With the Verse 3 update on the horizon, Pax Dei is preparing for a wide-ranging wipe. Ashes of Creation will most likely dance the same line in a more or less close future. Both are trying to balance systemic changes against time and emotional investment of their testers. In a genre built on long-term progression and world persistency, wipes can make players think twice about coming back (even if they’re legitimate).
(From Pax Dei’s Discord)
For Pax Dei, the wipe is comprehensive. Combat skills, gear, clans and land plots will be erased. The only things players get to carry forward are Gold and Grace (the premium currency), along with a refund of base materials from dismantled items. It’s a common MMO pain point: progress lost but with the promise of a more stable future.
Via Mainframe:
]UPDATE: all crafting skills level will remain and we won’t reset them for your characters. This does not mean that crafting is not undergoing heavy changes though.
Pax vobiscum, The Mainframe Team
Why Wipe Is Inevitable?
Timed with Verse 3, this wipe will revamp combat systems, overhaul crafting progression, reshape geography (featuring more Heartlands per province). Mainframe Industries states that such revisions can’t coexist with past data.
It’s a familiar song to anyone who’ve already playtested an MMO. Unfortunately, wipes don’t just clear data, they disrupt economies and the sense of permanence of the world. In Pax Dei’s case, clans will be disbanded. Buildings wiped. Nevertheless, The studio believes this will be the last major wipe before the launch one.
Is this the last wipe before release? The wipe accompanying Verse 3 should indeed be the last wipe before the “release” wipe. Note that this may change depending on the game’s development.
Pax vobiscum, The Mainframe Team
Grace and Goodwill
To soften the blow, Mainframe is rolling out a compensation system. Players won’t get their crafted items back, but many will be converted into raw materials, which can be reused in the new system. Not everything will translate though. Some obsolete components will be lost, but the aim is to avoid a total void. Also, all players will receive 100 Grace, which is a nice gesture.
Players will keep their Gold and Grace. In practical terms, that means veteran players won’t be starting from zero when Verse 3 drops (especially convenient in an MMO where economy and logistics are as indispensable as combat, if not more). It’s, in my opinion, a good kind of middle ground. Enough continuity that long-time players don’t feel shortchanged, but with just enough of a reset to free up abandoned plots and breathe life back into the world. Everyone, whether they’re veterans or newcomers, will be looking for fresh ground to (re)build new structures.
Wipes as Equalizers
Which leads me to say that wipes have their upsides too. Done well, they offer the chance to start over. Everyone, whether they’ve been around since the first alpha or they’re just now logging in, begins on level ground. Or at least, developers try to get intelligently close to that, as Pax Dei is doing. It’s an opportunity that few genres can replicate. In some cases, wipes are even used for this purpose alone!
Fresh Starts and Seasons
From ArcheAge’s countless fresh starts to newcomer Warborne Above Ashes’ seasonal system, we’ve seen many times how “wipes” can be hijacked. In these cases, used for the sole purpose of instilling that sense of renewal in the community, without any technical changes. For Warborne, it’s even an integral part of the MMO’s design (in the manner of Foxhole’s temporary campaigns).
Personally (granted, this is entirely subjective) I have a hard time getting behind resets that aren’t tied to clear, technical necessity. When it’s just a seasonal gimmick, or a reset-for-reset’s-sake under the guise of community refreshment, I can’t help but feel that something essential to the MMO identity is being diluted. After all, these a genre built on persistence.
The New World: Aeternum proposal
That’s why I find New World: Aeternum’s recent approach quite interesting. For those who missed it, the MMORPG now runs seasonal servers alongside its legacy and fresh start ones. The first round featured full PvP servers where your character could then (once the season over) be transferred to a legacy server. Now, with the upcoming second iteration, Amazon Games is shifting gears: these new – this time hardcore – servers will be fully self-contained. Characters won’t survive past the season’s end, and the experience will be shorter, faster, and completely detached from the normal progression curve. Yet, achievements made there feeds back into your main, persistent character, unlocking rewards that matter (without being indispensable).
To me, that’s clever design. Despite my earlier reservations, it’s hard to deny the draw of a fresh start in today’s MMO climate. But this model hits a smart balance. It makes seasonal content optional, yet meaningful. It gives players that dopamine hit of a restart, without eroding the integrity of long-term investment. Nothing is mandatory, and nothing undermines the permanence that defines the MMO genre at its core. Frankly, there’s not much I would change about this approach.
Wipes, Fresh Starts, Seasons…
In the end, there are technical wipes, and then there are commercial fresh starts. You could tell me: Emilien, this is nothing new under the sun. And indeed, developers have been threading that needle for a while, carefully choosing the right vocabulary depending on what kind of reset they’re rolling out.
But what strikes me now is how common it’s all become. These aren’t isolated blips anymore. They’re turning into a structural part of the genre. Resets, in one form or another, are being baked into the MMO formula. And while that’s not inherently a bad thing, I think it’s time we start asking for a bit more depth.
If you’re going to wipe the board, there needs to be a reason. A real one. Whether it’s a technical overhaul that truly demands it, or a temporary experience that loops back into the persistent world (either is fine). But a justification should be part of the pitch. Pax Dei earns its wipe. Not all MMORPGs do.
