Fallout 76 » Discussions


Fallout 76: Long-Chapper Style!

Tags: #fallout76  #oh god why is Lis posting again  #didn't we get rid of her  #HOUSES  #CAMPS  #RUNNING 
  • December 23, 2018

    Hello all, long post sorry. 

    Honestly, it's been a while since I've posted anything. School + Work was insane this semester (who does full a full load of graduate work plus full time work? Only crazy Lis does). Anyway, my husband and I purchased Fallout 76 and...

    We've had some pretty crazy bugs. More him than me. He's had more severe crashes. We both had the "Kill Evan" bug. My bugs have been more minor, mostly visual glitches and the occasional removal from the server. I actually consider us pretty lucky, others seem to have it a lot worse. 

    I have also greatly enjoyed the game. I think I can see past the bugs, problems, and the probability that Bethesda are total noobs at online gaming (ESO is  not made by them, but we all remember what a hot mess that game was in the beginning?), to see the potential for this. 

    Here's what I don't like:

    1. Clearly the bugs - no one likes them, though on occasion, they have proven to be amusing. The worst bug we got was the damage bug. OMGERD! To see things you are almost killing suddenly get full health. We've both rage quit our server getting angry for that. The bug that bugs me (hehehe) the most is when my emoticons don't load. I've had that happen a few times and it renders me, unless I use chat or voice, unable to communicate intent to other players. I don't really like using voice chat as I'm a private person, so when the emoticons don't load, it bothers me. 

    2. The budget for C.A.M.P - my husband is suffering under this more than I am, as I managed to build my camp well under budget. This extends to the budget for the Stash, but I'm managing that better as well. 400 was too small, but 600 is working for now. I think they do plan on upgrading this in the future. 

    3. Legendary items - the drops tend to be awful. I mean cringe-worthy awful, so bad that my husband and I joke about them. I know they are random, but a junkie's rolling pin? Seriously? I know I wanted to play an angry Grandma type (that fell apart the moment my husband supervised my Character Creation and I thank him for that), but the legenedary drops are pretty bad, especially when you go through crap to kill the thing that had the item in the first place. I keeeeeeel Scorchbeast! YAY! Oh, a toaster, thank you, Bethesda, I needed a toaster, for the one spring. Thank you, for the spring. Granted, springs are life in this game, like water, canned dog food, duct tape, and screws. :P 

    4. Players that glitch or exploit the game - In single player games, I don't care if you want to EnchantoResto-loop yourself to Godly status, but doing it in a multiplayer environment is just lame. I smile whenever Bethesda catches those exploits and fixes them. Good for you, Bethesda! There was much satisfaction when the groans of excess carryweight radiated throughout all of Appalacchia after that patch took effect! Take that for glitching your way to 10,000 carryweight while I actually practiced sound inventory management! :D

    5. Quest markers - They can be rather confusing, leading you to the incorrect location. They also bug out when you're on a team, which leads to frustration. For example, sometimes, a quest won't complete for me, but it will for my husband and vis versa. 

    6. Events - Some are fun, some totally break the immersion experience for me. 

    7. Other players - Sometimes encountering them, as in above with the events, breaks the immersion, especially if they're doing something silly. But players will be in the "what I like category" too. I really hate the jerks who just shoot at you for no reason. We've both been killed a few times. I also dislike players who engage, kill me, and then logout of the server before we can seek revenge. Cowards!

    8. The Hud and UI - can sometimes get cluttered, but that could be me just needing to set some quests "inactive". This extends into the favorites and stuff. 

    9. Atomic shop - prices are high, I mean really, $20  for a set of skins? But... there are alternatives. 

    10. End game - I've just heard awful stories about it and I'm glad I'm not there yet. The rate I play, the endgame will hopefully be fixed. Fortune favors the slow and methodical in Fallout 76.

    11. No puppy - No dogmeat makes me sad. Grahm and his Wally Choo-Choo Brahman sort of make up for this. 

    12. Combat is clunky - This is noticed by my husband more than me, but he plays Call of Duty and Battlefield and is pretty good at shooters. He says the shoot box is screwy and I believe him. 

     

    Here's what I like: 

    1. The World - it's so beautiful. I've been to West Virginia and man, looking at the world was shocking. I can wander the game for hours just admiring its beauty. If that was all the game offered, I'd be happy. I guess I am not a complex person in that way. I mean isn't this beautiful? The god rays in the  mist, oh wow. 

    2. The lack of npcs - I know! People seem to complain about this, but I actually like it. It gives the sense of isolation that really  makes sense in a post-apocolyptic world. 

    3. Crafting - Fallout 4 is where I really started enjoying crafting in a game (rarely do it in Skyrim), and the process extends into Fallout 76. I enjoy discovering recipes, mods, plans, and creating new items. I also really like that you can't just become a expert craftsman until you perk it. Which leads into my next "like".

    4. Game encourages "roles" and teamwork - I play with my husband and I was surprised how quickly our gameplay styles and tactics began to compliment each others. He's a heavy gun, power armor, melee build. I'm primarily a scout/support build, light on my feet, often only sporting a Hazmat suit or leather armor, unless I'm in the Escavator Power Armor on a lone supply run. He will send me on scouting missions and I'll return with information on the enemy. Together, we devise a strategy. He holds the armor and weapon crafting perks, while I have the carryweight and support perks. I'm far more mobile (hehe, he's a hoarder, I'm not), so I often will lead enemies to him so he can blow them up. 

    5. Reading to obtain quests - I like that you have to dig a bit to find quests, though I can see how this becomes a problem if you don't like reading. 

    6. Mutations - Marsupial. Wow, what a mutation. The ability to jump and boost to carryweight. So what -4 intelligence, jumping over a deathclaw is awesome! 

    7. Environment - Different than world, I think. The idea that you can catch diseases from water and the air. Very cool. That you can interact with the environment, pick plants, hunt, etc. 

    8. Other Players - See, I don't totally hate people. Sometimes, you can meet just really nice people in this game. Trade plans, exchange ammo, give someone some water, work together to bring down a large monster, it can be very fun. 

    9. When there is no one around - I love isolation in games and there are quite a few long stretches in this game where you are very much alone. Contributes to a fun sense of dread. 

    10. Photomode - It really adds a nice dimension to taking screenshots. The filters are neat to play with. 

    11. Atoms and earning them - Easy to earn if you complete challenges, so you can get stuff at the Atomic shop. Don't buy atoms, earn them. Very easy to do so and rather fun to do some of the daily challenges. Husband and I have already made several purchases at the store and have not spent a single penny of real money on it. Just takes patience.

    12. Perks - Husband and I have not yet reached endgame, nor are we close. He's level 65 currently and I've just hit level 43. There are so many perks and really, quite a few totally different builds are possible. I love that shotguns are properly given their due in Fallout 76. What I enjoy is that there are a lot of choices so people can play in diverse styles. Granted, I see a lot of the same thing out there, however. Mostly Power armor, sledge melee. At first, I thought I was doing something wrong, but no, the game rewards perking and different styles can reach endgame. Good Doggy is my favorite, canned dog food healing almost half my health? Thank you, nom, nom, nom. 

    13. I don't feel rushed - A rushed endgame always bothers me, so I like that I can take my time. People may not like playing like this and I feel that sometimes this leads to some of the frustrations with this game.

    14. That vendors are limited - Probably an unpopular view, but I like this. Makes finding that needed plan or mod very special.

    15. The music. The soundtrack is great and the radio stations are very fun to listen too. Some old hits from Fallout 4, but lots of new ones. 

    16. C.A.M.P - very happy when I learned that 76 would have a camp building option. I adored settlement building in Fallout 4 and have made some pretty crazy settlements (Especially Hangman's Alley), so naturally, I have enjoyed exploring my creative side with the C.A.M.P function in Fallout 76. 

    I've had several camps so far. My first camp was a small structure next to the bridge just before the Overseer's camp. I built a structure on the water, was super happy and then one day I logged in to find that my camp was gone. This was prior to the patch that now gives you a warning. I was pretty pissed off, having consumed most of my resources to build, so my next camp took advantage of an existing structure instead. There are a ton of unmarked locations. For early game, I think using one of those structures as base model for your camp is a sound strategy, so you can save up resources for a camp in a more strategic location later in the game. Besides, the AI cannot destroy it. Tehehe. For about the first 20 levels, I used this location near the Moonshiner's Shack.

    I tried to make whatever structures I added to this location blend as seamlessly to the world as possible. Kept the garden very small and used matching materials. Was very proud of this camp and yes, you can build structures INSIDE the building. We found several more locations like this in the game, unmarked, but where  you can build your camp around existing structures. Probably, my final camp will go back in this direction. 

    Once I was past level 20 and my husband and I were beginning to delve into the more difficult regions of Appalacchia, we decided that our camps needed to be in more strategic locations. He settled on a small camp in the center of the Ashen Heap region, right next to the large extractor thing (oh boy, he regretted this later, scorchbeasts anyone?), so we needed my camp to be farther north, but definitely more east on the map. I went on a long walk through the Savage Divide before turning north towards the mountains that bordered the Savage Divide, The Mire, and Cranberry Bog. Just north of the large monorail ruins and Fort Defiance. My new camp is situated along the border of the three regions, near a Watchtower that spawns an assortment of vegetables and fruit. 

    The view of Cranberry Bog is insane. Again, when making camps, I tend to favor aesthetics and preserving the look of the world rather than it being a fortress of ugly. The camp overlooks the cliff on one side, so enemies only attack from three, making it easier to defend. I also, because I have the marsupial mutation, tend to make the entrance of my camp only accessible if I jump. Three turrets and a small farm finish it. I kept my camp like this for about 20 more levels. The location is amazing, very few enemy spawns, so it's isolated from attack and other players, but it gives incredible access to three regions of the map. 

    About 2 levels ago, my husband, over encumbered, decided to abandon is camp in the Ashen Heap and move his camp close to mine. Not very strategic, but he likes the location and knowing my desire to change my camps and find somewhere super pretty in Fallout 76 for my forever, I'm done, let me enjoy the view camp, he wanted to take advantage of the prime location. Our camps are pretty close now, his is just south of mine, along the cliff. 

    He did a great job. He sort of envisioned it as an isolated guns, armor, and weapons depot garage and made a portion of it look like a showroom, store, and then his living quarters upstairs with a separate shed for his generators and a small farm. He barely stayed below budget. 

    I, in the meantime, retooled my camp and made it smaller. I'll post a picture of that in a bit. I uploaded an older picture by mistake, so, lol, now I have to sign onto Fallout 76 just to take pictures. Darn, I don't even remember where I am on the map. Ah, damn. Well, here's the old picture anyway. I ended up removing the street oil lamps because it looked lame and so did the stop light. it blends better into the world now and I have a moo cow of my very own. 

    The camp is roughly half the size it was previously. I wanted to create a more "homey" shack feel. I'm curious if the game will open up more wall crafting options in the future, especially some of the "shack" walls from Fallout 4. 

    Yeah, so thanks for reading this. I know there is a lot of negativity surrounding this game, and don't misunderstand me, I am not looking at this game through rose-colored glasses by any stretch of the imagination. I definitely see the faults, but I wanted to share an experience with the game that was a more overall positive one. I am having fun. My husband and I get to play together. We get to explore, the world is stunning and some of the ideas are pretty revolutionary for a game that frankly is defying categorization. There are times, where I legit feel like I am playing a single-player game in a multiplayer universe and that is sooooo strange. I do not get that from ESO, which plays like a traditional MMO, looks like an MMO, feels like an MMO. Fallout 76 is very different. If they did something like this where I could feel like I'm playing Skyrim, but at the same time, I can play with my husband, damn, I'd never stop playing. That being said, the execution isn't clean. It's like a great idea, with clumsy implimentation, like a beautiful couture designed dress with bad seems. Hopefully  they'll fix things as time goes on. I guess, because of the nature of my profession, how I take really rough things and polish them, make a student sound better, I am more forgiving of the hard bumps along the way. Not excusing Bethesda, but I can really appreciate the potential creativity that is Fallout 76. I would say that I am, indeed, getting my money's worth from the game. Dollars paid, divided by hours invested, I'd say I'll hit the hour  investment I've done with Fallout 4 easily. 

    If people want, I'll post more photos and keep people up to date on my progress. We're poised to finish the Watoga Mayor for a day quest and the quest with the Escavator Power Armor. I have a level 35 set of the Escavator Power Armor that frankly, I use when I want to carry more items. I can also post my SPECIAL and some of my perk choices if people are interested. I don't metagame, nor do I exploit, so I've made some lousy choices, but I'm surviving. Just went to a blast zone yesterday, alone, and didn't die (Thank you, Marsupial and common sense!). They bombed Watoga and I needed to visit the Vendors. Go me!

    Thanks again. :D

  • December 23, 2018

    That was a good read regarding FO76. I didn't play any FO76 outside of the beta so I avoided saying anything about the game (said a few things about Bethesda's approach in general though :P) apart from the things that didn't change since then. I agree with quite a few things listed here like players being on both categories, in regards to the dislikes I don't have much experience on all of them but two things in them I noticed during BETA is the clunky combat and of course the bugs in general. On the good side music, crafting, building a camp  and the rewarding of team-play and picking roles if you have a team/party simillar to other classic mmos with party system.

    Me and some friends were thinking coming January to start and put a few of our net cafe hours into FO76 so I might share my experience at that time as well and let's hope the game will be further improved by then.

  • Member
    December 23, 2018
    A refreshing change to read this honest take on the game. The bottom line is fun, and it's good to know you and your hubby are experiencing that. I still have faith that the issues are just teething problems and that 2019 will see loads of the issues sorted. Until then, I think you have the right idea on focusing on the positives and getting creative with camps :)
  • December 24, 2018

    Nice to hear that FO76 is not completely hopeless. Do you play on PC? I guess, if you have a good PC then you probably can play on high graphics settings (the pics look beautiful but I've seen other people's pics that looked awful).

    Hope is a creature with unbelievable endurance, lol. Though some people will never forget the canvas bag, I certainly can't. But still, I cannot stop hoping that Bethesda will correct themselves in the future, even though common sense and logic tell me that they won't.

  • December 25, 2018

    The worst bug we got was the damage bug. OMGERD! To see things you are almost killing suddenly get full health. We've both rage quit our server getting angry for that. 

    Oh that's a bug...I thought it was just a connection issue. Eh whatever, still annoying. 

    Anyway, nice little post Liss (except for the little part :P) It was refreshing to see the game from the perspective of someone who's primarily playing the game as it was designed (Multiplayer) rather than us losers who play it purely as a Solo game. It's nice to see how much fun the two of you are having as an ass-kicking team of Vaulters...Is that the proper term? Eh whatever. Point is, thanks for sharing this, really interesting thoughts :D

  • Member
    December 31, 2018

    All in all I agree so far (I'm only just at level 7 with my first go at it).

    The big stand outs in pros and cons for me are:

    Pros - large open, beautiful world with lots to explore. Cooperation (so far everyone I've met has been totally cool). Crafting as you mentioned is good and I like the addition of having to repair your gear. Makes you think a bit more. 

    Cons - the world feels a bit sad, empty. The quests (SPOILER ALERT) so far are all pretty much...find this person (but shocker - they're dead) since theres no NPCs. That really feels off to me. I have a hunch I'm going to wonder what it is I'm supposed to do here and possibly get bored once I've got a decent character and camp built. As Liss mentions, if you enjoy hunting for info / reading terminals / listneing to holotapes to find clues and little interesting tid bits, you'll be fine. For others I can see what some of the griping is about. I too will say the combat is a bit clunky, and on PS4 I HATE HATE HATE the weapon wheel. 

    Biggest suggestion (if I had a say) would be private servers...which I guess are on the way? At least give those that do not want to team an option to immerse themselves in their own world. And why not, it's a cool world. 

    That's it so far. 

  • Member
    December 31, 2018
    I remember once,.me.and some friends were in...W something, one of the town's, doing a few quests. While we were there, we suddenly see someone has launched the nukes. Me and one friend still in the town basically ran, and we got out of the blast radius JUST as the nuke dropped. Beautiful, and terrifying
  • Member
    January 1, 2019

    oh no....why don't they allow us to take off the weapon mods we've built and put them on new guns? That is crazy. 

    also, an update to my note about meeting mostly cool people...got killed 3 times by idiots in like 20 minutes. lol. At least you don't really lose anything. Just annoying. And most of all as Liss mentioned - immersion breaking. 

    On the plus side, I'm loving the exploration. Stumbled upon a radier camp that had been taken over by super mutants. cleared it out. read some notes. found some good loot. Moved my camp nearby. scrapped. built. ya know...that's pretty much the gig. I can def see myself, like Liss, spending more time building out a camp. I really like that system. And finding the right spot will be a joy in its own right. 

  • January 4, 2019

    Mottyskills said:

    oh no....why don't they allow us to take off the weapon mods we've built and put them on new guns? That is crazy. 

    also, an update to my note about meeting mostly cool people...got killed 3 times by idiots in like 20 minutes. lol. At least you don't really lose anything. Just annoying. And most of all as Liss mentioned - immersion breaking. 

    On the plus side, I'm loving the exploration. Stumbled upon a radier camp that had been taken over by super mutants. cleared it out. read some notes. found some good loot. Moved my camp nearby. scrapped. built. ya know...that's pretty much the gig. I can def see myself, like Liss, spending more time building out a camp. I really like that system. And finding the right spot will be a joy in its own right. 

    Hi Motty! I love the exploration too. The land is absolutely beautiful.

    Oh yeah, I just block the jerks. Husband and I get tormented on occasion. I observe a strict etiquette regarding shotguns, which can damage players with spread. I only use them when I don't see players around and husband practices the same courtesy with his exploiding Gatling. When other players are close, we switch weapons. But others players do not do this and we've been hit sometimes. As a result, I try not to carry junk around when I go to blast zones, which seem to bring out the worst in people, especially ones at Whitesprings Resort. We have a strategy though. He's usually ovenencumbered, but I'm light on my feet, when there's a lull between enemies, he'll send me back to my camp to stash the important junk. What's important?

    ALUMINUM

    SPRINGS

    ADHESIVE

    SCREWS 

    Sorry, had to yell it, but it's true. Everything else is pretty much secondary or speciality components, except the various components for making stable flux, which he and I are at the point where we're creating that. 

    No, the weapon mod mechanic is not the same and I don't much care for that either. A piece of advise regarding mods. Use them, because my husband has had his mods disappear from his stash and he's gotten very frustrated by it. Also, be wary of dropping important items into the paper bag, make sure you see it first. Usually, he and I will test the bag with a bullet of litte value first. Trading is a long and arduous process if you have a large inventory (MY HUSBAND). 

    A tip: Get the Excavator's Power Armor as soon as you can. Yes, there are plenty of more powerful suits out there, but it's the only one with +100 carryweight. While I'm at the point in my game where I go to blast sites in a hazmat suit, I still carry the Excavator Chassis with me. When the radiation clears, I put it on and can enjoy looting more. 

    My husband's and my main issue now is with the server crashing at very inopportune times. ESO is sooooo stable compared to this. Another issues it that they should consider making slight changes to the wanted system. I was wanted yesterday, for almost the whole day, no one would try to kill me. Why? Because I was walking along the trail to my new camp. Yes, NEW CAMP, will update with peeeechurs this weekend. It's awesome, great use of the surroundings. Anyhoo, walking and I see a camp getting attacked by high level ghouls,  totally tearing down walls and stuff. My good nature prevails and I defend the camp. Because I'm basically nice. I even brought the new camper, who hadn't planted anything yet, some veggies from my garden. A stray bullet on her wall made me wanted. That's it, one stray bullet. Even when you accidently hit one player, you have a second chance before you are wanted, so blah, I think they need to extend that to camps. She even found my camp and I tried to tell her to kill me so I could stop being wanted, but she didn't understand. Perhaps a "Mercy Killing" Icon to our wheel things. I hate the wheel things, by the way. They are shit. 

    By the way, I made a new character. I still play the old one, who's just hit level 72, but Husband has gone ahead and made two more, so I can too. His include a potential true vendor, with a planned base in Watoga, Flatwoods, or Whitespring, offering all kinds of merchandise for players. This will jive VERY well with the future update that'll allow player vending. His other character is a pure raider that's gonna eventually wreak havoc. Not kidding, he plans on being wanted, so pray you are not on the server as him when he plays that one. I will join him on his raider excursions on occasion. A regular Bonnie and Clyde. 

    Me, I settled for a crossbow-based build, ala Daryl Dixon. Darlene Dixon. Lost her brothers Merle and Daryl in the when the bombs fell. Stealth and survival and I have little desire to go beyond the Forest or the Savage Divide with her. Limited quests, just survival, hunting and selling skins and food to the vendors in exchange for other goods. Playing alone feels very different. I'm far more cautious. Reached level 8 and have created a most unusual camp, inspired and improved upon this player.

    https://www.gamesradar.com/check-out-these-amazing-things-people-have-built-in-fallout-76-and-try-not-to-get-camp-envy/

    I've gone and made a second level, so living quarters upstairs, crafting downstairs. Even had room for a teeeny tiny adhesive farm. The only way into the camp is to drop down the hole leading to the cave. Will post pictures of Darlene's camp this weekend too. 

    You should play it Duvain, you might like it. And Motty, I'll ask my husband tonight if he's cool with you joining us sometimes. He tends to not like other players joining our team, but he's made exceptions before. He's just a private person that's all. But we're both Marsupials and when a third member joins us, my jump height gets pretty awesome, great for baiting enemies in a blast zone. Let me know when you think you're ready for a Blast Zone. 

    Thanks for reading. I enjoy reading the updates and everybody's thoughts. I promise less text and more peeeechurs over the weekend, but I really didn't want to ignore the responses. 

  • January 4, 2019

    Oh, one more thing. A bit of a side note really. Husband and I have reason to believe that the blast zones have been nerfed yet again after the hotfix two days ago that fixed the non-functioning nuke codes. 2 and 3 star legendary items are noticably rarer. He's disappointed, as he was hoping for an explosive, two-shot. I am actually pleased by it. Because when I get that special item, it is indeed truly special. Just a slightly different philosphy with playing. In all fairness to him, he does plan on engaging in PvP, so the explosive two shot is a necessity as most high level players have that weapon.