Arc Raiders boss admits players are killing toughest enemies too easily

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Virgil Watkins, head of Embark Studios, revealed that players of Arc Raiders are overcoming boss battles – like those against The Queen and Matriarch – more quickly than expected. The development team didn’t initially account for how effectively players would cooperate as a team.

Each time you play Arc Raiders, you’ll face lots of threats, including other players trying to take your rewards. But the biggest challenges usually come from the Arcs themselves. While some enemies like Wasps and Fireballs are easy to handle, the larger ones need careful planning and cooperation to beat.

The game also features incredibly challenging bosses, like The Queen and The Matriarch. These encounters are meant to be the hardest in the game, and you’ll need top-tier gear just to stand a chance.

The original plan for Arc Raiders was different, but the game’s director admits players are defeating the toughest enemies much more easily than they expected.

Arc Raiders players are beating The Queen & Matriarch with ease

Virgil Watkins told PC Gamer that players are coordinating in lobbies to easily defeat the large Arc enemies, something the developers didn’t expect and which is making those enemies too easy.

Even though Queens and Matriarchs are powerful and dangerous, they’re not meant for the entire player base to fight and receive equal rewards. Instead, they’re designed for smaller, dedicated groups – perhaps a few squads working together while also competing with other players.

We definitely made some mistakes in how we balanced the game. We gave players abilities that were too strong for the early stages, and those abilities were better suited for when players had more powerful gear later on.

The issue could be fixed by increasing the health of the enemies, but Watkins is worried about making sure players feel rewarded regardless of their preferred playstyle.

He questioned whether we should praise those who opportunistically take advantage of a weakened opponent, or those who strive for a fair fight where everyone has an equal chance. He asked if we’d rather be the one who profits when others are exhausted, or the one who tries to unite everyone and level the playing field.

He also noted in the interview that events like Locked Gate and Hidden Bunker are facing issues. Some players are choosing to avoid the usual effort of unlocking objectives and instead wait near the entrance, relying on other teams to do the work for them.

We had a specific vision for how we wanted people to use these features,” he said. “But players, as they often do, discovered unexpected ways to combine them and achieve things we hadn’t anticipated.

Watkins suggested that updates are coming to Arc Raiders, and the game’s most difficult challenges will likely be adjusted in those updates.

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2026-02-19 20:19