Embark Studios is rolling out Arc Raiders’ first optional account wipe with a prestige‑style Expedition system. Here’s exactly what resets, what you earn for opting in, and whether this kind of seasonal prestige can really keep extraction‑shooter players engaged.
Arc Raiders is about to run its first big seasonal experiment. Instead of forcing a universal reset like Escape From Tarkov or cycle‑based survival games, Embark Studios is introducing an optional prestige‑style wipe called the Expedition Project. It is a full character reset for those who opt in, but one that comes with permanent bonuses, time‑limited buffs, and a shot of early‑wipe freshness without deleting everyone’s progress.
This is a crucial moment for Arc Raiders as a live extraction shooter. Wipes are often what keep these games from going stale, yet they also drive away players who feel their time is being thrown away. Embark is trying to split the difference with a system that lets progression‑hungry players chase a new ladder while hoarders keep their hard‑earned gear.
How Arc Raiders’ Expedition wipe works
The Expedition Project is structured as a limited‑time departure window. During that window you can choose to sign up your current Raider for an Expedition. If you do, nothing happens immediately. Everyone who opted in departs together when the window closes. That moment is when your profile is wiped and your rewards are calculated.
Opting in is completely voluntary. If you do not join the Expedition, your account continues exactly as it is. Your character, stash and caravan building progress all carry on unaffected until the next Expedition window in a couple of months.
This design already sets Arc Raiders apart from the genre’s more punishing peers. Tarkov, Rust and similar games periodically reset everyone whether they like it or not. Arc Raiders instead treats wipes like a prestige ladder that only the willing climb.
What actually resets when you prestige
If you choose to depart on an Expedition, Arc Raiders treats your Raider like a fresh profile. The wipe is thorough.
Your skill tree is reset. Every skill point you previously earned and allocated is stripped out, taking you back to a base build.
Your character level is reset. All experience progress and level‑gated power boosts are removed, so you reenter the world as a lower level Raider that needs to climb again.
Your stash is wiped. Weapons, armor, consumables and any loot you have stockpiled are cleared out of storage. This includes high‑end items you may have been saving for late‑game runs.
Your workshop progression is reset. Crafting abilities, unlocked blueprints and workbench improvements you have invested in are also wiped. You will need to rebuild your economic and crafting infrastructure from scratch.
Functionally this is a full progression restart. Yet Arc Raiders does not put you back through the new player funnel. Onboarding is skipped, all maps remain unlocked, and every potential workshop upgrade is available from the outset. The point is to let returning prestige players jump straight into the loop with a bare account but a veteran’s knowledge and a set of structural advantages.
How your stash value turns into permanent power
The most interesting part of Arc Raiders’ Expedition system is how it turns your previous grind into a permanent power boost on your new life.
When the Expedition window closes, the game tallies the total value of your stash plus your coins. That combined value is then converted into bonus skill points at a fixed exchange rate. For every 1,000,000 coins of value, you earn 1 extra skill point, up to a maximum of 5 skill points from any single Expedition.
Those points are permanent. Once added to your account, they stay with your Raider across future seasons and further Expeditions. Over time, repeat prestige players will slowly accumulate a small but meaningful edge in build flexibility. Five extra skill points can be the difference between finishing a core build and grabbing an extra utility perk. Stack that across a few Expeditions and you are looking at a character that can run more complete or hybrid setups than a first‑timer.
Crucially, the value snapshot happens at departure, not when you click the opt‑in button. You can keep looting, crafting and min‑maxing your stash right up to the closing of the window. That turns the last days before departure into a sprint to squeeze every last bit of value out of your runs, which is smart design for engagement and makes the decision to prestige feel less like throwing away progress and more like cashing out.
All the Expedition rewards: permanent and temporary
Beyond those bonus skill points, Embark is loading the first Expedition with a mix of permanent account upgrades, cosmetics and time‑limited buffs.
Every player who prestiges gains extra stash space. You receive 12 additional stash slots as a permanent upgrade to your storage. For an extraction shooter where inventory Tetris and long‑term hoarding are a huge part of the meta, this is one of the most tangible rewards. More room means less dismantling, more build variety and greater flexibility to hold onto niche weapons or situational gear.
Prestige players also earn exclusive cosmetics. The first Expedition grants the Patchwork Raider outfit, a themed look that leans into the scavenger fantasy, plus the Scrappy Janitor cap and an Expeditions Indicator icon. These are the social proof side of the system. When you load into lobbies or run with friends, these cosmetics quietly advertise that you have already reset and re‑climbed the ladder.
On top of that, the game grants three temporary buffs that last until the next Expedition, unless you skip that one, in which case they expire.
You get a repair bonus that improves repair efficiency by about ten percent, making it cheaper to keep your gear in fighting shape. You earn a five percent experience boost that lets you climb the level curve faster on your fresh account. Finally you gain around six percent more materials from Scrappy, which accelerates your early‑game economy and crafting.
None of these buffs are game breaking in isolation. Together they smooth the rebuild, let you get back to your old power level more quickly and give a practical reason to prestige beyond pure cosmetics and stash space.
Why the Expedition is optional and what non‑prestige players keep
Embark’s pitch for the Expedition Project is simple. They want the tension and excitement that comes with a fresh economy and early‑wipe scramble without the mass frustration that follows mandatory resets.
If you decide that you are not ready to let go of your current build, you simply do nothing. Your Raider does not depart, your stash and workshop stay as they are, and your ongoing caravan construction progress remains intact. You continue playing in the same world state, with the same items and goals, and can opt into a later Expedition window instead.
That is important for the health of a broad audience. Extraction shooters draw both players who love early wipes and players who deeply resent them. By letting the latter group skip the prestige entirely without missing core content, Arc Raiders avoids the genre’s usual cycle of hype followed by attrition.
Is Arc Raiders’ prestige system enough to keep players engaged long term?
As a design, the Expedition Project hits several key notes that matter to extraction shooter fans. It preserves the adrenaline of a fresh start, respects player time and creates a persistent sense of progression that survives wipes.
Optional participation is the biggest win. Hardcore players can treat each Expedition like a new season, racing to reestablish dominance with a slightly stronger account every time. More casual or time‑poor players can log in at their own pace without fear that an arbitrary reset will erase weeks of effort.
The permanent rewards are tuned to be incremental rather than overpowering. Extra stash space, a handful of skill points and cosmetics are attractive carrots without turning Arc Raiders into a pay‑to‑win or no‑life‑to‑win experience. The conversion of stash value into power is particularly smart. It rewards efficient looting and long‑term planning instead of pure playtime, which fits the extraction mindset.
That said, there are limits to how far this first version of prestige can carry long‑term engagement on its own.
For one, the power delta between a non‑prestige player and someone who has reset a few times will remain modest. Five skill points per Expedition and a few dozen extra stash slots over multiple cycles will help, but it is unlikely to radically change your playstyle. Veterans get a soft edge, not a new tier of builds that fundamentally alters the meta. That is good for fairness but might not be enough of a hook for grinders who crave dramatic new states to chase every season.
Second, the rewards as announced are largely systemic rather than content driven. You are not unlocking new enemies, biomes or unique Expedition‑exclusive activities by prestiging. You are investing in efficiency, flexibility and cosmetic status. Over the short term that is enough to make the first couple of Expeditions feel worthwhile. Over years, though, Arc Raiders will need to pair these wipes with fresh PvE encounters, new gear archetypes and changing world conditions to keep the reset exciting.
Finally, the fact that Expeditions are optional introduces its own tension. In games with global wipes, the entire player base is dropped back onto roughly equal footing which revitalizes the economy and matchmaking. In Arc Raiders, lobbies will mix fresh prestige characters with long‑term accounts that have never reset. Embark will need careful tuning of matchmaking and scaling so that starting over still feels fun, not like throwing yourself at better‑equipped veterans.
In that context, the Expedition Project looks like a strong foundation rather than a complete answer. It provides a prestige track that respects your previous grind, delivers meaningful but not oppressive advantages and lets players self‑select into the wipe cadence that fits their schedule.
Whether it keeps extraction shooter players engaged for years will depend on what gets layered on top of it. If future Expeditions introduce rotating modifiers, new mission types, limited‑run loot or narrative beats tied to the ARC threat, then this prestige framework could become a powerful pillar of Arc Raiders’ live service lifecycle. On its own, it is a welcome, player‑friendly twist on the wipe tradition and a promising sign that Embark understands both the appeal and the pain of starting over.