ARC Raiders Wants Me to be Squad Fodder for a Little Extra XP
Tomorrow’s update is basically a specialized "get bullied for fake points" mode for everyone over level 40.
I fucking love ARC Raiders and usually, Embark Studios is the one developer that actually listens to the room, but this latest announcement feels like they are reading the wrong script. Tomorrow, they are introducing a Solo vs. Squads matchmaking option for the "hardcore" crowd. It is meant for the level 40-plus veterans who want to play as "hidden looters" or "silent assassins" against coordinated three-man teams. The catch? Your prize for surviving a 1v3 extraction in a game with a punishingly low time-to-kill is "extra XP." For a community that has been grinding this game into the dirt since launch, this reward is the digital equivalent of a "participation" sticker on a funeral casket.
The Great XP Nothingburger
The most baffling part of this update is the level 40 requirement paired with an XP-based incentive. By the time a player hits level 40, they are already deep into the endgame, and many of the most vocal Raiders are sitting comfortably at the level 75 cap.
Why XP is Worthless to Veterans
If you are already at the level cap, XP is a dead currency. Some players have pointed out that merits for projects are tied to XP, but even those are utterly redundant for anyone who has been playing for more than a few weeks. I have seen level 75 players genuinely asking "XP for what?" because the game currently has no use for it once you have hit the ceiling. It is a reward that serves no one: the low-level players who need XP can’t access the mode, and the high-level players who can access it don't need the XP.
The "Vulture" Strategy
There is a small subset of the community that sees this as a "rat player’s holy grail." The idea is to sit back, watch two squads kill each other, and then swoop in as a vulture to scavenge the remains. While that sounds lucrative, you don't need a special matchmaking button to do that. You could already just uncheck "fill" in a trios lobby and run off to be a scavenger. Doing it through a dedicated menu just for a 10 percent XP boost feels like a waste of development time.
Catering to the Thumbnail Faces
A lot of the salt in the community right now is coming from the feeling that this isn't a mode for players, but a mode for content creators. It feels like "streamer bait" designed to give high-skill players a platform to record 1v3 "lobby wipe" videos for YouTube.
The Rise of the Sweat Mode
We have seen this happen with other shooters where the developers start catering to the top 1 percent of players who want to show off for their audience. The Reddit threads are already full of people predicting the "excited face" thumbnails with titles like "HOW I WIPED A SPACEPORT OF TRIOS." It is a mode designed for sweatiness in a game that many players enjoy for its tactical, PVE-focused extraction vibe. For the average solo player, being at a massive disadvantage for a reward they don't need is a hard "no."
The High Roller Dream is Dead
What makes this sting even more is that the community actually had a much better idea that Embark seemingly ignored. Everyone was anticipating a "High Roller" or "High Stakes" lobby.
What We Actually Wanted
The community has been begging for a mode with high entry requirements, like a minimum 50,000 credit loadout to enter. That would provide actual stakes and a loot pool that feels specialized. Instead of rewarding us with useless XP, a High Roller mode would offer better drop rates for high-end gear. This Solo vs. Squads mode is the complete opposite of that; most solos will likely just enter with a free kit and nothing to lose, which devalues the "high stakes" feeling that extraction shooters thrive on.
