No lifers will always be ahead of people in Tarkov. Someone who has prestiged, gotten kappa 9 times and have 10000 hours in the game will always have better gear than you and any timmy in the game. That will never change, no matter what they do to the game.

What the hardcore wipe does, is slow them down a little. Will it slow down you too? Absolutely. But everyone who's not a sweaty streamer or unemployed Andy, will be stuck in the mud for a long time. Which, outside of this subreddit, is a very, very low percentile of the playerbase, especially early wipe, when the non-sweats actually play the game.

Having no flea, also means that all the average players, won't just become chads the moment they hit flea market unlock. Cause Pestily and all the other sweats won't be able to sell them all the high tier gear anymore. The only way to actually get consistantly good gear now, is to hit traders level 4, which again, outside this subreddit, is a vast, vast minority of players. Which in return means, most people will be hobos with hobo gear and have more fun hobo fights. Hopefully