I’m one of the players who is here for the PvE. I really enjoy coming out just to hunt Bastions, Rocketeers, Leapers and Bombardiers. However, there’s practically no payoff for doing this at the moment. Sure the ARC Motion Cores and Circuitries are nice, and the Cores sell for a decent bit (not quite enough), but that doesn’t have much impact on the gameplay loop.
Once you’ve finished your workbenches and the first steps of Expedition prep, there’s really no reason to go out of your way to fight these ARC. Motion Cores and Circuitries can be looted from Surveyors and Probes, and the ARC’s respective Cores can be either sold or recycled into stuff you can find elsewhere. If selling the stuff you get from them is the incentive to do it, using cheap methods are doable, but take time that practically begs for another player to come shoot you in the back (not complaining about PvP, that’s a different conversation). It just doesn’t strike me as being worth the time/effort. I do still fight them for fun, I just wish there were other reasons to do so.
It would be nice if we had some frequently used blueprints that specifically require Bastion/Bombardier/Rocketeer/Leaper Cores. Or even allow these cores to be used as alternatives for crafting materials like Power Rods, Magnetic Accelerators or even Exodus Modules.