Embark Studios has continued its support of ARC Raiders with a brand new update. While it is a minor one, the update does bring a big change to the drop rates for rare blueprints from First Wave Caches found during the Hurricane map condition. In a dev note, the studio has explained that the First Wave Caches were giving out too many blueprints.
To compensate, while the drop rates for rare blueprints are going down, First Wave Caches will have higher drop dates for high-tier materials. The Caches will remain a “solid way” to get your hands on more blueprints in general, however, and the studio has noted that it is aiming for players to find 3 to 5 of them from First Wave Caches in each session.
“The main reason for this change is that the First Wave Caches have been handing out a lot of blueprints, especially given how good players have been at tracking them down and looting them,” explained the studio in the patch notes.
“To help balance that out, we’re bumping up the drop rates for higher-tier materials inside the caches. So while you might see a few fewer blueprints overall, you’ll be getting better materials in return. Caches will still be a solid way to find blueprints, just not to the point where you can reliably walk away from every session with 3–5 of them.”
Along with this, the update has also brought in fixes for a few issues, like one that allowed players to put the Snaphook into a safe pocket while it was actively in use, and “a very hot fix” for the Dam Controlled Access Zone. Minor performance drops have been fixed as well. For more details, take a look at the full patch notes below.
ARC Raiders is available on PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X/S. The title recently got its Shrouded Sky update, which introduced the Hurricane map condition to the game. The condition brings in a mix of low visibility, high-speed winds that can even alter your own momentum, and flying debris that can cause shields to glitch out. However, setting out during a Hurricane has the possibility to grant extra rewards in the form of the aforementioned First Wave Caches that have been unearthed thanks to the winds. Curiously, shortly after the update’s release, players have begun spotting strange flying objects in the sky during Hurricanes.
ARC Raiders update 1.18.0 patch notes:
- Fixed an exploit that allowed players to put weapons in a safe pocket without the Safekeeper Augment.
- Fixed an issue that allowed players to put the Snaphook into a safe pocket while in use.
- Lowered the drop rate of rare blueprints slightly and raised the drop rate for high tier materials in First Wave Caches on the Hurricane map condition.
- Added a very hot fix for the Dam Controlled Access Zone.
- Fixed an issue where some ARC would occasionally cause performance drops.
- Fixed an issue where the final stage of the quest “Worth Your Salt” could not be completed if someone else had already done it in the same raid.
- Fixed a rare issue where players would crash when navigating to the Player Proximity menu.
