Fallout 76

[maflynn]

Wow, I made it level 700
I didn't think it was going to happen and I wasn't trying perse. As I mentioned above, I was ok with hitting level 685, then when that came and when I was shooting for 690, and I saw that 700 was in striking distance and hit it hard this morning.
It takes about 2.5 play throughs of West-Tek lab to level up from where I am (low level players need less XP to level up), so I did about 7 passes through west-tek and boom here I am.

 

[maflynn]

So I bought a new expensive weapon only to find out that it performs a lot worse then I already have. I spent 20,000 caps on it, and normally would take me two to three weeks to make that up. I put out my vending machine and made that back in a weekend.

I'm pretty happy about that, and I don't mind blowing so much money, simply because making caps is not hard in the game. I did try to improve my situation.

I'm a high level but I've never really pushed to get an overly powerful weapon. What I have is good enough for me, but the one time I tried to improve and boom, I failed ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

[Huntn]

So I bought a new expensive weapon only to find out that it performs a lot worse then I already have. I spent 20,000 caps on it, and normally would take me two to three weeks to make that up. I put out my vending machine and made that back in a weekend.

I'm pretty happy about that, and I don't mind blowing so much money, simply because making caps is not hard in the game. I did try to improve my situation.

I'm a high level but I've never really pushed to get an overly powerful weapon. What I have is good enough for me, but the one time I tried to improve and boom, I failed ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

So the gun you got ripped off with, had better stats, but it performs worse?

 

[maflynn]

So the gun you got ripped off with, had better stats, but it performs worse?

It wasn't ripped off - buyer beware. They were offering an Anti-Armor railway rifle for 20,000 caps. An very high amount (max caps is 40k), but not terribly over the top - not when you consider who quickly you can make caps.

So I thought given the stats, it would be a much better upgrade to what I have, and it's not bad, but not as much of an upgrade as I thought. I'm keeping it, at least for now.

Many players over level 500, have really potent weapons and I have more or less decent weapons. I'm looking to improve what I have. The railway was that attempt, but its not working out like that - you win some, you lose some ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

[maflynn]

I'm kind of liking the Anti-Armor railway rifle.

One thing I'm noticing in Fallout 76, is that the game is much more event driven then story-driven. BOS steel dawn/rain is the last content update. 2022 and I think 2023 have new events added. Even the Pitt expansion is more of a team event, i.e., a bigger version of Daily Ops.

My stealthy commando build is ill suited for events, mostly because you go immediately into [Danger] so any damage increasing stealth perks are a not effective.

I'm starting to change my build to go back to rifleman with the railway and using a heavy gun as well.

 

[maflynn]

Big news in Fallout 76 world - today a patch is landing to get rid of legacy Legacy weapons are a class of weapons that you could get in game that were just too powerful. Combinations of legendary effects, such as anti-armor + explosive. Its been a long time coming and most people are extremely happy about this.

The problem with legacy weapons is that put down even end game bosses so quick it denies other players credit for particpating. In Scorched earth, you need to score about 1,000 damage points to earn credit. Hard to do, when someone trots in with a legacy weapon and put the Scorchbeast quick down in 5 seconds.

 

[maflynn]

Interesting little tidbit:
Fallout 76 Grew to 13.5 Million Players in 2022, Up 2.5 Million YoY

 

[maflynn]

I've not played Fallout 76 now for about a month, but I am still following the news. My sabbatical away from 76 is only temporary. I mentioned in the fallout 4 thread that Bethesda is more focused on new events instead of RPG content.

One of the prior updates that was mentioned was expeditions, going off site to another location, in this case the Pitt. Many of us thought it was going to be sort of like the Far Harbor DLC but no, its just a daily ops, where you and your team goes in and does a set goal. For expeditions that goal is fairly set, i.e., mostly the same each play through. The reward is stamps.

The funny thing, is that when it was rolled out, Bethesda set the bar so high that people by and large stopped doing the expeditions. What I mean is that you need "fuel" to fly to the Pitt. you do quests to be rewarded the fuel. That takes about 30 to 40 minutes. Soloing the expedition as I do, the expedition takes about 45 minutes, if not over an hour. So now you're talking about almost 2 hour commitment when playing. The other downside is you can only do these side quests for fuel once a day. So you can only lead an expedition or solo it once a day. The rewards are paltry as well getting only single digits worth of stamps, but item costs are in the hundreds and thousands. Its no wonder people don't play it - its not worth their time.

Well with the new proposed change in the test server they removed the fuel requirement and, raised how many stamps you can get and lowered the stamp prices for items as well.

For me, as I said, I really wanting a Far Harbor setting where you can explore, do some side quests, read about the lore - do fallout-y stuff. So now that its just a daily ops (which I don't do anyways), I've rarely done an expedition.

I'll see if Fallout 76 still grabs me, once the new season starts (something like June), but so far there's nothing happening to drawing me back to the game

 

[Huntn]

I realize I am repeating myself, but I did not like the theme park nature of F76. F4 in contrast is a pure world, where from the sky you are not getting announcements from the developer about today’s event. It tends to break my immersion.

 

[panjandrum]

I keep hoping that FO76 will someday get a fully single player mode or a true private server that I would run (i.e. like multi-player games used to be). I tried it, but I have zero interest in it the way it stands, and no way will I ever subscribe to a service in order to get a semi-private server. Like many other bugthesda titles, if it ultimately becomes the game it should have been at release that success will be at the hands of the modders in the fanbase.

 

[maflynn]

I keep hoping that FO76 will someday get a fully single player mode

People have raised this question on Bethesda's forum (when it existed), and reddit and its always soundly rejected. Not that people don't want it, but its just never going to happen - no way will they provide a way to self host the game. Especially when they provide a solo/single player option with their subscription. I know you're against that, which is fine, but I just point out that they already provided a single player option - just not the one you were hoping for

that success will be at the hands of the modders in the fanbase.

Modding 76 is anemic at best. Bethesda has not really supported modders, and have banned players who changed the game/weaons (closer to cheaters then upgrading/improving the visuals). Personally I and many other players avoid touching any mods out of fear of repercussions from Bethesda.

 

[Huntn]

People have raised this question on Bethesda's forum (when it existed), and reddit and its always soundly rejected. Not that people don't want it, but its just never going to happen - no way will they provide a way to self host the game. Especially when they provide a solo/single player option with their subscription. I know you're against that, which is fine, but I just point out that they already provided a single player option - just not the one you were hoping for

Modding 76 is anemic at best. Bethesda has not really supported modders, and have banned players who changed the game/weaons (closer to cheaters then upgrading/improving the visuals). Personally I and many other players avoid touching any mods out of fear of repercussions from Bethesda.

My perception is that F4 as a stand alone game, Bethesda could be generous with moders and it did not hurt their bottom line, unless they later decided to monetize modding? Their Mod Club or whatever they called it had some pay items but most of the sponsored Bethesda mods are free. It was the best because some of the content mods are outstanding. 🤔 It made a world of difference.

F76 is an online game, I can see as a model dependent on subscriptions, they would hold it closer and maintain a higher level of control.

 

[maflynn]

This weekend is double XP weekend, its generally one of my favorite timed events. It starts on Thursday at noon (EST) and ends at noon Monday. With the right build, and equipment, perks, and chems. You can boost your XP close to the 2,000 mark for each kill. Its my favorite way to level up. I'm hoping to go to level 740 to 760 this weekend.

I pop into the private world, and do multiple runs at WestTek Labs. I have my player configured that two runs will trigger an upgrade.

There's little else to play for, I've completed the Season, and the other events occurring don't entice me.

 

[maflynn]

Double XP weekend is wrapping up, it ends at noon EST, though my playtime has largely come to an end.

I wen from level 740 to 770, I'm largely happy with results. I probably could have upped my grinding game and played all day yesterday to get me up to level 780 but I have a life to live. At some point, continually going through West-Tek gets tiring.

I'm not sure what the future will bring for the game, the season is over for me, I have another month before the new season starts. I still have fun, but I'm playing other games as well.

 

[maflynn]

Another double XP weekend, its the final weekend for the current season. The new season starts up Tuesday. Since my last post (in May), I've largely not played the game. Now that we have a double XP weekend upon us, I'm spending time. My goal (which has no impact on the game) is to go from the 770s and hit level 800. After spending time yesterday and this morning. That goal should be realized by tomorrow morning.

Bethesda released a video of the next expedition. Given their slow place and frequent delays, if I was to guess when this would be released, I'd say it will be initially announced for December, but then delayed until June of 2024

Overall, the game has largely run its course for me. I'm still invested in it, but I'll not be renewing the subscription when that expires later this year and I'll be playing this less and less.

The issue for me, as I stated in the past is no new RPG type content. The past two years has been just new events, they're good but after a while, there's only so many times you can do them. Even the rewards are such that once you get to a certain level you have the best armor/weapons and there's no reason to grind for better.

 

[imrazor]

I'm thinking about subscribing to F76. I've kind of run out of things to do and places to go in Fallout 4, and it would be nice to have a whole different region to explore. That said, I'm not into the social aspects of MMOs (largely due to schedule conflicts and the, um, more toxic members of MMO communities) but it seems the subscription version offers a private server option. That does have some appeal for me. Any thoughts if that's a decent experience?

 

[maflynn]

I'm thinking about subscribing to F76

Here's my $.02 who's played the game since day 1, though I did take a break in 2019.

The original main quest is pretty fun, and is mostly meant to be a single player type experience, though teams of people can and do that, particularly when you get ready to launch a nuke. Bethesda a few years ago, released a major update called the wastelanders where human NPCs were added back into the game, prior to that, it was only creatures and robots - it made the world feel too empty. Now its great, and that wastelanders DLC added another new main quest. I like doing it in order, first the OG, then the wastelanders.

As for subscribing to Fallout 1st. The benefits are that you get 1,600 atoms a month, useful for cosmetics and camp items. A survival tent, useful as a free fast travel point, as fast travel costs caps (not a lot). It gives you unlimited scrap and ammo (two different storage boxes). The game has a limitation of 1,200 lbs of storage, and you scrap to craft/repair/build and yes ammo has weight. So removing that from the limitation is actually the major benefit of the subscription. Finally you have a private world, where you can play alone or with up to 8 of your friends.

For quest stuff, farming stuff, i.e., copper/acids or even farming XP, the private world is killer, its great. For events, I'm in the public world. Bethesda offers various timed events, where most of the players go to a certain area and fight against something. It can be fun, and the timed events offer a freshness at times.

Finally I fell the FO76 community is awesome. Check out the Fallout 76 reddit there's a lot of newbies joining the game, and its a fun community.

 

[maflynn]

In other news, I hit level 800, pretty pleased with my progress. I suppose I could push the envelope and get to level 810, or even 820 by tomorrow, but I don't feel like spending all of my time just going through West-Tek over and over.

 

[maflynn]

I have to say there's certain weekends that I really enjoy playing FO76. Double XP is one of them, though after a while, double XP weekends feel very grindy. I set my player up as a bloodied build, and then go to town at the West-Tek site, and play continusaly through. The location is instanced so you can just keep going through it w/o any cool down period.

I was in the low 800s, something like 807 (I forget) and thanks to this weekend, I zoomed up to 840. It ends at noon, I may get another chance to play FO76 but highly unlikely.

I burned through 15,000 rounds of ammo and it was fun dealing with the super mutants.

 

[maflynn]

I took a break from Fallout 76 to play Starfield, I came back in February. Its nice to see the game is still going strong. It has transformed quite a bit since its release, but it has developed a good community. Many online games are filled with toxic players but by and large the fallout 76 community is very helpful. Yeah there's toxic players but overall its a good experience.

Bethesda keeps updating and adding content, mostly expeditions but the up and coming update is supposed to add more RPG type content which I'm looking forward too

I almost always play in a private world solo, but the past month its been on the public servers doing events and what not and its been fun.

I tried crafting some new weapons and I burned through all of the legendary modules needed to craft legendary items (I blew through 400) and I've been trying to rebuild that amount - I'm up to 130. This is where the grind takes place but its been an enjoyable ride

 

[imrazor]

I took a break from Fallout 76 to play Starfield, I came back in February. Its nice to see the game is still going strong. It has transformed quite a bit since its release, but it has developed a good community. Many online games are filled with toxic players but by and large the fallout 76 community is very helpful. Yeah there's toxic players but overall its a good experience.

Bethesda keeps updating and adding content, mostly expeditions but the up and coming update is supposed to add more RPG type content which I'm looking forward too

I almost always play in a private world solo, but the past month its been on the public servers doing events and what not and its been fun.

I tried crafting some new weapons and I burned through all of the legendary modules needed to craft legendary items (I blew through 400) and I've been trying to rebuild that amount - I'm up to 130. This is where the grind takes place but its been an enjoyable ride

I've also been re-visiting Fallout 76 after an absence of 3 or 4 months. Like you, I've mostly been playing solo on a private server. Toxicity isn't the problem I have with the public servers (though it can be an issue.) It's just immersion breaking for me to run into some of the really crazy "CAMPs" of some high-level players. There's no way something like that could come together in a "real wasteland" LOL. I'll probably explore Appalachia moderately thoroughly before giving the public servers another chance.

 

[maflynn]

I've mostly been playing solo on a private server. Toxicity

I've actually been in the public servers lately. I recently scored a Enclave Plasma Rifle with the flamer attached. I've been grinding for that weapon, on and off for a very long time. I have the rifle without the attachment. You cannot craft the flamer mod, so you have to buy the mod a robot vendor and the percentage of that appearing is something like .001%

I saw a player selling one for a boatload of caps but I snagged it (20,000 caps) so now I've been grinding to get that money back. I'm inching my way there, my cap balance is 28k. About 10k more to make up

 

[Huntn]

Another double XP weekend, its the final weekend for the current season. The new season starts up Tuesday. Since my last post (in May), I've largely not played the game. Now that we have a double XP weekend upon us, I'm spending time. My goal (which has no impact on the game) is to go from the 770s and hit level 800. After spending time yesterday and this morning. That goal should be realized by tomorrow morning.

Bethesda released a video of the next expedition. Given their slow place and frequent delays, if I was to guess when this would be released, I'd say it will be initially announced for December, but then delayed until June of 2024

Overall, the game has largely run its course for me. I'm still invested in it, but I'll not be renewing the subscription when that expires later this year and I'll be playing this less and less.

The issue for me, as I stated in the past is no new RPG type content. The past two years has been just new events, they're good but after a while, there's only so many times you can do them. Even the rewards are such that once you get to a certain level you have the best armor/weapons and there's no reason to grind for better.

I’ve sworn off online theme parks. What really bugged me, with F76 was not having a permanent base location, subject to server availability.

 

[maflynn]

What really bugged me, with F76 was not having a permanent base location, subject to server availability.

i can understand that, but being an online game, your favorite location may be someone else's favorite location. With 76 you can have multiple camps now - only one active at a time, but if my location isn't around, I'll switch camps to my other ones. I have one location that is quite popular, but the other two are nor, so I'm pretty much guaranteed to have a camp. Now that's in the public servers. With fallout 1st, you can have a private world, and so your camp is as permanent as you choose

As I said, because I'm cap poor, I'm in the public servers doing events to generate caps and legendary gear.

 

[imrazor]

I’ve sworn off online theme parks. What really bugged me, with F76 was not having a permanent base location, subject to server availability.

It's an expensive option, but if you 'rent' a private server your base will never conflict with anyone else's. Of course, that costs real world money, and it is a truly solo experience. That may not be an option if you value any of the social aspects of the game (I don't much myself.)