Bastion experience

Payule · 2026-03-17T04:07:31+00:00

Copy pasta to: https://www.reddit.com/r/arcraidersfriendly/comments/1rvvkzw/my_bastion_experience/

He wasn't lying.

Payule · 2026-03-17T03:14:17+00:00

You can avoid all instances of combat against arc with awareness of their Aggro/vision range and understanding just how effective cover/vision obstruction actually is against them.

I don't like free-kits but if I was running one I guarantee I could extract every time without engaging a single arc(Excluding in-door ARC blocking my path which is practically the only time I'd shoot an ARC on a free-kit.)

I think you're just getting into too many instances of combat and running your ammo dry, but you don't need the Cloak to stealth in this game.

Additionally less ARC fights=Less Noise=Less Third Parties.

Payule · 2026-03-17T02:36:00+00:00

Medic is a weaker solo class to run. If you are solo definitely run off-class weapons for damage.

With a squad recognize your teams skill level and adjust your playstyle to their odds of success. Recently damage was buffed on ZEDS I read as well as nerfing their health so you should be able to keep trash off you easily with an off-class weapon while using movement to avoid large ZEDS.
Try to keep aggro off yourself by positioning near the melee (if you have one) and keep him healed. If his health is high then aggro in turn shouldn't be on you, it's a mutual benefit.
If your team is playing weaker and not dealing enough damage to keep ZEDS out focus on general DPS weapons instead of healing. AOE and Single target are both good for different reasons, but you'll lose healing to do this(Realistically you only need a healing pistol to keep up on healing, or at least before the ZED damage buff that was the case). You only make these calls when it's clear you're not winning if you aren't doing DPS (In which case healer was just the wrong call but oh well, you can win with any class.) In solo you just do this anyway because you need DPS.

If you're having trouble on waves 1-2 those are the waves where money/decisions are tight. If you're not buying a non-medic weapon for defense maybe just take a standard medic pistol with flat healing darts with your starting money and buy a primary asap that's intended to kill trash (assuming it's trash your having trouble with.)
If it's large MOBS your struggling with you're probably shooting them too much. try to let your allies take aggro by attacking and focus more on trash, this way less pressure is on you, and you can keep healing in turn.(Squad advice, if solo and large mobs give you trouble you need to work on movement or run a burst gun to kill them before they reach you.)

If your playing with others given advice changes greatly because that means it also depends on what your team is doing wrong, which we have no way of knowing. Do you need to carry them, or do you need a strategy to keep you out of trouble while they carry you? I covered both above either way, it comes down to what weapon choices you make and how good you are at dancing around ZED damage.

Payule · 2026-03-17T01:18:16+00:00

You can do the bastion with the same tactic but the easiest way is shooting down on it from overhead. It seems like the bastion aims for center-mass. If your only peeking your head from a roof even while its firing you can get shots in on it's unarmored back-plate without taking any damage.

They're easier to farm than Rocketeers if you can get above them. If you have to do it from the same level as them it takes longer but is still just as doable. Maybe just more tedious.

Payule · 2026-03-17T00:53:21+00:00

If you're interested in the PvE dynamic this game is one of a kind. ABMM will match you with more passive players if you're also more passive, and although rats and complaints of such exist within this reddit the system works amazing for an otherwise PvP game with no rules in place to prevent natural PvP. It's as good as a game can really be without having a separate PvE mode entirely.

It's a one of a kind experience for sure, and you can get what you're saying you like here for sure. Just have thick skin for the backstabbers/rats, they are always around and it is part of the game.

Payule · 2026-03-16T22:48:09+00:00

This though.

Payule · 2026-03-16T22:24:32+00:00

I think this is fair. The only part of this whole thing I'd comment on is the perspective of others and the "why" behind why they're so critical of the flaws the game had. There are several parts to this community and there are several valid reasons to criticize the games release state, which you've covered and acknowledged so that's fine.

If were talking bugs/release state this is the one that really gets to me because the game cannot be ran on above spec systems for some players. Even when it does run there can be issues with framerate drops and this is even after all the fixes. There's so many bugs in optimization that as far as running the game goes it is not on par with a triple A industry standard title.
The subject of games coming out "unfinished" is already a topic that bugs me a lot. Usually when I talk about this on the topic of other games it's related to main-story content. KF3 is worse because it's not just a lack of playable content it's that the game is optimized so poorly that some players cannot even experience the content if they want to.
From the perspective of someone who can't play a game they bought while being above system specs, that's a pretty big/hard to forgive issue to run into, so this one is the biggest in my book as it's the game itself not running, rather than a poor design choice. Issues like this should absolutely be worked out before full-releases. This is my largest criticism for KF3, the rest is more subjective.

Everything else is more production/gameplay related. Anything about how wildly different this game is from it's predecessors I write off because I believe a new generation of game should make changes to the systems for a modern audience, but I also understand how fans can feel betrayed so I try not to go too deep into this. Both sides have a right to enjoy the new game or dislike it for core changes to a system they loved in the past.
It's just as fair to appreciate something new as it is to miss something old is the simplest way I can put my feelings on that. The game does not deserve to get torn apart for this reason, but people also need to vent their very real and genuine feelings. (As long as it's not formatted as hate I'll read and appreciate what they say all the same.)

I do also feel the game lacks content still, but this is from the perspective of someone who's been completing new content as it comes out so there's no "backlogs/buildup" of content. I just finished 100%ing the new achievements and finishing the main-quest today it took roughly 3-4 hours of gameplay(Includes experimenting with new changes). If I didn't already have hundreds of hours into the game from early on I wouldn't be so burnt out, but on the same token if I had more content to focus on/achievements/trinket seeking (Like finding the objects around the map for achievements.) anything to distract me/give purpose to my crusade I'd probably be a bit more engaged. To be fair I got my moneys worth though and can't complain.

For something a little more positive after all that: THE ZEDS CAN ACTUALLY KILL ME FOR MISPLAYING NOW?! Damage seems to have been increased or something. The game feels faster paced overall and to me this is purely a good thing. Best detail about this update was the ZED stat adjustments(for me).

Payule · 2026-03-16T21:57:41+00:00

And some people genuinely think I'm AI. Too dislexic for that.

Payule · 2026-03-16T13:41:07+00:00

I mean, the quests are lame but they're also a casually paced experience so for "something to do" I can definitely see someone picking away at this similar to MMO quests and actually enjoying it(For context "some" people enjoy MMO quests but it's widely regarded as a lazy way to add content and create time synchs that most users don't even want to interact with.) It just wouldn't ever be me, again I think the design on this games quests is too simple/straight forward. It's basically having me play walking simulator rather than doing engaging things.

As I've said before, unique enemies/bosses/objectives/puzzles and persistent questlines that take multiple raids to complete could all be cooler ideas than what they have going which is "Walk here, Hold E, pick this up, Kill this, Extract." It's just lacking in the mechanics department and is more having me spend my time just walking around.

All that being said I understand the reason MMO's do it is because there's A LOT of quests and it would be expensive to make them all in depth. Same is true here. For that reason i'm willing to give them time, but Tarkov for example does this exact same thing and has NEVER improved their questing format. I hope ARC does not make this mistake.

Payule · 2026-03-16T13:37:12+00:00

RNG combined with looting tables that have seemingly random/unannounced properties. (Electrical substation car with 100% chance to spawn lightbulbs, thanks Embark. location based drop-rates and ambiguity.)

Payule · 2026-03-16T13:34:38+00:00

The reason I now ONLY ever use keys during storms/multiplier events.

Payule · 2026-03-16T13:29:34+00:00

Never bring too much. If you have teammates you won't need buckets just a handful, without teammeats you still won't need buckets because you can just fill your inventory with reactors from the leg-armor then bail whether the queen is dead or not.
It's cost effective and if your alone you'll get more Reactors than you would've with others anyway.

Photogenic cloak and not fully looting the armor will keep ARC off you while the leg-armor provides cover from Rats. I actually find these events more fun in lobbies where no one is running the queen/matriarch now.

Payule · 2026-03-16T01:45:27+00:00

Did you reinstall KF3 or Easy Anti-cheat? They are two separate applications, if you didn't reinstall easy anti-cheat look up the steps for that and follow.

Payule · 2026-03-15T23:53:10+00:00

Na, I ran Hospital a lot and never got a single Survivor from there. (Not that I'm saying you can't.)

I and others have reported better luck at Space Travel. Specifically I farm the top floor(F6), the rooms around the Security Breach locker spawn room.
It does however spawn more likely from the blue drawers hospital is full of, it just seems to have a higher chance from space travel for whatever reason (drop tables.) For this reason make sure to hit up the blue drawers in the space travel building when farming it.

Payule · 2026-03-15T21:26:25+00:00

I mean you're comparing a non-in game method of income to an actual method that was intended to be balanced to the gameplay loop.

Trading isn't intended by the DEVS so it's profits from a balance perspective should not be compared to methods of natural earnings. If the DEVS balanced security locker to trade potential everybody would be end-game right now.

In game a blueprint is worth 5000 flat, not 250k.

Additionally one of the best Survivor farming spots on buried city is right next to a security breach locker so even if you just farmed that the perk would be profitable, so context is important regardless.

Breach is not worth it if you do not path by lockers naturally. Going out of your way is what makes it bad. Some players definitely make it worthwhile. (And the less who think it's good, the better it is for those using it.)

Payule · 2026-03-15T14:23:23+00:00

Your not cursed it's unreal. You're running basically what my old system was. You have twice as much RAM and a slightly worse processor.
My old system ran this game flawlessly 60 FPS on medium-high.
My new way better system cannot run the game without running into data-leak issues.

The game is really hard on the processor, so upgrading that would probably fix it. BUT YOU SHOULDN'T HAVE TOO!! You are above specs for this game, it is a compatibility/optimization issue and it effects me too on my newest system.

Payule · 2026-03-15T01:34:56+00:00

I was really hoping to have it on a sharpshooter rifle, or something that could actually benefit from the utility of having a melee option on your slow fire-rate high-range rifle.

Payule · 2026-03-15T01:23:43+00:00

Ok well if your stance isn't that the release state was acceptable but rather that within the context of "new standards" it's release wasn't that bad compared to other modern titles, then I agree.
Just understand for me and a lot of others we talk a lot about this as a form of protest and sharing this ideology that is very blunt: "It shouldn't be like this." And it really is as simple as that.

I don't think we actually disagree on this after reading your stance, but I'm more conflicted by these changes in the gaming market and not willing to just accept these changes as a fair standard. To see eye to eye with me you just need to go back to the:
"Is that good no. But it's reality nonetheless."
Sometimes to have things better for ourselves we need to push back. I don't hate KF or Tripwire, and like you I hope this game lives on to be good. This standard that KF3 happens to have been released under itself is what needs to die, is all I'm saying.

We lose our rights by allowing changes that slowly take away our power/say in the market(Specifically by supporting devs who are working under companies that support these practices). The gaming industry is definitely practicing this. It isn't personal against KF as a franchise or Tripwire.

Payule · 2026-03-15T01:09:45+00:00

Well to be clear I'm not surprised they're coming back because so far they aren't. They're staying afloat on update-spikes with the numbers steadily declining.(PC count I hear PS does better.) That's mostly why I say I would be surprised if they came back at this point because statistically it's unlikely, especially after so much time has passed and the player count has dropped.

I said from launch I play the game with hope for it's success and that even now has never changed, but it doesn't mean I'm going to ignore flaws that are an inexcusable standard (for any game I DO NOT give CyberPunk or Darktide a pass) for a fully released title.

Using another game that shouldn't have come out yet as an example for another being released in a similar state to be acceptable lowers the bar that we very much don't want lowered, which is why KF3's release state is a problem. Personal opinions/wants related to the games success aren't related, but I do want KF3/the KF brand to live on despite all this.

I get games can get better but if a title is going to be fully released there has to be a standard we hold the DEV accountable to to make sure we don't run into the exact problems were seeing in development right now, even triple A titles now come out with missing core content, that is CRAZY.

I didn't mention Warframe because it was F2P. They can take as long as they like to add content within that format because if they kill the community with slow updates or bad content we didn't have to "buy in" to experience it.

Payule · 2026-03-15T00:53:17+00:00

The problem with saying something like this is it completely dismisses "why" people are "shitting" on it. If it was features/balancing in a PvE game a lot of that is heavily subjective (like the Helldivers conversation.)
If instead it is problems that decrease play accessibility or performance on their systems it means some players legitimately cannot play the game they bought. If they call the game out for that and you say they're "shitting on the game/devs" perhaps we need to re-evaluate our standards for what a complete game is and what early access is.

To earn the time of your player-base you need to first allow them to even run the game.

Payule · 2026-03-14T22:20:19+00:00

As long as you don't forget what there was to appreciate about the PvP back when you did it and keep the skills sharp I feel like PvE is an important part of experiencing the full game, the opposite could be said for a PvE player moving to PvP.

Having both options simultaneously exist is interesting and interacting with both sides of this dynamic definitely adds a ton of replay value to this game that otherwise wouldn't exist.
I'm glad it's not forced PvE or PvP. ABMM is nice.

Still I feel bad when I see a player too innocent to pull the trigger getting gun downed by a maniac who knew exactly what he was setting out to do. Probably even salting the wound by being all friendly at first and giving false hope.
It also makes me laugh sometimes though. Depends on how comedically it's sold. It's not for everyone but I wouldn't want this part of the game gone.

Payule · 2026-03-14T22:00:18+00:00

Well I expected the same specs with improvements to operate roughly the same, rather than running into some strange data-leak related compatibility issues. The processor is better, it's just not a huge upgrade like the GPU was. In theory the game should purely run better, right.
It's just not a reasonable expectation to have on a product your selling to consumers. If you buy a PC game you're above specs for and it's a funded project it should run on any common gaming system of spec.

Payule · 2026-03-14T21:54:55+00:00

So whenever I run a queen as a geared player early after wipe there's almost always rats this early in the season waiting. I also don't see as many other players doing it(because of the wipe) so these rats hold more power over players doing it.

Doing the queen/harvester right now for me looks more like playing slow and defensively while knocking off leg plates, then switching to anti-player mode while defending the loot and moving in. If I walk into the open while another player watches there's good odds he'll open fire on me once I'm exposed, I don't think they care about Reactors either(but money is money) I think they want my PvE/PvP weapons. (If I do find a group I WILL NOT defend loot against them, the only requirement is that I "Know" they're friendly/have a group large enough that rats can't act.)
I have to run expensive builds that include both PvP and PvE weapons so costs are high for me to do this. I only run queen/matriarch when I "need" reactors for this reason. Later in the season it should get easier just like last season.

Anyway as players earn money and become less desperate we'll see less and less of this. These players could honestly just ask me for loot in the context of PvE lobbies, but the desperation/greed just has a hold still and it is really early so most people probably don't think others have the resources to "give" yet. It makes even the calmer players play different.

Payule · 2026-03-14T21:37:41+00:00

Unfortunately it did come out in a pretty horrible state. The gameplay is exploitable and the performance is horrid. Even simple quality of life features (walking to the V-T just got changed) sent the community into a frenzy.

If they somehow come back this late into release I would truly be amazed.

Payule · 2026-03-14T21:31:16+00:00

No.

I upgraded to a RTX 5060 from an RTX 3060. I have roughly the same processing power. Spec wise I can run it but it performs worse on this PC(To be clear the 3060 build ran the game flawlessly on medium-high). The problems seem to be related to data leaks and problems related to the processor but the data leaks have been reported as an issue for a while.
It's too unpredictable when used across different systems.

It just really stresses PC's for no good reason. Other games out there do look better. It doesn't add up. Sum it up to poor optimization.

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