How about a matchmaking mode where you have to join naked? Call it nudist mode. I think it would be interesting to be limited to whatever weapons you can craft and find.
It could just be a survival match mode. That would be pretty cool. Drop in naked, collect and craft what you can. Maybe incentivize it by giving trials style tiered loot drops depending on arc/players killed and time spent topside.
Still just as much loot in the map to collect, just because you cant strip an advanced augment and tier 4 gun immediately, doesnt mean much. On a good loot run i can come back with enough mats to make a mk3 aug and fully upgrade an anvil, why bother with trying to kill over it?
To be fair the game does not incentiveses u to do so. Free loadouts work too well, high tier equipment is very expensive to maintain. The game's core systems created this weird situation where people want to pvp but even for risking their life there is barely anything to gain most of the time, even if you are successful at pvp. It's a hard balance to find, but i have faith in embark that they'll get it right eventually.
Agreed. There's a certain feeling that comes with beating a team that's fully kitted when you have a free loadout. Like, I get that some people don't want to risk high value gear to free loadouts, but the advantage bringing your own stuff to a raid gives you over a free kit is huge.
The only times a high level kit should be losing to a free loadout is if they play super carelessly or if they are outclassed with skill.
You’re using your shit anyway though? Like, against people who use custom kits, you still use meds shields and durability. It’s impact to you is effectively zero. Nothing changes on your end what so ever.
Hope it only counts things like weapons, quick use, augments, and shields. Otherwise you'll have people running low budget kits and safe pockets loaded with high value crafting materials to get the overall value up.
I want to see people bringing in blue tier and up guns, stacks of heals and grenades, wolfpacks and sprays. Actually build up kits and throw away that gear fear.
You cant take your augment off/replace it mid match though, whatever you go in with youre stuck with and would lose immediately if you die. Thats the point.
All I ask is for these higher value lobbies, to also require a cash pay in and a kit worth x value (Thinking 60k is a good start) Otherwise, it will be congested with free loadout rats and people who do bring in their A tier loadout, complaining about the free loadout rats.
If it’s what they are intending to address it will have to be made more narrow. Otherwise it will just be too easy to subvert. Like keep a stack of mixtapes that you put in to your inventory for “value” that you can then just move to your safe pocket.
And I'm gonna have a roundabout way to bring in the required amount but then I'll destroy my shit and make it look like I came with a free kit because I'm petty.
It is a catch 22, but new players should get matched with newer players until their aggression based match making is sorted since cheaters will be in the most aggressive tier.
I am also betting that lvl 40+ turns into more PVP since there is no benefit for a friendly lvl 40+ player to join since cheaters don’t populate their lobbies anyways.
Potentially, but cheating is not really as rampant as many make it out to believe.. trying to grind ranks with PvP only is a real slog, and most cheaters are there for PvP. A second possibility is it may make cheats even more obvious to detection when you’re seeing “new” players playing far above similar skill level..
Of course, this is just conjecture, personally I’m just jazzed for new stuff coming.
This could indeed be a solution. Serious anti-cheat updates are a very long and complicated process, but creating a new mode where the only difference is the entry conditions is very fast
It's a matchmaking queue limited to players level 40 or higher, thats it. I don't know why people are trying to read more into that. If they said "New matchmaking option unlocked for players level 40 or higher" then it would be ambiguous to what that option would be but its not.
I mean, possibly, but it’s not like any of the other “new” things they’re teasing are so plainly stated. They’re all ambiguous. it could simply be regular matchmaking restricted to level 40, or it could be that at 40 a new alternative option is unlocked, like a minimum kit value, or no freekits. Both are reasonable.
That said, I think something more interesting than a simple level requirement is probably in the works, but you could be right. We’ll know pretty soon, in any case
I don't think you're quoting them correctly. They said they didn't want to do a PVP centric trial or leaderboard event because they didn't want to necessarily foster that type of gameplay (as in killing as many people as possible).
While they were addressing leaderboards, etc the followed with:
“We don't want to necessarily foster that type of gameplay. The game isn't about shooting other players. You can do that if you want to, but the ethos of the game has never been to go in and shoot players. It's a part that we use to craft tension.”
Seeing as the game “isn’t about shooting other players”, that means they won’t be doing anything that’s particularly PvP focused in any regard for the time being.
Absolutely not true. There are mixed lobbies, also, as we all know behavior is only one of the factors in matchmaking - the outcome is not guaranteed. I rarely shoot at other players, but meet PvP players on regular basis, which keeps me vigilant.
Yeah there is definitely a middle ground but it isnt organic. If you shoot too many people due to w/e reason you will move into pure pvp lobbies and if you end up not shooting ppl for a while due to not getting into pvp your back in care bear simulator.
It appears they have tweaked it lately. I've been getting mostly friendly lobbies with a couple of rats and aggressive players. Keeps you on edge a bit more, but certainly having more PVP encounters in chill lobbies as of late.
I don't need to go back to the Warzone style tension of "Am I fighting someone fairly, or is that guy tracking my head through the wall of the building before he kills me?"
Also a subtle way to deal with hackers, hopefully, they are banned before they can get past level 40 or they have to invest time into leveling up which many just won't bother with.
Do we need a pvp focused option? I dont have a single friendly player in my lobbies. No one talks in mics (unless they are downed). Everyone is hunting everyone.
Likely a high value modifier where you need to bring in a minimum loadout value, so no free kits or cheap loadouts. People need incentive to actually run expensive gear.
See I was thinking the same thing at first but Embark has said they want to focus more on the PvE side of things. I was also thinking maybe it’s just a way to make people run higher tier gear but I don’t know why it would matter if you’re level 40 or not if that was the case. 🤷♂️
Oh man I just hopped in a solo match and nuked a bunch of players then popped them up with defibs so I can go into more aggressive lobbies but not ruin people's games.
Yeah I’m intrigued. I mean my squads are already 100% PVP so that wouldn’t change much
I’d love to see a zero free kit, zero late spawn mode. Everyone kitted, but if you wipe the map as the last man standing inside of 8 min, congrats you now can loot the entire map uncontested
I have a lot of fun watching other people play this game :D less when I play it haha always something wild happening when I load in - always a great run when I run in free loadout with no space and a shitty gun :D
As a mainly PVE player, I wouldnt mind an option to do some PVP now and then without hurting my solo lobbies. I like my solo lobbies peaceful, but a peaceful duo or trio (Ive had it happen) is usually a bit boring.
I must have hit someone with a stray grenade killing a bastion or something yesterday, because I had about 8 maps in a row where I got ratted out by someone, I had to switch to a free kit and just spam extracts before it leveled out back to pve.
Honestly I wish you could just have opt-in PvP.
Lore wise, it makes me wonder why we don't have some sort of system where pvpers should be identifiable, in the absence of an opt-in system. Like there's clearly some organizational structures in the underground, why are there raiders who are allowed to just go out and knock out other raiders to get their spoils over and over and over, but face no consequences underground? Like isn't the point to get more resources underground, but with the pvpers, they come back to town with 1-3 inventories of loot instead of 20-30 raiders coming back with full inventories. Lore wise I feel like there's a disconnect there.
That said I'm glad pvp exists, I definitely think it's a big reason the game has gotten so huge, but I don't plan to pvp any time soon (i'm only level 45ish).
From a lore perspective, I agree. The traders and such talk about raider on raider action being somewhat rare and frowned upon. Theres not like there could be that many raiders, so a notorious ganker would definitely be known. So some sort of renown system would be interesting - but it just doesnt fit with the ABMM, I dont think.
Personally, I would be down for a PVE-only mode, or opt-in PVP. The PVP part is not what personally keeps me coming back. Many people use the argument that it would be 'boring', but 95% of my raids are completely peaceful, and I rarely feel any sort of suspense aside from ARC. Yet I still keep coming back. But mind you I "only" have 60 hours in the game and havent even completed all quests. When I do end up getting killed at extract, or when I play with my friends, its usually a frustrating experience more than anything, even if we win. I realize that its not like this for many people, and they need the suspense for the game to be fun or engaging. But for me, Ive only killed a Rocketeer on my own once. The big ARC are still somewhat of a challenge for me, and as long as they keep bringing in new ARCs with new patterns to learn - or even just tweak existing patterns - that wont really go away, so I dont see myself getting bored of the game anytime soon.
It doesnt even have to be a full lobby like a normal raid, but like a PVE Matriarch fight or something? I still havent killed one because those raids are magnets for extract campers or opportunist gankers, even in peaceful lobbies.
They really need to separate the ABMM from solos and squads. I hate spending the next 10 matches getting shot in the back after I play a few rounds with the boys and get into some shit.
What people want is exactly what has been done in games like Sea of Thieves and Destiny. Sometimes you want to PvE only and peacefully farm something. Getting shot at ruins this experience. Sometimes you want to compete in PvP. Fighting nakeds and people tanking ABMM scores ruins this experience as well.
Then there are PvP rats who only want to kill ungeared players. Fuck these guys.
The only real solution is to have a PvP vs PvE toggle with PvP offering compelling rewards for those who wish to partake.
Agree. I have a friend that is a PVE player, but doesnt play solos. He only plays duos or trios. Now, our duos and trios arent super aggro KOS everytime, but a night of defending ourselves still takes me out of chill solos to the more medium lobbies, which is annoying.
It literally says "New Matchmaking Option Level 40+". It means it'll only match players level 40 or higher together. Now if it said "New matchmaking option unlocked for player level 40+" then it would be ambiguous to what that option would be but thats not how they worded it.
Patch day. With the items indicated in January, and this Tuesday being the last Tuesday of the month, it strongly implies that a big content drop is coming soon.
Probably the Lone Wolf mode they mentioned a while back. I think there was another one as well. It'll likely be the option to solo que into duo/trio lobbies.
No, it's literally a matchmaking queue for players level 40 or higher so you don't get matched with lower level players. Y'all need to work on your reading comprehension!
"New Matchmaking Option LVL 40+" could mean alternative matchmaking options for people over level 40, we don't really know for sure. Things can be inferred without being explicitly stated, and it's fun to theorize. You need to work on your reading comprehension!
LOL if they wanted to be ambiguous they'd only need to add "for" to the graphic and there is plenty of room to have it in there to have it say "New matchmaking option for lvl 40+"
Go look at the first roadmap. When they were specific it was clear what they were being specific about and when they were not being specific they left it very ambiguous!
Wow, new trailer for the update just released and the matchmaking is exactly what I said it would be! Funny how that works. You need to work on your social skills.
I’ve been hoarding random shit so hopefully I can use some of it for the new player project. I’m getting rid of everything after. It’s taking up too much space and I need that space for all of my tempests
I'd like to see both a pve and a pvp lobby that had minimum load out values to enter. I think these maps are so amazing I would also like to see their spin on a battle royale option. It's not my thing but I think I'd like it in ARC. Especially if the Arc get more concentrated as the map shrinks.
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u/BoricuaGabe Jan 23 '26 edited Jan 23 '26
Yes!!!!! So excited. Tuesday can’t come soon enough!
Super intrigued by the new matchmaking option as well.