Fallout 76

DarkGamer, in FALLOUT 76 ATLANTIC CITY – BOARDWALK PARADISE UPDATE NOTES
DarkGamer avatar

The servers are back up again, have fun everyone!

pimento64, in The first Atlantic City expedition for Fallout 76 will be released Dec 5, 2023. It will be on the public test server starting Oct 3.

Oh yeah, Fallout 76 exists. But if that wasn’t offensive enough already, we’ve already been down this road in RuneScape (especially with the help of Mod Jed) and innumerable others: adding a casino to an MMO in which players can gamble in-game money is done for the purpose of “cleanly” courting gambling addicts and the people who prey on them. Not to mention the fact that you can always find a way to parlay a microtransaction into more in-game money, no matter what. But tricking people into gambling their money away isn’t the full picture. Real-world trading is a fact of life for every MMO, and by instituting a new game mechanic that encourages it, Microsoft gets to play the same game Jagex does: create the demand for account selling, gold/caps selling, and item selling, attract the RWTers who have no issue paying for membership on a dozen different accounts, and enforce the rules against the ones who start making trouble. Do some of that yourself and you’re effectively double and triple dipping on your own customer base. Ban the most egregious sellers when they get too recognizable and you’re all set. The RWTers don’t care because the account membership costs are a comparatively small amount of overhead for them, so the system is stable: foster addiction, encourage a flow of dirty money, skim some off the top of all of it, and cut yourself a slice whenever you want. Oh, and make a shitload more money on subscriptions alone. Given how businesses operate in 2023, I suspect that you get fired by your investors if you don’t do this, because that’s money on the table.

DarkGamer,
DarkGamer avatar

When engagement and player counts are important, promoting addictive aspects of games is lucrative. Many games are addictive not because they are skinner boxes giving occasional rewards, (and many are,) but rather because they are fun to play. In that sense, every game aims to exploit addictive and compulsive behaviors.

Some additional context:

  • In Fallout 76 there are already buildable slot machines in C.A.M.P.s, but players can only gamble insignificant amounts of in-game currency, (10 caps,) at a time presently. They're more useful for the luck buff they provide than making the number go up.
  • Fallout 76 is already a skinner box in the sense that a lot of getting to endgame involves trying to craft weapons and armors that have specific randomly assigned bonuses, from a pool that includes many undesirable ones. With a few exceptions, the most desired weapons and armor are not tradeable so lots of farming is needed to get additional random chances to get the perfect item, with low odds of doing so. This is far more exploitative than what I suspect they have planned for casino gameplay.
  • There is a real-world market for Fallout 76, but this game doesn't encourage real-world trading as much as one might assume. Players are limited to 40k caps, and caps are not as valuable as other in-game currencies. Currencies like the ones needed to roll random item bonuses, or to get special item plans from vendors, are far more valuable and are not tradable or purchasable with caps. Most long-time players are at the cap limit and have to find random stuff to spend it on even as they farm other needed currencies.
DarkGamer, in Fallout 76 | Fallout 76 Update Notes: July 18, 2023
DarkGamer avatar

Daily: Challenges that require the player to use Pipe weapons now work with Pipe melee weapons.

finally

effingjoe, in Significant changes incoming! Fallout 76 | Fallout 76: July 2023 PTS Update and Highlights Notes
effingjoe avatar

I just started playing a couple weeks ago; man, these changes would have been nice.

DarkGamer,
DarkGamer avatar

Welcome to the game, hope you're having fun!

IMO it's probably not a bad thing to play through those first 20 levels, the power creep is so strong in 76 after a while you'll eventually forget what it was like to run around a scary wasteland that can legit kill you. This will make the process of leveling an alt easier, at least.

effingjoe,
effingjoe avatar

I just got to 30 last night and maybe it's just me but things seem to be getting harder to kill than when I was below level 20. I noticed everything lower than my level scales up to my level, but the weapon damages from level appropriate weapons don't seem to be increasing as quickly as the NPC health bars.

I am having fun, though. It's mostly just to hold me over until next month when Baldur's Gate 3 drops, though I feel like this game will stay installed on my steamdeck even after that.

DarkGamer,
DarkGamer avatar

There's a couple of points where it seems like the monsters get a lot harder until you get the right perks/gear, sounds like you're at one of them. Also looking forward to Baldur's Gate 3 and I've been playing a lot of Elden Ring between my 76 dailies. XD

DarkGamer, in Significant changes incoming! Fallout 76 | Fallout 76: July 2023 PTS Update and Highlights Notes
DarkGamer avatar

It sounds like Bethesda is rebalancing the game, I hope it makes the difficulty higher. I want the wasteland to feel dangerous again.

DarkGamer, in Fallout 76 Reward Lists
DarkGamer avatar

This handy reference guide was made by u/Belickade on reddit.

  • All
  • Subscribed
  • Moderated
  • Favorites
  • fallout76
  • ngwrru68w68
  • DreamBathrooms
  • khanakhh
  • magazineikmin
  • InstantRegret
  • ethstaker
  • thenastyranch
  • Youngstown
  • rosin
  • slotface
  • osvaldo12
  • everett
  • kavyap
  • Durango
  • megavids
  • cubers
  • tester
  • GTA5RPClips
  • modclub
  • mdbf
  • cisconetworking
  • tacticalgear
  • Leos
  • normalnudes
  • anitta
  • provamag3
  • JUstTest
  • lostlight
  • All magazines