Starting today, Arc Raiders is offering massive rewards for fighting the machines – and almost desperately asking you to let other players live.
In the extraction genre, the law of the jungle usually applies: if you want the best loot, you have to be willing to walk over dead bodies – often those of other players. Embark Studios is now venturing into an interesting social experiment in Arc Raiders, attempting to change the dynamics in the lobbies with the event starting today Shared Watch event, which starts today.
From February 10 to 24, the official motto is: “Tolerate other Raiders, target the ARC.” But a glance at the community quickly reveals that many players see this call as a pipe dream rather than a new rule.
How the “Shared Watch” event works
The mechanics of the event are simple but effectively designed for PvE (Player vs. Environment). Your goal is to inflict as much damage as possible on the mechanical ARC units.
This is what the progress loop looks like:
- You earn experience points specifically for damaging and destroying ARC.
- These XP are converted into so-called “merits.”
- With enough Merits, you gradually unlock new items, Raider Tokens, and the new skin set “The Slugger.”
Embark Studios emphasizes the cooperative aspect in its announcement: It is a “celebration of Raiders who have each other’s backs.”
A celebration for opportunists?
While Embark hopes for cooperation, the community on Reddit is already playing through the various scenarios. Reactions to the event are divided and reveal the classic dilemma of every extraction shooter.
Many players fear that the mechanics will have the exact opposite effect of peace: if rewards are tied to causing as much damage to ARC as possible, other players are not allies, but competitors for damage.
- “If you kill all the players, there will be more ARC left for you to kill.” – Dull_Complaint1407
- “Let’s promote PvE! – Wait, why are you all killing raiders just so you can have the Arc all to yourselves?! – No, that’s not what I meant! Not like that!!” – Witchofthelily
- “It sounds more like a method to make many people lower their guard at the same time and become easy targets—and I say that as a current PvE player myself. It makes me more suspicious rather than reassured that my PvE encounters could suddenly turn into PvP.” – sailorgrumpycat
This would quickly turn the co-op event into a race: whoever eliminates the competition first can claim the remaining ARC and the associated event points for themselves. In the worst case, there is a risk that the hunt for ARC will only begin after the lobby has been cleared of other players.
The danger of “rats”
Another scenario that keeps coming up in discussions is the danger posed by so-called “rats” – players who hide and wait for the perfect moment.
The event may tempt PvE players to focus their full attention on the battles against AI opponents. This creates noise and distraction. For PvP players who are less interested in the event rewards and more interested in the loot of others, this is a golden opportunity.
The “Shared Watch” event starts today. Whether it ends in peaceful coexistence or a bloodbath is now entirely up to you.
