Skip to main content

šŸ“Œ Feedback ā€“ Full Wipes Are Discouraging, Soft Wipes Would Be Enough

Feedback

One of the most discouraging aspects for many players right now is investing a large amount of time into progression, knowing it can all be erased with a full wipe.

Vendor progression, city development, research, and long-term PvE goals require significant time and effort. Losing everything after dozens (or hundreds) of hours feels less like a reset and more like punishment, which directly hurts motivation and long-term retention.

For many players, this leads to a simple conclusion:

Why invest time at all, if all progress will be lost anyway?

šŸ”„ A Soft Wipe Would Already Be Enough

A soft wipe would solve most of the problems without killing motivation:

  • Reset character stash

  • Reset character inventory & equipped gear

  • Reset character level / XP

While keeping:

  • Vendors

  • Cities / Lodge / Research

  • Campaign progress

  • Utility unlocks

This would:

  • Refresh the economy

  • Reset power gaps

  • Encourage fresh seasonal starts
    šŸ‘‰ Without erasing long-term PvE investment

āš ļø If Full Wipes Are Keptā€¦

If full wipes are absolutely necessary, then the rewards must justify the loss.

That means:

  • Much stronger and more meaningful seasonal rewards

  • Permanent unlocks that clearly respect the time invested

  • Cosmetics or account-wide bonuses that feel proportional to the grind

Right now, the time investment is heavy, but the long-term payoff is not.
This imbalance is what causes burnout and makes players quit instead of returning for the next season.

šŸŽÆ Why This Matters

  • PvE players are not motivated by constant resets

  • Repeating the exact same progression every season quickly becomes exhausting

  • A soft wipe still preserves balance without destroying player attachment

A system that respects time investment will always retain more players than one that repeatedly deletes it.

If you want, I can:

  • Make this shorter and more direct

  • Adapt it to sound more technical / dev-focused

  • Merge it with the previous vendors & cities feedback into one strong post

Posted by gabrielmelim Ā·
4 comments

Log in to comment and vote

Comments4

  • ta ra

    ā€¢

    Feb 3

    Yes yes big up!

  • yessirbob

    ā€¢

    Jan 27

    Arc Raiders figured out the extraction reset systemā€¦

  • paladin_geoffrey

    ā€¢

    Jan 27

    I agree. I donā€™t understand why they just donā€™t take the Diablo route, and have a server that is eternal, for permanent characters; but then have seasonal servers with incentives.

  • gabrielmelim

    ā€¢

    Jan 27

    šŸ“Œ Feedback ā€“ Full Wipes Without Lasting Rewards Are Demotivating

    Games that rely only on constant resets and full wipes tend to become discouraging over time.
    Without a meaningful lifetime reward, the experience slowly turns frustrating and repetitive.

    Players need something permanent that:

    • respects their time investment,

    • motivates long-term effort,

    • and encourages them to return every season.

    ā­ The Importance of Lifetime Progression

    A good example would be lifetime vendor progression.

    Imagine a system where:

    • Vendors do not fully reset

    • Each season, you can permanently increase vendor levels by +1 or +2

    • Even if progression is slow, it still feels worth it

    This works because players know:

    ā€œEven if the season ends, my effort mattered.ā€

    When the next season starts, vendors are already stronger, giving players a sense of continuity and reward for playing the previous season.

    šŸŽÆ Why This Motivates Players

    • Players are more willing to invest time

    • Grinding feels meaningful instead of disposable

    • Each season adds value instead of deleting it

    • Long-term engagement naturally increases

    People will want to play every season, not because they are forced to restart, but because they are building something over time.

    šŸ§  Arc Raiders Is Proof This Works

    Arc Raiders is a living example of this philosophy.

    Even with full wipes:

    • Players start new seasons with permanent advantages

    • Things like:

      • speed bonuses

      • stat improvements

      • account-level progression

    These systems reward previous effort and make players excited to return, instead of feeling punished for playing last season.

    āš ļø Without This, Burnout Is Inevitable

    If everything resets with no lasting benefit:

    • Progress feels pointless

    • Repeating the same grind becomes exhausting

    • Motivation drops season after season

    In that scenario, itā€™s only a matter of time before players lose interest and move on.

    āœ… Final Thought

    Full wipes can exist ā€” but only if they are paired with meaningful, permanent rewards.

    A system that combines:

    • seasonal resets

    • with lifetime progression

    will always feel more rewarding, engaging, and sustainable than one that simply deletes player effort.