Embark Studios heeft een nieuwe update uitgebracht voor ARC Raiders die flink wat nieuwe content toevoegt aan de PvPvE-shooter.
De grootste toevoeging is zonder twijfel de introductie van een compleet nieuwe factie: de Nomadic Envoys. Met hun komst wordt ook het verhaal van ARC Raiders verder uitgebreid.
Daarnaast krijgen spelers toegang tot een nieuwe trader genaamd Ermal. Deze handelaar verkoopt wekelijks wisselende items waaronder cosmetics, blueprints, Raider Tokens en verschillende progression-items.
Ook op gameplayvlak brengt de update extra nieuwigheden met zich mee. Zo verschijnt er een nieuw wapen genaamd de Rascal, een compacte grenade launcher ontworpen door Tian Wen.
Volgens Embark Studios is de Rascal bedoeld als lichtgewicht sidearm waarmee spelers extra anti-ARC firepower kunnen meenemen zonder meteen een zware Hullcracker te moeten dragen.
Daar staat wel tegenover dat het wapen een trage reloadspeed heeft en minder nauwkeurig is dan andere explosieve wapens.
Voor spelers die level 25 bereikt hebben, introduceert de update ook nieuwe progression-opties. High-value ARC-materialen en zeldzame wapens kunnen voortaan ingeruild worden voor speciale upgrades.
Zo kunnen spelers tijdelijk extra ruimte vrijspelen voor hun Stash, terwijl ook de nieuwe Expedition Vault beschikbaar wordt. Daarmee kunnen tot vijf items veilig opgeslagen worden zodat ze behouden blijven na een expeditie.
Volgens Embark blijft de eerste versie van deze systemen voorlopig beperkt zodat de studio feedback van spelers kan verzamelen en prijzen eventueel nog kan aanpassen.
Daarnaast bevestigt Embark Studios dat Denuvo Anti-Cheat vanaf vandaag wordt uitgerold binnen ARC Raiders.
De anti-cheatsoftware wordt in eerste instantie slechts bij een beperkte groep spelers geactiveerd, maar de studio wil het systeem later uitbreiden naar de volledige playerbase als de eerste resultaten positief blijven.
Embark benadrukt wel expliciet dat enkel de anti-cheatoplossing gebruikt wordt. Er zijn voorlopig geen plannen om gebruik te maken van Denuvo DRM.
Volgens de ontwikkelaar werd gekozen voor Denuvo Anti-Cheat na positieve ervaringen met dezelfde technologie in The Finals.
ARC Raiders is beschikbaar op pc, PlayStation 5 en Xbox Series X/S.
ARC Raiders update 1.29.0 patch notes:
What’s New?
- New Trader – Ermal
- New Weapon – Rascal
- Mod Improvement: Extended Barrel
- End of Round Changes
- The Sandveil Set
- Facial Hair Style – Sideburns
- The Sheath Set will be available on June 2nd
Balance Changes
ARC
- Increased the granularity of ARC vision through bushes and smokes, rewarding strategic positioning. Raiders near the edge of cover are now easier to spot, while those deeper in foliage or behind smoke are harder to detect.
- Improved how ARC perceives sound in open outdoor spaces, while reducing their sensitivity to sounds in indoor environments and those passing through geometry.
Firefly
- Improved how the Firefly applies fire. The effect now matches the visuals more closely, and briefly grazing the flame no longer feels as punishing, reducing the sensation of being hit around corners.
Rocketeer
- When the Rocketeer shoots several missiles at once, they are now consistently spread out over a larger area to prevent unfair situations where multiple missiles hit the same location.
Gameplay
- Reduced the power cost of Photoelectric Cloak from 10/s to 5/s.
Augment
- The Cloud of Renewal effect on the Tactical Mk. 3 (Healing) Augment has been changed to an AoE effect.
- The Cloud of Renewal healing has been increased from 20 to 45.
- The cooldown on Cloud of Renewal has been increased from 30s to 45s.
- Changed the shield capacity on Combat Mk.3 (Flanking) Augment to accept Medium Shields.
Weapons
- Bettina Base Fire Rate has been increased from 235 to 250.
Weapon Mods
- Weapon mods can now affect aim-down-sights transition speed for scoped weapons.
- Extended Barrel:
- Bullet Velocity Bonus has been increased from 25 to 30%.
- Increased the damage fall off distance by 15%.
- Renamed to Extended Barrel III.
- Added new mesh.
- Added 2 lower tier variants:
- Extended Barrel I
- Extended Barrel II
Content and Bug Fixes
ARC
General
- Fixed an issue where flying ARC could get stuck.
- Queen and Matriarch will now more often step over things than through them, reducing the amount of times players suffer unfair knockback.
- When Raiders first spawn into a session, ARC will be less perceptive of them and less likely to engage.
- Fixed some instances of ARC spawning in unexpected locations.
ARC Turbine
- Fixed ARC Turbine legs becoming invisible in odd angles.
- Improved ARC Turbine probability of finding good angles for the legs when landing.
- Improved ARC Turbine landing positioning to mitigate visual clipping issues.
- Increased the odds of Raiders getting burned by the ARC Turbine when inside of it.
Animation
- Updated cloth physics on character outfits for more natural movement.
- Fixed an issue causing some ARC weapon rotations to snap and appear laggy.
- Fixed an issue where items would clip into Field Crates when picked up while holding a gadget.
- Fixed the inspect animation for the Metal Detector.
Audio
- Reduced how much sounds are lowered while taking damage.
- Added a distinct sound when Bastion and Bombardier switch targets.
- Added comb filtering to footsteps and movement sounds to achieve clearer perception of distance, elevation and movement direction.
- Improved binaural audio to make it easier to distinguish the height and elevation of sounds.
Cosmetics
- Ongoing work to unify character texture settings for better performance and more visual consistency.
Gameplay
- Players are now immune to stuns while entering a Raider Hatch, preventing interruptions when returning to Speranza.
- Fixed an issue where downed players could move out of bounds.
- Fixed an issue where pressing fire during certain actions like dodgeroll or climbing wouldn’t buffer fire.
General
- Fixed an issue where players would be teleported when standing on destroyed ARC parts.
- Fixed an issue where characters could float when disconnecting in mid-air.
- Fixed an issue where the Expedition timer was not showing the correct duration.
Items
- Agave Juice now Quick Moves into available Quick Use slots instead of the Backpack, and will not be unloaded from Backpack when emptying it.
- Free loadout Augment sell price: 100 -> 660.
Maps
General
- Fixed low-res textures, odd spray paint decals, and a misaligned wall in tunnel and highway areas.
- Fixed overly dark shading on vent materials to improve visibility.
Riven Tides
- Fixed a balcony structure clipping into a hotel doorway that could block passage.
- Fixed floating objects and improved rope visuals and physics.
- Fixed a misaligned balcony in the hotel lobby and missing wall collision at Room 207.
Stella Montis
- Polished environment textures and fixed collision issues.
Social
- Added an option to block players after reporting.
- Fixed an issue where voice chat could fail when opening the console UI on PS5/Xbox.
- End of Round Changes
- Raiders will now be able to see all squad members at the end of the round whether they extracted successfully or not.
- Interacting with the squad member’s name plate will display a range of social actions that can be taken, which include reporting, muting or blocking the player.
- Players will also be able to immediately leave the squad in the tunnel sequence.
Stability & Performance
- General performance and stability improvements.
- Fixed an issue that could cause the loading screen to remain stuck.
UI
- Added information to the Crash Mat tooltip to showcase the additional safe fall height gain.
- Deployable previews now show occluded portions with a striped overlay, making placement easier.
- Fixed an issue where pinging an ARC Turbine as it entered the map could cause the ping marker to behave erratically.
Utility
- Removed unintended delay after cancelling a Trigger ‘Nade throw during which the grenade could not be thrown or triggered.
- Fixed an issue where throwing grenades could not be cancelled.
- Cancelling deployment of Pulse Mine or Gas Mine no longer consumes the item.
- Fixed an issue where the ‘Use Zipline’ prompt was missing, preventing interaction at close range.
- Fixed an issue where vaulting could trigger while moving upward or while standing on the ground with the Powered Descender active.
- Fixed an issue where the Surge Coil would not damage teammates of the player who placed it.
Known issues
- Opening the console menu on PS5/Xbox while matchmaking causes the matchmaking to be cancelled.
- The Sandveil outfit scarf may appear stretched with long hairstyles clipping through.
- Players can fall from the map by walking near the wall of the Pilgrim Peak’s building.
- Successful Extraction music plays in the background when the new Trader Introduction video is shown to the player after they return to the main menu.
- Characters in Squad Walk screen may fail to appear under certain circumstances.
- Dolabra does not deal damage to training dummies on Practice Range.
- Pause on an Augment’s Regen Effect fails to apply after Player’s revival.
- The throw animation may sometimes fail to play if the player attempts to detonate a Trigger ‘Nade immediately after throwing it.
- Some localization issues across the UI, including missing text in the settings menu and loading screen quotes.
- In rare cases purchases might not work in the customization screen, reopen the customization screen to fix it.
- The Firefly may sometimes disappear after going idle and drop an incendiary grenade.
- Shredders float to the ceiling in some rooms of the Hidden Bunker.
- Player animations may appear broken when interrupting a search of the Baron Husk.
- The Leaper can jump through the ARC Turbine.