So wipe is coming, but it wasn’t cause of the community.
So wipe is coming, but it wasn't cause of the community.
Written by Ruin Hatter
So this morning I woke up to the most glorious, if not exactly unsurprising news, Escape
from Tarkov patch 12.11 would in fact be getting a wipe! For those of you maybe not in on the
lingo a wipe is a complete reset of the servers. This also resets player’s PMC back to level one.
Now with a game that is still in need of more story driven and deeper content and that is still in
beta. Giving players the occasional reset makes things feel new and interesting again. Much of
the player base that fell off along the wipe will then come back once the wipe has begun. In
many ways it’s like a mini holiday for Tarkov players. That first week of a new wipe is an exciting
time for players. A chance to start over. The thrill of climbing that hill one more time. Yet patch
12.11 has been a bit of an enigma.
From the get go Nakita Buuyanov, CCO of Battlestate Games and the face of Escape
from Tarkov, had been pretty clear there wouldn’t be a wipe for this patch. Now of course
players were quick to jump on that in the past Nakita had said no wipe only for a wipe to be
announced later on. To split hairs a number of streamers close to Naktia pointed out that in the
past Nakita said ‘he didn’t believe they were going to wipe.’ It was never a set in stone thing and
things can change quite quickly. Often Nakita has made the point that wipe only occurs when
they need to not out of a lack of content or wanting to keep the game fresh for players. Nakita
had been clear that 12.11 wouldn’t be getting a wipe and even went as far as to detail exactly
why not.
Now since the events began what would the state of the game be income patch day
was left hanging in the air. As each day went by and another new event was added speculation
grew and grew. Were they going to wipe? Had Nakita just played a meta mind game on us and
got us to basically wipe ourselves? Battlestate Games with each event rocked the Tarkov
community one shot after the next. By today the community was completely confused. Many
streamers that once said there wouldn’t be a wipe then switch sides saying that there would be.
While others held out that though elaborate the events were just events and nothing more. No
wipe was coming and just enjoy the ride. Now of course today’s announcement from Battlestate
Games twitter put it all to rest that there will be a wipe, but now another voice is rising back up.
One that says the wipe was cause of community out cry and not out of need for the games
development.
When talk of the wipe began and Nikita standing firm on there wouldn’t be a wipe this
time around a voice in the community rose up. One that says that if Battlestate Games changes
its mind and wipes then it bent a knee to the pressure of the community. No okay if that was the
case is that such a bad thing? The argument is that if Battlestate Games begins down the path
of doing things against its own design and operations just to please the fans then it will corrupt
the development of the game. The argument of give them an inch and they will take the whole
mile. Wipe now because the fans demand it and what else will Battlestate Games change to
please that same crowd. As someone who saw a company fall into this trap I understand the
concern. When I played Fight Night Champions for the Xbox 360 EA would make sweeping
changes to the games balance with little testing. Going purely off the word of the community the
changes made nearly destroyed the game for online play. One patch was so bad that it was
removed less than twenty-four hours later.
The fear that if the community takes the wheel in terms of development that it could be
disastrous is a valid one. Yet in this case I would think of it more as an assumption then any
idea that has a shred of validity. In fact the need for a wipe should be even more exciting and
add a greater depth of mystery of what this patch really has in store. A wipe means that the
content we are going to be receiving is likely much more than what we previously believed. As
of now the only thing we know for sure is the fact that we will have an expansion to the Factory
and a new boss. Now the entire event kicked off the introduction of the new Factory boss and
with Killa, a current boss in game, spawning in Factory and Interchange. We are receiving the
Scav karma system which seems pretty cool and far deeper than I’m willing to go into here.
Though I will say that by playing as a Scav you’ll be rewarded for protecting and not shooting
other scaves or bosses.
There’s a lot of pieces to all the lore that has come out through these events in the last
week, but it leads up to something quite big is coming. Something that could change the way we
see and play Escape from Tarkov this coming wipe. Nakita and Battlestate Games have done a
great job of keeping the intentions a mystery. Letting us know only what they want us to know.
But the surprises aren’t done yet. I think that bigger thing coming was also the reason for the
wipe. Now as to what the surprise could be? Unsure. Could be the introduction of Black
Division or a new map that was far closer to being done than Nakita led on. The thing to note is
that with every event came a bit of lore through Battlestate Games twitter. These were items
they made and created lore for. Each piece was planned to put in place just so that on their own
they didn’t seem to be much. Now that seemingly all the cards, save one, have been played it’s
begun to paint a broader picture that Battlestate Games has something bigger planned,
Perhaps the wipe was always planned. Naktia’s interviews and such throwing us off the trail,
keeping us guessing.
Though it would also say that since each step clearly has been planned and thought out.
Then surely the wipe was as well. Meaning that no, Battlestate Games didn’t bend a knee to the
community. In fact, I think Battlestate Games has been playing a long game on us that’s about to
pay off with a surprise that will knock our socks right off. The new patch is believed to go live
June 30th so we will have to wait and see. I know I for one can’t wait and will be live streaming it
that day! Hope to see you!