Unfortunately, opinions have not improved. Glitches, poor mechanics, and inconsistent updates have led to a community of frustrated players. In this article we discuss ten features Bethesda should seriously consider to create a happy fan base.
1. NPC’s, bring them back.
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NPC's like Moira Brown in Fallout 3 added a lot of depth and personality to the Fallout games.
A world populated only by enemies, robots, and the recent (looking) dead creates an environment that feels like humanity is not just losing the war for survival. Rather, it feels like humanity has already lost. Game over, man.
The struggle to crawl back from the ravages of nuclear war has always played a central role in the personality of the Fallout games. So have the many colorful characters we have met, fought, or traveled with along the way. Without other survivors to interact with, Fallout 76 feels empty; not just of people, but also of purpose. Instead, Bethesda envisions players filling those roles. Which brings us to…
2. Better player interaction mechanics
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Fallout 76 players need interaction options other than just waving to and shooting at each other.
Supply and demand are, arguably, the foundation of any community. By giving characters the ability to build, trade, and sell, you can forgive Bethesda for thinking that would be enough for players to create online trade hubs. Unfortunately, it hasn’t worked out that way so far.
Giving players options for true commerce, such as the ability to build a storefront (as other games do), would be a good start to fixing this. Being able to provide specific trade services, such as a barber shop, would go a long way to providing a reason for players to gather together for the purpose of mutual benefit. As it is, the only option is to see if someone wants to do a person -to-person trade dialog. And this process is so clunky, most people trade by simply dropping gear on the ground!
3. Level scaling of enemies
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Deathclaws are tough enough on their own...we don't need them leveled even higher!
Back in the days of Fallout 3 and Fallout New Vegas, I would save early and often, because death at the hands of something big and ugly was a real and constant danger. Bullets… hurt! (Who woulda thunk?) I also quickly learned which areas were a special flavor of murder by Deathclaw.
By contrast, Fallout 76 has opted for more random level scaling, which is based on the highest-level player in the zone. The same areas can, and will, spawn different types of enemies on your next visit. The result is a roll of the proverbial dice: resulting in anything from cake walk combat to sentry bots blasting you into hamburger. Implementing a leveled scaling process would be a strong step toward creating a consistent sense of challenge and victory.
4. Better endgame
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A final battle with the Scorchbeast Queen makes up most of Fallout 76's lacking "endgame".
You have finally beaten and farmed the Scorchbeast Queen! Congratulations! Now what?
Darned if I know. From here, most people drift away like we did. That, or they go into full troll mode just to find something new to do. Having a better quest line would provide a framework for continued play. You would think Bethesda would have learned its lesson from Fallout 4: “The quest to… ah, who cares? Just go shoot something. “
5. To PVP or not to PVP
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Fallout 76's PVP system doesn't go far enough in protecting players who don't want to participate.
In Fallout 76, Bethesda opted for a strange hybrid system of player vs. player by mutual agreement. Sort of a “Hi. I’m going to try and kill you. Wanna play?” This works better in theory than in practice. Yes, you only take 10% damage unless and until you agree to fight, or you travel into one of the PVP zones. But when the guy shooting you is level 100 with an Assassin legendary mod on his gun, and you are only level 10, reduced damage is still more than enough to reduce you to hamburger meat.
Game designers (You… yes, you!), please keep PVP contained to designated areas and PVP servers. Some like it. Some don’t. Some just go trolling when they are bored. Open PVP? Not a good business strategy for recruiting new players, I suspect.
6. Fix inventory options
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Players actually sent a box of bobby pins to Bethesda Studios with the message "Weigh these."
Ten bobby bins weigh one pound. You can sell plans you have not learned to vendors, but you cannot sell extra copies of plans you have already learned. You can accidently auto-scrap rare critical crafting components. I could go on.
Foraging, and by extension inventory management, is a critical aspect of the Fallout games. The inventory system badly needs a complete overhaul. . Either that or explain what the heck those bobby pins are made of that make them so darned heavy!
7. Quest log UI’s
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The Pip Boy may be bulky, but it's quest notifications shouldn't take up half the screen!
When you're in a team, the left-hand side of your screen displays - in very large letters - the quests of both you and your team leader . There is zero player control over the font size or over what you see regarding your team leader's quests. So, you need to either get the team leader to disable their quests in their pip-boy, or you just live with a quarter of your screen real estate lost to text. Some of it even covers important information in the lower left-hand corner, like your ammo count! Having an option to scale that wall of text down to a more manageable size would help my full-sized monitor feel less like a Pip-boy screen.
8. Bring back morality
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Great ethical decisions like the destruction of Megaton made Fallout 76's predecessors a real moral challenge.
Prior to Fallout 4, you could be a paragon of virtue, seeking to make the wastelands a better place. You could be someone who was just trying to survive, who lived in a grey zone doing both good and bad.You could even be a real scourge yourself! In Fallout 4, before the Nuka World DLC, the best you could hope for was a sarcastic “Yes, I will do this quest”, with your moral compass not really coming into play until you decided who to back. In Fallout 76, you have nothing like this at all.
Players want to feel like they are in the game world. Players like choices, and the ability to decide their character’s own destiny. Morality was awesome in the old titles. Please bring that back.
9. Server stability
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An online multiplayer game is nothing without stable servers.
Server instability is one of the frustrating quirks that gets more annoying late game, when you're out of normal quests.You have several Daily Quests, and either the server crashes or your client does! A crash is bad enough on its own, but it’s made worse because your Daily Quests disappear. and cannot get them again for twenty-four hours! I could go on.
Bethesda should move away from only allowing their hosted server instances. Individuals could host it, like Conan Exiles or 7 Days to Die allow. This would also open the door to the modding community, which is extremely limited in the present set-up. I'd gladly pay to be able to set-up my own FallOut 76 server that I could make available to friends, where I could mod in human NPC's. It's really the one thing that would have me running back to the game.
10. Dem glitches
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Here we see an enemy whose neck has been distorted by another one of Fallout 76's glitches.
Last but certainly not least, the many glitches have got to go. Gun sights being way off target. Enemies getting stuck on objects. The previously mentioned, and always appreciated, server crashes. While technically this isn’t a feature, it’s safe to say no other improvements are going to carry much weight until the gameplay itself is stable.
Mild-mannered journalist by day, and plotting dungeon master by night - James Hickey shares a great passion for both tabletop and video games of all kinds!
Gamer Since:
1999
Favorite Genre:
RPG
Currently Playing:
Rage 2
Top 3 Favorite Games:
Grand Theft Auto V, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, Mass Effect
