Arc Raiders' big Frozen Trail update, out October 8, includes a new endgame crafting grind called "weapon amplification," and it sounds like a game-changer.

Tied to a new research bench found in your expanded raider outpost, weapon amplification lets you add unique functions and attachments to, for now, 15 different weapons. You can upgrade a Renegade rifle with a scope (!), make the Burletta pistol fully automatic, or build a Rattler rifle that shoots incendiary rounds, for example.

In the absence of an Arc Raiders PvE mode, Embark says one goal with this system is for players to lean into PvP or PvE with their upgrade choices.

In a new Frozen Trail reveal video, Embark explains that amplified weapons are made by splicing Arc tech with gunsmithing. "An amplified weapon is kind of like the fifth quality level, except that it doesn't give you stats inherently, it instead upgrades a branching path for you where you can select different modules that change and amplify the behavior of the weapon in different ways," a developer says.

At a recent virtual preview event, I asked executive producer Aleksander Grøndal if Embark expects weapon amplification to make PvP fights shorter by lowering the time-to-kill. He says amplified weapons aren't meant to be demonstrably stronger, and Embark has been careful not to buff the already top-performing weapons. Instead, the aim is to make more weapons more interesting and give players additional PvP and PvE options for loadouts.

"I expect PvP to be more varied in terms of what's a valuable item or weapon to use," Grøndal explains.

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