ARC Raiders Players Are Running Into Major Issues Right Now

Developer Embark Studios is urging the community to avoid playing both ARC Raiders and The Finals as both shooters come under extensive DDOS attacks today, January 28. Numerous ARC Raiders players have been logging into the title to check out the new Headwinds update that went live yesterday, only to experience connection issues and server problems that have resulted in lost gear and progress.

After a much-needed Christmas break, Embark Studios returned with the first major content update of the year for ARC Raiders this week. Known as the Headwinds update, the shooter's most recent patch saw the addition of a new map condition for Buried City, a long-term player project for fans to work towards, and some game-changing new Augments, one of which allows players to store a weapon in their safe pocket. Of course, there were also tons of bug fixes and overall gameplay improvements in the update, but many were left disappointed after jumping in and experiencing some serious connection issues.

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By Drew Swanson

ARC Raiders and The Finals Are Experiencing Major Server Issues

Shortly after the update went live, players took to social media to complain about the severe connection issues. One user even posted a somewhat hilarious and unfortunate clip of them falling off a zipline to their death because of the lag. While fans have been losing their gear and progression due to the connection problems, Embark has now urged the community to avoid playing ARC Raiders and The Finals, as both titles are under an extensive DDOS attack. While connection issues first began following yesterday's update, they appeared to have stabilized a few hours later, but have now returned in full force as both games become virtually unplayable.

In a new statement on the ARC Raiders Discord, a community manager for Embark confirmed that the extraction shooter and the studio's first title, The Finals, were under an extensive DDOS attack. "The strike team has been working hard on mitigations and solutions to fix the problem, and we are making good progress - but at this point in time the attacks are still ongoing," Embark said. This statement was posted at 7 AM EST / 4 AM PST and there has been no update at the time of writing this article.

Alongside ongoing work to stop the DDOS attacks, Embark also announced that it will be releasing a new hotfix update today to address the unintended changes in the latest ARC Raiders patch. While the Headwinds update made no mention of any weapon balancing adjustments, players quickly discovered that a handful of fan-favorite weapons have had their fire rate reduced. This included the Kettle and Venator. However, Embark has now confirmed that these changes were not intentional and will be reversed. The team also says that the looting time was accidentally increased, but this will also be reverted in the next hotfix update, which should be live later today.

Embark has yet to comment on the player disappointment surrounding the new ARC Raiders matchmaking option, which lets players go against a full team as a solo player. Many questioned who this option was targeting, as nobody in the community had asked for such a feature. To make matters worse, the only benefit that comes with going against a team of three as a solo is some additional XP. But, as most players who would be willing to try out the matchmaking option are likely already max level, many believe the risk just isn't worth the reward.

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