This week I've been: rounding off my stash value to $2 million so I can enjoy the rest of the season.
As someone who was skeptical of the value of the Expedition in Arc Raiders at first, I'm more surprised than anyone that I actually kind of like Embark's approach to the rewards now it's revealed what we're getting. You earn a special bragging rights skin for completing the base Expedition, along with 12 slots of permanent extra stash space, but also temporary boosts to XP, repairs, and Scrappy materials next season. We also get up to five skill points above the level cap for every new Raider we start, at the cost of $1 million per point in coins and stash value when the Expedition leaves.
Now, yes, that is an astonishing amount of money, but I think it achieves the balance of what a Prestige mechanic is supposed to be about. Completing the Expedition is an optional grind for more invested players, but getting all five of those skill points is a grind within a grind, only for the most hardcore among us, i.e. 200-hour players who already had millions stashed away, making it an achievable goal for them within the timeframe.
That's the point of a Prestige mechanic, especially a multi-layered one like this -- only the top percentile are going to get those five skill points, and if we all got them, what's even the point in the first place? I'm pretty sure Embark didn't pull $5 million out of thin air, considering it must know the average and median value of all of our stashes, so it ultimately represents the percentage of people it thinks are in that top strata and that it wants to get those skill points to maintain a healthy game.
The reaction to the $5 million stash value announcement has been more negative than positive. Here are some critical quotes from Reddit and the official Arc Raiders Discord server over the weekend:
While there were some dissenting voices mixed in among these complaints, I think these (over)reactions miss the point. After 90 hours with Arc Raiders, I'm almost at $2 million (i.e. two bonus skill points), and that's where I'm going to stop, because ultimately I don't think three skill points, in a skill system people have been saying since launch is mostly a source of tiny incremental gains, is going to change anything. Especially when you consider that these people will have to reach level 75 before those extra points above the level cap even come into play.
Will someone having three extra skill points (or even five for that matter) give me any less chance of downing them with a Stitcher if brought to PvP? Not really, no. As Embark notes in the rewards post "Progression wipes are a notoriously difficult thing to balance in online multiplayer games," but I think it's done a decent job on the whole, even if it made a big mistake in waiting so long to reveal the rewards.
Most players can do the Expedition and get that bragging skin (the best reward) plus the stash space. The bonus skill points provide a gradated advantage hardcore players of all levels can chase, but not one that you could ultimately call worthwhile relative to its cost for most people. It's not an advantage that's going to break the game (unless they significantly rework the skill system) or that you even need to have. It also isn't something everyone can achieve, which would make this Prestige system pointless.
It's fine for you to either not do the Expedition, or if you're doing the Expedition, to just get as many skill points as your current stash value allows. One of the major complaints around the skill point rewards are that it's going to incentivise a loot-hoarding approach where people don't actually use their gear, and while this is sadly 100% true and Embark's onus for not revealing rewards sooner, it's also a side effect of everyone suddenly thinking they need to earn $5 million in two weeks versus accepting Expeditions for what they're supposed to be.
That's not to say that I think Embark has handled Expeditions all that well until now. Introducing the mechanic at level 20 as if it's a feature of the game we're all supposed to undertake was a mistake, especially without providing adequate info about rewards. I'm sure a lot of people now find themselves in a sunk-cost fallacy trying to get it done, when actually they'd have a lot more fun if they just played the game normally and kept all their stuff for next season. I also think Embark should have known that players would feel obligated to try and fulfil this nuts loot grind (as if it's an event) versus just accepting where they are on its scale.
Either way, my advice? If you're doing the Expedition and want an additional bonus, round off your stash to the nearest million and then just have fun playing the game for the rest of the season, or even take a break till the next one. Same to those who haven't done the Expedition, but are now feeling unnecessary pressure, as if they're suddenly going to get power crept.
We've got a new event most likely coming this week with Cold Snap and honestly, I'm just going to enjoy it rather than transform myself into a loot-farm gremlin who'd sell their grandma for an extra skill point that was never worth it in the first place.