There’s no beating around the bush, the DMZ mode introduced with Season One of MW2 certainly lends a bunch of its mechanics from other looting and extraction games. Naturally, there are big comparisons to genre leader Escape From Tarkov, with tasks to complete, loot to sell, and Keys to store in your stash.
Now, with the latest update to DMZ, it seems the developers are looking to steal yet another of the genre-defining features – the progress wipe. Below, we’ll be taking you through exactly what a DMZ wipe is so that you know what to expect when the inevitable doomsday comes. We’ll also detail when the next DMZ wipe is so you’re fully aware as to when you’ll be losing your gear for good.
DMZ reset Season 2: What gets wiped?
As previously stated, a wipe in looting and extraction games essentially reset everyone to zero. Your secure stash gets gutted, your money gets burned, and all of your mission progress goes up in a puff of smoke.
In DMZ specifically, this means that all of your Keys will disappear, your contraband will be gone, and the most important part, all of the progress you’ve put into missions will also be reset. That means a complete wipe of all Tiers too, so you’ll be starting all over again with Legion, White Lotus, and Black Mous. However, we have got an official confirmation that Insured Slots will not be removed, allowing you to keep your progress in this area, a small win for those who aren’t advocating for the wipe.
For additional clarity on DMZ, Insured Weapon slots will not reset with Season 02.
— Infinity Ward (@InfinityWard) January 30, 2023
More details to come in this week's blog. Stay tuned!
While this makes complete sense for games like Escape From Tarkov, many have been questioning why it needs to be implemented for DMZ. This is because the systems in the game mode are nowhere near as in-depth as Tarkov for example, and you’re essentially just losing mission progress, as there’s no trading, or even cash in your stash.
On the flip side, in Tarkov, you’re actually losing way more as the economy is so deep and millions of cash can be simply flushed down the drain in an instant. So really, if you think about it, players shouldn’t really be grumbling. Moreover, this is the norm for this type of game and puts most on a more level playing field, key to game balancing.
When is the next DMZ wipe?
So when are you expecting to see a complete reset of everything in DMZ? Well, the first DMZ wipe is set for the launch of MW2 Season 2. This is on February 15 2023 and will remove all of your mission progress, Keys, and contraband.
If the developers do decide to go down the continual wipe route, we expect that they either follow the Tarkov trend by executing a wipe once or twice a year, or make it more frequent by wiping progress with every Season.
It makes sense to differentiate themselves by performing a wipe every Season, but in our opinion, we expect that they’ll tune the wipes to reset a little less of your progress. It may turn out that all of your current mission progress is wiped but you stick to the Tier of missions that you’re one, hopefully angering players less.