Fallout 76 BETA feedback

Heartwood

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A short feedback report:

I pre ordered the game back in august and just got access to the beta servers for a couple of hours.

Update - 2nd Playtest done today

Took me a while to dig through all the functions and now i feel more confident. Here is the updated list:

Currency and it's function

# You have 2 currencies, the usual caps and a new atomic achievement-like one

--> caps are needed for FAST TRAVELING. Like 2-8 caps for a small jump to another location. Your camp is free of charge (i think with a greater radius attached)
--> atomic "coins" can be traded in like store credit for gestures, cosmetics and other stuff

Comment: At first, i thought caps were atomic coins and was angry about having to pay for fast travel. Now its alright, as you find some caps here and there and can sell your stuff, too.

Other players

# Still a mixed bag

I did an event, which demanded us to gather fireflies and turn them in at a light house lamp. A timer was attached to the event. Some random guy blocked me at times and all he managed was to gather 1 ("one") fly while i was depositing 19. We had to do 50. After 2 minutes, we ran out fo time and i had another 22, leaving my hopes on him and his ability to gather the last 8 and turn those in.

Guess what happened. He came too late and did not put in anything. We lost the event = 1/5 of level exp, 5-10 random items, 1-15 caps and maybe more. Thanks to him, we also got double the monster spawns and lost time fighting them, as he also managed to lack behind in dmg dealing value. So after we lost the event, he stood before me and hit me with his weapon. MAYBE the first hit does not count towards aggressive behaviour: This is based on the first ever encounter; i sometimes got staggered while he was running into or past me or maybe attacked me. This happened a couple of times and could have been due to running into me. Either way, in that moment i thought it was done by an attack, to justify me attacking him ...

That's why i hit him back 8 times, killed him, took all his loot and went back to my nearby camp with around 100 lbs worth of stuff.

Overall Gameplay

# Get used to it and it feels like a Fallout

It really did. After 2 hours, i had relocated my camp, build a small new one, ran into super mutants and axed them, helped a player with shelter indirectly through my camp walls and had a bad event with a pk end in my favor.

While leveling up you get 1 new stat to choose and sometimes a pack of cards. After 7 levels, my character finally starts to take shape and this was sorely missing!

Verdict

# If you can manage to get through the first levels, the game turns out to be better. Graphics on PS4 look pretty and with higher levels come more human like enemies (semi ghouls with guns, super mutants so far). These act a little more like the good old raider npcs.

So far we had a rough start with 6/10 and i will say its a 7/10 with potential for more.

Things that hold back the verdict:

- Big story/ big picture still to unfold
- Higher level perks and gameplay are crucial for the longlivity of the game
- PvP has not yet been experienced too well. You receive reduced dmg when NOT hitting back, but if this is enough to spare you the experience of being hunted and killed over and over again, i dont know
- Will holotape voices and robots be enough human interaction for a satisfying Fallout experience?
- Can you solo all the content or is group gameplay against bosses or other groups intuitive enough to not hold you back?
- Will it run smoothly? Currently, you sometimes sprint and run into loading issues, which slow you down noticeably and still drain your stamina. Other times, you look into a container only to see a loading arrow, as the server needs to update the world. Most of the time there is nothing in it, so i use it as an indicator for "nothing here, move on".

------

After an hour playtime, i highly recommed waiting for the game release and or cancelling the pre order. The game feels like a 60% Fallout 4 with better graphics and loses it's charme due to the empty world and multiplayer function.

- Other players freely talking over mic and breaking immersion for you (you can see their "speaking" symbol from afar and hear ALL of their noises...)
- Other players walzing over enemies you are engaging with or already killed and looted all enemies before you
- Due to other players, enemies respawn really fast and this breaks with my personal game play style, where i kill, search and mark as "cleared"
- No npcs in the world who talk to you other than some robots or holotapes. It feels way too empty
- Stat system lets you put 1 point into a stat and then everything else happens after each level. You cannot build a specialist at lvl 1, you literally walk out with one "2" stat and all else on "1"
- Occassional, you find big chests here and there, filled with 10+ items, making usual loot bags seem trivial. The difference might be due to the "wear" system and you needing more res. to repair.
- VATS (which i personally never use due to melee only style) does not stop time, but auto aims for you
- no day time skipping through sleeping due to online mode
- sleeping is now a "channeled" heal as long as you stay in bed
- haven't figured out building; getting resoruces


+ graphics
+ perks seem a little more refined, if you get the level to unlock them
+ animations are richer
+ more weapons
+ New live events (monster spawns at a location with a timed quest)


+/- Stats on "1" makes you mediocre at everything. Skill cards define your role (at least on lvl 1-5)
+/- Building structures is fluently and got a new interface, but you cannot interact with resources like in F4 (no yellow marked wood to cut or otherwise objects to scrap)
+/- other people going their own way after a while but then the world feels completely empty and depressing


= no Fallout 5, hype is gone.
 
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supitza

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Hello! While I disagree with some of the issues you had with the game, I have a few of my own to add to the list.
It was never meant to be Fallout 5 - nobody ever claimed it would be. They wanted to do a multiplayer Fallout game, and they announced it as such from the get-go. I feel that most of the issues that people have with the game are because they're judging it as "Fallout 5".
The world is absolutely brimming with stuff to do: it's just not human NPCs, but robots, ghouls, super mutants, holotapes, letters, notes etc. I've constantly had my quest log full with tons of holotapes to listen to while I explored.
Yes, there were people around, but... it's a multiplayer game.
My biggest issues are the frame drops and the fact that the graphics are not up to 2018 standards. Also, there's no 21:9 support yet (they'll do it post-launch), so I had to run the game in windowed mode.
Otherwise, the game is awesome. Just as I expected it to be.
 

Heartwood

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because they're judging it as "Fallout 5".
Absolutely! Good point. Then again, it is the next Fallout game and it was presented to me as THE new project. There was no talk of another Fallout game in the making, so i assumed that this is it.

The feeling of emptyness is based on what it really felt like while playing. There is no city you can return to, no characters to talk to. After so many Fallout games, this is the first one to come across this way.

In comparison: Fallout 3 hooked me for days and nights, Fallout 4 hooked me equally, Fallout 76's first hour alienated this completely. I wanted to turn off the game. This happens when a game does not deliver. I rank it 6/10 currently and hope i am dead wrong, cause i want it to be great.
 
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Ganji

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Tbh, I will try it out. Might be interesting experiment to focus on exploring and combat, then quest narrative. Might be good game to jump in, shoot some stuff and log out.
+ It is MMO, If they want they can add npc's and quest lines, if the demand will be huge. Maybe it was plan all along, to start in barren world, and add stuff as we go.
Also the live action trailer was epic.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5IcqE8kT3KA
 

supitza

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Absolutely! Good point. Then again, it is the next Fallout game and it was presented to me as THE new project. There was no talk of another Fallout game in the making, so i assumed that this is it.
Yep, I was in the same boat, but it kind of grew on me.
Right now Bethesda is working on Starfield, as far as I know, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed for Fallout 5, whenever it will come.
To everybody that's saying that 76 is straying from what Fallout "actually is", remember that the highest grossing title in the Fallout franchise is Fallout Shelter. Fallout-freaking-Shelter. Can't blame Bethesda for wanting to get their fingers in the online survival jar, given the popularity this genre's been having for the last few years. Hope the game will be well received, so they can afford to keep improving it post-release.
Meanwhile, if you haven't given up on FO76 completely yet, let me know if you're going to play the next BETA, we could team up and see if co-op is any fun!
 

Lorddarthvik

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After watching an hour long stream of it, I got really mixed feelings about this.
(I didn't get to play it as I promised myself I wouldn't pre-order anything unless I played a full-on demo of it first, after the disappointment of Mafia2 and later NMS)

When it was announced, I really didn't like the idea of an empty directionless open-world Fallout MMO, but watching the stream it slowly grew on me.
There were some very awkward and un-fallout-like moments, like random chat voices suddenly popping up from other players, your generic MMO player running around in only his pants flailing around with a hatchet, a guy in silly colorful clothes that reeked of "this was made to be bought with microtransactions" was emoting hearts while having a heart over his head like in friggin Sims....
Also when I heard the streamer say "oh, my Survival Meter is low, I need to drink", my heart sank a little more. I like having survival elements in Fallout, like thirst and hunger, managing carry weight and such, but it never simply meant keeping a bar filled up like it does in crappy "traditional" survival games.
On the other hand, the game looked pretty, the sounds and music made for a good atmosphere, and the constant flow of audio logs and notes made up for the lack of traditional quest givers. Kinda.

It doesn't seem to be the Fallout game I would want, but I can imagine myself spending some time in that world, looking for stuff, trying to solve "quests" and such, as long as other players don't troll me too hard. I still haven't seen how much abuse one can get from the PVP system, and if kill-stealing/loot-stealing is really a huge issue.

I would have bought this game after release day if it were on Steam, where I know I can get a refund if I find it to be trash, but I don't trust Bethesda with that. How could I when they can't even get a friggin clock to show the right numbers in their own launcher...
I will probably get this game, if it falls flat on it's face upon release and gets it's price cut by at least half for Christmas. Otherwise I'll just skip it.

Anyways, BETHESDA:
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RSz323ziOCU
 

Montoya

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Ive got mixed feelings on this.

I was so excited when the game loaded up, but then like some of you, the initial excitement was quickly ruined by open mics asking "Hello? HELLOOOOOO? CAN ANYBODY HEAR ME?"

Bitch please shut up and let me listen to the opening audio from the Overseer!

Instead of hearing the opening message I was looking around for ways to mute the people around me.

Is push to talk being a default really a tough feature to consider?

I have nothing much new to add that has not been said above, but I need to shift out of "this is Fallout 4 with friends" to "this is a survival game that looks like Fallout".
 

Ganji

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but who actually likes doing quests in MMO's? Honestly?
I am kinda looking forward just exploring, shooting stuff, looting stuff and get some exp doing so. Concept is not that bad imo. We will see.
 
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Lorddarthvik

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but who actually likes doing quests in MMO's? Honestly?
I am kinda looking forward just exploring, shooting stuff, looting stuff and get some exp doing so. Concept is not that bad imo. We will see.
Honestly? Me, my wife, and the 3 other ppl we played WoW regularly together for like 4 years doing the quest chains and enjoying the storylines and world building. Otherwise it would be like any other shitty copy-pasted MMO with a different skin. For example, The Elder Scrolls Online has literally Nothing for you to do or discover outside of doing quests... If you ignore the quests, it's just a bunch of generic NPCs running around in a huge lifeless world and there is no point to it...
But I get what you mean. Sometimes it's just nice to stroll through a familiar world and shoot and loot stuff without any quest markers to follow.
I hope this new The Forest:Fallout-skin edition turns out to be a good game for that lol
 

Ganji

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Honestly? Me, my wife, and the 3 other ppl we played WoW regularly together for like 4 years doing the quest chains and enjoying the storylines and world building. Otherwise it would be like any other shitty copy-pasted MMO with a different skin. For example, The Elder Scrolls Online has literally Nothing for you to do or discover outside of doing quests... If you ignore the quests, it's just a bunch of generic NPCs running around in a huge lifeless world and there is no point to it...
But I get what you mean. Sometimes it's just nice to stroll through a familiar world and shoot and loot stuff without any quest markers to follow.
I hope this new The Forest:Fallout-skin edition turns out to be a good game for that lol
Well with WoW and Eso the highlight for me was doing dungeons and raids. There were very few quests in ESO that are really engaging, most of the time you will just fast forward trough it. Hell even if story is good, like in Star Wars Old Republic, you can do the same quest only that many times, you just might watch cool cut scenes there for the most part.
IMO not many games, where questing is actually fun and refreshing.
 

Bruttle

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Normally, I am careful not to judge based on beta testing. Too many things can happen before release. In this case though the release is 2 weeks away. That means the beta isn't about looking for problems. It's about identifying how bad things get when more than 2 people play simultaneously. It's a quantity test and not a quality test. That said, two things have really stood out about the feedback.

The first is that Bethesda, if nothing else, has balls. The terms "sandbox" and "player driven" have been a joke for a while. They're buzzwords used to excuse a glaring lack of content. It's part of why the MMO genre has been so much of a failure lately. It's like the movie "Catwoman". They made an absolute shit movie and when it flopped, claimed the audience wasn't receptive to superhero movies. The MMO world has been pumping out shit for years now and blaming lack of sales on a failed genre. Of course it has nothing to do with a complete lack quality content or innovation.

Now in this case, I understand that innovation requires trying new things. It requires that people forget what can't be done and try for something impossible. The thing I don't understand though, is how innovation can be achieved by subtracting everything that could be considered "content". That takes balls. It's kind of like that giant damn chocolate easter bunny when you were a kid. You thought you were buying a massive chunk of chocolate, not a paper thin chocolate shell shaped like a bunny. Yep. I'm still bitter about that one...

The second thing actually makes me happy. It seems like ever since EA decided to go full R.Kelly on the gaming community, more people have been taking a stand. Criticism has been openly stated and the pitchfork brigade has been out in force. Maybe gamers have finally had enough of this crap. Maybe the line has finally been drawn. Maybe the gaming industry will finally stop freefalling down this hole. Maybe all this criticism will one day lead to a future where game developers finally realize that they need to create games with actual content if they want to succeed.

Or, I could just be reading far too much into it. Maybe people are only complaining because it's the cool thing to do. Maybe Fallout 76 will actually be good. Maybe Catwoman was actually a really good movie and I just never gave it a chance...
 

Heartwood

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It looked like a bunch of dreamers took their chance with projects, had huge success over the years, then copy paste workers tried to jump on the train finally reaching the eyes of money makers, who took controle to business the shit out of new ideas, hamstringing new upcoming ideas in exchange for more money.

Then the age of kickstarter enabled dreamers to work again, cause it is all about money... until they hit a wall with quality or design and needed more money. Rarely, a project comes through and shows us greatness again.

The Fallout series upset me for years with their old enginge and the bad combat system, lack of melee options and terrible mechanics. The only thing keeping it going was the atmosphere of the world and people living in it + the character development with perks and stats.

I don't need a 20 y old Jack, force pulling his snot and spitting it into the mic when i am entering a new game. I don't need a symbol above other player's heads, telling me something about their state of boredom.

I need a new Fallout 5, damn it! 😃
 

Ganji

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Me and every single person that bought Fallout games until now. And Elder Scrolls.

Its the RP part of RPG.
Again there is difference between quests in MMO's and Singleplayer games.
Only MMO games have decent quest system Star Wars Old Republic and Elder Scrols Online, all rest are crap.
I have played the crap out of WoW, quests are crap in that game imo, who ever reads that wall of text, go kill 20 wolfs, because reasons.
 
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