Arc Raiders launched its first-ever event, a live community event in which we all donate resources to clear out the tunnels towards Stella Montis. If you're out of the loop, Stella Montis is a brand-new map that releases whenever we've pooled enough materials together to complete this stage.
While contributing to the community's efforts in unlocking the map is the main goal, of course, it's not selfish to consider the fact that you also earn Merits for donating materials. Merits are an event currency that you'll be able to spend on a new reward track in the next phase of the community event, once the Stella Montis map is actually available.
Not only did these donations not put a single dent in my stash, but I also didn't even have to play the game; I just clicked 45 times on the main menu.
The crucial part is that the maximum amount of Merits you can earn (during this phase, at least) is 900, so you'll have completed your personal contribution after donating 225 materials. In other words, just 45 clicks, or 46 if you're counting the button to open the event page. I imagine this is where most players still stop contributing to the event, unless they've got an overflowing stash and need to clear out some materials.
Considering all the event asks for are basic materials that are easy to come by and even handed out like candy by Scrappy, chances are you've already got all the materials you need in your stash. I certainly did, and so did my colleague and fellow Raider Sean Martin, who'd just dumped their entire stash into the Expedition Project.
Maybe it's from bad experiences with events in other games (I'm looking at you, Destiny 2 and The Elder Scrolls Online), but I was fully expecting to have to grind materials all weekend just to get all the Merits I needed for the limited-time rewards in the next phase.
However, I can't say it's not a little underwhelming at the same time. To a degree, there should be some effort required in digging out the tunnels to a suspiciously locked-off facility in the mountains. Not only did these donations not put a single dent in my stash, but I also didn't even have to play the game; I just clicked 45 times on the main menu. It's not exactly reflecting the magnitude of what the event is trying to accomplish.
Of course, the jury's still out on how much grinding will be required in that next step when that unlocks. Nevertheless, it's probably best to start small and simple with events like this, as it's hard to gauge just how quickly players will complete it and how much grind is too much. I'd rather be somewhat underwhelmed than pissed off, and Embark would feel the same way.
Combined with some great changes to cut store prices and add duo queues (well, reveal they'd been testing it on us for a week), I'm nevertheless relieved by Arc Raiders' approach to both its own success and the live-service model.
As for how long it will take for us to complete the Breaking New Ground phase of the Stella Montis event, the jury's still out. My progress meter was at 8% before it dropped down to 1% like my colleagues saw, so either we're all an unruly bunch going down different tunnels or something's not tracking right.
You must confirm your public display name before commenting
Please logout and then login again, you will then be prompted to enter your display name.
