ARC Raiders tones down Flying ARCs after Playtest shows they were the deadliest enemy

ARC Raiders has just finished its server slam weekend, and Embark Studios is sharing some key details from the event. The devs are making minor changes from feedback ahead of launch. There’s a particular mention of some server stats, balance changes, and comments on technical performance in the most recent community update.

The standout thing, at least to us at the Escapist, is the changes to the Flying ARCs. It’s no secret that the game’s immersion with the ARCs wandering around was really immersive. There have been many clips of players interacting with and fighting the ARCs around the map. But the biggest pains were for sure the Flying ARCs. These things swarmed many players, and the Rocketeers, the big ones with the RPG attached to them, were extremely menacing. We even encountered a few missiles through the windows while looting the Annex, for example. Flying Arcs were so menacing that they were the deadliest ARC enemy type of all on the Dam map. Those enemies caused the most player deaths across the server slam weekend. They were also omnipresent across sites and extraction lifts, too.

Flying ARCs get nerfed

Embark Studios will slightly nerf the Flying ARCs, making these flying observers and shield eliminators less menacing overall. It means you can be a little less sneaky when encountering them, but they will still be the all-seeing eye on your extraction or map rotation routes.

In general, here are the main points that Embark is looking to fix ready for launch:

• Stability: You helped us quickly identify and resolve stability issues across all platforms during the test. We’ve locked in even more solutions leading up to launch day to ensure a smooth launch experience.
• The Flying ARCs: It turns out their awareness was a bit too high, allowing them to essentially see through trees and bushes. This made their vision unintentionally overpowered, but we’ve adjusted what they can see now, so expect a fairer fight at launch.
• The Dam Tower: We watched many of you bravely, and perhaps a little too easily, access the Launch Tower on Dam Battlegrounds. It was fun to watch, but a bit too accessible for a key loot location. That’s been fixed to keep the challenge sharp.
• Visual Difference: Some noticed a visual difference between Server Slam and earlier tests on certain hardware. The default settings did change a bit to favor more performance.

If you’re interested, you can catch the Server Slam stats and check out the other last-minute changes coming to launch over on the game’s website.