Arc Raiders is adding something unusual for an extraction shooter:
a seasonal, fully optional account wipe — wrapped into the world as a lore-friendly system called The Expedition Project.
If you choose to leave Speranza on an Expedition, your current Raider retires, and a new one takes their place. But unlike hard wipes in games like Escape from Tarkov, this one rewards you and respects your time investment.
Let’s break down exactly how it works, what resets, what you keep, and whether it’s actually worth doing.
🧭 What Is the Expedition Project?
Think of the Expedition as a voluntary fresh start with perks.
Instead of forcing wipes on the entire player base, Embark Studios made progression resets optional. Their goal:
Respect players who haven’t finished everything yet,
while still giving completionists a new long-term challenge.
When an Expedition begins, you can choose between:
✔️ Stay in Speranza
Keep playing, looting, grinding, upgrading — no wipe for you.
✔️ Depart on the Expedition
Your Raider “leaves” the Rust Belt permanently.
You start again with a new character, but with buffs and advantages.
🗓️ Expedition Timeline (Season 1 Example)
- October 30 – December 16
Caravan Construction & Supply phases open.
Build up your caravan for stronger rewards. - December 17–22
Expedition Window: Players can sign up. - December 22
All signed-up Raiders depart together.
This cycle will repeat in future seasons.
⚔️ Why Would You Reset Your Progress?
Two reasons:
1️⃣ Temporary Buffs
If you choose to leave, you’ll enjoy buffs during your next three Expeditions:
- 10% repair discount
- 5% XP boost
- 6% more materials from Scrappy
These buffs grow stronger as future Expeditions roll out.
2️⃣ Permanent Unlocks (after departure)
When your Raider departs, all items in your stash contribute to an account value score.
This determines how many bonus skill points your new Raider starts with.
⭐ Up to 5 extra skill points per Expedition
“1 million coins worth of value = 1 skill point”
This means:
Over multiple Expeditions, you can eventually fully unlock your entire skill tree, something impossible without the wipe system.
Your new Raider also gets:
- Patchwork Raider outfit
- Scrappy Janitor Cap
- Expedition Indicator Icon
- +12 Stash Space
- Other future Expedition rewards as the system expands
🔨 What Gets Reset When You Depart?
A full Expedition reset clears:
- Your Raider level
- Your skill tree (replaced with new bonus points)
- Your stash & currency (converted to account value)
- Your blueprints ❗
- Workshop progression
- Crafting unlocks
⚠️ Yes, blueprints reset — and that stings.
There are currently 74 weapon and gear blueprints.
Even losing half of them (or more) is the biggest psychological barrier to joining an Expedition.
As someone who collects blueprints obsessively, this is the part that made me nervous too — imagining unlocking 30–40 of them and then saying goodbye.
🎒 What Doesn’t Reset?
These remain permanent:
- Skill points earned from previous Expeditions
- Stash space upgrades
- Cosmetics
- Account-level buffs
- Caravan progress (if you skip the current Expedition)
What You Need Before Departing
Nothing physical is required — but if you want to maximize your rewards:
✔️ Fill your stash with high-value items
More value = more skill points. But remember up till 5 skillpoints.
🧪 My EEAT Perspective: What It Feels Like in Practice
After diving into the system and reading the developer notes, here’s the real takeaway:
👍 The Good
- Optional wipe = amazing respect for player time
- You grow your account long-term instead of losing everything
- Buffs feel meaningful
- Restarting is faster because you already know the maps, loot spots, and quests GameNautica’s Arc Raiders Quest Hub speeds this up even more!
👎 The Pain
- Losing blueprints is the hardest part and can take a long time to get is all back
- Losing all gear and player level.
🎯 Overall
If you’re done with your stash, or if you’re a completionist chasing a maxed account, the Expedition is worth doing.
If you’re still unlocking blueprints and enjoying your current build, waiting longer is smarter.
🧭 Should YOU Take the Expedition?
Here’s a quick checklist:
✔️ Take the Expedition if…
- You’ve unlocked everything and cannot grow anymore.
- You love long-term account progression
- You want your next Raider to start stronger
- You enjoy planned seasonal resets
❌ Skip it this time if…
- You’re still early-game
- You’re attached to your blueprints
- Hard time letting go
Also check these guides:
🏁 Final Thoughts
Arc Raiders’ Expedition system is one of the most player-friendly takes on seasonal resets in the extraction genre. It rewards preparation, respects time investment, and gives grinders a long-term mastery loop.
And because it’s optional, you can engage only when you’re genuinely ready.
When you do pull the trigger, GameNautica will have every quest, route, and blueprint guide ready to help you blast through your next Raider faster than your first.
