Arc Raiders developer Embark Studios has said players who spawn late don’t realize they “economically profit far more” than players who don’t.
In an interview with GamesRadar, design lead Virgil Watkins discussed the extraction shooter’s divisive late spawn system, which might see players join games with around 20 minutes left to go. The sensation from some is that this generally is a frustrating experience since it gives late joiners less time to finish objectives, and there isn’t as much loot around. But Watkins suggested the info tells a special story.
“We 100% acknowledge the entire thing of, ‘Man, I got here in to try this trial and now I clearly haven’t got enough time to try this, and that sucks, so I’m just going to go away,’ or whatever. That aspect is unquestionably not great,” Watkins admitted.
“But just like the perception of free kits versus what they do, the perception around late joining and what it affords you has been quite interesting. Players are like, ‘The loot’s all gone,’ or whatever else. But players who late join economically profit way greater than individuals who aren’t. The session, once they are fresh, does eventually get quieter, and fairly often they arrive across the remnants of fights or can perhaps take out larger drones or hit high-ticket areas more readily than other players. In order that’s been a really interesting thing to have a look at.”
So what’s the goal behind the late join system? In response to Watkins, it helps mitigate deserted raids. Indeed, Embark distributes loot in such a way so “there must be loads of stuff for players to do” even in the event that they join late.
It should be interesting to see if Watkins’ explanation here turns sentiment on late spawns around. Since Arc Raiders’ explosive launch, its late spawn system has come under fire from some who feel it must be overhauled. There’s frustration on either side, with those that need to face late spawns having been in a game from the beginning also expressing concern.
“It’s crazy that my team can clear a piece of Stella Montis, place traps near the favored entrances, and begin looting… only to have a full team of three, heavy shield, volcano running players spawn 50 FEET AWAY from us in a random room within the corner of the world… spawning principally on top of us, at 15 MINUTES REMAINING,” said one fan last month. “There isn’t a counter, there is no such thing as a probability of winning, they bypassed our traps as they spawned within the room next to me.
“The ONLY players who must be spawning in five minutes into the raid or later are FREE LOADOUTS. Tarkov got that system down with the player Scavs, and it really works thoroughly. The initial spawn must be player loadouts only, then free loadouts are available in at 25, 20, and quarter-hour remaining. Does that sound reasonable?
“I’m not crazy right? I’ve spawned literally on top of players who were looting and have gotten extremely unfair free kills due to it. Even reworking the spawning mechanic wont fix it, as you should not need to worry a few random full geared 3-man at quarter-hour remaining after 5 minutes of silence after your team worn out 12 players.
“Spawning in a 20 with gear sucks. Many of the PVP is gone, half the loot is already extracted. It sucks for everybody else too, they’re low on meds, shields are nearly broken, and now 3-9 completely fresh, geared players have arrived at unexpected locations you only cleared.”
This week, Embark released a brand new patch for Arc Raiders that stamped out some infamous out-of-bounds exploits – but players said “rats” still live within the partitions of Stella Montis. If this has tempted you into giving Arc Raiders a try, take a look at our guide to the best settings, discover what skills we recommend unlocking first, and see how you can earn loot by delivering field depot crates… or you may just wait for the inevitable TV show or movie adaptation, although the team says it hasn’t been swayed just yet.
Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You may reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.