This had me thinking about how one could do a wipe, but not have it be a complete wipe and that lead back to temporary worlds.
Rather than a wipe, can we have cataclysmic events that could befall planets that increase their hardness level and/or change their regen rate? As if the planet is being pushed outside the known worlds. The blinksecs to the planet continue to rise over time until it can no longer be reached within the warp/portal skills of anyone. This would be an official event that would take place over a period of time; do you tough it out until the end, jump ship quickly?
Those who were on the planet when it finally gets this far away are given a free warp totem in the sanctuary.
This would present a “wipe” situation on a per-planet basis without wiping the entire universe (and all the characters with it). But, that’s not to say the planet would be completely gone:
The planet’s orbit is changed such that you can only get to the planet when it is actually in view from certain planets and it brings with it various new baddies and new materials that its collected from the outer rim. As it moves back towards the known worlds, its regen rate changes (faster? slower?) in kind. You can still set up beacons on the planet when it shows up, but fuel is burned up faster as it moves away from the known worlds and the outer rim doesn’t recognize your gleam club membership. Will your beacon still be there when the planet’s orbit comes by again?