I usually avoid PvP games and I didn't like ARC Raiders at first, but it has grown on me.

Unless you use the starter kit, you'll always have at least one safe pocket slot, allowing you to bring back at least one item (or a stack) even if you get knocked out. Moreover, so often my stash is full even after multiple expansions, so the game encourages using those resources to craft weapons, which again makes it less of a problem if you get knocked out.

Later quests are not easily completed, but you can focus on completing the daily tasks for battle pass progression. There will be simple tasks like having to open containers or doing damage to the ARC robots, so you can just go out with the stater kit and do those, not worrying about losing your loot. With that mentality, at least sometimes (though often in my case playing solo), you'll extract and get a lot of loot on top of your XP and tasks progression.