Many of the best Arc Raiders weapons, especially rare and epic guns, feel dramatically better once you upgrade them to level three or four, which can be a pricey endeavor even without factoring in ongoing repair costs. When rock-solid options like the common Stitcher and uncommon Anvil are significantly cheaper to upgrade and maintain, it can feel hard to economically justify splurging for the good stuff, even if those guns are really fun to use. Many players have called popular guns like the Renegade, Venator, Tempest, and Bobcat untenably expensive for weeks now, and it sounds like developer Embark Studios agrees the balance is skewed.
Design lead Virgil Watkins tells GamesRadar+ that "the original intent" with weapon balancing was to make sure that "any given weapon in capable hands should be capable of winning a fight if you're playing smartly." Even the worst weapons have to be good, otherwise the gunplay that's core to Arc Raiders would break down.
