Arc Raiders won’t force you to give up all of your progression via mandatory wipes, at least for now

Get ready to work on some projects

Image credit: Embark Studios

Right, it’s that time again. Get ready to slide back down the ladder of powerfulness, because mandatory wipeage is required to stick everyone back on the same trajectory ahead of [insert new thing here]. No, say the developers of shooter Arc Raiders. They will not bow before the mandatory wipe gods at this time, instead trying out a voluntary wipe system dubbed Projects.

Yep, rather than leaning on the same unavoidable resets which plenty of extraction shooters and survival games employ to ensure newbies aren’t always guaranteed to run into folks with more levels someone playing a platformer in a regularly-stopping elevator to the sun, Embark Studios plan to do their own thing.

“Just to make it clear, we absolutely see the benefits a global wipe provides. Veteran players can experience the game fresh, the economy is reset to the baseline, and all players have about the same level of capabilities, Arc Raiders design director Virgil Watkins wrote in a blog post about wipes of the non-moist tissue variety.

“However, one thing a mandatory wipe does not do is respect the investment of those players who do not have as much time to play overall. So, as we have done with several other mechanics, before mimicking other established mechanics, we’d like to try our own method.”

That method revolves around Projects, with the first one being dubbed the Expedition Project and unlocking upon hitting level 20. Once you complete it, you’ll be given the option of a voluntary reset. The project’ll run on a rotation lasting roughly eight weeks, and if you don’t manage to complete it within that time, your progress towards doing so will roll over into the next eight week window. Embark say there’s a “somewhat large time investment” involved to complete the project, so this move aims to ensure folks who don’t have time to play as often aren’t facing constant resets.

The likes of levels, skills, items/inventory, workshop, and crafting capabilities will be wiped when you reset, while you’ll keep the likes of cosmetics, awards, achievements, and rankings, with Embark making clear anything paid for with real money lands in the latter category. As such, the rewards for taking the rest bullet will be stuff like “permanent account unlocks”, unique cosmetics to show off, and buffs to your account for the next Expedition Project window. The studio also teased the idea of other sorts of projects with different rewards being introduced down the line.

Whether this’ll prove an ideal or fun approach remains to be seen, and Embark look to be hedging their bets. “It’s not a silver bullet, and won’t achieve the clean break that a mandatory global reset does, but it does aim to be more equitable to all players,” Watkins wrote. “Wherever possible, we want to value your time spent in the game as much as you do. Of course, this is a complex topic, so we’ll be keeping an eye on the discussion around this message and [will] follow up as necessary.”

Personally, I hope it results in folks chanting ‘wipe, wipe, wipe’ over voice chat whenever foe deemed too powerful approaches, inflicting a form of peer pressure that happens to vaguely resemble someone trying to get over the final hurdle of toilet training a toddler.