If you have a season pass, you've already got the
Arkbreaker content fully available to you. If you haven't purchased a season pass or the
Arkbreaker DLC, you will still get some benefits from its release. This DLC introduces
Stims and
Spikes, two new types of consumable buffs. Stims are a personal item that you shoot into your neck to gain their effects, either healing buffs, strength buffs, speed buffs or EGO power refreshes. Spikes, on the other hand, are deployed in a location and then have a circular area of effect; if you or any other friendlies are within the area of effect, they, too, benefit from the effect, which can be Ammo, Damage Increase or Protection. Even if you don't have the full DLC, these Stims and Spikes are now available from the merchants and as drops.
In addition to the Stims and Spikes, there are a variety of new weapons, such as cold fire sniper rifles, pistols and assault rifles (in player-summoned Arkfalls) and twenty new advanced-tech versions of existing weapons in the game.
One simple mechanic that is a nice addition and is available to everyone as of the release of this DLC is the ability to mark weapons as Favorites in your inventory. Favorites get sorted above everything else when you sort your inventory, allowing you to quickly spot favorites or quickly scan through new, not-yet Favorited items to determine whether you want to keep new pickups or break them down for materials. One advantage to having something marked as a Favorite is that you can't accidentally break it down for materials. If you decide to get rid of something, you have to make sure it's not equipped and not a Favorite before you can do so.
Another nice tweak that came with this release is that the Company Contracts now show up on the Map. This makes it really easy to determine at a glance where you need to be to earn some rep with a given Faction. The emblem on the map will also indicate how much time is remaining (percentage-wise) if it's an event that's ongoing, so you can prioritize your efforts and either jump in where you're needed at the moment or avoid showing up at the party more than fashionably late.
