Our Bi-Annual Pre-Wipe Conversation

(Intro)

Well, wipe is soon approaching. And with it, our inevitable conversation about what to expect and some reminders for those who will be participating in the festivities. It feels like we do this twice a year. Maybe because wipes have slowed down to a bi-yearly thing, or maybe just because when I look back at the last video in this vein, it was a little over three months ago. Which is on par with previous years. We get a six-to-eight-month long wipe cycle, and then a shorter three-to-four-month wipe before the winter reset. Wish it was an even half and half, but I’ll take what I can get at this point. But patch 0.16 does have some interesting stuff on the horizon. We talked about it when we went over the October TarkovTV livestream, but some of the highlights are new guns and gear of course, an update to Customs, more stuff to do on Woods, new QOL mechanics for healing and more. And of course, the resetting of everyone’s progress back to zero so we all start over once more. It’s a good time; people are able to run around and have those scrappy fights that feel more desperate than anything else. However, people sometimes forget the tried-and-true mentality everyone should go into a wipe with. Which is simply, enjoy the wipe at your own pace. Whether it’s fast or slow; if you want to blitz through the game and be in the same position you were days before the game reset, go for it. If not, take your time. There’s nothing wrong with that too.

(New new new)

Patch 0.16 is looking to be a fairly sizable change for the game, but nothing that is going to alter the foundation of what we already know. Customs getting the new factory treatment is still interesting to me. While I personally would’ve loved to see that work and effort go into something like Lighthouse so we can get a better version of that map now, with Customs being such a vital early game map, it makes sense they wanted to provide some extra maneuverability and flair to an already outstanding location. Opening up multiple buildings that were not previously enterable, and smoothing out some of the choke points to keep them being locations everyone will have to cross at some point, but allowing for an extra layer of flow between them. I still don’t think Customs needed these changes, but anything to make a good map better I won’t really complain. Of course, we’ll be getting some new guns and gear like we always do which is great. But perhaps the most interesting addition will be the prestige system for those who go the distance and want to do it all over again without resorting to resetting their account through the BSG website. Now, there is a tangible reason to not only reach the complete end game but to actually consider restarting again in the same wipe cycle. There are going to be unique cosmetic items that are obtainable by prestige-ing and there will be multiple levels to the system. It will launch with only two prestige levels, but by the end there will be a total of ten, which is insane to think about. I can already imagine some players going for marathon levels of grinding to hit max prestige as soon as possible. It’s like Killa farming but so much more involved.

(The early game reminder)

Whenever BSG hits the reset button, it’s one of the most celebrated times for any Tarkov wipe. New patch means new things to learn and discover and with that comes the best part of any wipe cycle. People aren’t running around with the best gear in the game, spotting you from hundreds of meters away because every raid they have a long-range scope on their gun. No, a wipe means we’re back to crappy red dots and iron sights for a solid amount of time. Every attachment, box of good ammunition; these things matter again. You don’t take for granted the fact, you are using a base M4 and happen to find some loose 56A1 rounds in raid and top your magazine with them. Stuff like that in the early game can literally make the difference between winning a gun fight against another player, and losing quest items you might have on you. Every item matters; every ruble matters. If you are new to the game or just not as experienced at the beginning of a wipe cycle, you might struggle a little bit. And honestly, I wish I did more. The struggle and eventual come up story in Tarkov is what makes it so addicting to play early on. You’re strapped for cash and equipment to use, so you resort to your scav and hope you can either find some items you can sell for money, or raw gear you can just transfer over to your PMC. An excellent way to experience this before a wipe is to play in a style of rags to riches. Where you go in as a scav and immediately extract with whatever is on you. You throw it onto your PMC and try to make it work, using every ruble you earn to directly reinvest back into your kit and see how far you can take it. It’s always an incredible way to play the game, especially if you are bored or want to try something different. But what makes early wipe so fun is that’s the loop for a little while as everyone levels up and gets their feet wet.

So, if when the wipe comes around, if you find yourself struggling in the early game, please don’t sweat it. There are plenty of other players who are in the same camp you are. Hell, I had a 0% survival rating three days into the last wipe because I kept dying on Ground Zero. It sucked, I felt like I sucked at the game, but I just bit down and persevered and managed to turn it around. Also, survival rating literally doesn’t matter in this game; it resets every wipe and anyone who makes fun of yours is a dumb doo doo head. But seriously, don’t be discouraged if you are having a rough time. Tarkov is meant to be hard; it’s meant to challenge you and have you constantly rethinking how you approach certain maps or quests. You will succeed if you keep trying, but if you’re really getting upset, it’s okay to take a break and come back to it. Especially considering this is the New Year’s wipe; it’s going to be at least six months if not longer. You have plenty of time.

(Outro)

I have made a video in this style for the past two or three wipes. I find it important to remind everyone that at the end of the day, despite how excited we are to engage with a brand-new wipe, and how we want to finish all the content on offer, this is still Tarkov; take it at a pace you enjoy. Do I personally wish there wasn’t this hyper-fixation of players hitting level forty-two and getting max traders within the first seventy-two hours of a wipe being released? Yeah, sure. But, for people who do this for a living, some of them just want to make that their goal. That’s what they enjoy. And while I personally won’t ever understand why, it’s maybe not my place to understand in the first place. Which is why my advice for everyone else is to simply play and enjoy Tarkov as you can. If you can sink tons of hours into it early on, then do it. If you can’t and can only spare an hour or two a day, that’s fine as well. As long as you are enjoying yourself and are happy; that’s what truly matters. Your kill-death ratio doesn’t matter, your survival rating doesn’t matter, how many rubles you have does not matter. The only thing that you should care about and this is something Nikita has said many times, is having experiences in Tarkov that are so cool and awesome that you want to share them with your friends. That’s it. Thank you very much for taking the time out of your day to watch this video. Let me know down in the comment section below if you’re excited about the wipe, whether you plan on playing in PvP or PvE and be sure to subscribe for more videos about the reality check we all need sometimes when it comes to competitive games. I hope to see you in future ones.