Sneaky Arc Raiders Griefers Are Ruining PvE by Camping Locked Loot Rooms and Luring Enemy Robots to Extraction Points

After 500 hours in Arc Raiders, I've seen lobbies full of ruthless killers and others where everyone acts like Santa Claus. That uncertainty is what makes every encounter thrilling, but Embark's new PvE mode aims to remove it. Or does it?

Arc Raiders PvE lobbies are already overrun with griefers who exploit the mode's relative safety—where your bullets can't hurt other raiders—to put others in harm's way through indirect means like manipulating AI, using tools, or just getting in the way.

Videos are already surfacing online showing players using the Bull Rush ability to shove others who are trying to extract. This causes them to die to arc enemies and be looted without consequence, introducing a whole new level of dirty play to one of the most cutthroat games ever.

A thread on the PvE mode in @ARCRaidersGame highlights this: "This is what PvP guys warned you about." https://t.co/1doayUnDZQ

Beyond that, players camp the locked loot rooms, waiting for someone with a key to show up. The key holder either opens it and shares the loot, or they have to leave and hope for better luck in another match. In PvP, you'd fight anyone contesting the loot. In PvE, it's a mad dash to grab it first.

Some are also using lure grenades to drag enemy robots into extraction points—especially devastating when it's a damn shredder. And there's no penalty for this behavior.

"Legit first game on and people were being just like this, vultures, and taking all loot from Arc before you could even get anything from it," said one X/Twitter user. "Top that off they were throwing lure grenades at me and my wife the whole time while trying to fight Arc. She went down due to it, I go for the rez then get body blocked and pushed around like I'm in grade school again."

This could be selfish players trying to get rich at others' expense, or PvP players who want to see the mode—currently only experimental—shelved. That way, they'll get some easy pickings back in their lobbies.

Of course, the mode is experimental, so Embark could make changes. I personally don't think PvE has a place here—unless it were a side thing with separate unlocks. The developers say loot is nerfed, but players are still coming out with crazy gear. PvE mode arrived just after Arc Raiders' biggest update, which added grappling hooks, a new map, and more. The update sparked a resurgence of players, with Steam concurrents not seen since March.

This isn't Arc Raiders' first griefing incident. In December last year, soon after the game's explosive launch, one player hell-bent on killing newcomers, casuals, and those with little to no loot went viral for killing others for sport—sparking a debate about acceptable PvP behavior.

Bungie also announced plans to add PvE modes to Marathon as developers grapple with extraction shooters being a niche genre. Hunt: Showdown figured this out ages ago, stuck to its cowboy-era guns, and kept its identity intact without alienating core fans.