ARC Raiders update 1.36.0 has shifted matchmaking in a way that many players have wanted for a while. The biggest difference is that Solo, Duo, and Trio behaviour is now tracked on its own, so the game is no longer trying to lump every session together. If you've ever played quietly on your own, then jumped into a louder squad night, you'll probably see why that matters. It also makes hunting for ARC Raiders Items feel a bit less tied to whatever mood your last party was in.

Before this patch, a player could feel one style creeping into another. A Solo run built around quests, scrap runs, and avoiding needless fights might still get mixed up with a more aggressive Trio session. That was awkward. You could be calm one night and fully locked in on PvP the next, and the system did not always seem to care. Now, each squad size keeps its own record, which should make matchmaking feel more honest to how people actually play.

What the new system changes

You'll notice the difference most if you swap between playing alone and playing with friends. The game now treats those formats as separate lanes, not one long shared history. That means your cautious Solo habits stay in Solo, while your louder Trio runs stay where they belong. It sounds simple, but it should cut down on a lot of that "why am I in this lobby?" feeling.

• Solo playstyle is tracked separately from group play.
• Duo sessions build their own matchmaking profile.
• Trio behaviour no longer spills into Solo rounds.
• Friendly or objective-heavy runs should stay less mixed up with PvP-heavy sessions.

That separation is probably the smartest part of the patch. A lot of players do not act the same in every mode. Solo can be careful and quiet. Trio can turn into chaos pretty fast. The old setup blurred those lines. This one should be cleaner, and, honestly, a lot less annoying when you just want the game to read the room.

Why players care so much

The whole point of ARC Raiders' playstyle matchmaking was never really the problem. The problem was that it could feel off when one squad size shaped another. If you spend a night helping friends fight everything that moves, you should not wake up to find your next Solo run carrying that baggage. The update makes room for those differences instead of forcing one profile to explain everything.

That should also help mixed groups. Maybe you are the cautious one when you queue alone, but your mates drag you into messier fights when you are in a Trio. Fair enough. The game should now learn those habits separately, which is what most players expected in the first place.

There are other fixes in 1.36.0 too, and some are worth noting if you spend a lot of time farming or just poking around the map.

• ARC Turbine loot value has been raised.
• Weapons on the ground now show installed mods.
• Several stuck spots and terrain issues have been fixed.
• Fair play tools and cheat detection are still being worked on.

That last part matters as well. Players care about matchmaking, sure, but they also care about clean rounds, stable rewards, and not losing time to bugs. This patch tries to hit all three. If you keep an eye on ARC Items for sale, you'll probably notice that the game's economy and loot flow are still getting small, useful tweaks too. For now, the main takeaway is pretty clear: ARC Raiders is finally treating Solo, Duo, and Trio as different ways to play, not just different group sizes.