Gear Fear / Lack of options
So, we've all obviously bumped into the fact that a Level 4 Anvil or Stitcher or Il Toro is significantly easier to use/acquire than a rare purple weapon. Checking just about any and every Tier list reveals the same thing, the Anvil dominates but why is that? Well as everyone is aware they are SIGNIFICANTLY easier to get and upgrade to max level, but shouldn't the newer guns OUTWEIGH those benefits?
Everyone mentions Tarkov when you compare, but lets break down something a little similar. When comparing snipers in Tarkov, a lot of people have obviously heard of the Mosin, it chambers a nice and juicy round, and with some Money you can actually build on to it more and make it a more versatile weapon (scopes, silencers, etc). BUT it costs time / money in order to upgrade. And you can find better ammo etc to upgrade it and make it stronger.
Next you would take something like the TRG M10, Bird Eye's Sniper, the Player deletor, at it's CORE it's still a bolt action rifle, just like the Mosin, both chamber very strong rounds, BUT the TRG has options that make it a lot more viable when facing deadlier enemies (namely ammo that penetrates higher armors).
So, let's compare things like the Stitcher and the Bobcat, I personally have yet to use the Bobcat, but I want to break down a cost estimate between the two.
To craft an fully upgrade a Stitcher, here are the materials needed
Metal parts - 24
Rubber Parts - 16
Simple Gun Parts - 2 - MUST BE FOUND IN RAID OR BOUGHT WITH SEEDS
Mechanical Components - 3 - 21 Metal parts / 9 Rubber parts at the refiner
So when you die with a Level 4 Stitcher, not assuming you bought ANYTHNIG, you get all of the below stat bonuses
- +30 Durability (lol who fucking cares, it takes like 3 Metal Parts to repair)
- +50% Reduced Horizontal Recoil
- +40% Reduced Reload time
For the PALTRY sum of
- 45 Metal parts
- 25 Rubber Parts
- 2 Simple Gun Parts
The stats are below, taken from ARC Raiders Wiki
The only "RARE" piece of Equipment you are looking for is simple gun parts, and OH BOY is that a super hard to get item.
NOW, let's compare the Bobcat, an arguably similar SMG, that is SUPPOSED to be the direct upgrade to the stitcher (note that the stats really aren't anything crazy). Now let's assume you died and want to rebuild your bobcat to Level 4, you would need.
1 Magnetic Accelerator...
10 Light Gun Parts (FiR only)
2 Exodus Modules...
6 Advanced Mechanical Components...
I'm not going to break down the numbers, but for Humor's sake, here's a raw material cost estimation for those that can break down.
(Magnetic Accelerator)
- 16 Arc Alloy
- 4 Steel Springs
- 28 Metal Parts
- 12 Rubber Parts
---------------------------
- 2 Exodus Modules
---------------------------
(Advanced Mechanical Components)
- 12 Steel Springs
- 84 Metal Parts
- 36 Rubber Parts
Total
16 Arc Alloy
16 Steel Springs (FiR or Celeste)
112 Metal Parts
48 Rubber Parts
For the Below stats
I assume the stats are NOT showing a maxed out weapon, but why the absolute FUCK would ANYONE want to waste nearly 2 stacks of Materials, rare items, and all this other crap, to get roughly the EXACT same stat splay? No new attachment options either, so both guns are equally customizable, you are quite literally spending TONS of extra resources for an SMG that has 10-15 more fire rate.
Now the obvious change is what we're seeing currently, fancy guns are worth a lot of money, BUT that only encourages people to NOT USE THEM MORE.
So what do we do?
The solution is simple, if these guns are supposed to be the best of the best they should be the most versatile options we have, the Anvil has a good start to this, with only two attachment slots, but other guns should be reduced with Attachment slots or have other options for making them more versatile. OR even better, you could simply increase the cost of Gun Parts and remove extra materials for upgrading.
If we AXED out upgrade costs, and resolved it to a simpler system (Just using Gun parts for example) here would be the new resource costs to craft and upgrade.
Stitcher
8 Metal Parts
4 Rubber Parts
3-6 Light Gun parts ( 1 for Level 2, 2 For Level 3, 3 For Level 4)
Bobcat
2 Exodus Modules ( Still Pricey, but doable, and can be bought at Celeste, encouraging Seed Purchase Options)
1 Magnetic Accelerator (Base Costs above)
9 Light Gun Parts
The Bobcat would STILL be super pricy, BUT now upgrading the Stitcher has become a decision between "Do I want to use my Light Gun Parts on this objectively weaker weapon, or do I want to spend a few more resources that I just got to upgrade an objectively stronger weapon.
Hell for balance purposes you could reduce the cost of upgrading Workbench weapons, maybe Stitcher could be 3 Light Gun Parts in total, BUT have some of the attachments removed.
Resources
There's tons of loot, but right now a thing still limiting people is getting back to Speranza and realizing they're missing one or two key pieces of loot to max something, in comes Celeste, except you can only buy 1 or 2 of the items before she runs out, that's fair it makes sense she wouldn't have an unlimited inventory, but a 12 hour shop reset time? Why?
Why not instead remove the limit on items you can purchase, slightly increase the price on rarer items, but INSTEAD, have the shop rotate rapidly, maybe every 2 hours, maybe every hour. If it's a living breathing city, and we're constantly sending Raiders topside (to be believed by story and lore) her stock should be CONSTANTLY changing, along with every other trader.
I do have another point, but I think I'm running out of space
TLDR
Make cheaper weapons more expensive by requiring them to use their corresponding Gun Parts ONLY for upgrades, and Stronger Weapons cheaper by doing the same. Change Trader stock to be slightly more expensive, BUT rotate significantly more often, possibly with a smaller amount of items.
Posted Dec 10, 2025, 2:59 PM UTC