One of the biggest mysteries in Arc Raiders, even preceding its full release, has been how matchmaking works. During the beta, there was talk of a gear-based matchmaking system that had some players convinced it stuck around. But now the community has decided that Arc Raiders has a different kind of matchmaking.
I've dubbed it 'aggression-based matchmaking', and it's the phenomenon that players have noticed for quite some time now, where those who don't engage in PvP get put in chill lobbies, whereas players who shoot on sight get placed in super aggressive lobbies.
I first noticed this a few weeks ago. For the most part, I had been very chill in solo lobbies, just going in to loot or even team up with strangers to take down bigger arcs. It was a great experience, and the sense of camaraderie here was unmatched. But then, on one fateful day, I decided to shoot someone in a solo lobby. I ended up killing them, and my fate was sealed.
From here on out, everything changed. I'd get shot in the back of the head before I even clocked another raider. Gone were my team-ups of old—I couldn't even talk to anyone, as the whole lobby was just shoot on sight.
Now, my experience could very well just be anecdotal—this alone doesn't prove anything. But after around 15 matches of refusing to shoot anyone and filling out the survey at the end to say I didn't enjoy the PvP, I finally found the nice lobbies again. I haven't shot anyone since, and so far, it's keeping me with the collaborative raiders who rarely engage in PvP.
I'm also not the only one to suggest that aggression-based matchmaking could be a real thing. An Arc Raiders YouTuber who goes by Domi actually uploaded a video investigating the truth about matchmaking, comparing PvP vs PvE accounts and found that "the behaviour in these accounts is so drastically different."
If that was all that was said on the subject, I still wouldn't go as far as to confirm the existence of aggression-based matchmaking. But now we seem to have a strong suggestion from Robert Sammelin, art director at Embark, that this is the case: "[Matchmaking] is quite complex, so we do analyse behaviour and match accordingly."
Sammelin wouldn't say anything else on the subject when talking to our brand director, Tim Clark, and strategic director, Evan Lahti, as the subject of matchmaking has been kept quiet for most of Arc Raiders' life. The only thing that has been shared officially on the subject is that gear-based matchmaking isn't being used, although many players aren't even convinced of that.
I doubt we'll get a lengthy confirmation of exactly what goes into Arc Raiders' matchmaking system. But if Sammelin is to be believed, it sounds like a good idea to start being nice to one another in Arc Raiders—you never know where it could land you.
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