Arc Raiders dev confirms they want to rebalance rare weapon costs

A leading Arc Raiders dev has admitted that they’re a “bit off” when it comes to making some of the shooter’s best guns worth their price.

The beauty of Arc Raiders is that every weapon is viable in the right situations, whether it’s an Il Torro Shotgun or an Anvil Pistol. That being said, there are naturally some guns that are better than others, and the best weapons come with a high price.

Unless you’re lucky enough to loot them in the wild, meta picks like the Bobcat or Tempest need to be crafted after you’ve found their Blueprints. However, the Blueprints themselves are incredibly rare, and making them requires materials like Exodus Modules, which are also tricky to come by.

This makes getting hold of even one of the best weapons a difficult task, and design lead Virgil Watkins has admitted that he thinks it’s not always worth the grind.

Arc Raiders admits some rare weapons aren’t worth the cost

In an interview with GamesRadar+, he explained that the original philosophy for balancing in Arc Raiders was that “any given weapon in capable hands should be capable of winning a fight if you’re playing smartly.”

“I think that has to remain true,” he added. “But I think we’re definitely a bit off on some of the cost-to-benefit ratios, certainly on those [higher-tier] weapons.”

Watkins went on to say that while the team doesn’t want to create a scenario where the rarest weapons mean an automatic win in every fight, they want their performance to be worth the effort to get them.

“It was trying to follow a curve of, by spending more and more money, you’re gaining an edge. Not a clear one, like, ‘I’m using a purple weapon, therefore I win this fight, period.’ We don’t want that. Cost should not inherently fill a skill gap or a tactical awareness gap or things like that,” he explained, before revealing that some changes could come down the line.

“We’re looking at, as we keep going with some of the balancing, to probably make that cost-benefit ratio feel a little better, certainly on the high end, because we do want people to be excited to get a Tempest or a Bobcat or things like that.”

Watkins even said that the team isn’t “precious” about its guns and their place in the rankings. If they need to reduce the rarity of a gun to make it more cost-effective, or buff it to match expectations, they will.