Trials are weekly recurring missions in ARC Raiders, requiring players to complete them weekly to earn rewards. The game developers reset Trials weekly, and these missions include, but are not limited to, finding a specific item, defeating an ARC, or achieving certain achievements.
Trials also have a rating system; to get the best rewards, you need to strive for a three-star rating in every ARC Raiders Trial mission. Since its release, Trials have been a hot topic and highly popular among players.

However, over time, more and more players have become disappointed with Trials. Originally intended to keep players engaged and reward their efforts, the current missions have made it increasingly difficult for solo and casual players to compete, leading more and more players to ignore Trials and stop participating.
Trial mission "Throw Snowballs at Rocketeers," released in Week 10, seems to have brought player discussions about the trials to a fever pitch. Therefore, I'd like to delve deeper into the trial system in ARC Raiders, including its mission mechanics, existing flaws, and suggestions for improvement.
Balance
First and foremost is the balance of solo players completing Trials. I believe nearly half of ARC Raiders players experience the game solo, except for certain missions that are too difficult and require a group. Most players generally choose to act alone.
Therefore, the gap and imbalance between solo and group players in Trials becomes quite apparent. The advantage of group players is obvious, as all members share mission progress, essentially meaning three or four people complete a mission together. This is unfair to solo players.
For example, if a mission requires you to defeat an ARC, it becomes much easier for team players because the enemy's strength doesn't adjust to the team size. The more players there are, the faster the kill speed, and the safer the players themselves are.
There are also gathering missions where the number of plants on the map is limited, and many are scattered. Team players can flexibly allocate tasks, explore more areas, and gather resources much faster - something solo players can't do.
However, the biggest problem lies here: solo players' mission progress is nowhere near as fast as team players'. But the trial ultimately compares the scores of solo players with those who primarily participate in the trial in teams. After a week, the score difference is obvious.
This scoring system has caused dissatisfaction among many solo players, with many posting complaints and saying they've almost given up on participating in the trial missions.
Suggestions
Regarding this balance issue between solo and group players, I think studios could implement a tiered system. Either directly separate solo and group players, comparing solo players against each other and group players against each other.
Alternatively, adjust the difficulty of quests, appropriately increasing the difficulty for group players. For example, the kill difficulty in ARC could be adjusted based on the number of players challenging the quest, and the required completion amount for gathering quests could also be adjusted. Separating solo and group players would prevent unfairness.
Trial missions are tedious and boring
Most of the Trials seem to require only enough time to complete perfectly, but not everyone can dedicate enough time to the game, especially working players. While ARC Raiders has done a good job in other aspects, adequately considering time constraints, this is the case with Trials.
Take the previous Wasp defeating mission as an example. The best way to get a high score was to spend several hours collecting enough Snitch Scanners, then take them to the trial map and throw them to detonate, thus continuously spawning Wasps.
The same applies to gathering missions; they offer no challenge and are simply tedious. These missions require players to invest a significant amount of time to achieve high scores.
However, the problem is that many players cannot dedicate that much time to the game; they have other things to do in real life. Most trial missions are designed based on the time players spend in the game, not actual gameplay skills.
Suggestions
Perhaps the studio could try changing the trial scoring mechanism, moving beyond simply repeating mission objectives to award points based on player performance.
More missions that test players' skills could be released, with scores based on in-game performance. I believe this would be welcomed by players with limited time.
Randomness of leaderboard
The key to the trials lies in the randomness of the leaderboard. Although the trial tasks reset weekly, not all players log in immediately on the reset day. Some players choose to log in a day or two later.
This is because the game system matches players with others in real time and generates a leaderboard containing 100 players during the trial. To get rewards on the leaderboard, you need to climb as high as possible.
However, the problem is that if you log in on the reset day, good luck! Your leaderboard will be filled with the best players in the game. If you're a casual player, this is terrible. But if you can wait a day or two, your trial will be much easier. This is essentially a bug in the leaderboard generation; I also choose to wait a day or two before logging in to complete the tasks.
However, not everyone can freely choose when to log in. If you happen to only have time on the trial reset day, then you're really out of luck.
Suggestions
Perhaps the official team could adjust the leaderboard generation mechanism. The system could group players based on their performance in previous trials or average daily playtime to generate leaderboards. This would prevent casual players from competing with skilled players on the same leaderboard.
Rewards not enticing enough
The first three problems seem to stem from players' time commitment, while the remaining issue lies in the trial rewards. A large part of the reason players tirelessly invest time and effort in trials is for the rewards.
The simplest and most effective way for the official team to maintain player engagement is through generous rewards. Players who complete all tasks and achieve a three-star rating within a week can obtain 15 ARC Raiders items, but most of these are cosmetic items, which may not be very appealing to some players.
In fact, the studio could adjust the weekly rewards in real-time. If the tasks are difficult, the quality of the reward items could be appropriately increased. This would not only make the reward system more interesting but also make players feel they are getting more value for their money.
Of course, all the suggestions above are just personal opinions, but these issues with Trial system do exist. Perhaps as ARC Raiders develops further, the development team will refine all the game's mechanics based on player feedback.
Ultimately, we all hope that all raiders can have a perfect gaming experience. Let's look forward to it together!














