Arc Raiders Developers Detail Expedition Changes Following Player Criticism Over High Reward Requirements

Embark Studios has explained how they will make the second Expedition in Arc Raiders more appealing after the first one left the community dissatisfied.

The developer of the popular sci-fi extraction shooter informed fans through a blog post on their website. It lists a registration date of February 25th and a start date of March 1st for the account wipe event, as players are advised to expect more worthwhile rewards before sending their favorite Raiders into the unknown and starting fresh.

First, Embark Studios revised the vault cost requirements, telling fans they now need only 3 million coins to earn the maximum bonus of five skill points. This means each point will require just 600,000 coins—a significantly more achievable task compared to the 1 million per skill point requirement in the previous Expedition.

Furthermore, Raiders who participated the first time but didn't earn enough coins can take advantage of a new catch-up feature. Missed points can be obtained for 300,000 coins each, with coins first going toward Expedition 2 and then used to make up points from Expedition 1. In other words, you'll need 3 million for five new skill points and an additional 300,000 for each missed point. When Raiders first join Expeditions, they need to start by unlocking rewards from Expedition 1, leaving the catch-up feature only for returning players.

Other new permanent rewards for the second wipe include a new Scrappy suit, an enhanced Patchwork suit with more options and colors, and, fortunately, 12 additional vault slots. Returning expedition participants receive 5% more experience (10% total), a 6% increase to Scrappy materials (12% total), and a 10% boost to repair value (70% total).

All upcoming changes to Expeditions followed Embark noting the somewhat disappointing reception of their first attempt with the account wipe feature. Design Director Virgil Watkins told PCGamesN last month that "just over a million players" successfully wiped their accounts and suggested the studio would listen to community feedback going forward.

"We fully acknowledge that just chasing money isn't the most exciting thing to do," he said at the time, "[and it has] the potential outcome of demotivating using your gear, which people typically look forward to toward the end of the wipe cycle. So yes, we're looking at changes to that."

Arc Raiders launched on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S on October 30, 2025. Its Escalation roadmap, published at the end of last month, outlined Embark's plans for early 2026, with Expedition windows scheduled for February and April. Headwinds began with a "solo vs. squads" queue option and the Bird City map condition at launch on January 27th.

Following a coordinated DDoS attack last week, developers are still doing their best to combat ongoing reports of cheaters. You can read more about why we think some of the rarest weapons in Arc Raiders need further tuning.