Tarkov’s July Wipe will be Hardcore and I’m Both Nervous and Excited

(Intro)

Tarkov’s potential penultimate wipe is happening in July, and it will be a “hardcore” wipe. What that means in the context of BSG changing how the game is played, we don’t know. However, because the idea of hardcore EFT isn’t an entirely new concept, we can glean some ideas as to what it might entail. This is huge; I never thought they would not only just flat out tell us a hardcore wipe is coming, but that they would want to experiment with something like that. One on hand, it’s kind of exciting to see where BSGs head might be regarding how players will need to navigate a much harder version of the game we all know. On the other hand, depending on what BSGs version of hardcore looks like, this could either be a fascinating and engaging experience that is now being officially supported, or a half-baked idea that kind of falls flat on its face. And knowing BSG, it’s either one or the other. So, let’s break down what hardcore is for those unaware, and what we might expect from BSGs version of this game concept.

(What is hardcore EFT?)

Most of you are probably aware of some iteration of hardcore, but for anyone who isn’t, hardcore Tarkov is a style of play coined many years ago by creators within the space to make the game even harder and more grueling than it can already be. There are many different variations, but the primary rules that always stick around are you cannot buy anything from the dealers. Barters from the dealers are still fair game, you cannot use insurance, you cannot use your scav, and you cannot put any items inside your container while in raid. Again, there are more rules and iterations of hardcore beyond this, but those are the core fundamentals that most people playing hardcore follow. As someone who has watched many different people play hardcore EFT, it can be insanely hard, especially at the start. You wipe your entire stash and start with nothing; not even a melee weapon. And you need to build the foundation for your entire play through early on. Every item now matters more than ever before. And it really leans into the idea and philosophies that Tarkov once hit many years ago. The scarcity, the strain of having to manage the limited number of items you might have hanging around your stash. To many, it’s how EFT should’ve always been played. Okay, maybe not to this extreme, but some of the core principles of hardcore are still enticing and would be interesting to see in EFT proper. And now, it seems like BSG is finally going to give it a try and force it onto anyone playing the next wipe which again, is in July. I imagine there will be lots of opportunities to provide feedback to BSG because they will most likely want some form of this style of play in the final release version of the game. But that begs the question: we know what the player’s version of hardcore looks like. What about BSGs?

(What will BSGs hardcore look like)

There are so many angles BSG can take their own version of hardcore Tarkov. Many will be accurate to what people are already familiar with, and others that may simply ruin the experience for everyone during this next wipe. But let’s go over some major elements that are affected in hardcore and whether Tarkov might mess around with them. The first and obvious one is the flea market. I would be shocked if the flea market was still usable if they really want us to experience hardcore. Even if the innate value of the flea market is nowhere near its peak years ago, just having the ability to purchase things at any time post level fifteen is something they would most likely want to squash. The next major rule of hardcore is no buying from the vendors. This is a tough call to make. Personally, I think BSG will still allow players to buy things from traders, because that might just be too hard for anyone who is curious about jumping into this wipe. However, I do see some potential major restrictions with buying items. Making it so the amount you can buy is minuscule in comparison to how it is now. And even inflating the prices of items so that everything is crazy expensive. To remove the ability to buy items would I think, be too drastic across the board. Even if I would personally be okay with this, many people wouldn’t and we need to think about the entire player-base, not just those who have experience playing this way. Another mechanic I don’t see going away, is using your scav. It’s too vital to how many players enjoy Tarkov. Removing that would also be disastrous and alienate more people than BSG probably wants to. Again, I could see them making scavs have basically nothing on them, or drastically increasing the time in between each scav, but not removing the ability to play as them. I also highly suspect that there will be heavy restrictions on what can go inside of your secure container and the ability to add items whilst in raid being removed entirely. Which is something many in the community have advocated for years now. Secure containers will never go away, and you’ll be able to fill them before you go into a raid, but once you’re in, nothing will be allowed inside which seems like a fair change. Again, all these changes are speculative on my end. This updated roadmap is very different from the previous one; July is entirely different from the old map, and this hardcore wipe was something nobody was expecting. But apart from these ideas, I am curious where else BSG might try to shake up the formula for hardcore. They have plenty of ideas from the community for years now and I can only imagine that BSG will be taking inspiration from them.

(Is this a sign?)

It’s hard to tell just from the updated roadmap why exactly this decision was made to make the July wipe hardcore, but it also begs an important question: is this supposed to be taken as a sign of things to come with 1.0? I’m unsure if this was done just for the hell of it because we are so deep and so close to the release of this game that BSG just wanted to mix things up, or if there is an expectation being subtly set here by the developers. It can go either way; this wipe could just be for some testing and to see how the player base reacts to dialing up the difficulty of Tarkov to eleven intentionally. The game is brutal enough as is, but to add even tighter restrictions to potentially many elements within the game is definitely going to put some players off. But that was the whole idea originally with EFT; to make a game that is immersive and challenging that goes against the grain of standard FPS expectations. Tarkov was never trying to appease the masses it was trying to create a vision seen by a development team. And I must commend them for being bold enough to shake up the game as much as this wipe might. They must be aware that this wipe might have some of the lowest player numbers because everyone is kind of just waiting around for 1.0, so they feel inclined to spice the game up, for better or worse. Either way, regardless of how impactful this hardcore wipe ends up being, I am just really interested in the details of it; what is actually changing, how much of an impact it will have on the thirty second gameplay loop and if any of these changes will make it into the final release. Which is why I really want to read the full patch notes when this wipe releases. It’s going to be telling where they want this hardcore wipe to go just by the changes they make with it. But until we get the patch notes, only time will tell.

(Outro)

Tarkov’s July wipe is going to radically alter everything we know about the game right now. Well... at least, that’s the hope. If they are going to do a hardcore wipe, they can’t half ass this. It needs to feel impactful. The changes need to be felt across the entire game, and every mechanic that can be affected by something like this. If this is essentially a last hurrah for the Tarkov we’ve been playing and testing, then might as well go out with a bang. A shakeup to really put things into perspective and remind players that this was the vision for the game all along. At some point, the vision got either shifted or simply lost because the game ended up getting more popular than BSG ever anticipated. I am very interested to see how much of an impact this hardcore wipe has, and what people think of it when it does finally wipe. We have one more wipe before 1.0. Even if you are burned out on the game for a myriad of reasons, I would highly suggest everyone give it at least a try when it does drop. Who knows? The hardcore elements might reignite your love for the game, despite all the problems it still has at the end of the day. 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 your thoughts on the idea of a hardcore wipe, whether or not you will be trying it out and be sure to subscribe for more videos about the potentially insane impact changes like these can have to not only Tarkov but any game trying to shake things up. I hope to see you in future ones.