why wait until the wipe?
the game is pretty playable now.
play now and get a good idea of what it will be.
i have no actual knowledge of what will change, but this is my best guess.
new content.
more than likely the biggest reason for it taking so long.
squashed bugs.
more than likely the most frustrating thing to sort out without creating more bugs.
and probably the main reason for the wipe.
to get rid of convoluted code.
in the end i don't see the game changing too much, only more polished.
sure we will all have to start over again, but those of us who play now will have a better idea on how to survive.
i don't think the "flavor" of the game will change much.
so dont wait.
go kill something and reload.
that way when the bored pkers come back, we will have a "better" chance.