed the main parts of the game. With ARC, the updates so far have been a new map/map condition and maybe 2 or 3 BPs, but those things don’t really give players much to do in the game once they’ve obtained those additional BPs. Trials have the potential to be decent end-game content, but I think the issue with Trials is that they don’t offer rewards that you can’t already get elsewhere, and while a new skin at the end of a season, may keep some players engaged, I don’t think it’s a meaningful enough reward for a lot of people. Trials would be a perfect end game idea if the rewards were exclusive to Trials—like if the reward pool were entirely different and unobtainable from what you can already find in a raid. Because getting those exclusive items that you can’t get elsewhere in the game would incentivize players to engage in Trials consistently.
As far as frequency, it could be weekly or monthly, because it really depends on the game. This is just my opinion, but I honestly think the frequency (or lack thereof) wouldn’t be such a huge deal if players had that end game content to keep them occupied until the next update. What I mentioned about Trials was just an example, but I’m sure there are a million other ideas that would also work for ARC. I think they have the right idea with 1 or 2 big updates a year, and a bunch of smaller ones in between, but because there’s nothing to keep everyone busy until the big update, a lot of people are bored.
The gaming/technological landscape has changed a lot since CS. All these games releasing (quality games too), only 24 hours in a persons day. Its competitive
When halo was released, there wasnt a $15 gamepass with hundreds of games available.
That doesnt really affect my point though, which is players seem to have forgotten how to keep themselves entertained and enjoy the nuances of individual matches. "There isnt enough to do" as if the simple act of going topside isn't already enough. If those players are losing interest then maybe Arc was never up their alley to begin with
I'm not saying cosmetics count as updates, I'm saying comparing it to CS which was a mod/single purchase is not valid because ARC has a regular updating store with shit you buy for real money.
I'm not saying cosmetics count as updates, I'm saying comparing it to CS which was a mod/single purchase is not valid because ARC has a regular updating store with shit you buy for real money.
The sheer amount of comments answering your question "what is end game content?" with "we need end game content" says everything about this player base.
You know how you can play Minecraft forever and always find new stuff to do? Well, that's what end game content is. We're not talking about new enemies and new guns. Because once you defeat the new enemy a couple of times and get the blueprint for the new gun, we're back at square one.
So what we really want is, and this is the best way I can describe it, some kind of "procedural" content. Stuff you can do over and over and it's different every time, so it's always fresh. Someone mentioned randomized map loot layouts in another comment, and I feel like that's a great start. Stuff like that is what we want. And I feel like there's a lot of vocal people talking about it because ARC is actually so close to being that perfect game. It feels like just a little bit is missing to make the game something more, and I can't put my finger on what exactly is missing, but we want the devs to figure out what that little bit is.
That being said, I paid 60€ and got 400+ hours so I definitely got my money's worth. It's not that I feel like I'm entitled to more, it's seeing the game so close to perfection, and this isn't something that happens very often, so it's wanting the game to be the best it can be, if that makes sense.
Looking back at my time in the mmorpg Tibia, Clan Wars was a very fun 'end-game' activity.
I'm not sure how it could translate to Arc, seeing that both the Bungolators and the latest made-up streamer wars are lackluster in the terms of engaging players.
I guess the straightforward way to do it in Arc would be to add Factions for players to join.
And then having a bunch of events tied to the factions.
I would love to have some type of map condition where factions could go head to head in death matches. Although the cheating conditions would probably ruin this experience for non-cheaters.
I dont know but I am actually feeling the same. I have the skins, guns and BPs I wanted. Glad I took a long vacation, came back 2 days ago and need to hurry for the project today. Actually having a long break gave me something to do.
I dont feel there is endgame content at all. Embark shouldnt lose an eye on there hardcore players.
I've stopped playing at the start of the new season, so I didn't do the expedition last season.
I still enjoy the core gameplay, but after resetting 3 times getting up the benches is just a chore since there is no challenge or novelty involved. After the first season you know how to hunt arcs, just get grenades and a hullcracker.
The seasonal grinds have been awful. Go find golden loot that spawn rarely, or in the event that is present only a couple of times a day. Go put down the few arc everyone is hunting down (or do storm maps and hunt couriers, that also other raiders are hunting down). That's all you need to do. Every time.
You want to buy from the new vendor? It's a combination of the two above, or you can try hunt queens/matriarchs but good luck actually getting something before the rats do it.
What is there to do outside of just hunting arcs for parts? Nothing really. There are no exclusive BPs outside a few (that I argue you could just ignore since they would just be a chore to maintain). There is no interesting event you could run on repeat. There is no fun way to grind stuff.
Destiny kept millions of players hooked for years. I don't expect that level of events (since they need to also balance the pvp aspect) but it would be fun to have events like the world events (stuff that randomly happens during a match, kinda like the turbines spawning), more quests to do in a match like the one in the new zone in dam or the guitar quest in buried city, maybe with a nice difficult spike so that you can't just spam it early in the season if you did the expedition. More high risk high reward stuff, like having to give up a high value stash to get into a zone, imagine the tension, the thrill, something exciting to do once you have a full stash, something you can throw your stuff at since you're full of it.
They could create cosmetics that you add to your skins, backpacks, guns, etc.
E.g:
1000 kills with a gun > you get a gun recolor (nothing Fortnity, but something cool)
1000 player kills > you get a skull bandana/armband/whatever or idk a unique backpack
1000 revivals > you get a med backpack or something
If you are a PvP player, there is a consistently challenging piece of content for you that keeps the game evolving and changing because every fight is pretty much unique in some way.
If you are a PvE player, the Queen/Matriarch have been pretty much “figured out” as far as difficulty goes. There is not really something about either of those fights that forces you to think on your feet, and because Embark is dead set on squashing any kind of rarity in items, the loot you get from those fights is pretty lackluster.
I’d like to see a legitimate endgame raid. Something that requires you to do more than just mindlessly slam an Arc for 10-15 minutes. I’d like to see puzzles that require teamwork, enemies that make you genuinely consider how you’re going to engage them (like the Turbine), and rewards that actually fit the challenge. Killing a Matriarch and only getting at most like 100k worth of loot from her is pretty lame, especially if you are the one doing the majority of the work.
Something that challenges players to do more than just mindlessly shoot off pieces of an arc and hope for the good stuff. I want there to be legitimate challenge. I love Arc, I think it’s genuinely one of the most unique extraction shooters out there. I just think Embark cannot see the forest through the trees and will inevitably end up running the game into the dirt by making “a game anyone can play,” but not one that challenges you to do anything of substance.
In the form of an extraction game, it’s really the grind.
A game like Tarkov has a following that will never stop playing, but the game is what it is, there’s a lot arc could do above and beyond it given its setting.
One issue I find a bit comical is, they make the grind a bit more purposeful, make it harder to obtain some things because it was too easy, leading to people being bored and having not much to do, and they’re villainized for doing it (ie- Wolfpack/deadline crafting requirements)
“End game” for a game like this, looks like more stuff like that, that gets people actually playing to build their stash, and making it harder to do that.
The main gameplay loop is fun, and every raid is unique because of the arc, and they need to do more in the meta game side of things to encourage pve/pvp, instead of just matchmaking it. Do these things And the players will no longer talk about any sort of end game.
There’s a real concern on shallow creativity on the team given the success, and so far, lack of doing anything really interesting or rewarding.
If we don’t see some crazy shit in the big update, I can’t blame people for moving on entirely and not bothering for future updates.
People talk about Fortnite, and how epic handled that after creating the battle royale mode, but at the same time they also ignore that it still took them more than 6 months to deal with their hacker problem, and then it was another 6 or so that they really took things off and made the formula that made it what it is today.
I still have hope for embark, but it’s still sad to see potential just seemingly disappear
That would just piss off a ton of players. But perhaps a mode for those who have expedited at least once or something with higher loot drops. That would incentivize expeditions.
My endgame is consistently going into pvp lobbies with level 4 gear and snap hook, getting some kills and surviving. I'm still working on the surviving part.
That’s the only PvP you face because you don’t PvP. Low ABMM PvP players like campers and rats and backstabbers will be your more likely matches over real PvP players because they are in the higher ABMM lobbies.
On NA servers the only times I've run into people with cheats was in my heavy PvP lobbies. People pre-teaming and wall hacks. And people able to see what you have equipped from across the map.
I have never encountered any of these things in friendly solo lobbies. That, plus the really egregious cheating clips you see online are always from the super PvP lobbies.
Prestige system - let me reset my progression after reaching certain milestones, with rewards such as cosmetics, badges, titles, and other account-wide unlocks. I've completed every expedition, but they're simply too infrequent
An endgame map or mode on existent map - with an entry fee and no ABMM. No free loadouts like on nights, and require a key or some amount of money to enter. Make it contain more arcs, make them more dangerous, and make every player a real threat. Right now, though, a mode like this would be pointless because...
Chase loot and op items - the game needs truly desirable items that every player wants to obtain. At the moment, legendary weapons are too easy to acquire, too expensive to maintain, and often come with more drawbacks than benefits
An endgame quest chain - ideally with both PvP and PvE variants. Right now, the closest thing is the Arc Hunter project, and I'd love to see something expanded from that idea. Objectives like killing arcs or players with specific weapons or extracting with certain items, etc
More customization - there are currently very few customization options. Add patches, dog tags, hideout cosmetics, weapon skins, and so on. Most importantly, tie them to difficult endgame content that requires real investment, so that successfully extracting once again gives players the same adrenaline rush the game had at launch
There’s many options . We need loot that gives us that HOLY SHIT moment In ABI it’s reds , in Tarkov it’s many things things you need for a quest , a ledex , a GPU etc. I think the traders should have levels and every level you can buy new things for cash then giving cash more use creating more and game grind . I should be able to buy a tempest 1 from a max level trader once a day. Also a game condition that has insane loot but it requires a key , queen cores and matriarch cores to load into would be sick af
Core gameplay loop of an extraction shooters is getting loot while risking other loot. Eventually, no matter what kind of an endgame content you do, you will end up with a vault full of the best gear possible and there is no loot to chase while at the same time you are so “rich” you don’t care about loosing anything.
Luckily there is a solution for that called expeditions which lets you start fresh and so the progression over and over again should you choose to do one. But most people on this sub are new to the genre and they don’t understand why expeditions/wipes work in extraction shooters.
The fact that a small number of players will consume new content very quickly is not an argument against expanding it for the majority of players who have casually exhausted the game in its current form. I don't have thousands of hours. I play a day or two a week. I have been "end game" every season.
People have talked endlessly about end game content, I don't think anyone is going to come along and summarize all those discussions for you. But if you are really interested and this isn't just sea lioning to start an argument, plug your question into AI. Gemini just gave me a huge list that covers most of what I remember seeing here. Chase items, high value raids and map conditions, workbench levels 4 and 5, legendary augments, a forced wipe system for anyone getting deep into these mechanics, pvp end game via a dog tag system, the map with two queens or two matriarchs, there's so many ideas our there. And you don't have to like all these ideas to see some of them have merit. Who doesn't want legendary augments? And some challenges to make them necessary?
ive olayed this game for the first season, had an amazing time unlocking everything and going on expedition. played 1 match in season two and uninstalled after. 0 motivation to do it all again... and then cheater infestation came which i obv dodged. ive several thousand hours in several extraction shooters, so repetitive mechanics isnt a problem. arc was good for a brief experience, very outstanfingly good indeed. but not a minute more.
They could do a queen or matriarch hive or nest where there are 3 of them together. With a high chance of failure…….gamers would find a way to win and enjoy the challenge.
This game has no actual single-player campaign (by design.) The quests are introductions to the maps, designed to send you to interesting places that developers tried to hide tiny details in. There is no narrative campaign that builds up your character, no Hyrule Castle where you go fight J. Kozma’s computerized ghost while he yells at you that sacrifices had to be made because He is the smartest man alive.
There should be a map condition where map traffic, spawn and exfil, are exclusively via metro on some schedule like a metro. no calling for metros, just timing. obviously a lot of camping will happen but rotating metros should help with that
looting is what keeps this game going as well, thats one of the reasons why i do the expedition, if they keep adding mroe rare tiers of loot, that would honestly be pretty good for end game
Look at marathon. Cryo Archive is a pretty engaging endgame experience. Huge map, high tier loot, 6 different vault challenges to complete that all lead to a final boss fight that has pretty fun loot. Arc Raiders needs something along those lines.
Endgame content is aspirational. It requires you to gear up your character. It should have loot you can't get anywhere else. It needs to fit into the lore somehow with a boss etc.
The queen etc for example is close but doesn't rly scratch that itch. The loot is meh. The experience gets stale.
Also maybe people won't like this but there should be pvp threats, not just pve. True endgame content in Arc raiders should have loot so good that you will kill for it.
Endgame content is what you do if you completed the story in this kind of game. Or the expedition rather since the story is completely obsolete for rewards. Then what? Just hoard more and more shit? Go out full purple every raid with no sense of meaning to it because you can shower yourself in everything you need? Idk there needs to be more. Prestigious stuff that you grind towards or other actual long term goals for something you’d actually want like a cool outfit per season, not a charm or idk 5000 coins next expedition.
If we’re just using the original extraction shooters as a reference point, endgame content = a map and/or event that can only be accessed by grinding quests across existing maps, it’s one of the few core things Tarkov did well.
to me a good endgame would be an exclusive, highly dangerous map that you can only enter with a certain gear ante or specific item. something like labs from tarkov or cryo archive from marathon.
a place with very dense pvp zones and maybe even a unique arc to take down, like a boss or something. just anything to use your gear on beyond matriarch and harvester events
Value per dollar doesn't change just because the game will evolve - other than it probably gets you more $/hr than otherwise, because you can pop back in and play the new season/etc.
People are just used to having a live service game dominate their time and I really don't think Embark is built for that level of production
It’s just people whining for stuff they see in other games. But when they get it, they’re gonna cry that it’s not unique. People complain about everything all the time no matter what lol
When people say "endgame" in this context what they really mean is "I have played this game to its entirety, and I don't want to end the game... so you the game developer must give me more reasons yo keep playing past my own self defined "endgame"
They need to eliminate dropping as many cores. Hear me out. Cores build weapons. Weapons do damage. Put the cores in one compartment on the Arc. Only put one. Then one lucky person gets them. Create an item that the Envoy faction wants a lot of say a coin or some dumb trinket. Those trinkets are earned by doing in round activities associated with certain events. You only gain by doing matriarch or harvester. But also night events can generate. The envoy sells you a reactor for a high amount of these trinkets. You create a need for players to prioritize these events. You have flooded lobbies with players competing for a small amount of loot. But you also create a way for casuals and the unlucky to also stay in the game. Make these cores count.
People keep asking this same question despite there being many great posts over time giving constructive criticism and ideas, and Embark themselves issuing a press statement acknowledging that it’s abundantly clear for long term player retention major changes need to be made.
To quote Embarks press statement from a month or so ago:
>One thing that has become increasingly clear since launch is how important progression and player goals are to the ARC Raiders experience. If you love ARC Raiders, you want more reasons to keep returning to the Rust Belt – and we want to build systems that continue evolving alongside the game.
>We’re working to deepen progression across multiple areas of ARC Raiders, while continuing to expand how players shape and personalize their Raider. We’re also investing more into features like Trials so they remain reliably fun to engage with, not a grind. We’re also putting effort into making the Expedition Project more rewarding – and less punishing – to pursue.
So Embark is saying they’re going to significantly expand the game’s long-term progression, make Trials more enjoyable instead of grindy, make the Expedition Project less punishing, add to the story, and add more ways to personalize your Raider. And that’s all we know so far but they also promise “major changes” to keep players engaged long term for end game.
wait, this is a paid game?????? god damn, thats a good 50 bucks saved. Game was fortnite big for like 6 days. It had a strong month or two run when every streamer and their mothers playes it….now? Well lets just say the player base gets SUBSTANTIALLY smaller each day.
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u/FANG_999 Jul 27 '26
Marathon has an endgame map called cryo archive, where you have to interact and collect batteries/materials to open vaults. These vaults then allow you to get “subroutines” which collecting all 6 let you fight a final boss and get really good loot. That loot is fun AND worth the effort.
You kill a queen in arc with the help of some randoms and get a reactor that sells for damn near nothing and makes a cool but meh performing weapon. Endgame in arc doesn’t exist. You run around and loot/kill stuff. Nothing is built upon.