If you’ve been grinding away in Arc Raiders lately, staring at your screen and wondering why your Merit counter isn't budging, you are definitely not alone. The community hubs have been full of players asking the exact same question: "Are Merit rewards bugged?"The short answer is no, they aren’t universally broken. However, a mix of strict hidden gameplay rules, confusing progression locks, and genuine user interface glitches make it look like your hard-earned progress has vanished into thin air. This is especially true right now during major live events, like the Forgotten Relics Event running through July 27, 2026.If you’re tired of finishing a grueling match only to see zero rewards, here is a breakdown of what’s actually going on, why you might be locked out, and how to fix it.Why You Aren’t Earning Merits (The Hidden Rules)Before assuming your game is broken, you need to rule out a few strict progression mechanics that Embark Studios has baked into Arc Raiders. If you fall into any of these categories, the game is intentionally holding back your Merits.
- The 6-Match Onboarding Lock: If you are a brand-new player or you just wiped your character for a fresh start, you will not earn a single Merit for your first 6 introductory matches. The system completely locks out Merit progression until you officially clear these placement rounds and unlock the Buried City map.
- You Have to Extract Physical Relics: Standard Merits are automatically converted from passive XP at a rate of 100 XP to 1 Merit. But physical relics—the ones you loot from drawers, lockers, and crates—behave differently. You must successfully extract with them. If you get taken out before reaching extraction, any Merits tied to those physical items are gone for good.
- PvP Match Restrictions: Keep an eye on your current event parameters. Depending on the active live event rotation, certain modes explicitly disable Merit gains from PvP encounters. If you want to secure your event progress, focus heavily on destroying or assisting against ARC units instead of hunting other Raiders.
- Event Merit Caps: Check the live event tab in the top-left corner of your screen. Certain progression tracks have a hard cap on how many Merits you can earn per phase. Once you hit that limit, your progression pauses until the next phase opens up.
Current Known Bugs & UI GlitchesIf you’ve checked all the boxes above—you’re past your first 6 matches, you're successfully extracting, and you haven't hit the cap—then you are likely dealing with an actual UI glitch.Here are the most common bugs right now and how to deal with them:End-of-Round Display GlitchSometimes, the end-of-match screen will show you a big, fat 0 for your Merits, or the reward UI will just fail to load entirely.
- The Fix: Don't panic; the game usually tracks them in the background anyway. Just restart your game client and check your main menu inventory or event tab directly. The numbers almost always update after a fresh boot.
The "First Run" Counter BugLaunching your very first match after a new game patch or a daily reset can occasionally cause the reward counter to completely freeze up and register nothing.
- The Fix: Go back out there and play a second consecutive round. Community tracking shows that the system usually "wakes up" and calculates everything properly on match number two.
Skill Point & Milestone LagWhen you hit a major milestone tier that is supposed to unlock permanent character additions—like skill points or cosmetic tokens—they might fail to drop into your inventory immediately.
- The Fix: Try rebooting the game or matchmaking into a new lobby to force a server refresh. If that doesn't work, give it some time. Embark’s server backend typically catches up and processes missing milestone assets within 24 to 48 hours.
Still Stuck? How to Report ItIf you’ve completed your placement matches, survived your extractions, restarted your game, and your currency pools are still completely frozen, your account might be dealing with an isolated database error.Your best bet is to grab your game logs and report the issue directly to the Embark Studios Support Portal or drop a ticket in the official Arc Raiders Discord channel so the developers can take a look at your account manually.
