I hopped into ARC Raiders this week thinking it'd be the usual routine: load in, grab what you can, and pray you don't get jumped on the way out. Then Patch 1.15.0 landed on February 10 and flipped the vibe. The big change is the Shared Watch event, running until February 24, and it's wild how fast it changes player behavior. You can still shoot other raiders, sure, but you won't earn Merits or event progress for it, so most folks just don't bother. If you're stocking up for runs or chasing upgrades, even stuff like ARC Raiders Coins suddenly feels more relevant when you're actually making it to extraction instead of getting farmed at the last second.
Shared Watch makes strangers act normal
You'll notice it within a match or two. People hesitate before firing. Some even spam pings at ARC patrols instead of aiming at your head. I've had randoms trail alongside me in the Rust Belt, not talking, not teaming officially, just sort of agreeing we've got bigger problems. And yeah, it's still tense, because it's ARC Raiders and nobody fully trusts anybody, but the pressure's different. The usual "sweat-first, ask questions never" meta takes a back seat, and the game finally breathes like a co-op scavenger shooter again.
Cold Snap is back, and it bites
Cold Snap returning is the other big thing you feel right away. The Rust Belt under snow looks great, but it's not just pretty. Frostbite pushes you to keep moving, manage your routes, and make decisions fast. Do you duck into cover and risk your bar climbing, or do you sprint through open ground because the loot's calling? The storm zones are clearly juiced. I've been pulling better finds during these conditions, enough that it's tempting to stay out longer than I should. With Shared Watch cutting down the player-on-player nonsense, those risky weather runs feel doable instead of just suicidal.
The first 24 hours were a mess
None of this came in clean, though. When 1.15.0 went live, it was chaos: infinite ammo exploits popped up instantly, and inventory dupes started doing the rounds like everyone suddenly forgot how to behave. On top of that, quest tracking bugged out for a bunch of players, which is the one thing that really kills hype during a limited event. Credit where it's due, Embark moved fast. The February 11 hotfix shut down the ammo problem and got event progression working again, and the servers settled into something close to normal.
What this update says about the future
There's still the usual stuff to chase, like the Vulpine and Slugger outfits, but the real story is the experiment itself. Embark basically turned off the reward for ganking and watched the community recalibrate. If the numbers look good, it's hard to imagine they won't try more PvE-forward weeks, or even a proper co-op playlist. And if you're the kind of player who likes keeping your stash and loadouts topped up without wasting time, it's worth knowing services like RSVSR exist for grabbing game currency or items, because this is the first time in a while it feels like your prep actually leads to a clean run instead of a random ambush.