Fallout 76

[maflynn]

Aaaand I'm done

This is the first time where I basically did the entire legendary grind and didn't really spend atoms to buy the levels. I did buy level 100 just a moment ago. Ranking up levels cost 150 atoms, but in completing the legendary run, I got 500 atoms - so its 350 swing in currency. I usually finish well before the deadline (next week), but in previous runs I relied heavily on atoms to push me forward.

 

[maflynn]

I launched another nuke, its been several months since I last did it, and probably a month or three since I participated in a Scorched Earth Event. I was debating to select a location other site Alpha, which means, I'd just irradiate the area, no end-game sort of event.

Its funny, many people on the now defunct Bethesda fallout 76 forum used to say it should only take 10 minutes to do a silo run, but for me, its a solid 45 minutes.

It was a fun event, took about a lot longer to bring the SBQ down, perhaps there were not as high level of of players participating. It was a fun event nonetheless. Maybe tomorrow or the next, I'll drop one on a different location like white spring.

One think I have noticed on the PC side of things, that there are a lot of low to medium players, I'd say that's good news as the game is still drawing people in. I know the next chapter in the Steel Dawn DLC will bring back the grizzled veterans as it did when the first chapter was released.

Being the 4th of july weekend coming up, I'll not be playing much, so its good that I finished the legendary run, and did a Scorched Earth Event. My game playing will take a nose dive

 

[maflynn]

I decided to drop a nuke on WhiteSprings. My camp is over-looking the resort so I got a first hand glimpse - I was sure to position the bomb drop so my camp was outside the blast radius

I was a bit dissapointed to see few glowing creatures to kill on the whitesprings grounds - I've been there for nuke drops and there's usually a lot of glowing creatures - oh well. Still was a fun event to do. I still have a bunch of nuke cards, so I can do another later if I want but I'll be largely away for the up and coming holiday so my play time will be decreasing

 

[Huntn]

I decided to drop a nuke on WhiteSprings. My camp is over-looking the resort so I got a first hand glimpse - I was sure to position the bomb drop so my camp was outside the blast radius

I was a bit dissapointed to see few glowing creatures to kill on the whitesprings grounds - I've been there for nuke drops and there's usually a lot of glowing creatures - oh well. Still was a fun event to do. I still have a bunch of nuke cards, so I can do another later if I want but I'll be largely away for the up and coming holiday so my play time will be decreasing

View attachment 18005070

I assume that is an instanced location. Last night I nuked Gunner’s Plaza as part of the F4 Depravity mod. We had to place 3 charges in the building, were way too close when it went off, so maybe technically it was not a nuke, but it sure looked liked one.

 

[imrazor]

I love the Fallout series, but the F76 launch was such a cluster that I passed on the game at first. No NPCs also seemed like a deal-breaker. I've heard it's gotten better, do folks in this thread agree? Is there any way to play in macOS (Crossover, Parallels, etc.)?

 

[Huntn]

I love the Fallout series, but the F76 launch was such a cluster that I passed on the game at first. No NPCs also seemed like a deal-breaker. I've heard it's gotten better, do folks in this thread agree? Is there any way to play in macOS (Crossover, Parallels, etc.)?

@maflynn obviously likes it. I tried it and did not like it’s online nature, I did not care for daily events which made it seem like a theme park, at 12 daily watch the robots go crazy and try to kill you, but you kill them and get a reward. I am still playing F4, and will try the Fallout London DLC when it appears.

 

[imrazor]

@maflynn obviously likes it. I tried it and did not like it’s online nature and am still playing F4, and will try the Fallout London DLC when it appears.

I'm interested in the London project, but if I'm not mistaken it's a mod not official DLC. Sometimes these ambitious mods come to fruition, but more often than not they just fizzle out in development. I'm still waiting for Skywind

 

[Huntn]

I'm interested in the London project, but if I'm not mistaken it's a mod not official DLC. Sometimes these ambitious mods come to fruition, but more often than not they just fizzle out in development. I'm still waiting for Skywind

Technically it is a significant content mod, but it makes changes to the game so a fresh playthrough must be started. I’ll wait and see too, while continuing my current play through of F4.

 

[maflynn]

I've heard it's gotten better, do folks in this thread agree?

@maflynn obviously likes it.

Given the amount of posting I do in this thread, its pretty evident that I like it. Here's my overall take and then you can decide if you want to try it out. Before I do that, I'll mention that one of the larger updates for FO76 is landing tomorrow, and it being the Steel Dawn story line to conclusion. Also this fall they'll be opening up instanced areas to travel too, similar to Far Harbor and I believe the game is on MS' GamePass so if you're a subscriber then you can try it out for free.

So with that out of the way, here's my review of this game after playing it for a long time.

I signed up for the beta back in 2018, and played the game when it first came out in november of that year. I was nervious about the lack of NPCs and as Todd Howard put it, we players were the story. The game was buggy, and there's no need to rehash that. What bothered me the most for my few months of playing was how empty the world felt. Yes there were other players but every location was empty. All your quests were given by terminals, robots or logs of long dead people. I gave up on the game in the spring of 2019.

Last year with the release of Wastelanders, I picked the game back up as that DLC/update re-introduced human NPCs and that changed the whole dynamic of the game. Its now full of life, there's also a large DLC quest to complete, where you can side with the settlers or raiders to complete. It reinvigorated the game, Bethesda also introduced Fallout First, a "subscription" where you get unlimited scrap, a survival tent, which gives you a free fast travel point to put down anywhere and a place to empty your inventory. Also with Fallout First is the ability to play in private worlds (either alone or up to 8 players). I love Fallout First, and I find myself in a private world quite often, and the unlimited scrap is a game changer.

What I live about the game:

• Very much part of the FO universe.
• Lots to do, the main quest, Wastelanders, Steel Dawn (though this is a very small DLC), plus tons of side quests and daily events that occur throughout the map.
• Large Map, especially compared to Fallout 4.
• Tons of weapons/armo to craft, find or buy.
• Great set of players who are helpful (there are griefers sadly)
• Camp building. Bethesda keeps adding/improving things, and people can build some fantastic camps, this is my camp and I love how it was possible.
  

What I don't like

• Bethesda nerfed some areas of the environment, such as the hunger/thirst mechanic of the game, you no longer lose health. Rather you get various bonuses for being fed. Radiation was something that you used to manage when I first started playing the game, radaway (and stimpacks by the way), were few and far between. Now with certain perks and legendary perks radiation is a non-issue.
• Team play - Bethesda has been pushing for team/coop play, I go solo and dare I say the most players do, but Bethesda's newer updates like Daily Ops is geared towards teams. You can do them solo, but its not something that it was designed for.
• Cheating/hacked weapons. Admittedly this is only an issue on the PC, not the consoles, but players with hacked guns - They can one shot the ScorchBeast Queen or Earle and that's just not fun.
• Settlements - If you love Fallout 4's settlements (with and without mods), you'll be disappointed that there's really no way to build a settlement. For me its not a big deal I wasn't that much into settlement building

Overall its a solid game, with a helpful community who love the game, you can customize your player for game style that best fits, i.e., heavy gunner, sneak rifle, shotgunner, archer, etc

 

[imrazor]

@maflynn I usually end up with a "diplosniper" build in Fallout games, but I'm not sure how important persuasion is in FO76. Any thoughts after all your playtime on the value of the Speech skill/perk/whatever? How is VATS handled?

Like you, I do prefer to play solo so the Fallout First/private worlds sound pretty appealing. How much is the subscription fee?

Finally, is there any way to play the game in VR?

EDIT: How well is sneak implemented, particularly against other players?

 

[jav6454]

The lack of settlements is a detriment, at least to me. I love that aspect from Fallout 4. I also dislike how its a MMORPG style game now. Another point as to why Fallout 4 keeps me playing.

 

[maflynn]

how important persuasion is in FO76.

There is no persuasion in FO76. Your sniper build will be spread across the Perception, Agility and Luck.

How much is the subscription fee?

13 bucks a month or 99.99 for the year.

way to play the game in VR?

I don't believe so

How is VATS handled?

VATS is really an auto-targeting system with no time slow down. You hit the vats key and press the trigger, and depending on your perks it will jump to the next player.

How well is sneak implemented, particularly against other players?

I've switched up my character just recently and i'm trying a full bore sneak/sniper build *before this, I was just a rifle build). So far I found that I can get the first shot or two off, but if there's a lot of enemies, you'll not be hidden long. I have the perks to maximize my stealth but its decent. You're not really hidden against other players, just NPCs

The lack of settlements is a detriment, at least to me. I love that aspect from Fallout 4

In many respects, Fallout 76 is a different type of game, so its understandable not to have settlements but I do understand where you're coming from

 

[imrazor]

I've switched up my character just recently and i'm trying a full bore sneak/sniper build *before this, I was just a rifle build). So far I found that I can get the first shot or two off, but if there's a lot of enemies, you'll not be hidden long. I have the perks to maximize my stealth but its decent. You're not really hidden against other players, just NPCs

Hmm, are you using a silencer for your rifle? Are there silencers in FO76?

 

[jav6454]

In many respects, Fallout 76 is a different type of game, so its understandable not to have settlements but I do understand where you're coming from

It is, but at the same time I don't like the route Bethesda took with it. We are in 3 years since its release and there are no signs of a new stand alone Fallout game.

The only signs I have seen are from the modding community with the Fallout 4: Miami which is being built on Fallout 4's engine and as community developed DLC.

 

[maflynn]

Hmm, are you using a silencer for your rifle? Are there silencers in FO76?

Yes, there's silencers.

The thing with FO76, is that to craft a given weapon you need to learn a plan, and along with the weapon, you'll need to learn the plans to mod it. An easy way to learn how is to scrap the weapon. That is if you know how to build a hunting rifle, build 10 of them, and then scrap each one, so that you learn more ways to mod the weapon - does that make sense? You can also buy plans from NPC vendors in the game (expensive) and player vendors (generally inexpensive).

 

[maflynn]

It is, but at the same time I don't like the route Bethesda took with it

Fair enough, I can see why Settlements were not built into the game, simply because when the game was released there were no human NPCs so building a settlements engine made no sense, if you get what I'm saying.

We are in 3 years since its release and there are no signs of a new stand alone Fallout game.

No, and we'll not hear back about a new game for several more years. A lot of discussions/speculation occurred on Fallout 5 when FO76 was release and the consensus was is that Bethesda has a number games in the pipeline. For instance Bethesda has been whole hog on getting StarField out the door, and we now know that won't be happening until 2022. Following StarField is the next iteration of the Elder Scrolls, and I think Tom Howard mentioned they're just starting the pre-work of the next Elder Scrolls game. Soooo, if you connect the dots, we'll not be seeing a new Fallout game or mention of that until 2025 or something like that

 

[jav6454]

Fair enough, I can see why Settlements were not built into the game, simply because when the game was released there were no human NPCs so building a settlements engine made no sense, if you get what I'm saying.


No, and we'll not hear back about a new game for several more years. A lot of discussions/speculation occurred on Fallout 5 when FO76 was release and the consensus was is that Bethesda has a number games in the pipeline. For instance Bethesda has been whole hog on getting StarField out the door, and we now know that won't be happening until 2022. Following StarField is the next iteration of the Elder Scrolls, and I think Tom Howard mentioned they're just starting the pre-work of the next Elder Scrolls game. Soooo, if you connect the dots, we'll not be seeing a new Fallout game or mention of that until 2025 or something like that

Well, it's not the Settlement mechanic on its own. It's the idea of having a game be online-only MMORPG which means you are stuck with an advancement in your character should you like it or not.

As per new releases, I expected as much. However, they could try and release a new Fallout 4 DLC. I get trying to get two new games out; however, the consensus among several FO4 players is that the whole "Save Player 1" campaign was wasted money.

 

[maflynn]

Well, it's not the Settlement mechanic on its own. It's the idea of having a game be online-only MMORPG which means you are stuck with an advancement in your character should you like it or not.

Fallout 76 is a game that Bethesda gave us that no one asked for. It actually was born out of conversations within Bethesda saying they'd love to have FO4 be co-op. That was the genesis of Fallout 76. I had serious misgivings of playing Fallout 76 being online, yet now its my favorite game - I'm not saying this to convince you to play it, just that I really started enjoying the game as it is.

they could try and release a new Fallout 4 DLC.

No question, I would love to see a new DLC, and I would pay money for it.

 

[benshive]

• Camp building. Bethesda keeps adding/improving things, and people can build some fantastic camps, this is my camp and I love how it was possible. View attachment 1802697

Is there a mod required for this or this an example of the kinds of bases you can build in the base (hehe) game. I saw it was on sale for $13 so I'm downloading the game now

 

[jav6454]

Fallout 76 is a game that Bethesda gave us that no one asked for. It actually was born out of conversations within Bethesda saying they'd love to have FO4 be co-op. That was the genesis of Fallout 76. I had serious misgivings of playing Fallout 76 being online, yet now its my favorite game - I'm not saying this to convince you to play it, just that I really started enjoying the game as it is.


No question, I would love to see a new DLC, and I would pay money for it.

I tried FO76, did not like it. In fact, it felt Runescape-esque. Don't get me wrong, I like Runescape, but those mechanics are, in my opinion, better suited for other games.

Yes, I'd pay up to $40 for that DLC, which could be located somewhere in Connecticut.

 

[maflynn]

Is there a mod required for this or this an example of the kinds of bases you can build in the base

No mods but the type of walls and wallpaper that can be used is based on what you purchase through the atomic store. For instance, I think I have the walls set for farm house, and I've purchased a number of wallpapers/wallpaper packs.

The Atomic store is where you spend actual money, that is getting atoms (the in game currency) is mostly provided by buying it. Fallout First sub gives you 1600 (or something like that) atoms each month and Bethesda rotates what is available in the store.

 

[maflynn]

Whelp, today's the day for the large update

FALLOUT 76 UPDATE NOTES

There's some really nice things added.

First off the conclusion of the Steel Dawn DLC (now called Steel Reign), we have new limits, like we can now have 40,000 caps (the old limit was 30k) and what I think has most everyone excited is the ability to craft legendary weapons. I'm sure it will require a fair amount of grinding to get the components or special plans but its there. Also is the introduction of legendary power armor. Bethesda has continually improved and released new armor but up until now, PA was never included. Now there's some nice things.

I don't know when the game comes back up (usually after 1 or 2 my time) given the size of the update. I'll hold off on steel reign as I want to see what others say and do, as there's some decisions to make, i.e., who do you side with and what's the consequences.

I'm a bit disappointed that we have a K.D. Inkwell legendary run, as Season 3 was a K.D. Inkwell. I would have thought that a BOS themed legendary run would be perfect for this, but so be it.

Also buried in the update notes is the ability to get to level 100 by doing certain actions, for someone who's been grinding for the past year, I don't like this. I think its a move to get low level players more active by pushing them higher.

 

[maflynn]

I achieved a nice milestone today, level 400, looking back at this thread, I made it to level 300 on January 15, so just about 6 months to get to 100 which is really surprising. There's nothing to gain in the game from 300 to 400, but its a nice round number and one that I'm happy to make. The big one that we all strive for is level 500, I guess I'll focus on that later this year, i.e., lets see where I am in about 4 or 5 months.

 

[maflynn]

I added a third camp slot and built a new camp, I'm pretty pleased with the outcome.

I try to do something different for each camp slot, and my latest is based on a tiny home, I'm very happy with this.

My second camp which I've posted about before is a mid-century design, and that was the most difficult, and I used up the entire camp budget, I can't add anything else even if I wanted too.

The third camp, seems to be the most generic and I'll be looking to rebuilding that in the course of time, I just need to settle on a theme/design idea.

I give credit to the other camp builders in Fallout 76, they are the ones that not only give me inspiration but also building ideas and tricks to make something work.

Here's my second camp

And my first

 

[imrazor]

@maflynn Glad you're letting your inner architect out. Myself, I'm a sucker for mid-century modern. Thanks for sharing. Too bad something like this is not achievable in Fallout 4, at least not as far as I know.