ARC Raiders Lacks Meaningful Reasons to Avoid PvP, But There Are Ways to Fix It

3 days ago 2

ARC Raiders Lacks Meaningful Reasons to Avoid PvP But there Are Ways to Fix This

Published Jan 24, 2026, 9:00 AM EST

Christian has over three years of experience writing in the gaming industry, including guides and reviews, for publications such as DualShockers, Attack of the Fanboy, and PC Invasion. He has been an avid gamer since he was a kid, viewing it as the best possible art form and medium. Some of his favorite genres include Survival Horror, Soulslikes, and RPGs, but he finds joy in almost any type of game.

The greatest aspect of ARC Raiders is, without a doubt, its community. Yes, the gameplay is incredible, and the ARC enemies have intelligent AI, but it’s the players that really make the game stand out among the extraction genre.

There are all types of players in ARC Raiders: those who are out for blood and enter a match just to kill other Raiders, innocent pacifists that are just there for the loot, and then those who go out of their way to help other players accomplish their goals. Simply put, you never know what type of player you’re going to run into in any given match.

However, while the game does a great job at leaving it up to the player to decide what type of Raider they want to be, it offers more rewards to those who choose to kill others. Not only do you get the opportunity to scavenge all of their hard-earned loot, but the game also grants you experience points for killing and damaging other Raiders.

On the other side of things, players who take the pacifist route and avoid PvP altogether are rewarded with absolutely nothing, except maybe the satisfaction of being a good person. It’s honestly not fair, and Embark Studios should work to fix this so both playstyles are rewarded.

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Fortunately, there are ways to fix this without changing the heart of the game and its core mechanics. While it’s likely that Embark Studios will never implement ways to benefit friendly players (because it is called a “PvPvE” game), it’s still fun to think of what-ifs and hope for the best. The simple fact of the matter is, ARC Raiders doesn’t provide any meaningful reasons to avoid PvP, but there are definitely ways to fix this.

Teamwork Makes the Dream Work

As previously mentioned, players earn XP every time they deal damage to other Raiders and get bonus XP if they end up killing them in combat. However, as of right now, players don’t earn any experience points when deciding to join forces with players on a different team.

This simple fact makes it profitable for players to kill others, resulting in kill-on-sight scenarios, and sometimes even betrayal. The worst is when a player from a different squad acts like a friend, just to turn around and shoot you in the back. It sucks, but as I said, it benefits them more due to getting your loot and earning XP.

Playerswho take the pacifist route and avoid PvP altogether are rewarded with absolutely nothing, except maybe the satisfaction of being a good person.

To fix this, Embark Studios should implement a “friendly” or “teamwork” experience point bonus. Some may think this would be difficult to implement, but it’s actually quite simple in the grand scheme of things. For example, if the game notices you visit the same buildings, attack the same ARC, heal or revive, and traverse the map with a different squad or solo player not on your team, it should grant you an experience bonus at the end of the match. This will provide more of an incentive to skip PvP. I’m not suggesting that ARC Raiders should get rid of PvP or that “PvP is bad,” I’m suggesting that it's only fair to give friendlies a bonus.

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Let's Call a Truce

We're In This Together

Now, unlike bonus experience points, a mechanic that might be a bit harder to implement is a Truce system, but it’s an idea that can make avoiding PvP more worth it. The reason many players decide to instantly engage in PvP and shoot on sight is because you can’t trust anyone these days in ARC Raiders. The game is filled with betrayal, liars, and selfish individuals.

Heck, I have even encountered plenty of extraction campers, just patiently hiding in a bush, waiting to get the jump on me, and killing me to take all my hard-earned loot. It ruins the fun. But a Truce system could help make these players go away, or at least reduce the number of them.

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The way I envision a Truce system is this: You and another player could offer up a Truce, either via mic or gestures if you aren’t into talking, and then approach each other to have a small action pop-up appear, with a button to press that accepts said Truce. This will then turn that player into a teammate in a sense, making it impossible to down them or deal any damage — just like how you can’t damage other Raiders on your team when playing squads.

Not only does this remove the possibility of betrayal, but it would also make you feel safer when teaming up with random players to take down the Queen, Matriarch, and other ARC enemies. This could even go hand in hand with the “teamwork” bonus experience points I mentioned earlier, where accepting a Truce grants you even more XP.

Let Me See the Goods

Good Deal

Another way to reward players for avoiding PvP would be an easy trade system, which could be a part of the Truce mechanic mentioned earlier. The bread and butter of ARC Raiders is trying to acquire the best loot possible in every match, but unfortunately, there are times when you may have a really crummy round and not find anything of value to you. However, what you find worthless might be exactly what another player is currently searching for, like a strong gun or blueprint. Being able to trade items with other players will reward those who decide to be friendly, instead of engaging in PvP and killing on sight.

I know exactly what you’re thinking, “What’s stopping players from trading and then instantly killing who they traded with to get the item back?” Yes, that’s an excellent point, but not if the trade system was only allowed under certain circumstances. For example, players could only trade if they had accepted a truce, which removes the possibility of damaging or killing the other player. While you can just drop items to essentially “trade,” there are a lot of players who will act friendly and then betray you right then and there.

Combining all the systems mentioned in this article would be really cool, as it rewards those who enjoy PvE with bonus experience points, new teammates through the Truce system (for taking down ARC, defending against bloodthirsty PvPers, etc.), and a trade system that helps them get missing items that they have been searching for all match, or multiple matches. What do you think? Should players be rewarded for avoiding PvP? I sure think so. It would benefit the game as a whole, as it would now cater to both playstyles.