ARC Raiders Players Are Refusing to Wipe Because Grinding Blueprints Sucks, and They're Right
Embark Studios wants us to hit the reset button, but the community just looked at the math and decided they would rather keep their loot.
In the world of extraction shooters, the "wipe" is usually a sacred holiday. It is the moment in Tarkov or Rust where the playing field levels out, and everyone goes back to being a desperate scavenger.
But ARC Raiders is trying something different. They introduced the "Expedition Project," a voluntary wipe system that rewards you for deleting your character.
The theory is sound: reset your progress, get exclusive cosmetics and permanent buffs. The reality? A recent Reddit poll with nearly 1,000 comments suggests that the majority of players are refusing to touch that button.
The "No" Vote Is Huge
According to the data from the thread, roughly 60-70% of players are voting "No."
This is a massive chunk of the player base essentially opting out of the game's core prestige mechanic. The OP even admitted they didn't expect so many people to reject it.
Usually, the Reddit crowd is the hardcore "sweat" demographic that lives for the wipe. If even they aren't interested, something is wrong with the incentive structure.
It's the Blueprints, Stupid
The comments make the reason crystal clear. It isn't about losing levels or money. It is about the Blueprints.
One user summed it up perfectly: "The one thing holding me back from future wipes is losing all my blueprints."
In ARC Raiders, unlocking high-tier gear recipes is an RNG nightmare. You spend weeks hunting for that one specific drop just to craft a decent scope. The idea of deleting that progress just to start the slot machine all over again is, frankly, repulsive.
If the wipe let us keep our learned recipes, I guarantee that "Yes" vote would double overnight.
The "Yes" Crowd Is Bored
The 30-40% who are wiping aren't doing it because they love the grind. They are doing it because they are bored.
They have maxed out their benches, they have infinite money, and the game has turned into a mindless PvP arena with no stakes. They are wiping to feel something again.
They are also chasing the permanent upgrades. Confirmed carry-overs like stash space and skill points are the only real carrot on the stick. As one player put it, they are doing it "for the long term benefit," not because they actually want to play the early game again.
Embark Has a Problem
This data highlights a flaw in the loop. If the progression is so tedious that players refuse to prestige, the prestige system fails.
The "Expedition Project" is a cool idea, but until Embark addresses the blueprint RNG or makes the grind less painful, most of us are going to stay right where we are: sitting on our hoard of loot, refusing to budge.