ARC Raiders Live Update 1.36 Adds Highly Requested Matchmaking Feature

Despite an ongoing battle with cheaters and item duplicators, Embark Studios is keeping the ARC Raiders momentum alive, as they continue to introduce new content and tweaks to the way Raiders progress through the game.

Live Update 1.36.0 was released today, introducing a major change to the way the aggression-based matchmaking system works, as your actions topside will now be tracked separately for each mode—solo, duo, and trios. So if you and your friends enjoy causing mayhem in Stella Montis by taking part in some fully-geared PVP fun, you can do just that, without any worry of ruining your peaceful, friendly, solo lobbies.

ARC Raiders 1.36 Introduces Major Matchmaking Changes

The biggest thorn in Embark’s side when it comes to ARC Raiders is, without a doubt, the players duplicating items and using third-party software to gain an unfair advantage over their competition, and while Embark has introduced the kernel-level anti-cheat, Denuvo, this war against cheaters still wages on. The second-biggest thorn in Embark’s side is trying to make everyone happy in a game that has room to accommodate many different playstyles.

There’s a civil war raging on among the Raider community, as the morally-sound friendly raiders fight to keep the peace, and work together to stay alive on their topside excursions, while the opposing side, the hostile raiders, hold no prisoners, and seek only blood and goop.

With these two opposite playstyles clashing, many Raiders were calling for a PVE-only mode that would allow the more casual players to enjoy resource gathering and co-op clanker-killing missions without fear of being gunned down by a PVP player.

Instead of a PVE-only mode, Embark has been tinkering with an aggression-based matchmaking system that tracks your behavior in every match and will place you with players exhibiting similar behavior. With this system, you can create friendlier lobbies for yourself over time if you’re not engaging in combat with other Raiders, which effectively allows players to mold their own experience.

One problem with this system is that some players enjoy joining up with friends for some good old-fashioned trio PVP, while keeping their solo lobbies friendly to make for easier resource gathering, but the aggression-based matchmaking grouped all queues into one.

ARC Raiders update 1.36 solves this conundrum, as Embark will now be tracking your playstyle separately for Solo, Duo, and Trio, and will match you with other Raiders accordingly.

This latest update also comes with a ton of new content and changes, including:

• The Fourth Expedition
• Trials Season 5
• ARC Raiders & THE FINALS Crossover
• Store Update
• Store Redesign

The ARC Raiders expedition system has evolved in many ways since the game first launched, but it appears Embark is finding its footing with the progression system and making the optional reset much more exciting and rewarding.

Unlike the other expeditions, players taking part in the fourth expedition will not receive additional skill points. Instead, they will receive blueprints and raider tokens.

ARC Raiders Free Loadouts Could Be Expanding

Not only is Embark attempting to balance the interactions between PVE-focused players and PVP players, but they’re also balancing the matchmaking of free loadout players and kitted players.

Embark recently introduced a “No Free Loadout” requirement for the Close Scrutiny and Night Raid map conditions, which has had a drastic effect on those game modes. This has instantly created a heightened sense of danger and potential reward, as entering one of these modes means every Raider you encounter has a kit of some kind.

This works in two ways: the friendly lobbies looking to battle ARCs together in close scrutiny will only be joined by players who have the means to actually contribute to the fight, and the PVP lobbies will have a heightened sense of risk and reward. After receiving feedback about the no free loadout requirement, Embark states, “We are looking into expanding “No Free Loadout” to more map conditions and investigating other opportunities to further improve the experience overall.”