[Megathread] Fallout 76

[Very Tired]

They should probably add a respec option to this game. If I wanted to branch out from sneak and try a shotgun or melee type build, I would need to burn 15+ levels into moving special points around, and another 15+ levels to move them all back. No reason to burn players out playing one particular playstyle when there are dozens out there.

[Endus]

They should probably add a respec option to this game. If I wanted to branch out from sneak and try a shotgun or melee type build, I would need to burn 15+ levels into moving special points around, and another 15+ levels to move them all back. No reason to burn players out playing one particular playstyle when there are dozens out there.

That is the Respec option. You can also start additional characters, if it's too different and you want to maintain both options. The intent is that your SPECIAL can only be changed with concerted effort, so you can fix a build if you've got a few points misallocated but not to completely change it; your decisions have weight and matter.

[Very Tired]

So the Burrows turned out to be a complete let down. It isn't actually instanced so other players show up and can ruin your fun, maybe they already killed everything. Saying that it was geared towards groups of 2 players was an outright lie, clearing the Whitesprings Golf Club is more challenging than this. It's completed in 10 minutes. There's no special end boss or even a legendary mob. Pretty much bad reactions from the community all around.

[Endus]

Welp, the Burrows are awful. As much as I still enjoy the game, this was a bad addition and they didn't sell it right;

1> It isn't really a "dungeon". It's underground tunnels, but it isn't instanced. It's no different than any other location.

2> The enemy levels are normal. The enemy density is normal. You get groups of 5-6 feral ghouls, capping out at 62, for the most part. One section has level 52 Mr. Gutsies. Literally nothing special or unique, legendaries have the same spawn rate as anywhere else.

3> No special loot, other than the end-of-quest reward, which is a unique melee weapon like The Fixer (in that it has unique special bonuses, not that it's a unique model/type, cause it ain't).

4> The quest is just kinda . . . there. It takes you through half the area, the other half contains nothing of real note but junk. It ends, and you're left wondering what's next, but there is no "next", you're done. I had some issues with textures/architecture not spawning in my first time, but after reloading, the whole thing takes 5-10 minutes, including exploring. The environments aren't even particularly unique; there's no new textures or ideas in here. It's sewers with shanty town structures, and some industrial stuff.

5> The difficulty level, "balanced for 2+ 50+ level players"? Are these players naked? Is one player playing both PCs at the same time on different machines and hotswapping seats to do it? Because it wasn't remotely difficult, and my gear is trash. It's legendary, but it's all garbage legendaries that don't really make me stronger; those Charisma buffs (as a solo player) and rad resistance aren't making the content super easy for me. Primary weapon was the Sole Survivor lever-action from the Survival quest last week, so easily attainable by basically anyone who wanted it and could play last week.

It's the least interesting addition to the game, by far, IMO.

I wasn't expecting the moon, I was expecting the kind of environment they gave us with something comparable to a missile silo's difficulty and challenge and length. And this ain't that, not even close.

Edit: Was writing this up while Very Tired posted, but there you go, we basically agree.

[Very Tired]

It wouldn't even be that hard to make something interesting, even only using the assets they already have in game. Just make it actually instanced, add a whole lot more mob spawns, buff the max level of enemies from 62 to something much higher, add a guarantee 3-star legendary mob at the end.

I mean I assume there's normal play testers at Bethesda, any of which could have told them this wasn't acceptable content to ship. Gotta wonder what's going through their mind sometimes.

[Endus]

It wouldn't even be that hard to make something interesting, even only using the assets they already have in game. Just make it actually instanced, add a whole lot more mob spawns, buff the max level of enemies from 62 to something much higher, add a guarantee 3-star legendary mob at the end.

I mean I assume there's normal play testers at Bethesda, any of which could have told them this wasn't acceptable content to ship. Gotta wonder what's going through their mind sometimes.

Yeah, there's a LOT of pathways in the Burrows that are simply not needed.

Rebuild the map to be more linear, add more mob spawns, instance it (missile silos are, aren't they?), provide some lockpick/hack options for shortcuts/bonus rewards, add some guaranteed legendaries (only one guaranteed 3-star, but I could see adding some others), produce something "special" for the end boss, something like the swamp flower event.

I'm just irked that they pitched this as a "dungeon", meaning it was something "new", when it's literally just another location with an attached questline like so many others. And that they pitched it as "balanced for 2+ level 50+ players", because THAT'S not fuckin' true at all.

The good thing, I guess, is if this is what they expect 2+ max-level players to find challenging, I should cakewalk through the 4+ player raids when they launch, solo.

(Caveat that I don't particularly LIKE linear maps, but it's an easy way to force players down the same amount of produced content as they already gave us, extending how far the player has to travel to reach the end; it's a simple fix that doesn't take more development/art time).

[Jimusmc]

well burrows is disappointing, had no legendaries spawn at all.

and the end weapon sucks.

was very easy.

[Ochinko]

Not only was the burrows terrible in every single way, it also felt like a massive betrayal since they literally pitched / sold us something we didnt receive.

Where is the challenge? How can they sell this as 2+ lvl 50 difficulty?

What is this sorry excuse for a quest? This has literally nothing to do with the BOS, there is no reason they should be there. I believe they said something along the lines of the mysterious reasons that the BOS investigated this area. They went down there for what, an assaultron and two gutsies? The BOS went to Watoga which has a buttload of robots with at least five assaultrons. So what gives.

You see clips with people wielding the Yaoguai Gauntlet or wearing the Diving Suit but nothing of sorts is available for players. Just some random named weapon.



This "dungeon" is an insult to their playerbase who try to remain loyal, even after so many setbacks.


edit: They have been teasing the Yaoguai gauntlet for three update cycles now without adding it to the game. What gives.

[SavoirFaire]

It just seems that there are groups within Bethesda (devs, marketing, whomever) that at best don't listen to each other, and at worst must be at war with each other. Every time some goodwill is earned, someone wants to go piss it away.

Devs: hey we're going to add a new location and a quest near Harper's Ferry.
Marketing: great, a new dungeon! we'll get to work. *gone in a puff of smoke*
Devs: wait, we didn't say that...

I don't know what they can do to make something challenging to geared out players however unless the player themselves are gimped bc of gear or spec. I did a missile silo the other day on my pistol character, it was challenging, had to be careful. Did one with my shotgun character (had an instigating explosive shotgun drop some time back) and basically just walked through it obliterating everything. A challenge to my shotgunner is going to be nigh impossible for my pistol character, unless they start making enemy variations with weak points (like sentry bots), resistances to explosives, etc etc.

[Endus]

Just to emphasize a point and mitigate my prior venom a bit; the Burrows content itself is fine. The problem is that we had two communications to the community, from Bethesda, talking up its difficulty, loot, and specialness. Which it did not live up to. As an additional location, the Burrows is fine. The issue is that it's as much a "dungeon" as any inside location in the game, that its difficulty isn't any higher than anywhere else in the game (and significantly lower than some locations), and that the loot was unspectacular-to-pointless (which is admittedly true of a lot of locations).

They oversold it. The content, for what it is, is fine. It's just not what they told us it was going to be.

I was expecting something akin to a missile silo or, better, the Glassed Caverns. That level of length and difficulty. Given that those exist in-game, I don't think it's even an unreasonable expectation. Just stop getting my hopes too high, Bethesda.

[Very Tired]

It just seems that there are groups within Bethesda (devs, marketing, whomever) that at best don't listen to each other, and at worst must be at war with each other. Every time some goodwill is earned, someone wants to go piss it away.

Devs: hey we're going to add a new location and a quest near Harper's Ferry.
Marketing: great, a new dungeon! we'll get to work. *gone in a puff of smoke*
Devs: wait, we didn't say that...

I don't know what they can do to make something challenging to geared out players however unless the player themselves are gimped bc of gear or spec. I did a missile silo the other day on my pistol character, it was challenging, had to be careful. Did one with my shotgun character (had an instigating explosive shotgun drop some time back) and basically just walked through it obliterating everything. A challenge to my shotgunner is going to be nigh impossible for my pistol character, unless they start making enemy variations with weak points (like sentry bots), resistances to explosives, etc etc.

In this case it would be better to have something to difficult rather than to easy. The explosive affix still needs a nerf, IMO, but besides that, having hard content in the game that doesn't cater to the lowest skill players gives them to strive upwards to. In Runescape, for example, I would have quit it long ago if there wasn't the Telos bossfight to prepare myself for. An endless scaling and difficult boss fight with amazing money making opportunities really gives me a reason to keep on grinding for better gear.

And the current state of the Burrows isn't really difficult for anyone. I keep seeing some people try to push that idea. I've seen a level 18 at the end of the place. There's nothing challenging about everything being dead already.

[Endus]

I've seen a lot of people on Reddit bitching that the community is being ridiculous for;

A> complaining that Sheepsquatch was too hard (it isn't, just learn the fight, it's dead simple), and then
B> complaining that Burrows was too easy.

The thing is, I'm pretty sure a lot of the complaints are coming from two distinct groups, with little overlap. Sheepsquatch stuff was great. Loved the Unsolved quests, the final event, everything. We could talk about rewards, but that's an ongoing discussion with the game in general (and the legendary vendor might fix a lot of this).

I never raised a peep about Sheepsquatch. I thought it was fine; just like the SBQ, people needed to stop being bads and figure it out. I have complained about the Burrows, or more accurately, about the team overselling it as they did. If they hadn't done the whole "gather your squad, it's a toughie" and "balanced for multiple max-level players" stuff, nobody would have blinked. A short quest, a neat new area, good new target for nuking. It's the overselling that got people hyped, and then let down.

Pretending that the community is a single hive mind and thus we're being inconsistent is not doing the community any favors. The complaints about the Burrows being overhyped by the devs is legitimate. Whining that Sheepsquatch killed you because you didn't understand the fight and activated a pylon and got smoked isn't.

[dope_danny]

So the games now £7 at my local Game and thats usually the point i'll dip my toe in a game with a bad rep, i know its still got problems but how stable are the bugs at this point? or is it still nightmare slendermen players and toddrays?

[Breccia]

So the games now £7 at my local Game and thats usually the point i'll dip my toe in a game with a bad rep, i know its still got problems but how stable are the bugs at this point? or is it still nightmare slendermen players and toddrays?

I can't speak for connection issues for anyone who uses the £ symbol. But I encounter a problem of some significance -- such as being flat-out disconnected for no apparent reason, an underground monster, or an item that won't pick up no matter how many times I click on it -- once an hour, or faster.

The game is easily fun enough to warrant £7, especially now that in the main game mode you can't be one-shot by some random griefer.

[Very Tired]

And surprise surprise, the repair kits still ended up on the atomic shop like planned, despite all the outrage.

[Endus]

And surprise surprise, the repair kits still ended up on the atomic shop like planned, despite all the outrage.

As much as I don't like it, I do think some important caveats need to be made;

1> The repair kits suck. The Atom Shop ones repair to 100%, and still need a bench to be used. All you're saving is the repair costs, which are nearly irrelevant (I'm sitting on like 250 ballistic fiber and should really sell some, for instance). I also repair to 200%, so I get to go way longer without needing to repair. And this is assuming the bonus stats for over-repair are a bug and going to be fixed, because if not, yet another mark against the kits. And all this said, Improved Repair Kits drop in-game and are flat-out better.

2> They've said they're not meant to provide a competitive advantage, and if they end up doing so, they'll change something.

I honestly don't see why anyone would pay ATOM for these things. Literally cannot see a possible advantage.

[Ochinko]

I'm actually considering to quit, even though I love the game and am close to 500 hours played, my main character is a bit over level 200.

What is really breaking me is the fact that for some reason the first january patch ( I think it was the 13th or so) broke my indoor playing. Ever since that patch I get erratic and uncontrollable movement while inside a loaded area. Like my character will randomly change the direction he is walking, kind of feels like someone installed a second mouse and pushes it every couple seconds. It makes me nauseaus and super hard to fight / loot / explore. Been in contact with Beth Support for five months now, the best advice they gave me so far was to uninstall my anti-virus....today I wrote them a new fresh ticket stating my problem, explaining what I have tried so far and that I really need their help. The reply I got was basically, they are not the developers, they dont change the game, if I want to submit a feedback I can go to <link> otherwise have a nice day, gg wp.

That kind of killed it for me, I've been fighting this stuff for so long and they just cant be assed to even offer their help.

Maybe I'm burned out, I dont know. It just really bums me out, in addition to the ongoing disconnects, the massive amount of unadressed bugs, the slow turning of gears, the lack of proper balance, and the list goes on and on and on.

Maybe I just need a break.

Just feel a bit of disappointed in a game that was really really fun

[SavoirFaire]

1> The repair kits suck. The Atom Shop ones repair to 100%, and still need a bench to be used.

That... is unexplainable in the level of stupidity. Paying 10 atoms for some easy to find in-game mats. There has to be a way to repair in the field too, another button somewhere. No company would do something like that.

It's a double XP weekend for those still playing, and it seems to be double from EVERYTHING, not just kills. Swear I was getting 1200 on a few quests I was finishing up. Finally a need to do daily quests, which seem to oddly be... different per server? I never really messed with this that much, but there aren't that many that appear to be always active.

[Endus]

That... is unexplainable in the level of stupidity. Paying 10 atoms for some easy to find in-game mats. There has to be a way to repair in the field too, another button somewhere. No company would do something like that.

The best explanation I can think of is that some corporate mucky-muck ordered some gameplay boosts for the ATOM shop, and this was the devs' response: an option so deliberately shitty it technically means they're following orders but it won't affect game experience for users.

[Very Tired]

There really shouldn't be a reason for most of the playerbase to even need a double exp weekend. You should already have all your perks and SPECIAL states lined up so leveling up is pretty pointless for things other than bragging rights. In fact, the game even punishes you for being a higher level when deciding how many caps you lose when you die in pvp. And when deciding how broken your pvp damage is scaled when fighting a lower level.