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The Headwinds update for Arc Raiders brought a plague of birds to Buried City, with the map becoming full of feathery friends at particular intervals. Unfortunately, the schedule for the bird-based calamity makes it difficult for players in certain time zones to experience it unless they’re playing during some odd hours.
Bird City, as the event is known, happens during three daily one-hour slots. For players in GMT, they are: 12:00 am - 1:00 am, 8:00 am - 9:00 am, and 4:00 pm - 5:00 pm. Every eight hours, in other words, and as you might be able to tell, less than ideal if you work a regular nine-to-five job. This has left a lot of fans feeling left out of the fun.
"Hey, unemployed people, are you enjoying the new map event?" proclaims one frustrated player on the extraction shooter's subreddit. "Considering Embark is a European company (Swedish), it's incredibly ironic how they make their new gameplay content entirely unplayable for European players," adds a commenter.
The problem stems from rigidity. Bird City and many other Arc Raiders events occur on a set 24-hour loop, and if the timetable doesn't suit you, then you're out of luck. Plenty of the other in-game modifiers happen at greater frequency, making this less of an issue, but as this only has three possible slots, it's irritating to many.
"This is the only legitimate daily complaint. It really doesn't make any sense that events don't cycle, so everyone can eventually hit one," says another commenter on Reddit. "I'm pretty tired of the fixed schedules," a Redditor adds. "Took me forever to get a Bobcat BP because I’m a regular working stiff. I couldn't care less about trinket spawns, but it would be cool to check out without sacrificing work or sleep once or twice."
They're referencing the Bobcat blueprint that was attainable during the Locked Gate event on The Blue Gate. A remedy suggested within the community is some form of dynamic timing; instead of working off a 24-hour loop, make it 23 or 22 hours, increasing the likelihood of finding an hourly slot that suits you.
Whatever the case, Embark may need to look at some kind of solution. People are already weary of how things are currently done, and it's always a shame when players don't get a chance to partake in particular festivities.
