Arc Raiders update adds new PvE-focused event and brings back Cold Snap

Big changes and a few bug fixes

The latest Arc Raiders patch has taken one step towards listening to the vocal cries from the community asking for a PvE-only mode. "Shared Watch" is the name of the latest in-game event, described as "a celebration to honor those brave enough to watch each others' backs in the face of relentless adversity."

What this essentially means is that from Tuesday, Feb. 10, until Tuesday, Feb. 24, no merits will be earned from PvP encounters in Arc Raiders. PvP will still be enabled, but you'll only be rewarded with the loot on the corpses of your foes. The only way to earn merits is by destroying, assisting, and damaging Arc enemies, all in the name of "teaming up in the fight against the machines."

There's a new event track to go alongside this two-week-long change, with plenty of rewards, both gameplay-focused and cosmetic. Some of the standouts include the Tactical Mk. 3 (Healing) augment blueprint, a Snap Hook, Vita Spray blueprint, and by far the best, a batting helmet for everyone's favorite rooster, Scrappy.

The fan-favorite map condition from over the winter break, Cold Snap, has also returned. It's exactly as you remember: Being out in the cold will slowly cause your raider to develop frostbite, which can be cured by being indoors. Snowballs and Candleberries can still be found (although the latter don't serve an event purpose anymore), and the general value of loot is increased.

Additionally, there are two new cosmetic bundles. The Vulpine set dons your raider in a fox pelt hat, complete with "muted leather" outfit and white face paint, and is in the store now, while the Slugger set is earned throughout the Shared Watch event, and is a long-sleeved, padded, baseball-themed fit.

Finally, the patch has introduced several bug fixes, although notably, a fix for the infamous duplication glitch is still missing. Here are a few of the highlights:

• The Trailblazer Grenade no longer deals damage through walls, deals more damage to small enemies, but less damage to bigger foes.
• Keybinds swap weapons more consistently when not assigned to the mouse wheel on PC.
• Fixed an issue where objective rewards from trials could fail to be granted at the end of a round due to timeout.
• Fixed an issue where crafting would sometimes get canceled.

You can read more about the update in the official Arc Raiders patch notes.