MORGAN PARK, STAFF WRITER
Final week: Beat Halo: CE, Halo 2, and nearly Halo 3. November is Halo month.
OK, I will admit it: Arc Raiders can get just a little boring while you’re a pacifist. Casually waving howdy to solo raiders as they loot the locker you have been hoping to must your self just isn’t as novel or enjoyable the hundredth time it occurs, particularly after you have gotten so adequate at eluding Arc patrols that even they’re solely hardly ever a risk. Final week, I went on three raids in a row with out firing a shot.
To deal with my boredom with out blackening my soul, I made a decision to attempt one thing else: Impressed by a Reddit clip of a self-proclaimed “rescue raider,” I started deploying on solo raids with a full stack of defibrillators. The aim? Run towards downed raider flares, discover the affected person, and revive them.
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Park Ambulance Dispatch (PAD) is right here to assist.
The primary hurdle to turning into an efficient Arc Raiders paramedic was cardio. I would run and run and run straight towards each flare, however most gamers I responded to had died by the point I obtained there. Not too shocking: Solo gamers have a tendency to surrender as quickly as they’re downed, assuming that even when a pleasant face passes by, they will not be holding a defib that is solely good for reviving others. After that first night time, I would saved a whopping two individuals.
Good, however not adequate. So I switched up the gameplan:
Dangle across the middle of the map so I am as shut as attainable to flaresPlay totally on Buried Metropolis and Stella Montis, the 2 smallest mapsInvest within the Mobility ability tree to enhance my stamina, climb velocity, and due to this fact my response timeAnnounce myself as a pleasant medic as quickly because the affected person is inside earshot
Above: The one time I’ve gotten the coveted “My hero!” chant from a grateful affected person.
I raced throughout the rooftops, landed dangerous jumps, and deployed ziplines to fly throughout maps like Spider-Man with a backpack full of medicine. That is once I began discovering some actual success. I would revive at the very least one raider per run, typically two or three, and typically I would have to save lots of the identical particular person twice.
On the threat of sounding like I am fishing for good samaritan reward, what I am truly saying is that that is far more thrilling than peacefully looting the Rust Belt or turning each match right into a warzone. Truthfully, I’ve by no means had as a lot enjoyable in Arc Raiders. The strain of reaching individuals in time to save lots of them fully recontextualized the sport. Routes I would taken lots of of instances turned race programs, and the Arc have been a scarier presence as a result of I did not have time to only conceal in a bush till they handed. I may nonetheless full quests and loot stuff for my base upgrades, however I additionally had a important quest that outmoded the whole lot.
What I did not anticipate have been all of the presents. Most sufferers simply stated thanks, typically in a confused “Is he actually simply gonna let me go?” sorta approach, however often they’d simply begin dropping valuables. I am sitting on a pile of uncommon components from Arc I’ve by no means even fought—Bastion Cores, Leaper Pulse Items, Bombardier Cells—plus a great deal of random trinkets.
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Most of which I plan to promote as a result of, um, it seems being a paramedic is an costly interest.
Defibrillators are usually not an ordinary recipe of the medication bench, and I’ve but to search out the blueprint to craft them myself, so I’ve simply been shopping for a great deal of them from the Clinic at 3,000 cash a pop. In actual fact, I simply ran the numbers for the primary time and, at 9,000 cash for a full stack of three, I have been going by way of roughly 50k price of defibs per night time. That is by the use of typically utilizing all defibs in a single run, different instances having leftovers, and typically getting murdered myself.
Yea so, I’ve danced round it to this point, however there are additionally loads of the reason why the paramedic playstyle is a horrible thought. For one, I am dying far more than I used to, and you’ll most likely think about how. An excellent half of raider flares I’ve responded to have been of us downed by one other participant. I’ve misplaced full packs of medical provides as a result of I sprinted straight at a flare yelling “I am a medic, do not quit!” and instantly obtained shot within the face by my affected person’s killer.
Ultimately, this too known as for an up to date plan:
Get good at detecting dangerInvestigate crime scenesFight, if necessaryPrioritize the revive
This actually comes all the way down to mitigating threat, however accepting a daily state of peril. The one massive tip I may give right here is to not simply be aware of distant gunshots, however hearken to them. Earlier than the flare popped, what did I hear? Had been there rockets, bombs, or machineguns typical of Arc, or did it sound like two Ferros buying and selling photographs from reverse rooftops? I would take my greatest guess and let that calibrate how a lot warning I ought to use, which has labored properly sufficient to this point.
Now I mosey as much as some flares quietly, assessing the crime scene earlier than I provoke voice chat. If I am fast sufficient, I can catch the killer earlier than they end the job. If I am too late, properly, I can at the very least dispense justice with some PvP that will not weigh on my conscience.
Essentially the most attention-grabbing instances unfold once I arrive late sufficient that I can not fairly inform what simply occurred: One participant is useless, one other is looting them, however have been they the aggressor? The one option to discover out with out risking my conceal, I made a decision, is to mild ’em up till they’re down after which query them. If I imagine their story, they get a defib. If my lie detector goes off, their raid is over.
I do know that I’ve most likely revived a number of murders by chance alongside the way in which, however letting some of us stay eases the conscience and produces its personal distinctive social interactions. Simply the opposite day, I downed a man who’d simply killed somebody within the Buried Metropolis hospital. I requested if he killed the man upstairs, he insisted it was self protection. I requested why he did not reply to my “Do not shoot” calls, he stated he did not hear me. He had fundamental weapons, the default outfit, and will’ve simply been a model new participant, so I made a decision to take the possibility and used my final defib.
He appeared legitimately shocked, thanked me a bunch, and slowly backed away. Later that night time, I obtained a pal request. Maybe it is time for the Park Ambulance Dispatch to develop?
