Arc Raiders Expedition controversy explained: Is it worth resetting?

Mandatory wipes or resets are expected in the extraction shooter genre, but Arc Raiders adds its own spin to it. Instead of the universal server wipe, the voluntary prestige system is an individual choice, where players willingly give up all their progress to start fresh with a few bonuses and an essential hat for their chicken.

At first glance, it continues the accessibility Embark Studios brings into this punishing genre. Ironically, it’s that very same mindset that infuriated the playerbase, turning this voluntary expedition into a source of FOMO and burnout. At the end of the day, is all this effort and investment worth it?

The Expedition Project isn’t something new players should worry about until their character hits level 20. Once that happens, the Expedition Project opens up under the “Projects” feature. This is the game’s equivalent of the seasonal wipes as seen in games like Escape from Tarkov and Rust, but this time it’s completely voluntary.

If you’re ready to send your Raider into the unknown, you’ll first have to gather materials and resources through six stages:

For the departure phase, this will take into account your Raider’s total stash value plus accumulated credits, awarding a skill point per 1 million (up to five). You can start stacking up for the requirements as soon as you reach level 20, but the Expedition Window opens from December 17-22, where all committed players will finally send off their characters.

Again, this is voluntary. For players who didn’t commit their Raiders to die off alone in some barren area, they can always depart on the next project when it arrives. The best part is that your Expedition’s Project progress will be kept until the next window.

Players who came from other extraction shooters, Rust, ARK: Survival, or even ARPG games with their Leagues, know the intrinsic reward for wipes is the feeling of everyone starting fresh, but these are all mandatory. Meanwhile, Arc Raiders tries to strike a balance for veterans and casuals by making it optional, but offering rewards for those who wipe:

According to Embark, each Expedition Project will generally reward permanent unlocks, unique cosmetic rewards, and temporary account buffs. While these are modest buffs, keep in mind that skill points and stash space permanently stack, making these too good to pass up for anyone wanting to play this game long term.

Now that you’ve seen the incentive to go through the Expedition Project in Arc Raiders, it’s clear that wiping is worth all the effort, even as a casual player. The crux is that the grind, poor spawns for blueprints, and the overall effect on the game’s economy make everyone slowly working toward it feel like walking on glass just for the reward.

The requirements for the Expedition Project were already known since the game began, but Embark remained tight-lipped about the departure phase. The community had an idea that the stash value would contribute to skill points, but nobody had an idea that you needed five big ones for five skill points (1M for one point) two weeks before departure.

Needless to say, this blindsided the community and lit up public forums. Five million coin value (coins and stash) isn’t something most players stumble into; that’s many hours of successful raids, gear avoidance, and selling everything remotely valuable. This is a value that the likes of streamers, dedicated players, and hoarders have comfortably reached, but everyone else needs to catch up.

Ever since the announcement, there’s been a stark change in how players approach the game. Reaching the high value further validated gear fear when it’s already a prevalent issue in the game. Instead of raiders bringing their best gear topside, players are selling it, preferring to raid with modest equipment or spamming the free loadout. 

This is the antithesis of an extraction shooter and actively punishes players for engaging in the core gameplay loop or extracting and using better equipment. Extraction shooters are built around tension, risk, and reward, but now raiders are bolting for the exit as soon as they fill their pockets. How is this gameplay loop good for the game’s longevity?

The Expedition Project was once pitched as a flexible, no-pressure system that “values your time”, but it’s also the main way to fix issues with Embark’s lack of transparency on the Arc Raiders’ vague descriptions of their skills.

There’s no way to respec or reset skill points outside of the Expedition. If you misbuild your Raider, whether through a perk you regret or through balance changes, there isn’t a way to take those points back. Embark hasn’t made that easy. Skill descriptions are vague, and the value of many passives is unclear until tested. 

Worse, the studio has already nerfed key perks post-launch, like Security Breach, after players sunk time unlocking and building around them. Your only option is a full wipe, and that alone pushes many players who want to optimise their busted build.

Then there are the Expedition rewards themselves, which are initially underwhelming but permanent. These rewards compound each cycle, slowly but surely widening the gap between players who reset. 

Compared to games like Escape from Tarkov or Rust, where server wipes are a chance to equalise the playing field, this gives the hardcore players an unattainable, compounding advantage over the casuals.

It’s perhaps too late for Embark to back down on the requirements and rewards for now, especially with the first wipe rapidly approaching. But maybe they could use the lively feedback from the community to tweak the next cycle. Some great suggestions include:

Despite everything, despite how much the Arc Raiders Expedition Project hurts, it’s still worth it to wipe if you believe in the game long-term. For casuals, these bonuses won’t mean much in the short term, but they will stack up with each wipe.

The game doesn’t force a reset like other titles in the genre, but it rewards those who commit to it. The permanent unlocks are too good to pass up—except for the ugly raider cosmetic that you can’t pay me to wear.

The Expedition Project is a byproduct of the extraction shooter genre, one holdover that Embark chose to carry on like a tradition that nobody remembers why it’s still ongoing. While the studio strives for accessibility, the compounding rewards only made players, hardcore and casuals, want it even more.

Arc Raiders’ first wipe cycle may not be for everyone, but it entices everyone, and it definitely affects everyone. If you’ve been noticing fewer fights and more free loadouts in your game, you know that all the good gear is getting immediately sold off as a future investment.