Everything Wrong With Arc Raiders is a phrase I mean literally: this article pulls apart the game’s rough edges while still cheering for what it gets right. Arc Raiders is a phenomenal extraction shooter that has captured a massive audience, but it’s far from perfect. I play regularly, and I care enough to be frank about the problems that are hurting the experience for a lot of players.
Where the game shines — and why criticism matters
I love the core loop: fast movement, intense engagements, meaningful loot decisions, and that tense extraction anxiety. Those elements are why Arc Raiders blew up and why I’m invested enough to point out Everything Wrong With Arc Raiders. Calling out issues isn’t being negative for the sake of it — it’s about protecting the game that so many of us enjoy.
Cheating: the immediate, obvious problem
Cheaters are the absolute worst, and Arc Raiders has a full buffet of them. This is not unique to this game, but when an extraction shooter depends on fair encounters, cheating destroys the trust that makes runs matter. There are two broad classes of cheats in Arc Raiders: the blatant and the subtle.
Blatant cheats include getting out of the map and shooting people through walls. That kind of nonsense leaves you powerless — there is no counterplay. The subtle cheats are worse in another way: you might not even realize someone is abusing an exploit unless you can watch their screen or catch them on stream. A few folks have even posted clips of themselves stream sniping well-known streamers, which is as pathetic as it sounds.
On PC there were console commands and graphics tweaks that let players tank settings to see enemies through foliage. That’s embarrassing — if you’re that terrified of being outplayed, practice instead of manipulating settings. That said, blaming only players ignores the dev-side responsibilities. Anti-cheat is an arms race that studios must actively fight.
There has been movement from the developer, Embark Studios. They pushed an emergency hot fix for a graphics exploit and posted that they are deploying new detection mechanisms and client-side fixes. Their Discord post laid out plans to update anti-che systems and introduce streamer tools to reduce stream sniping. That message mattered:
Over the next few weeks, we are implementing significant changes to our rule set and deploying new detection mechanisms to identify and remove cheaters. This includes updating our anti-che systems for improved detection and bans, as well as applying client side fixes, specifically addressing the out-of-map glitch. Furthermore, we are introducing tools for streamers to help mitigate stream sniping.
Good news, but frustratingly vague. “Over the next few weeks” is not a timetable most players find satisfying when cheaters are actively wrecking runs. Still, the fact they are listening and acting is encouraging. Even so, Everything Wrong With Arc Raiders still lists cheating as a top priority because the fixes need to be fast and visible.
Weapon balance and the meta: a messy ecosystem
Balance has been a recurring headache. Some high-tier items underperform while low-tier guns dominate, creating a meta that feels arbitrary rather than skill-driven. That mismatch is central to Everything Wrong With Arc Raiders when it comes to gameplay fairness.
Underperformers: when legendary feels worse than common
Take the Anvil Splitter. It’s a legendary mod that turns your Anvil hand cannon into a four-pellet shotgun. The problem? If you miss even one pellet, your damage drops dramatically. A rare item that demands perfect aim to be useful is a design misstep. Looting a Legendary and feeling worse off than with a green gun is not fun.
The Betatina, an epic weapon, got a recent buff — +2 magazine, slightly faster reload, better durability. Great for PvE, but PvP players wanted more meaningful changes. Those minor adjustments didn’t address the core complaint: the Betatina still lags behind other primaries in competitive play.
Overperformers and exploits: stitcher, kettle, and macros
Meanwhile, the Stitcher and the Kettle — both gray tier weapons — have been absurdly strong since launch. With minimal upgrades they function as elite raider-killing tools. It’s great when lower-tier weapons have use cases, but when two gray weapons outperform epics and legendaries across the board, the reward structure breaks down.
Then came macro abuse. Some PC players used macros to dump entire magazines with inconsistent timing and zero counterplay. If the kettle is killing in a way that “feels like an error,” that’s a problem. The kettle’s fire rate cap was technically present but set so high it didn’t protect against insta-kills. Macros turned a design oversight into a community-wide frustration.
Trigger grenades: fun idea, devastating execution
Trigger grenades are a concept I love. A throwable you can remotely detonate adds tactical depth and psychological pressure. Implementation matters. Right now, trigger grenades have too much damage, too large a blast radius, and they can be detonated almost instantly after leaving your hand. They dominate encounters in a way that sidelines gunplay.
Embark acknowledged these issues and intends to change the damage falloff curve and add a detonation timing tweak so you need to be precise. That is the correct direction. Balancing the kettle and trigger grenades should be top priorities — these items shape how people approach PvP and whether engagements feel fair.
Still, Everything Wrong With Arc Raiders expands beyond the kettle and grenades. No one likes opening a legendary box and thinking “why did I bother?” Fixing low-tier power creep and redesigning underperforming epics should land alongside grenade tweaks.
Match entry timing: late joins and empty loot tables
The ability to join matches in progress speeds matchmaking, but it has a real downside: late joiners feel like they walked into a scavenged scavenger hunt. In a game where players quickly learn the best loot routes, jumping into a mid-match lobby almost guarantees the good spots are cleaned out.
For players who prefer peaceful looting over murderhobo behavior, this is a massive turnoff. You load in, run to a known spot, and find nothing but empty spawns and a trail of corpses. The only reliable solution is to kill someone and take their gear, which forces people into more aggressive playstyles and kicks off a feedback loop of bloodthirstier matchmaking.
Embark has introduced behavior-influenced matchmaking so peaceful players should end up in more peaceful lobbies, but that does not fully solve the late join problem. Possible changes could include:
- Scaled loot for late joiners — guarantee a modest cache so joining late isn’t pointless.
- Fill mechanics — spawn a timed “partial loot” state that replenishes some nodes for new entrants.
- Visibility indicators — show how long the match has been active before you accept the join.
These ideas would make joining a match in progress less soul-crushing while preserving fast matchmaking.
Community events, quests, and expeditions: opportunity missed
Community events and long-form content like expeditions have huge potential, but many current implementations feel like filler. The Stella Montis unlock event promised a shared goal but reduced to “donate materials and we unlock the map” — which was a letdown after the hype.
Expeditions are supposed to be season-spanning trials that culminate in prestige. Instead, they sometimes feel like dumping resources into a black hole until the counter hits zero. Quests too often fall into “go here, press E” territory. A good quest is one you’d enjoy doing even without the rewards; too many current tasks fail that test.
There are bright spots. The snowball trial had people memeing the hell out of it, but it was creative and fun. The secret loot room in Buried City that required activating hidden buttons in a particular order was brilliant — frustrating to get into, sure, but satisfying once you did. These moments show the team can craft memorable, player-driven content.
If Embark leans into design experiments — more challenge-based community events, quests that require skill or strategy, and expeditions with layered objectives — they can turn these systems into the game’s heartbeat rather than background noise.
Where I want to see changes next
I expect Embark to keep addressing the obvious stuff first: anti-cheat improvements, fixes to out-of-map exploits, and targeted balance patches for kettle, stitcher, and trigger grenades. Beyond that, here’s my wishlist aimed at addressing Everything Wrong With Arc Raiders in a constructive way:
- Faster, clearer anti-che communication. Players need timelines, not vague promises.
- Comprehensive weapon balance pass. Buff underperformers meaningfully and nerf the surprisingly dominant grays.
- Macro detection and input smoothing. Prevent mag-dump exploits without penalizing legitimate control options.
- Late-join mitigation. Scaled loot, visibility indicators, or replenishment mechanics.
- Richer, challenge-based quests and events. Make quests interactive, not chores.
None of these ideas are revolutionary, but combined they would address the bulk of player frustration. The game already has the core; it just needs polish and decisive follow-through.
Final thoughts
Everything Wrong With Arc Raiders reads harsh when laid out, but that bluntness comes from caring. The game’s foundation is excellent: movement, gunfeel, extraction tension, and a community that wants to get better. Fix the cheating, rebalance weapons thoughtfully, give quests some personality, and patch the matchmaking rough spots and the experience will be markedly better.
I’m optimistic. Embark has shown creativity with trials and secret content, and they’ve started moving on cheat fixes and weapon adjustments. If trends continue, many of the items on my Everything Wrong With Arc Raiders list will be memories rather than persistent frustrations.
If you have specific gripes I missed, say them in places where the team can see them and support changes that improve the game. Constructive pressure from an invested community is one of the best forces for positive change.
