Embark stealthily nerfs Arc Raiders skill everyone was using to farm legendary loot: 'We’re exploring the possibility of adding a skill reset mechanic'
Everyone's favorite method of farming rare loot in Arc Raiders isn't what it used to be after this morning's patch. The Security Breach skill, one of the final abilities unlocked on the Survival branch of the skill tree, allows raiders exclusive access to special locked containers on all maps.
Security Breach quickly became the most popular progression path in Arc Raiders after the community realized those padlocked containers were by far the most reliable source of rare and legendary guns, equipment, and blueprints. If you knew where to find them, a typical Security Breach raider could fill their backpack with purple drops and then extract without ever putting themselves in danger.
As of this morning, Embark has stealthily nerfed it.
"We adjusted the security lockers because they were over-providing valuable items," Embark representative Ossen said in a reply on the Arc Raiders Discord server. In a later post, Ossen clarified that the studio didn't mean to sneak the nerf into today's patch, but mistakenly left it out.
"In the notes earlier today, we missed the Security Locker drop rate changes. We understand that this change affects those of you who specifically aimed for that skill tree spec."
Oh boy I can't wait to finally try Security Breach tonight after coming home from work! from r/ArcRaiders
While most would agree security lockers were way too valuable as they were—so much that their existence undermined the purpose of exploring the rest of the map—players are understandably miffed that the skill they sunk dozens of hours to unlock got nerfed overnight. There's nothing to be done about it for now, but Embark says it's looking into an easier way to respec skills than the current method, which requires resetting your character through its Expeditions "prestige" system.
"We’re exploring the possibility of adding a skill reset mechanic. Balancing is important for us and both overperforming and underperforming skills will be adjusted over time."
The North Line patch also added a few welcome improvements that I personally worried would take much longer to arrive:
- Reduced character movement latency on server to improve the "desync" problem where it looks like you get damaged even after behind cover.
- Fixed an issue that prevented players from completing quests involving multiple objectives or item collections within a single round.
- Fixed various achievements not working correctly. Players will need to redo some achievements with only one objective item (e.g. “Destroy the Queen”) while achievements with multiple objectives will only need parts of them completed again.
- Reduced delay between shooting at ARC and seeing impact effects on the target.
- Fixed various locations where players could fall through the terrain.
You can find the full patch notes on Steam, and then read up about how Embark already had to increase the requirements to unlock the new Stella Montis because players were too generous with their supplies.
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