Most games will go through a couple of growing pains as the community gets last-minute nerves ahead of release. Some may be wondering whether said game is worth the price point, while others may start realising it might not be all there. But for Arc Raiders players, it looks like a big worry was its matchmaking.
Rumours swirling around what exactly Arc Raiders' matchmaking would look like were brought up in the game's Discord channel, with some freaking out about a supposed 'gear score'-based matchmaking that would revolve around what kind of loot players were bringing into the game.
Official response on gear score match making from r/ArcRaiders
It was gearing up to be quite a scare, with some going so far as to swear off the game if it was actually implemented: "Probably won't buy if gear-based MM is implemented," one player says. "Does anybody else feel the same way? Completely kills the excitement."
But luckily, the devs jumped in and calmed things down as quickly as possible. "We noticed some discussions around loot or 'gear score' matchmaking," Embark representative Ossen says (via GamesRadar). "While it is true that the team has previously evaluated loot/gear-based as well as other types of matchmaking principles, right now the focus is on maintaining the split between solos and squads to keep those groups on an even playing field whenever possible."
Distinguishing between solos and squads is a very good base for Arc Raider's matchmaking. While there is proximity chat in-game and nothing to stop individuals from teaming up to take down big Arc monsters, having the guaranteed teamwork that comes with squads is a huge leg up.
During the beta, my little squad of three managed to get in and out of situations that I alone probably wouldn't be able to deal with. As my teammates distracted angry robots so I could hide and heal, or one of my mates would act as bait to lure other players into the open, so my friend and I could jump them and take all their stuff before they knew what hit them.
But this doesn't mean that there'll be no gear-based matchmaking, and just because solos vs squads is what the devs have landed on now, it doesn't mean they won't evolve or change the matchmaking in the future. "After launch, we will continue to monitor how things go," Ossen says. "The team is determined to ensure that players have high-quality rounds that are varied and interesting, but fair."
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