Embark has been on a bit of a matchmaking kick recently. It announced some weeks ago that Arc Raiders would be getting a more thorough system which takes into account specific player behaviour across solo, duo, and trio lobbies as well as a more nuanced look at self-defence. Both are solid updates to the game in theory, but in practice it’s become clear that you just can’t balance for assholes.
Update 1.36 added a more stringent matchmaking system which takes into account every player action across various lobbies. But because this new system was so reactive, it also meant that all it took was downing one aggressive raider to throw players from the comfort of PvE lobbies into the hellscape of PvP. Now, I actually enjoy PvP lobbies, but they aren’t for the faint of heart, so before long Embark was backed up with complaints from players who were mistakenly hurled into these death matches.
To try and help, Embark decided to add a self-defence clause to the matchmaking system which meant that players would stay in nice PvE lobbies even if they shot and killed another raider if they weren’t the primary aggressor. I don’t actually know how the system figures this out—I guess it takes into account whether a player is damaged before shooting or not—but regardless this update fixed one issue and started another.
Before long, Arc Raiders rats realised that this self-defence patch basically gave them a free pass to run rampant in PvE lobbies, killing and looting everyone they could find, as long as they didn’t shoot first.