I’ve gone back and forth on the Arc Raiders Expedition mechanic. At first, I was pretty skeptical, especially as Embark didn’t reveal the rewards in full, but once it did, I actually came around the idea, understanding the advantage, however minor, that bonus skill points would provide to those retiring their Raiders without breaking the game.

But honestly, all I ever really wanted was a good skin. A nice unique cosmetic was always my primary motivation for doing the Expedition project, not just because of the bragging rights, but because I like cosmetic options in games. Maybe it’s the sicko Destiny 2 player in me talking, but character fashion is properly important.

With the Expedition rewards announcement that we were getting the “Patchwork skin”, but with no visual reveal, a lot of players were worried that Embark was referring to a pretty unappealing skin from the server slam. But now the Expedition window has actually opened up and we can see a thumbnail of the outfit, things are looking good.

As TheWreckedTitan points out on Reddit, the Expedition skin is most likely the tutorial skin we all wore at the start of the game, a cool little cosmetic that makes you look like you’re ready to ride a sandworm across Arrakis. The more I look at the image below, the more I’m convinced that’s actually the skin we’re getting.

Patchwork outfit is in fact the tutorial outfit from r/ArcRaiders

The best part is that the tutorial skin is one of the most-requested outfits in the game, and players have been asking Embark to unlock it since Arc Raiders first launched. Well, now there’s a way to get it, albeit only if you’re willing to grind and prep your Expedition.

Did Embark Studios change the skin to this after seeing how badly people were reacting to it potentially being that server slam one? We’ll never know. Either way, at least there’s a proper cosmetic reward for the Expedition now. I’d been debating whether to actually depart (my Expedition is all prepped), especially with the blueprint drop rate having absolutely exploded with the Cold Snap update, but this skin has me convinced to sacrifice it all.

On the plus side, if this isn’t a bug, it’s at least going to be a lot easier to reacquire all the blueprints when we create our new Raiders next season.