Fallout 76 - online Fallout spinoff from Bethesda - now on Steam with Wastelanders NPC expansion

[Angthoron]

Unusual shit is still shit.

 

[Makabb]

F76 is coming to steam at the end of the year !

 

[baud]

F76 is coming to steam at the end of the year !

What, not an epic exclusive? The butthurt would have been fun to watch if it had been the case

 

[Pika-Cthulhu]

F76 is coming to steam at the end of the year !

What, not an epic exclusive? The butthurt would have been fun to watch if it had been the case

Epic probably outbid steam to keep it off their platform

 

[baud]

New game mode. Still shit.

Fallout 76's survival mode is great if you enjoy dying from literally everything
Players are just going ham in Fallout 76's new PvP mode.


Fallout 76's new survival mode, the PvP playground with no restrictions on instigating combat, is pretty goddamn stupid at the moment. It's just a bloodbath, all the time, always. It's perfectly understandable—the mode just came along yesterday in beta, and it makes sense that the only thing anyone is doing in it is hunting down other players for PvP, rather than playing Fallout 76 and engaging in PvP when it comes up organically.

That's definitely what I was doing in there last night. I just wanted to find players and shoot them. That's all I did and that's all that was done to me. But if you're looking for a more all-encompassing experience—the game of Fallout 76 plus unrestricted PvP—you're just not going to find it at the moment. And if you're thinking about starting a new character specifically to use in survival mode, rather than just bringing over a leveled character from adventure mode, I probably wouldn't bother. You're gonna get smeared.


At first it seemed like it'd be hard to even find other players—unlike adventure mode, where there are pips on the map showing you where everyone is, survival mode just shows you the top three players on the PvP leaderboard and any players who have a bounty. Fast-travel is only available to Vault 76, your base, and the train stations, so there's not an easy way to catch up with someone even if you do know where they are.

But that's kinda the thing. Since there are so few spots to respawn, and players are constantly killing each other and respawning, those spawn points are choked with players and corpses. The first thing I did was travel to Vault 76, and I was promptly assassinated. I mean, like, the exact moment I got there, I was shot dead. I'm level 40, and I was killed twice (after respawning there) by the same level 77 player. I shudder to think what will happen to any fresh, level 1 Vault Dwellers as they step outside for the first time.

In fact, I don't even have to imagine: I killed one of them myself. After my third respawn, I spotted a player running up toward Vault 76 from the east. I shot him with my black powder rifle and he dropped. Only when I walked up to his kneeling body did I see he was level 2. I'd have used a stimpak on him, but I was fresh out—probably because all of mine dropped as loot the last two times I was killed. So I just executed this poor, low level player, feeling pretty bad about it, and decided to avoid Vault 76 altogether from then on.


The is the thorny issue with survival mode, at least for now: you can bring your existing characters over from adventure mode, so players at level 100, 200, 400, and beyond are hopping into survival mode where they'll meet lower level characters just starting out. It's not like a high level means you're safe from low level characters—it doesn't at all. I killed a player about 30 levels higher and one about 40 higher. It can be done.

But the issue is at a high levels you'll have deadlier weapons and better gear and you'll enjoy a supreme advantage. Just having more caps to fast-travel with and more aid items to heal yourself will give you a massive edge. I was killed by a level 216 player, and I really didn't feel like I had much of a chance against him. Of course, I shot first, so that's probably on me. But there's still going to be issues when living gods can mingle with fragile newborns.


I'm not sure how to solve that, really. Bethesda could restrict survival mode, and make it so you have to start a completely new character to play there, but in a couple of weeks you'll just have the same problem: high level players with god-like gear mixing with freshies just getting out of the can. I guess you could set each instance of survival mode to a certain spread of levels—servers for players level 1-10, 11-20, etc, but then it feels like you're fracturing the population too much.

But hey, it's the first day of a new mode in beta. It'll settle down, probably, and players will actually use it for more than just mindlessly hunting each other down. Bethesda will keep working on it and hopefully find a way to address its issues. In the meantime, don't expect to get a lot of quest progress done in survival mode just yet, and avoid Vault 76 and the train stations unless you're looking for a fight. And if you're starting a new character, for now, best to stick to adventure mode.

 

[Agame]

They need to make this mode so you have to start a new character and its locked to Survival, shows once again how utterly clueless Beth is about multiplayer. Being able to bring in maxed out characters with all of the rampant duping thats been going on since release will turn this into a retardo munchkin arena. Pop in for half an hour and one shot people till you get bored. No one will seriously "play" in this mode.

One life/one death would be better or at the very least a major xp debt on death, then 1/2 or even 1/4 pvp damage to make it an actual strategic survival management experience. But who am I kidding this game is just a joke by Beth, they will keep it barely functional with minimum effort as long as they can keep hoovering up micro transaction shop money from the whales who have invested in this game.

 

[UsernamesAreOverrated]

So the new mode is basically a dumber, buggier Bethesda-made CoD? Just what this game needed.

 

[Jenkem]

So the new mode is basically a dumber, buggier Bethesda-made CoD? Just what this game needed.

Except the new mode actually looks more fun than what was released.

 

[Agame]

So the new mode is basically a dumber, buggier Bethesda-made CoD? Just what this game needed.

Except the new mode actually looks more fun than what was released.

Depends on your definition of fun...

At the moment its all spawn camping and one-shotting overpowered toons bonanza.

 

[Infinitron]

https://www.pcgamer.com/todd-howard-fallout-76-had-a-lot-of-difficulties-during-development/

Todd Howard: Fallout 76 had 'a lot of difficulties' during development
"Sometimes those difficulties do show up on the screen."

Fallout 76's launch was a disaster—one of the worst in PC gaming history, by our reckoning. Its quests were boring and repetitive, the PC version was missing basic features such as text chat, and bugs were making players invincible. This week, Bethesda Game Studios executive producer Todd Howard spoke out on the subject, admitting the developer had "a lot of difficulties during development".

"We knew we were going to have a lot of bumps coming out with the game, and we definitely had some, some of them a lot harder than we anticipated. It was a very new and different project for us," he said during a PAX East panel.

"We had a lot of difficulties during development and sometimes those difficulties do show up on the screen. You never want them to," he said. "We grew the studio, we're four different studios now in North America...and this was a game that really took a ton of people across those four studios coming together to make work."

He didn't go into any more detail about what exactly the difficulties were that Bethesda faced, and instead looked ahead to future plans for the game, including its survival mode, which is currently in beta (and will kill you in a hundred different ways).

You can watch Howard make his comments in the video below.

 

[Metro]

Nobody asked for half-baked Fallout 4 PvP. They thought they could grab some cash from their addlebrained army of apologist fanboys. I'm sure they did but it cost them a lot of good will with others who are not so quick to worship at the altar of Todd. Unless they come out with some kind of PvE/co-op mode I'll never bother installing this derpfest.

 

[Agame]

some kind of PvE/co-op mode

This is exactly want people want, there was a mod for Skyrim enabling co-op mode, it was making serious bank through patron whatever until it got shut down. Only Bethesda, the Champions of Retardation could fail to give the playerbase what they actually want, opting instead for some kind of wierd munchkin pvp jammed into a pve game.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

Who the fuck looks at the fallout franchise and says "You know what this needs? PvP."

 

[Cael]

Who the fuck looks at the fallout franchise and says "You know what this needs? PvP."

The same fucks that looked at the Fallout franchise and said:

 

[ADL]

Who the fuck looks at the fallout franchise and says "You know what this needs? PvP."

Fans of the isometric games apparently https://www.fonline-reloaded.net/

 

[Cael]

Who the fuck looks at the fallout franchise and says "You know what this needs? PvP."

Fans of the isometric games apparently https://www.fonline-reloaded.net/

Lol! That game's Newbie Guide basically tells you that as a newbie, you will be killed for lulz by other players. The number of times they mention PKers and warning newbies that they will be killed is hilarious. One of the most honest yet sad newbie guides I have ever read.

 

[Infinitron]

http://east.paxsite.com/schedule/pa...ent-wrong-with-fallout-76-and-can-it-be-saved

USG Presents What Went Wrong With Fallout 76, And Can It Be Saved?

• SUN 03/31 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM
• ALBATROSS THEATRE

Fallout 76 has been a rough time for Bethesda Game Studios. Since launch, there’s been problem after problem, and an endless series of controversies. Well this panel isn’t about that. You’ve heard about what’s wrong with Fallout 76, but we’re here to talk about where it works, where it falters, and how Bethesda can improve it for the better. Come and listen to us give idea that sounds easy on paper and will be much harder to implement in-game. Maybe we’ll hear a few of your ideas as well!

 

[Metro]

Albatross theatre, fitting locale.

 

[Taxnomore]

The Albatross

Sometimes for sport the men of loafing crews
Snare the great albatrosses of the deep,
The indolent companions of their cruise
As through the bitter vastitudes they sweep.

Scarce have they fished aboard these airy kings
When helpless on such unaccustomed floors,
They piteously droop their huge white wings
And trail them at their sides like drifting oars.

How comical, how ugly, and how meek
Appears this soarer of celestial snows!
One, with his pipe, teases the golden beak,
One, limping, mocks the cripple as he goes.

The Poet, like this monarch of the clouds,
Despising archers, rides the storm elate.
But, stranded on the earth to jeering crowds,
The great wings of the giant baulk his gait.

— Roy Campbell, Poems of Baudelaire (New York: Pantheon Books, 1952)

It feels oddly related, indeed.

 

[Child of Malkav]

 

[Infinitron]

P2W drama: https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/...oming-repair-kits-break-no-pay-to-win-promise

Fallout 76 players say incoming Repair Kits break Bethesda's no pay-to-win promise

Fallout 76 players have roundly criticised Bethesda's plan to add Repair Kits to the game, saying it breaks a prior promise not to include pay-to-win elements.

Repair Kits, due to hit the game in the weeks following patch eight, come in two forms: basic and improved. Basic instantly restore one of the items in your inventory to 100 per cent condition. Improved repair one of the items in your inventory to 150 per cent.

Fallout 76's Atomic Shop has so far sold only cosmetic items.

These items will be useful because weapons and armour degrade in the world of Fallout 76 as they're used and take damage, and repairing them requires returning to a workshop and using materials - some of which need to be farmed out in the world.

Improved repair kits will be rewarded for gameplay. "Improved Repair Kits are rare items that we plan to award to you for free as you take on various types of in-game content," Bethesda said in a blog post.

"As an example, you will receive them as loot when you take down the Scorchbeast Queen."

Crucially, basic repair kits are sold in the Atomic Shop, which currently sells nothing but cosmetic items such as outfits for your character. You buy basic repair kits with Atoms, the virtual currency you earn by playing or can buy with real-world money.

This, as you'd expect, has sparked something of an uproar within the Fallout 76 community, which is currently accusing Bethesda of adding a pay-to-win element to the game. Fallout 76 fuses player versus environment gameplay with player versus player gameplay, and being able to instantly repair your gear could give you a competitive edge when you're in a scrap. It could be a particular problem in Survival mode, which features open PVP.

The debate has also highlighted prior comments from Bethesda's Pete Hines, who in the run up to the release of the game last year promised in multiple interviews that Fallout 76 would not include any pay-to-win elements.

For example, at PAX Australia, Hines told Gamespot:

"If you don't want to spend money in the Atomic Shop for cosmetic stuff you don't have to. We give you a shitload of Atoms just for playing the game... Folks that want to spend money on whatever the hell it is because they don't have enough Atoms, they can, but it's not, 'I'm now better playing against other players because I spent money.' It's not pay-to-win. And it's not loot crates."

Some players question just how big an impact repair kits will have on Fallout 76 and the way it plays, but the Fallout 76 subreddit is littered with complaints from players who point out the issue has less to do with the repair kits themselves as it does their sale for real world cash.

"I strongly dislike the idea of selling anything in the Atom shop that affects gameplay directly," wrote Endus.

"These repair kits qualify. That kind of business model makes sense for a free-to-play game that needs to monetise SOMETHING, but I paid full price up front for Fallout 76. As did many others. With the promise that future content would be free. This is future content. That isn't free. That's a broken promise, and that matters, if this goes live as expected.

"I don't think the repair kits THEMSELVES are that big a deal; this is about principle. I don't have repair costs that I can't already meet with materials I get without farming directly, even ballistic fiber I have an overstock of. Maybe some other players do, maybe they don't want to spend perk points on things to extend weapon/armour longetivity. That Improved Repair Kits will apparently drop from events/boss type mobs makes it even less of a likely problem, in this specific case.

"Regardless, it's an in-game benefit, and creates a pattern that can be followed by subsequent releases.

"It's that pattern, and the broken promise, which is what people are angry about. Not the repair kits themselves, as a mechanic. So please, Bethesda, don't mistake the outcry. Repair kits are fine. PAYING ATOM for repair kits is not-fine."

Explaining the decision, Bethesda said Repair Kits "were a popular request that we wanted to get into players' hands".

"We also felt we could try out something new with these, both in-game and in the Atomic Shop. As we look to the future, we're exploring ways we can bring other community-driven ideas to the game as well, such as refrigerators for C.A.M.P.s, ammo and food converters, and even the ability to send scrap to your stash without having to head home. Repair Kits are our first attempt at a utility item like this, and we plan to make adjustments based on your feedback, so we hope you'll share your thoughts with us when they go live later this month."

Players aren't waiting until the Repair Kits go live to share their thoughts, however. The debate has become so vociferous that the Fallout 76 subreddit mods have had to issue a statement on posts about Repair Kits.

Fallout 76 had a well-documented disaster of a launch, and Bethesda has worked to update the game ever since. However, Fallout 76 has suffered a string of high-profile issues over the last half a year, and Repair Kits will do nothing to help get disgruntled players back on side.

 

[Astral Rag]

It always amuses me how people in comment sections are bashing this POS while at the same time begging Bethesda to make another single player Fallout game.

 

[DeepOcean]

It always amuses me how people in comment sections are bashing this POS while at the same time begging Bethesda to make another single player Fallout game.

I don't get it, Fallout 4 was the same shit as Fallout 76 if not worse but somehow Bethesda's retarded writing makes that better? Serious, people miss you walking on virtual blue neurons while the retarded villain claimed how he wasn't so evil? Or the Brotherhood of Steel traveling around on air ships like on Final Fantasy? Do people really miss that crap? Man...

 

[rusty_shackleford]

It always amuses me how people in comment sections are bashing this POS while at the same time begging Bethesda to make another single player Fallout game.

I don't get it, Fallout 4 was the same shit as Fallout 76 if not worse but somehow Bethesda's retarded writing makes that better? Serious, people miss you walking on virtual blue neurons while the retarded villain claimed how he wasn't so evil? Or the Brotherhood of Steel traveling around on air ships like on Final Fantasy? Do people really miss that crap? Man...

at least FO4 had NPCs.

 

[Drakron]

If I am not wrong The Brotherhood of Steel knowing how to build airships is something from Fallout 2 since that is mentioned when they ask you to get the Vertibird plans and that is were Tactics got the idea of having then as how the Brotherhood got so far to the East.

Airships arent exactly so far off of something that could be done in Fallout outside being relative "low tech" and not having the 1950's somewhat odd designs like the Avrocar but still entirely feasible within Fallout level of technology.