‘This is beyond frustrating’: ARC Raiders players are angry with nerfs in Riven Tides update

ARC Raiders’ biggest update since launch dropped this morning, and the returns on player opinions is pretty mixed so far.

The Riven Tides update, on top of adding a new map and other content, featured several balancing changes to items and weapons in the game. But after a few hours of play, ARC Raiders gamers seem to have a number of complaints about what’s been changed.

A hefty nerf to the Photoelectric Cloak, which allows players to go un-seen to the AI ARC enemies, seems to be the biggest problem for the majority of angry players. In the update, its weight value tripled while its power usage rate quadrupled, leaving gamers upset.

“When are devs going to understand making the game tedious does not equal more fun or more engagement?” one player said. “This is beyond frustrating.”

“The Photoelectric Cloak has been quite aggressively over-performing, especially in regards to the length of time it can be activated,” Embark Studios explained. “This change is intended to add more intentionality between uses; it still has the same strength while activated, but now you might need to find cover sooner, or think more about how you approach areas heavily contested by ARC.”

Another massive change was to weapon durability, which heavily nerfed the length of viability for weapons depending on rarity, while buffing the durability for the rarest guns. For example, Common rarity guns got a 75 percent increase to durability loss per each shot. Yikes.

“Durability is such a dumb game mechanic that for some reason people think they need in their games,” another frustrated Raider complained. “It doesn’t actually add anything to the experience or the realism, it just makes you grind to keep things you already worked for.”

The new map, which seems to be going over well, is getting heavily overshadowed when it comes to overall discussion about Riven Tides. The patch notes have left a pretty negative impression on the community, despite a big bump in active players trying out the game on Steam.

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The Crash Mat is a unique consumable that has been added to ARC Raiders as part of the Riven Tides update, and having the blueprint will allow you to craft the item. At its core, the Crash Mat nullifies a massive amount of fall damage if you manage to land on it by any means.

But first, let’s find out a few potential locations for the blueprint.

ARC Raiders Crash Mat blueprint location

Like every other blueprint, there’s no fixed location to find the Crash Mat. It will boil down to your luck. The item’s blueprint can spawn on any map condition. I have stuck to the Riven Tides map since the update, and it’s where I also found the blueprint.

I found mine in a random container at the beach near Hotel Panorama Azzurro. It was an ordinary container, and I had spawned in the map quite early. If you’re unlucky, you can try looking into the rooms of the hotel itself. It’s a great spot to find trinkets, which also includes the miniature ships.

You can also use the Dockmaster’s Detector during the Beachcombing minor map condition to find containers that would otherwise remain hidden. These containers can also contain the blueprint. However, the Beachcombing condition isn’t mandatory to find the blueprint; it just theoretically raises the odds of your success.

How to craft the Crash Mat in ARC Raiders

Once you have the blueprint, you can start crafting the Crash Mat with the following resources.

• One Electrical Components: You can craft it with raw materials or find it as random loot.
• One Durable Cloth: You can craft it from the basic cloth.

To craft the Crash Mat, you’ll also need a Tier 2 Utility Workbench. To use the item, you have to aim it at the ground. Once thrown, it will create an airbag on the ground. When you fall on the item, it will absorb all the fall damage. When used strategically, it will allow you to get out of tight situations.

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