As long as there are enough islands in pve free (and they could add more for crossplay as well or exchange just some grids/ i am living on a tundra grid that is changed in ptr and i wouldn´t care if they do)) there is no necessity for wipe. In the end xbox players will be pissed if pc players take away hydra all the time because they need to do powerstones all over again (and farm mythos). And PC players will be faster to claim islands because they know exactly how to do. they will be faster in all aspects and this will piss new players more than just a merge.. I also didn´t join right after the first wipe and we found an island to claim . And it was nice to have people there who knew the game and helped. I remember the first days of the game when there was a constent quarrel for ressources because everyone wanted to build. Xbox players will have it easier if they do not have to fight for ressources. There is enough space (the game is designed not only for 1k player in all the grids). And i am quite sure they need to wipe latest for phase 4 again . if they implement a new map design there . If they wipe now and then again some months later this will be the death for the game. To be honest i do not really care about islands and building/tames. It is more that i do not want to do powerstones again. They were really boring and this won´t change for a long time after crossplay. As you said. PVP is something completely different. And there will be more than enough people snipping new players in freeport. But i think seasons in pvp make more sense (so wipe each year or something like that. there could be ranks...There is a lot of potential there. And having all on the same level in the beginning is more relevant). In pve things should be longer lasting. It is nice to see what other people build and did.
Furthermore if xbox players know there were already two wipes and one need to happen again, i do not think they will be willlingly buying the game during EA. We need to be honest, if we had known in December they would wipe so often we wouldn´t have touched the game in this intensity (thousands of hours). A lot of people would have waited until release. But they said back then there will be no wipe. Nowadays we know it cna happen all the time
