Before we'll go to the state of the game, let me answer question that everybody is asking. YES, we'll do global vault and inventories wipe. But, we're going to do "SMART WIPE" meaning we understand that you may spent dozens of hours looting all legendaries and just rare guns, and you do not want to lose them all. So here's what will happen during wipe :
1) You keep all of your stats. Meaning - experience, time played, etc. Basically only one stat that will be reset is PK Rating.
2) Crafting materials will be wiped. We're redoing crafting system, and we're revamping materials and recipes. At same time every player will receive bunch of new and improved "Ultimate dust" materials that can be converted into any of the major materials used in crafting. So basically you won't lose anything here.
3) As part of the patch we'll replace most of the crafting recipes and we'll introduce new recipes. With very few exception of the recipes that haven't been fully tested yet, you will receive all new recipes in game unlocked as part of the "Thank you" from us. This will only be applicable to existing players.
4) Armor. Armor will be deleted. This is very unfortunate decision, but at same time armor items changes so much. YET - check below - you'll be compensated.
5) Ammo. Ammo will be deleted. At same time - see below - you'll be compensated.
6) Rare weapons/armor/ammo compensation. Depending on number of rare guns you have in your GI, you will receive new "SpecOps Bag" that will contain random rare gun, good armor and ammo. So while clearly you won't get 1-to-1 replacement, you will get plenty of items, enough to not feel particularly bad about wipe :)
NOTE: Clearly not all guns are equal :). so let say you have 50 Elite MS4 and other player have 50 merc LC9's. you will get more stuff than him. So type and tier of the gun will be taken into account.
6) Legendary weapons. All existing weapons will be gone. Yet - recognizing that those are most important things for you, we'll provide following compensation - we'll evaluate your GI, and we'll calculate how many "lives" left on your legendaries. We'll use this number to give you number of Legendary Crates - so you will basically use them to get brand new shiny legendary guns to replace your stash. Yet - clearly if you'll have for example 5 of 1 lives guns, you will only receive one crate instead, meaning you'll get one brand new gun and not 5 :).
NOTE: New Legendary crate doesn't include things like legendary handguns and shotguns - those will be available as ultra rare spawns in a world. So you're guaranteed to get best legendary guns - assault rifles, smg, snipers, rocket launchers and light machine guns.
7) Mundane items like common guns, food, etc will be deleted from GI. Crafted items like shields as well as unopened cosmetic boxes and Bags will also be deleted. so please use them before wipe.
8) Cosmetic items will not be deleted - so you'll keep everything you have. New cosmetic items will be introduced at patch.