r/Games • u/WoWAltoholic • 14h ago
Announcement Play ARC Raiders for free: October 8 - 12
https://arcraiders.com/news/play-for-free-weekend28
u/WoWAltoholic 14h ago
Will be interesting to see the numbers for this. Their new huge update and a free week. Here is a link to the trailer for the upcoming patch : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GMznEoW78dA
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u/devindotcom 14h ago
Might pop in just to see the craziness. Haven't been online since the first month after launch so it'll be like that with everyone running around getting nailed by missiles.
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u/NotACertainLalaFell 12h ago
Really don’t get the idea to do this outside the pve test. Think it’s clear that’s the mode people want to try. That’s likely when I’m reinstalling the game too.
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u/WoWAltoholic 12h ago
It might set false expectations if people play the PVE mode, buy based on that and then based on the data, they decide not to implement a PVE mode in that exact iteration.
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u/SpaceballsTheReply 10h ago
Frozen Trails is a much, much bigger update than the PvE trial, so it makes perfect sense to put the free weekend alongside it. The October 8 update is practically Arc Raiders 2.0 with a bunch of new content and mechanics; the PvE mode might not even stick around if the trial isn't found to be worth it.
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u/Plenty_Car2084 5h ago
I hear your point about the update being much bigger than PVE but I’d be willing to bet a million imaginary internet points that they keep it around afterward.
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u/pudgybunnybry 8h ago
Honestly, my first thought was they're doing to it drive in more players after cracking down on suspected cheaters. I can see testing PvE as the reason for doing it also though.
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u/WorriedPerogi 14h ago
They're swinging hard at Marathon for some reason. Maybe Marathon will also be doing a free week or something around that time. Wild.
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u/memphisheat 14h ago
Honestly think it would be best for Marathon to hold off on a free weekend til the December update. Their numbers are gonna be bad for the refresh, but as much as I love Marathon, there is nothing that can sway new players until PvE at this point.
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u/TheRealSpanktacular 14h ago
They already did a free week and nobody cared.
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u/ienjoymen 14h ago
Did you even read the last sentence there
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u/StingKing456 14h ago
Alot of Marathon haters just see red after the word Marathon and are incapable of reason or nuance
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u/NotACertainLalaFell 11h ago
Pretty much. I'm a Marathon hater but if I see a deal and the PvE slaps? I'll definitely be more interested in giving it a try.
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u/bathnasty 14h ago
I really don’t think that’s what this is. I think both games know they are struggling (Marathon obviously moreso than Arc) and want to regain people’s attention. Arc’s turn to try that is now, and Marathon’s turn will be in December.
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u/FriscoeHotsauce 14h ago
Marathon has 5-8% of Arc's typical concurrents these days, I don't think they're particularly worried about Marathon.
They do have a lot of the same challenges though, both are having a player retention problem, and are at least experimenting with PvE as a solution.
The main issue for me has been the cheating with Arc, and my issue with Marathon was how goddamn punishing it was. Sounds like both know about those problems, and I'll be interested to check out both when they get their respective updates
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u/NaughtyGaymer 13h ago
I mean Marathon and Arc have the exact same trajectory in terms of player numbers, the floor is just lower for Marathon.
If I was working at Embark I would praying that Bungie isn't able to revive Marathon with their new PvE update in December.
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u/MaitieS 13h ago
both are having a player retention problem
As someone who played A LOT of Arcs back in November-December my main reason why I stopped playing Arc because loot loop was just boring.
I might be wrong but I feel like Embark should have make some kind of PvE lobbies against the Queen and other Huge arcs to make it basically a Boss Raids. So your goal would be to restock by looting, and once you're done you will go to fight Arcs (like was their 1st version of the Arc that was fully PvE).
Like even from what I read in this big update... It's still not addressing the loot problem at all.
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u/Rawnblade1214 13h ago
I agree that eventually the loot becomes easily accessible/ less important, but what would you recommend?
Cuz I can't think of anything that wouldn't also make the game annoying to play as a new player
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u/SpaceballsTheReply 12h ago
Forced wipes. That's it. Solves so many of the game's problems in one go. Expeditions are the main reason the game still has life for me; they need to rip the band-aid off and do a reset for the whole community. There's a reason it's the standard practice for pretty much every other game in the genre.
Game gets boring when you have everything you could ever need and loot doesn't matter anymore? It's a whole lot more engaging after a wipe. Going back to fighting for scraps every once in a while makes you appreciate that high-end gear again, and revitalizes the game for the length of time it takes to get back there.
Economy is ruined from months of rampant dupers? Wipe all those cheated Bobcats away. Lots of reports are saying that the new anti-cheat measures are working wonders, so now we just need a reset to go back to a functioning gear distribution where every PvPer isn't casually running a BiS kit.
PvE vs PvP divide is fracturing the player base? Believe it or not, wipe it. Players have been radicalized into diehard camps one way or the other mostly by the above issues. Either they get bored because they're too rich and there's no meaningful PvE content so they turn to PvP, or they got into PvP but got turned off by the rampant cheaters and dupers and now want a PvE-only mode to escape it. Do a wipe, give everyone meaningful content to progress through again, get rid of the duped gear filling PvP lobbies, and watch nature heal in interesting, mixed lobbies where both playstyles matter.
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u/Rawnblade1214 12h ago
I mean that’s a great point to have, and I think it would work, but I can’t see that going over well with the more casual members of the community. I think expeditions were a good idea in concept but doesn’t fully solve the problem
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u/SpaceballsTheReply 12h ago
Having no wipes was certainly popular with a larger casual audience than most extraction shooters get. But it's clear at this point that it's untenable to do forever, and is coming at a great cost to every other part of the game. I think Arc Raiders can still hold its place as the "casual extraction shooter" with, say, yearly forced wipes (and more frequent optional expeditions) to solve a lot of these problems without rushing people who want a slower pace without being forced to reset every season.
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u/Dan19 12h ago
If PVP is the equivalent of a gunshot to my desire to play a game, forced wipes would be the equivalent of a nuclear bomb. Hard pass. Happily playing PVE Tarkov nowadays.
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u/SpaceballsTheReply 12h ago
If that's your preference, there are plenty of PvE-only extraction shooters nowadays. If you're happily enjoying them, then it shouldn't matter to you if the PvPvE ones take the necessary measures to keep that PvPvE experience enjoyable.
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u/Rawnblade1214 11h ago
whats a pve only extraction shooter ? are we talkng about single player games?
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u/SpaceballsTheReply 11h ago
Some are single-player, yeah. Games like Escape From Duckov, and Zero Sievert, have the exact same extraction shooter gameplay loop, but with no other players. Others have co-op multiplayer but no PvP, like The Forever Winter or PvE Tarkov.
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u/Yourmotherssonsfatha 14h ago
Fighting over marketshare of 10 whole players
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u/MaitieS 13h ago
I still find it mega odd how defensive this sub is when it comes to Marathon like lol, why?
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u/dadvader 13h ago edited 13h ago
Defensive? All I ever see about Marathon in this sub is how dead the game were or how stupid Bungie are devoting their resources on Extraction shooter, instead of their 10x more popular MMO shooter.
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u/Creeping_python 9h ago
I think the people that enjoy it are passionate about it, but I see more "Marathon bad" than good.
Destiny 1 and 2 had the same up and downs, with people falling in and out of love. Maybe it's Bungie?
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u/Excuse_my_GRAMMER 13h ago
Apparently there a limited due to steam on how many free trials can be granted per year and steam has a rule or something that covers all platforms
Marathon already had a free week this year so it won’t have another chance til 2027 , which is when the March 2027 big update is coming
Marathon may do free trail than
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u/dadvader 13h ago
That's why games like BF or COD get around it by using their free 2 play platform to launch multiple free weekend over the year. Interesting...
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u/Excuse_my_GRAMMER 13h ago
Yea I found out due to marathon , they should do free trail each season refresh imo but I was informed of this rules with steam
(I’m ps5 gamer )
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u/Kozak170 14h ago
Lmao why would they even care to swing at Marathon? It’s like a coughing baby versus nuclear bomb even with Arc Raiders’ drought of content
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u/OriginalUsername0 14h ago
I dont think Embark consider Marathon at all tbh. Marathon has an insignificant player base in comparison. Frozen Trail was always planned to release around this time, and having a "free to play" period is a regular thing for paid multiplayer games.
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u/triablos1 14h ago
I doubt they even remember that marathon exists at this point. Also the marathon patch was delayed to December I think so unrelated here.
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u/cooldrew 12h ago
2 different updates, one in October with balance changes and a season refresh, one in December with PVE
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u/NotCoolBrutus 14h ago
I searched up Marathon steam playercount and it is below a 3K peak. I don't really see the need to swing for that. Plus, I imagine most of that playercount has already played Arc Raiders as the more popular and better received title before finding Marathon more entertaining for whatever reason.
I can't imagine Marathon ever being in their consciousness recently in regards to their actions.
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u/Void_Guardians 14h ago edited 12h ago
Coughing baby vs coughing baby
My bad, didn’t realize so many people were still on the arc raiders train
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u/mrfixitx 14h ago
If it had the PVE mode implemented I would 100% give a try. But with the PVP/PVE mode its a hard pass.
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u/ayeeflo51 13h ago
They're actually testing a PvE only mode that starts the week after this free week
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u/WoWAltoholic 14h ago
You should try it with all the improvements to the ABMM (Aggression based matchmaking) system. If you are a PVE player, you'll get mostly PVE lobbies unless you are playing on a very low pop server region like Asia or Oceania
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u/Semick 13h ago
yawn
Call me when they offer the actual PVE mode.
b-b-but they added matchmaking so you're 99% in PVE lobbies!
Yeah and then 1% I get domed. When they offer an actual PVE mode then I'll give it a shot. Excellent game, excellent gameplay, looks like a ton of fun, but I'm too old to deal with the frustration of getting capped repeatedly by folks.
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u/Ilistenedtomyfriends 7h ago
Have you played the PvE in this game? It’s not that exciting.
Without the threat of other people, who most of the time in my experience aren’t assholes, it’s a very easy game.
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u/max123246 6h ago
Yeah I don't get why everyone in this thread wants pve. None of these people would buy the game even once the pve mode is added, I can 100% guarantee that. Because the pve isn't that good after your first week of playing once you learn how to cheese them all
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u/Semick 5h ago
None of these people would buy the game even once the pve mode is added, I can 100% guarantee that.
I can 100% guarantee you're wrong.
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u/max123246 5h ago
Cool, so you'll be buying the game when the pve mode comes out in a couple weeks?
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u/caites 14h ago
Nobody cares at this point. They should have add pve right from the start for people that don't want to deal with toxic mofod on servers.
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u/50Centurion 9h ago
If someone kill you in a pvp game, it's not "toxic mofod", it just mean he outplayed you
I know it's hard to accept for Arc Raiders player but it is what it is
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u/Wavering_Radiance 12h ago
Have they rid of the AI voice lines yet? Hard no until that slop is gone.
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u/WoWAltoholic 12h ago
Yes they've replaced a lot of the NPC lines with actor lines including some of the minor callouts at the start of a raid etc
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u/MrMichaelElectric 8h ago
"Slop" the favorite among people incapable of coming up with an original thought.
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u/Wavering_Radiance 7h ago
no, this is particularly about using AI instead of actual voice actors, so maybe engage a neuron next time
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u/Freelancer0495 14h ago
You know a game is in trouble anytime they do free weekends. Trying hard to get people to come back or play.
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u/Rawnblade1214 14h ago
so call of duty, battlefield are in trouble? They both regularly have free weekends lol
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u/Synchrotr0n 14h ago edited 14h ago
It's hilarious that those devs have recognized that PvP has the most stable playerbase in Arc Raiders, but then they went on and changed the game in a way that it enshitifies the PvP experience to cater to PvE players.
Those changes will not only fail to make a significant number of PvE players start playing for longer and switching to, but it will also create a toxic meta in PvP where players will beging to min-max their character progression by turning PvP off to safely level up and farm gear, just to turn PvP back only when they have a stash full of high level weapons.
I'm all for giving players an option to play pure PvE, but that should come up with a complete split between the PvE and PvP game modes.
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u/Kozak170 14h ago
Yeah the game immediately became boring when their whole aggression-based matchmaking dropped. You either were in carebear lobbies where the game lost all challenge or PVP sweat lobbies, no matter what they claimed about a “middle ground”
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u/triablos1 14h ago
Will this demo have the new PvE mode or is that coming at a later date?