What is a wipe in Escape from Tarkov?

Battlestate Games recently tweeted there will be wipe in the upcoming 0.12.11 patch. Viewing the responses shows that players are incredibly excited for it, but it's unclear what a wipe actually is and what it entails for the game.

What is a wipe in Escape from Tarkov?

What is a wipe?

To put it simply, progression gets wiped for everyone.

This means that for every player:

• PMC level is reset to 1
• Stash is reset to its initial state (more on this below)
• All trader levels are reset to 1
• All quest progression is reset
• Hideout is reset to its initial state

Players are given the initial stash items they were given when they initially started playing the game. All players that purchased an enhanced version of the game (Edge of Darkness, etc.) will get the items included in those as well. (Gamma container, etc.) Also, any promotional gifts that players have received (such as the Christmas gift) can be reclaimed again granted that they claimed the gift during its initial introduction. Battlestate has revoked gifts in the past, so some of theses gifts are not guaranteed to stick around.

Why do the developers of the game do this?

Escape from Tarkov is very much still a game in beta. Sometimes when the developers introduce wide-reaching changes, to truly examine the impact these changes have on the game, a complete reset of the game and its players is needed. This is a theme the game has had since its introduction.

Why does everyone get so exited for it?

This is a bit opinion based, so I will do my best to answer without any bias:

There can be multiple reasons why people are excited for wipes. Here are the main ones:

• Battlestate Games usually introduces a bunch of new content with wipes. For example, this upcoming wipe will come with an expansion to one of the game's maps: Factory.
• Most players enjoy the "clean slate" feel that a wipe brings. When all players have had their progress wiped, the things you encounter in a raid can be vastly different than what you'd experience in a raid late within a wipe cycle. This can include "non-meta" weapons, sub-par ammo, etc.
• The beginning of a wipe is by far the most active the game can get as far as player count goes.

As someone pointed out in the comments, there are players that do not like wipes. The idea of game progression being wiped is not appealing to everyone.

Taken directly from GamerJournalist, but comfirmed from my own personal experience:

Escape From Tarkov performs wipes every so often, which sometimes coincide with various updates to the game. A wipe in Escape From Tarkov is a complete reset of everything on your character. Imagine as if you just bought the game and have very little rubles to work with—that’s the state everyone gets reset to in a wipe.

To elaborate on this, all quest progression and stats are reset as well. It's literally like starting a fresh account in the game for not only you, but every other person who plays the game.

When Battlestate adds new maps, new tasks, new features, or other major updates, they’ll usually perform a wipe. There are many reasons for this, but simply, it’s to put everyone on the same playing field. Also, new items make their way into the game all the time, some of which would never get any usage. Take a lower-level armor, for instance. If you continue to keep your levels, nobody would ever use the new lower-tier stuff since everyone would have the best stuff.

I consistently come back to EFT when wipes happen. It's one of the few times in the game where all players will be on the same level, give or take the benefits (additional inventory space and some extra items) from premium accounts and holiday gifts. Personally, I've found wipes of the game to be the most nerve-racking and exciting, but some would disagree. It allows me to get back into the game when I've had a hectic couple of months IRL and feel as if I'm too behind to catch up to the regular playerbase.