Tarkov's Two Wipe Cycle is Unfortunate

As of the writing for this video, we are at just under 4 months (or 117 days I think), since the last time Tarkov has wiped. This isn’t a new story for the game. In fact, for a while now, it has been this way. Wipe cycles have become longer and longer with each major cycle; patches have become scarce as well; more so those patches that have a lot of incoming updates and content. We still get smaller patches that change things around us, but what we are looking for, are those patches that usually include a wipe. And those have become kind of a rare animal out in the world of Tarkov. With the direction of Tarkov changing over the years for a variety of reasons, so too have the days of wiping the game and starting fresh on a new patch every few months. The ambitions of what BSG want to do have gotten bigger, and more grandiose. But with that, comes more work; the time it takes to have those visions come to life and be injected into the game take longer. Even now, we are still waiting on Lightkeeper; our first in-game trader. Real world issues aside, there is a very strong argument to be made that they have hit a snag with that feature and getting him to function the way they want in the game. Alongside that, with Streets looming on the horizon for the end of year, which, let’s be real with ourselves for a moment, is most likely not going to happen anymore, which is fine but again, just a reality check. It makes sense that things have slowed down; a lot. And I think we can actually pinpoint the moment were things really changed for Tarkov, and we began the times of what I am referring to as the Two wipe cycle.

Patch .12; the Reserve Patch (Oct. 27, 2019). We got the hideout as well, but I think this patch is where Tarkov really changed. This map and all the additions it encompassed, combined with Twitch drops at the start of 2020, set the foundation for Tarkov’s meteoric rise to fame. The game exploded in popularity, which is insane to think that a new map and free drops was enough to feed the player base for a long time. Nowadays, most people know of the game, if not actually play it. Before this, the game was relatively small and niche. It was seen as this obtuse and overly complicated first-person shooter that was really hardcore and the hardest game ever. If you ever heard anyone talk about this game, you likely heard something akin to this kind of a description. Which, to their credit, has some validity to how the game actually functions. But some of it is just bad design in hindsight. Either way, this patch came after a very long cycle with no wipe and minimal content; the previous wipe before reserve was April 09, 2019, the same year. So, it was six months before we saw major content get released. That was the game's first major sign of things to come in the future. They took their time; Reserve was a big map, and very ambitious for what it was trying to do. Again, there was also the hideout which has become a critical part of the game for Tarkov. With so many new things being added, it made sense the wipe before patch .12 was as long as it was. And just as a reference, the length of the wipe before that one? 5 months; November 08, 2019 to April. So, the idea of Tarkov inching closer to a wipe every 6 months isn’t exactly new. The writing has been kind of on the walls for years now. But what does a 6-month wipe feel like for someone who has been playing for years?

6 months is a long time to play a game with basically no new content or impactful changes. This game isn’t a live service; but it is a work in progress. And it sucks when we don’t see progress, sometimes. That’s not to say BSG doesn’t have their head down, hard at work, trying to get us Streets, and advanced hitboxes, and network fixes and busting cheaters. I know they are working hard behind the scenes. I just wish we had some better communication about what’s going with their end of the game. For over a month recently, they were very quiet about the game, even on their socials. Maybe there were some “outside reasons” that were potentially getting in the way of their work, but just recently have they kind of started to ramp back up and be active online.

You might think going from 3 wipes a year, to just 2 might not feel like a big deal, and that it makes sense if their ambitions for what they want to do grows. But in reality, 2 wipe cycles a year can be very grading unfortunately. Again, and this has been said before, but sadly it feels as though the start to a new wipe in Tarkov has turned into a race. Who can get to level 42 first and see all the new cool guns and gadgets before everyone else? BSG has tried to slow us down, but in reality, there isn’t anything they can do to slow people’s progression down enough to make a significant difference. What this has led to, are wipes occurring and then people blow through it as fast as they can (sometimes in 72 hours), and then they have upwards of 6 months to play the game before we get anything new and substantial. And it has been this way for what feels like years. Obviously, this mentality and wanting to blaze through the game is for a small percent of people who play the game. But it’s hard to deny and look at the player base as a whole, see people improve and begin to become more efficient at playing, and say this issue isn’t growing in size. Slowly, overtime, this isn’t becoming a veteran player problem; it’s becoming a game problem.

We also have the arena, that was teased after many different hints and nods from BSG on their socials, making it look like something huge was going to happen in the game. And it ended up just being a trailer for the arena. Which, again, is cool, and we gleaned a lot of good info from just one short trailer. But that level of buildup, to the point that the idea of the in-game map getting nuked out of orbit was a real possibility. And then it was just... a trailer. It felt like that level of trolling and effort from the team could’ve been put to something a little grander, or tangible for us, but I digress. Two wipes a year, if you’ve been playing for at least two wipes, now, you really feel later on. By day 120, people start to leave and look for other ways of entertaining themselves. Me personally, I've been enamored with Elden Ring again and the seamless coop mod; it’s been a blast playing through that game a second time. For a while after my first playthrough I didn’t touch it because the thought of traversing the entire world again to build a new character from scratch was daunting. But now, with more knowledge on what to do and where to go for items, it’s not so bad. But it’s a different story with Tarkov. After questing, there isn’t anything to do besides PvP, and while that can still be an exciting experience, the latter half of this wipe has been absolutely marred by cheaters, and just overall horrendous feeling netcode and de-sync; again, not saying anything new here. But for some reason, it has been really exacerbated this wipe. It just doesn’t feel good to play right now. Even with their Halloween event going on, my desire to actually play and get rolled is very low. It’s just good to know that they still got it in regards to events that actually look interesting and add something that’s different enough to warrant a comeback.

Overall, this wipe has been... tough. At least the second half of it. It's been slow, quiet and we are all just waiting to see what’s in store for the end of the year. Did lightkeeper get kicked back to December? Is Streets next year now? Are any other planned inclusions getting pushed back too? We don’t know, and most likely won’t until we wake up and see that the game needs and update through the client. Everyone always says the current wipe has been the worst one in history, but to be really honest, looking back in hindsight, this one legitimately takes the cake. Enough has gone wrong, additions have been minuscule enough, and things have been quiet overall enough, that this wipe has been, bad. At least in how it has felt as a player. And to think we got another two months before we hit the reset button once again? I’m just glad there are other big games on the horizon that can fill the void, because as much as I love this game, with the way things are right now, it’s going to take a back seat. I still love to talk about it and share thoughts, ideas, and opinions on things, but to sit at my computer and say I want to play Tarkov and have fun.... yeah. Sorry BSG. No hard feelings. A break might be a good thing. Not just for myself, but for anyone who shares the any of the same sentiments as I do. Which if you, please feel free to leave a comment down below on your thoughts with this wipe, and be sure to subscribe for more videos where we get a chance to talk and have a conversation about the things, we all enjoy. I hope to see you in future ones.