The top thread on expedition launch day wasn't a loot pull or a patch note. It was a single screenshot, 530 points and climbing, titled "The fuck is this." u/xyouRABitchx posted a warning screen: vault spaces stripped, items removed. The reason, the subreddit decided, was duping.

The comment section didn't hold back. u/Fancy_Strawberry7137 supplied the backstory at 1,044 points: "Your pod exploded in a tunnel accident due to short staffing and long hours." u/Krahnate, at 663, called it poetic: "OP duped and I couldn‘t imagine a better payback than this. Well done Embark." The thread sat at a 0.66 ratio, not because people disagreed but because the flairs piled on. A cheater got caught, and the subreddit had its morning.

While that thread dominated, the expedition departure carried on. The mystery rewards thread hit 464 points as raiders compared pulls. Some walked away with Survivor blueprints within two hours; others got duplicate guns they'd just stashed. u/DickiJ summed it up: "Heading into the new season with duplicate survivor blueprints hah!" The new bonus system - five random blueprints for fourth-expedition raiders - means the RNG hits different. It's the same ritual with a fresh coat of paint.

Underneath the launch energy, a familiar complaint resurfaced. u/CaptOrion99's post (326 points) asked why the Decks tab sat empty for months. The top response, from u/BSGKAPO at 320 points, cut through: "Weirdest response to success ever." u/glassjarwoodtable added, "I feel the current event is basically the season’s deck thing but they swapped to 'event' to enable FOMO." u/PretentiousPanda's comment at 116 points landed harder: "It's clear the best parts of the game are on accident. Most of the post launch content has been mid at best. I still love the game despite their best efforts."

The store update for 1.38.0 didn't help. New colors for the Torpedo set - camo and black - dropped as the expedition launched. Comments ranged from shrugs to frustration. u/frogwithalog posted at 98 points: "Damn only new skin colors for the start of the new exhibition lol. I know I shouldn’t expect much but still." The upvote ratio sat at 0.92, a quiet signal that even the faithful are tired of the drip.

Not everyone was miserable. u/InBoundsOffPiste's thread (144 points) praised the wipe: "Having every arc feel valuable, every container be exciting, and every mod feel like a real upgrade is so refreshing." u/PirateTuny pulled a Vesper blueprint and a mk3 armor mod and called it a win at 201 points. The subreddit knows the rhythm. The first days after a reset are the best part.

By evening, the dupe post had been confirmed fake - the original poster clarified it was a joke. But the reaction stayed. The subreddit wanted to believe Embark would punish cheaters that creatively. It's a raider's fairy tale: justice, served in a pop-up box. The pod exploded, and everyone cheered anyway.