Jumping into ARC Raiders during the Cold Snap event feels pretty different right now, and it is not only the snow on the ground changing the mood, it is the way every match quietly feeds into the Flickering Flames Reward Track and the way you think about your ARC Raiders Items, because that Merit bar has basically become the thing you always glance at when you get back to base.
How Merit Really Works
The game does not spell it out, but you pick it up fast, roughly every 100 XP you earn turns into a point of Merit, so the more steady XP you pull in, the smoother that track climbs and the less you feel like you are doing some separate grind on the side.
The nice bit is you are not locked into one way of playing, you do not have to live in PvP fights to make progress, and most people realise pretty quickly that cleaning up ARC machines gives you reliable XP without that constant dread of a random headshot from someone lying in a bush halfway across the map.
Fights with other Raiders do pay out, and winning a chunky brawl feels amazing, but the risk is brutal, because chasing a kill for a clip and then losing a full bag hurts your Merit gain far more than just skipping a bad engagement would have.
Playing For XP Instead Of Ego
If you are actually trying to finish the track, extractions matter a lot more than highlight plays, the biggest XP dumps come from leaving the map alive, so smart squads treat every run like a balance between grabbing loot and knowing when to back off and head for the evac.
It sounds obvious, but a lot of players still hoover up everything they see, take one fight too many near the end, and watch a whole session of potential Merit vanish because they got stubborn instead of calling it and getting on the chopper.
Running as a bit of a loot goblin is not a bad thing here, all the small stuff, scrap, materials, the boring containers you normally skip, it all piles up as XP, and over a few extractions it adds more Merit than one lucky PvP win ever will.
Why The Reward Track Feels Worth It
The Flickering Flames track caps out at level 25, and it is not just filler, early on, around 600 Merit, you unlock the Hi Tech Hiker outfit, which just fits the whole frozen map vibe and instantly makes low level characters look like they belong in the event.
Push a bit further and you pick up things like the Check Compass emote at 3,000 Merit, plus the Field Phone decoration around 6,000, and those small rewards break up the grind so it feels like you are regularly ticking boxes instead of staring at one huge target.
The real showpiece is sitting right at the end though, the Space Wrench skin at 15,000 Merit is the kind of cosmetic you see in the lobby and instantly know that player stuck with Cold Snap from start to finish, it is pure flex but in a way that feels earned rather than bought.
Making Candleberries And Time Work For You
There is one extra layer to think about if you want to clear the track before the event wraps up, Candleberries are only popping up in natural areas while the Cold Snap weather is active, they are awkward to spot and easy to ignore when shots start flying, but they matter for seasonal projects that give you more reasons to log in.
The nice twist is that some steps on the track hand you bundles of Candleberries straight away, and that can save you hours of stumbling through snow and bushes, so it is worth planning routes that hit machine spawns, decent loot spots and Candleberry hotspots in the same run instead of treating them as separate chores.
If you keep your head down, pick smart fights, grab more loot than feels glamorous, and use those seasonal drops to gear up with cheap ARC Raiders gear, you will watch the Flickering Flames bar climb faster than you expect and walk away from Cold Snap with rewards that actually remind you that you were there when the map froze over.
How Merit Really Works
The game does not spell it out, but you pick it up fast, roughly every 100 XP you earn turns into a point of Merit, so the more steady XP you pull in, the smoother that track climbs and the less you feel like you are doing some separate grind on the side.
The nice bit is you are not locked into one way of playing, you do not have to live in PvP fights to make progress, and most people realise pretty quickly that cleaning up ARC machines gives you reliable XP without that constant dread of a random headshot from someone lying in a bush halfway across the map.
Fights with other Raiders do pay out, and winning a chunky brawl feels amazing, but the risk is brutal, because chasing a kill for a clip and then losing a full bag hurts your Merit gain far more than just skipping a bad engagement would have.
Playing For XP Instead Of Ego
If you are actually trying to finish the track, extractions matter a lot more than highlight plays, the biggest XP dumps come from leaving the map alive, so smart squads treat every run like a balance between grabbing loot and knowing when to back off and head for the evac.
It sounds obvious, but a lot of players still hoover up everything they see, take one fight too many near the end, and watch a whole session of potential Merit vanish because they got stubborn instead of calling it and getting on the chopper.
Running as a bit of a loot goblin is not a bad thing here, all the small stuff, scrap, materials, the boring containers you normally skip, it all piles up as XP, and over a few extractions it adds more Merit than one lucky PvP win ever will.
Why The Reward Track Feels Worth It
The Flickering Flames track caps out at level 25, and it is not just filler, early on, around 600 Merit, you unlock the Hi Tech Hiker outfit, which just fits the whole frozen map vibe and instantly makes low level characters look like they belong in the event.
Push a bit further and you pick up things like the Check Compass emote at 3,000 Merit, plus the Field Phone decoration around 6,000, and those small rewards break up the grind so it feels like you are regularly ticking boxes instead of staring at one huge target.
The real showpiece is sitting right at the end though, the Space Wrench skin at 15,000 Merit is the kind of cosmetic you see in the lobby and instantly know that player stuck with Cold Snap from start to finish, it is pure flex but in a way that feels earned rather than bought.
Making Candleberries And Time Work For You
There is one extra layer to think about if you want to clear the track before the event wraps up, Candleberries are only popping up in natural areas while the Cold Snap weather is active, they are awkward to spot and easy to ignore when shots start flying, but they matter for seasonal projects that give you more reasons to log in.
The nice twist is that some steps on the track hand you bundles of Candleberries straight away, and that can save you hours of stumbling through snow and bushes, so it is worth planning routes that hit machine spawns, decent loot spots and Candleberry hotspots in the same run instead of treating them as separate chores.
If you keep your head down, pick smart fights, grab more loot than feels glamorous, and use those seasonal drops to gear up with cheap ARC Raiders gear, you will watch the Flickering Flames bar climb faster than you expect and walk away from Cold Snap with rewards that actually remind you that you were there when the map froze over.