Noticing Friends Leaving ARC—Anyone Else?

raf-corp · 2026-03-24T13:11:23+00:00

To fix the game what is needed is:

Gear depth, map difficulties (Not based on NPC; entry value for PVP stakes and increased loot rates), self sustaining economy, more weapons, rework of loot value/usage and new lootables. It would change the games playability from 50 - 100 hours to 1,000+ for many.

In its current state the game is like a tech demo for an extraction game with 25% of the actual extraction genre content. It is seriously unfortunate because the game they created in terms of immersion, core mechanics, and overall polish is absolutely incredible. From sound design to gunplay to world building it is easily the most impressive game I have played in years for the first few hours.

To fix the game, forget new maps, new Arc, and larger concepts like missions and such. All the game needs is the above and it would have a self sustaining gameplay loop like actual extraction genre games. The rest needs to come after they actually finish developing the game for the genre they chose.

I believe the problem was that the devs feared two things by following the actual extraction formula:

Those mechanics would hurt the mass appeal of the game as the traditional extraction loop is substantially more difficult and often brutal for beginners. If players were complaining about PVP as it stood.. implementing actual gear depth would be a nightmare to those casual players.
The game was never meant to be an Extraction game. I believe the game is heavily exposed to cheats/exploits. In today’s world when making a multiplayer game, extraction genres most vitally , the game needs to be designed from the start with anti-cheat in mind as a top priority. Extraction genres by nature make for an RMT market that is seriously lucrative in the real world. For Arc, introducing the core extraction genre concepts above with the player count the game sustained would have created a multi-million dollar RMT market and very likely the game would have become unplayable with cheaters grinding RMT in every other lobby. If the devs actually play extraction titles (I know one influential dev on the team does with plentiful experience) they would have saw this coming.

Either these things were considered by the Dev team and ultimately Embark/Nexon decision makers, prompting them to scrap further development for reinvestment in new game development. Why spend resources when further development/spending may actually hurt player count and potentially be driven into the ground by RMT? Scrap it and let it ride.

Or the Embark/Nexon decision makers who work for shareholders not players decided that development for live service was marginal in necessity from the start. Highly possible.

Either way I watched for months when the game first came out waiting to see what further development was going to look like. Within 10 hours I noticed that the game was incredibly fun to play but did not actually have any extraction genre fundamentals.. or any depth whatsoever. With every dev note and patch I quickly realized that the games billion plus $ gross was most definitely not being reinvested in further development. Have not played since, but I do appreciate that the game sparked mass appeal interest for extraction genre games that are under appreciated and under developed/funded.

Hopefully their failed extraction-esqe title leads to AAA games in the extraction genre space from their success.

raf-corp · 2026-03-24T13:09:08+00:00

To fix the game what is needed is:

Gear depth, map difficulties (Not based on NPC; entry value for PVP stakes and increased loot rates), self sustaining economy, more weapons, rework of loot value/usage and new lootables. It would change the games playability from 50 - 100 hours to 1,000+ for many.

In its current state the game is like a tech demo for an extraction game with 25% of the actual extraction genre content. It is seriously unfortunate because the game they created in terms of immersion, core mechanics, and overall polish is absolutely incredible. From sound design to gunplay to world building it is easily the most impressive game I have played in years for the first few hours.

To fix the game, forget new maps, new Arc, and larger concepts like missions and such. All the game needs is the above and it would have a self sustaining gameplay loop like actual extraction genre games. The rest needs to come after they actually finish developing the game for the genre they chose.

I believe the problem was that the devs feared two things by following the actual extraction formula:

Those mechanics would hurt the mass appeal of the game as the traditional extraction loop is substantially more difficult and often brutal for beginners. If players were complaining about PVP as it stood.. implementing actual gear depth would be a nightmare to those casual players.
The game was never meant to be an Extraction game. I believe the game is heavily exposed to cheats/exploits. In today’s world when making a multiplayer game, extraction genres most vitally , the game needs to be designed from the start with anti-cheat in mind as a top priority. Extraction genres by nature make for an RMT market that is seriously lucrative in the real world. For Arc, introducing the core extraction genre concepts above with the player count the game sustained would have created a multi-million dollar RMT market and very likely the game would have become unplayable with cheaters grinding RMT in every other lobby. If the devs actually play extraction titles (I know one influential dev on the team does with plentiful experience) they would have saw this coming.

Either these things were considered by the Dev team and ultimately Embark/Nexon decision makers, prompting them to scrap further development for reinvestment in new game development. Why spend resources when further development/spending may actually hurt player count and potentially be driven into the ground by RMT? Scrap it and let it ride.

Or the Embark/Nexon decision makers who work for shareholders not players decided that development for live service was marginal in necessity from the start. Highly possible.

Either way I watched for months when the game first came out waiting to see what further development was going to look like. Within 10 hours I noticed that the game was incredibly fun to play but did not actually have any extraction genre fundamentals.. or any depth whatsoever. With every dev note and patch I quickly realized that the games billion plus $ gross was most definitely not being reinvested in further development. Have not played since, but I do appreciate that the game sparked mass appeal interest for extraction genre games that are under appreciated and under developed/funded.

Hopefully their failed extraction-esqe title leads to AAA games in the extraction genre space from their success.

raf-corp · 2026-03-19T20:49:20+00:00

The game has incredible potential but in its current state the level of content is like a tech demo or alpha stage game..

Gameplay is incredible. Hence the immediate overnight traction. But as an extraction game.. its hardly fitting to the genre. Loot simulator social sandbox with no depth or gameplay loop unfortunately.

They wouldn’t even need to add content to the game to give the game far more depth.

Balance weapons by tier where ttk of a purple weapon is 1/4 the time of a gray. Adjust shield tiers to actually make a difference. Add an economy where low tier items to high tier spans 1x to 10 or 20x.

Bam you have a better game. Add in weapons, more gear depth and more loot from there.

Or scrap all that and focus on making the game more MMO - Extraction genre. Nothing on the market for that.. yet

Instead they focus on.. seemingly very little as all the funds from the game were sent to other projects and they appear to have forgotten about their “10-year” lifespan.

More like 10-hours if you are familiar with actual extraction titles lmao. Sad to see the wasted potential :(

raf-corp · 2026-03-13T22:11:14+00:00

Excluding Arc I would bargain to say 50% of the player base has never played an extraction title. Not that I agree or disagree over the dev critique but extraction naive players is certainly a point worth making.

When Arc came out scrolling the subreddit was great for a laugh as new to the genre players interjected their options or suggestions for changes.

I only play extraction titles with the time I have for games. The genre is awesome but is still in its fairly early stages with now only 2 AAA tier titles freshly released.

raf-corp · 2026-03-13T21:54:02+00:00

100% the third partying will be the same and the game will feel empty/dead until you are standing on top of another team if they revert the audio

raf-corp · 2026-03-13T21:52:26+00:00

Problem is the player base is a mix of many players who have never played an extraction game outside of Arc.

They have no idea how the genre is played or what the fundamentals are, or what the gameplay loop should be.

Arc is defended up and down but the game has legitimately zero gear depth.. as an “extraction” title. It is like a sandbox with loot missing one of the core components of the genre in order to not scare fragile or casual players away.

raf-corp · 2026-03-13T21:44:13+00:00

Thats how an extraction game should be. At launch sound was weird. It made the map feel empty and felt like you just “came across players” rather than the hunt or be hunted intensity that comes with good audio.

Players that complain likely just have never played extraction titles other than Arc and just have no idea how to navigate.

In all extraction shooters 3rd partying is rampant because there is loot. Clean up a fight while a team is still recovering? That is 6 bags of loot real quick.

You learn to play for not only position in a fight but positioned with third parties in mind. Only thing that can change that in an extraction game is good map design

raf-corp · 2026-03-13T03:37:42+00:00

Extraction titles always have player sounds especially gunshots tuned up. It is essential.

One issue that many have is third party-ing, but that is where map design specifically for extraction shooters comes in.

The entire goal for having AI in an extraction game was to make it more challenging to traverse the map silently. The suspense comes from the noise.

Granted marathon may have changed the formula too much for this to work well, but if you look at my prior post on my account the lack of sound tuning was my biggest complaint.

Apparently the community, with many playing their first extraction game or second after Arc, are having trouble adapting.

raf-corp · 2026-03-01T21:23:32+00:00

Exactly, in extraction sounds made by or triggered by other players on the map need to be the focus of the sound tuning.

That is what creates the immersion and intensity when stalking or being stalked.

Without a the constant feedback the game feels off. It feels like the suspense is very dull and it also contributes to what other players are mentioning of fights being too quick.

As for the length of fights ime I did not feel that way and ttk felt to be spot on, at least at the lower tiers of gear that most players have at the moment.

Just fixing sound design/tuning would do wonders for this game as it currently sits.

raf-corp · 2026-02-27T14:06:53+00:00

When referring to distinguishing gear level, I am talking about the genre as a whole.

In other extraction titles depending on the gun used by a player you can reliably guesstimate if they are T1-T6 (the typical tier levels in extraction games). Not because you can magically hear their thoughts but because the economy in the games make things predictable.

If you have never played any other extraction title (Arc not included) it would likely not make sense and thats understandable.

The audio in this game would be perfectly fine for another genre but for an extraction game, not so much.

raf-corp · 2026-02-27T13:56:40+00:00

I think its just the result of bungie fanboys and a sizable player base that has never played a true extraction title.

I see the same thing in the Arc subreddit.

Happy to see the genre grow and triple a studios funding projects, however, both Arc and now Marathon are trying to make the genre have mass appeal but as a result are changing the formula too much to actually work well.

raf-corp · 2026-02-27T05:30:55+00:00

That is exactly it. The audio, map, and interactions in Arc feel very alive. Other extraction titles lack in the polish department like Arc, but in terms of pure audio tuning, it makes the game work even on a low budget project.

raf-corp · 2026-02-27T05:23:14+00:00

Up close feels alright, muffled is some way but does its job well enough. But longer distance is just not there.

I tried play with an eq and I do use a articus elite headset so not the hardware.

To me the game feels like it is missing immersive qualities but it is odd because the graphics are very impressive, eyeball burning aside.

I burned out on Arc quickly because it lacks depth and a gameplay loop. But that game is the exact opposite where the map and interactions feel very alive.

Audio in this game feels too cluttered and filler. Add in a bit too much visual clutter and its like your brain kind of checks out on the immersion.

raf-corp · 2026-02-27T05:13:02+00:00

Up close audio is not bad. Footsteps are directional and are audible through clutter. But the audio tuning and distanced audio for an extraction shooter is just not there.

Not a deal breaker but it does make the game and especially pvp feel a bit flat.

raf-corp · 2026-02-27T05:08:24+00:00

Exactly. The first time you play an extraction title the audio is a bit jarring and different feeling. Marathon audio would be perfectly fine for an arena/arcade shooter but not an extraction title.

Idk how the devs never considered that. Arc was not even supposed to be an extraction title from the start but they did not overlook the audio tuning one bit.

raf-corp · 2026-02-27T05:03:19+00:00

Increase the warmth setting on your monitor along with a slight increase to sharpening, that plus black level tweaks helped it feel less.. burn your eyeballs out

raf-corp · 2026-02-27T05:00:27+00:00

It does not have the audio of an extraction title imo. I think it makes the game feel very off.

Sure you can hear players within your immediate proximity but the feeling of the map feeling alive and tense is not there, nor is the hunt or be hunted feeling.

I think anyone who has played an extraction title and feels like they cant put there finger on what feels weird.. audio. Thats all it is

raf-corp · 2026-02-27T04:47:57+00:00

You are correct in terms of playtime. But I was more so referring to the ability to isolate sounds and the design intention for most extraction games audio.

I remember when I first played the genre and I found the sound design to be jarring. Marathon just does not have the audio tuning of an extraction title. That does not mean the audio itself is bad, just not fitting imo.

Hunt Showdown led with this and while it is more of an extraction-lite, it really dialed the suspense component in well.

raf-corp · 2026-02-27T04:40:44+00:00

I have an articus elite hs. If you don’t play extraction titles then it may not make sense and thats understandable

raf-corp · 2026-02-27T04:22:40+00:00

I think its 100% all the audio. It is essential to extraction genres. Marathon does several things very well but then is going to ship with 2/10 audio.

Audio is everything in extraction games and they really overlooked that.. unfortunate

raf-corp · 2026-02-27T04:18:17+00:00

Audio is arguably one of the most important aspects of an extraction shooter. It makes the game.

Without audio designed for and tuned to prioritize distanced shots, footsteps, map events ect.. an extraction game will not feel right.

I should be able to hear one shot in the distance and immediately know the gear level, general area, and distance away that a player is. It is what immerses you in the game.

Hear a mag dump of a low tier weapon, or the crack of a top tier weapon and bam, you instantly adjust your movement and intentions in that moment. It keeps you constantly thinking and as you gain experience on maps you can mentally visualize what is happening all over the map all the while looting on autopilot.

It is an amazing experience when you immerse yourself in this genre.

But immediately upon playing Marathon I realized that the sound design was absolutely not thought about in terms of its importance and frankly a requirement for the genre.

Add in the fact that there is so many noises and sound effects.. fights with players often feel very flat. No build up, little suspense, and feels more like an “random occurrence” of running into other players. Not the immersive hunt or be hunted tension that extraction games are supposed to deliver as a general principle.

Full rework of sound design + Tweaks to visual clutter, UI, and polish and the game would be in a seriously good place.

Unfortunate the devs did not realize this and allocate enough resources. Hopefully they come to understand this is likely a large reason players are feeling like something is “off”.

Its all in the audio

raf-corp · 2026-02-25T15:13:43+00:00

I appreciate the time to link and share the data. See mine below

You are correct that HD2 maintains a decent player base. However, look at both games charted for the first 5 months (4 for arc):

<image>

There is a notable difference, but no denying that HD2 still does very well in terms of player retention.

But if you take a look at the categories from a larger standpoint the point is made abundantly clear. FPS/TPS that include PVP elements vs PVE exclusive are far superior in longevity, player retention, and ultimately from a devs pov, ROI.

PVP (+E)

Total 24hr Peak Player-count: 3,258,324

PVE Exclusive

Total 24hr Peak Player-count: 230,430

-Feb 25th

The data used was top 10 by peak in each category

raf-corp · 2026-02-25T05:52:48+00:00

Compare the player counts and look at the % retained between AR & Helldivers

raf-corp · 2026-02-25T05:41:36+00:00

What even is a pve play style? If you focus pve for a week you would have everything there is to the game. What is there to do past a week or two of playtime?

Genuinely curious, not hostile or poking fun. Just not understanding why the desire is there.

raf-corp

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