When I listened to members of Embark Studios explain pre-launch why Arc Raiders was pivoting away from its original vision of pure PvE and free-to-play monetization, it never once registered as a game for me – someone who avoids PvP and has never played an extraction shooter. Cut to today and Arc Raiders is my most-played game of the past few months. Steam tells me I'm creeping up on 200 hours, and while I don't play as ravenously as I did over the holiday break, I can't resist a few raids each day. "Is this how smoking feels?" I asked my friends in Discord. Now I realize just how right Embark was: the only reason I'm logging in at all is PvP.
It's not that I'm playing exclusively to seek out and shoot other players. I think this is actually a boring way to play because you stop looking at the world and start looking for tiny little dudes. I am definitely on the more aggressive side of the raider spectrum, often dragging my duo and trio partners into firefights, but I don't automatically shoot on sight. My approach to PvP is an opportunistic one. If I'm not overly attached to the stuff in my inventory, and I catch someone unaware, I'll usually take the shot.
