Wasn’t the Arc previously toned down already? I feel like I read that somewhere digging through old posts to find other answers. I can’t recall for certain, but anyway it’s possible this is how the Devs intended the game to be in the end.
I’ll agree it is frustrating to have points sniped, and even more so from high Arc users. But it appears that’s how the game functions now, so if you can’t beat them join them. Anyone with determination can attain one and power level it to 80. If a player doesn’t know how, they can simply ask and someone is bound to explain how to process works.
It is certainly possible for anyone to obtain an Arc, and sniping is going to exist as it always has regardless of how or even whether the Arc's bonus is a factor. However, being available to anyone and everyone shouldn't (and usually doesn't) stand in the way of rebalancing. It's still merely an opinion, but I think the Arc's done more harm to the game overall than good, as it's had an almost irreversible effect on etiquette when it comes to GB donations (especially high level GBs) and the mentality it's given some people is downright sickening to me.
I personally strive to use my Arc bonus to its fullest potential whenever I take a spot on a GB, and I avoid sniping because I know how it feels to be sniped on a GB I've been donating to for days or potentially even weeks, by someone who not only underpaid relative to their Arc bonus but ended up walking away with more FP than I did at the same time.
@Salsuero
You're still going to have your Arc even if it gets nerfed, and it's still going to provide an effect that you can only have by owning one. I could argue that it takes months to build up research to reach the advanced units similar to the time necessary to build up a GB, but I personally don't believe it's the same comparison.
The Oracle itself was the extreme example in this instance (relative to all other GBs), and it did indeed get rebalanced. I think you made a poor argument here. It's already been established that employing the fix for the exploit was basically a mistake here on the US servers, but penalizing players for taking advantage of an exploit is, in essence, common practice in games (as it should be) and has nothing to do with the examples I provided in my post. Again, the Oracle was the Rail Gun in this scenario and it was adjusted accordingly, like the Rail Gun was.
Regarding tweaking the GB bonuses you mentioned, it's important to keep in mind that I mentioned most of those GBs myself, to offer comparison to the Arc. None of them have an effect that's even an order of magnitude close to what the Arc is capable of. If the Chateau instead multiplied quest rewards by 5000% at level 80, yes, I would be in favor of rebalancing that. The point I'm stressing here is that, point for point, the Arc's effect is simply much better than other GBs at the same level. What GB at level 80 has more of an impact than the Arc does? In my opinion, a level 40 Arc is already better than most GBs at level 80 or even 100. The effect needs to be toned down to be more on par with other GBs, rather than blowing them out of the water like is currently the case.
P.S. The Kraken is limited uses per day, so no, it's not 'overpowered'.