Embark Studios has revealed details about the fifth Expedition coming to PvPvE extraction shooter ARC Raiders, and in the process, has also revealed that it will be the final expedition for the game for the rest of the year. The developer noted that this decision was made due to player feedback requiring the studio to make bigger changes than would be possible through just incremental fixes.
While Embark didn’t provide a solid release date for the next Expedition, it said that the system would return in 2027 “with major improvements” that bring in changes that address “some of the biggest player pain points”. More details are slated to be revealed next month.
“We have been carefully reviewing your feedback on Expeditions, and while we’ve made ongoing improvements along the way, we’ve come to realize that some of the issues you’ve raised, like the tight departure windows, the reward structure, and accessibility for new players, need more than incremental fixes. They call for bigger changes.”
“In order to address those concerns, we need to pause the Expeditions for a while. The fifth Expedition will be the last one until early 2027, when Expeditions will return with major improvements, tackling some of the biggest player pain points. So, if you’ve been on the fence about departing – now is the time! We will share more details on what those changes will look like in September.”
In the meantime, the studio has also said that players will get to hang on to the consecutive buffs they have earned over time, thus mitigating any potential loss of progress. Players who have already completed all five Expeditions will get access to the Zenith Outfit. Partially completed Caravans will be replaced with Ermal Vouchers of equal value, which can then be traded for Ermal offers along with ARC Parts and firearms.
As for the fifth Expedition, Embark Studios has said that players will be able to opt out of resetting their quest progress, and the departure window is being extended by a week. There also won’t be a last call feature. The ability to opt out of quest reset came about due to feedback regarding the repetitive nature of the quest line after every Expedition. Along with the complete Zenith Outfit set, clearing the fifth Expedition will also give players mystery rewards, 12 more stash spaces maxing out at 60, bonus skill points that cap at 15, and consecutive buffs for XP boost, Scrappy materials boost, and repair value.
The current season of ARC Raiders is slated to end on September 22nd. Following this, Trials will also be paused for two weeks, coming back on October 8th.
Just last week, Embark released a major update that brought in a continuation of the Phantom Targets project in ARC Raiders. With this update, players can now take on missions to track down Topside, all while also dealing with Wasp swarms that have been behaving in an erratic manner. For more details, take a look at the Phantom Targets trailer.
ARC Raiders is available on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S.
