Bethesda Commits to Fallout 76 With 2019 Roadmap

[Raevenlord]

While Fallout 76 may have (read: has) come out of the gates to generally poor rception, Bethesda Softworks has been hard at work trying to bring the game up to speed to the potential of the Fallout series - at least, as much potential as there is to scrounge for in this shared/world rendition of it. This has worked, according to Bethesda, through a dedication to "(...) improve performance, detect new exploits, and make the experience smoother for everyone. There's still work to do, but we're happy to report that game and server stability has increased over 300% since launch." To celebrate a perceived new state of the nation, Bethesda has just revealed their plans for the game thorugh a roadmap that spans the entirety of 2019.

It seems the game will be following a Seasonal content delivery, as there is a Spring, Summer, Fall, and Winter separation for content - free content, that is. The first content update, dubbed "Wild Appalachia", will be coming out throughout Spring 2019, featuring a series of new quests, features, events, crafting systems and more starting on March 12 and appearing over several weeks. Summer will see the arrival of of the "Nuclear Winter" content update, which seems like a tongue-in-cheek proposition. "Wastelanders", dropping this Fall, will be the single most comprehensive amount of content, according to Bethesda, with "a new main questline, new factions, new events, new features and even more surprises." Check out after the break for the full announced features for the Spring Update, "Wild Appalachia".

• New Quests: Shear Terror! - Uncover the 'encryptid' secrets of Appalachia in a new series of quests and encounters to separate monsters from myths.
• New Quests: Ever Upwards - Journey to the deepest reaches of the woods with new stories for the legendary Pioneer Scouts. Earn merit badges, climb the ranks, and earn a customizable backpack for increased utility.
• New Features: Legendary Vendor and Scrapping - Locate the mysterious Purveyor to exchange and scrap your unwanted legendary items for new legendary gear. For every star rating on a legendary item you scrap, increase your chances to get the legendary weapon or armor of your dreams.
• New Features: C.A.M.P. Decorating, Player Vending, Functional Camera - Use items from your stash to decorate your C.A.M.P. Build vending machines and flag items for sale. Simply set your prices and walk away to continue your adventures in Appalachia, being sure to capture all your favorite memories using the new functional camera. The vending machines do all the work, you just need to count the caps.
• New Features: Brewing and Distilling - Go on a new quest to discover the secrets of the forbidden brew Nukashine and bring the party back to your C.A.M.P with new brewing and distilling systems and recipes.
• New Seasonal Event: Fasnacht Parade - Chase away Old Man Winter and quicken the coming of spring with the ancient festival of Fasnacht! Join the celebration and complete this new limited-time event to earn unique rewards in the form of festive Fasnacht Masks.
• New Game Mode: Survival - This all-new game mode brings a higher-stakes PvP experience with fewer restrictions, increased rewards, and new challenges plus all the original content of Adventure Mode.

View at TechPowerUp Main Site

 

[Batou1986]

Ignore issues push "content"
Yep that's Bethesda alright

 

[Shambles1980]

ahh fallout 76, the straw that broke my back.
fallout 4 was bad enough. It was the last game for me to ever pre order because it was simply not what i wanted from the franchise and i learned then to just buy games after they were reviewed.
fallout 76 was all the worst bits of fallout 4 with none of the acceptable parts. So that's me out. And i decided that before they even finished it.
Was a good run. but i wont be buying or playing any more fallout games that Bethesda release. hell i dont think they could pay me to play a Bethesda released fallout game now. (well they could but theres no way bethesda is paying me £1million just to play a fallout game for 5 mins)
For me its a matter of waiting to see what MS allow obsidian to do.

fallout is just dead. And to me it died with fallout 4, fallout 76 is just some one grave robbing the franchise now.

 

[Vayra86]

I'm actually playing Elder Scrolls Online right now... and it is at this point a game that shows Bethesda / Zenimax does know how to do online. Strange how FO76 was such a major screwup.

fallout is just dead. And to me it died with fallout 4, fallout 76 is just some one grave robbing the franchise now.

Kinda have to agree, its a very repetitive affair as well. The same bobbleheads, the same icons and 'vibe', and meanwhile you're still struggling with the basics.

 

[sam_86314]

I'm actually playing Elder Scrolls Online right now... and it is at this point a game that shows Bethesda / Zenimax does know how to do online. Strange how FO76 was such a major screwup.

Honestly if Fallout 76 was made by the team that did ESO (Zenimax Online instead of BGS) in a similar style to that game, it probably would've been good. ESO ended up being a pretty good MMO.

 

[Mescalamba]

Hm, trying to revive dead horse. Honestly hope it will be profitable for them, since I do want to see some TES6 eventually.

 

[ArbitraryAffection]

Hm, trying to revive dead horse. Honestly hope it will be profitable for them, since I do want to see some TES6 eventually.

Bethesda always prefers Elder Scrolls over Fallout

I'm not excited at all about any of this, I rarely play it anymore despite having a bit of fun with it for a couple weeks. I also feel Fallout is pretty much dead thanks to Bethesda, Fallout: New Vegas is, and always will be my favourite 3D fallout game. *sigh*

FNV made with the same engine and gameplay as Fallout 4 would be so cool. I wonder if modders are doing that, without being shut down for copyright.

 

[EatingDirt]

Honestly if Fallout 76 was made by the team that did ESO (Zenimax Online instead of BGS) in a similar style to that game, it probably would've been good. ESO ended up being a pretty good MMO.

As someone that has played MMO's since EQ1, I thought ESO was awful. Grabbed it from a humble bundle sometime last year and the world was stale, much due to the fact that the enemy NPC were set (and in many places didn't even move from where they spawned). Combat was just another hotkey MMO. PvP might've been alright? I never could be bothered. I could only play it a few hours before I dropped it. Never played an MMO less time than I could tolerate ESO, and I've played more than I can remember.

The real problem with Fallout 76 was it was just a bandwagon survival money grab. Limited budget needed to throw together a map & some networking programmers together with a few writers that could write a few lazy event timers. All that with an engine that is 20+ years old and honestly made for an awful FPS engine, and you have a below-average game that doesn't have the ability to ascend to anything higher than mediocre.

 

[INSTG8R]

Unpopular opinion but I actually enjoy 76 more than 4. The environment is so much nicer to “wasteland wander” I was bored with 4 rather quickly. I don’t see the. MP part at all other than randomly encounters where it’s just a wave and we never see each other again. I only miss NPCs and don’t like having the survival aspect forced on me.

 

[sam_86314]

As someone that has played MMO's since EQ1, I thought ESO was awful. Grabbed it from a humble bundle sometime last year and the world was stale, much due to the fact that the enemy NPC were set (and in many places didn't even move from where they spawned). Combat was just another hotkey MMO. PvP might've been alright? I never could be bothered. I could only play it a few hours before I dropped it. Never played an MMO less time than I could tolerate ESO, and I've played more than I can remember.

Meh, my first and favorite MMO is RuneScape, so what do I know? Other than that, I'm not really an MMO person. ESO somehow managed to keep me interested for longer than stuff like WoW or it's numerous clones.

 

[Shambles1980]

Unpopular opinion but I actually enjoy 76 more than 4. The environment is so much nicer to “wasteland wander” I was bored with 4 rather quickly. I don’t see the. MP part at all other than randomly encounters where it’s just a wave and we never see each other again. I only miss NPCs and don’t like having the survival aspect forced on me.

genuinly happy you enjoy it. dont see the point in being upset over people liking thing lol, but i didnt like fallout 4 either. new vegas is the best of the modern ones imo, and i still havent finished it with a legion run lol. i have finished it multiple times though fallout 4 i struggled to find the energy to finish it 1ce

 

[INSTG8R]

genuinly happy you enjoy it. dont see the point in being upset over people liking thing lol, but i didnt like fallout 4 either. new vegas is the best of the modern ones imo, and i still havent finished it with a legion run lol. i have finished it multiple times though fallout 4 i struggled to find the energy to finish it 1ce

absolutely agree. NV is truly the most enjoyable one of all of them. Quite looking forward to Outer Worlds actually

 

[Dexiefy]

At this point I feel someone should call anti-suicide hotline in name of Bethesda...

 

[FreedomEclipse]

Hm, trying to revive dead horse. Honestly hope it will be profitable for them, since I do want to see some TES6 eventually.

They have microtransactions now. So i guess all the whales are going to keep Bethesda's stock high up on the market.

 

[notb]

As someone that has played MMO's since EQ1, I thought ESO was awful. Grabbed it from a humble bundle sometime last year and the world was stale, much due to the fact that the enemy NPC were set (and in many places didn't even move from where they spawned). Combat was just another hotkey MMO. PvP might've been alright? I never could be bothered. I could only play it a few hours before I dropped it. Never played an MMO less time than I could tolerate ESO, and I've played more than I can remember.

I played ESO for a few weeks. It's a very simple game with very poor story. Combat is the worst I've seen in TES games since Daggerfall. Quests are a joke.

I don't mind Bethesda giving ESO (and future Blades) a more arcade feel and dynamic gameplay. But they clearly don't know how to. Maybe they should have just stayed in their comfort zone.

I find TES universe and game series to be one of the best we've had to date. And we used to get a new game every 4-5 year - which is about the right time to get through the story a few times (try different approaches, classes and faction-specific questlines). I guess I could tolerate ESO as it is (i.e. ignore it) if it was existing next to a single-player title.
However, Skyrim was released in 2011 and it seems the successor won't appear before 2021 (if ever).

On the other hand, let's not forget Bethesda is a quite small company. Wikipedia says they employ 400 people.
That's over 10 times less than Blizzard, who I'm afraid they're trying to challenge.
On the other hand: that's 2 times more than Firaxis - a company who's only job is to refresh Civilization every few years.
Maybe supporting few franchises is beyond Bethesda's abilities. And if they're unwilling to grow, they should have focused on either TES or Fallout. It wouldn't take them long to find a buyer for either.

 

[Shambles1980]

they should just remake morrowind and new vegas in the this stupid creation engine, make them exactly the same.
A lot of people probably never played morrowind and it really is a good game but a bit clunky to go back to now compared to skyrim.
and new vegas they didnt let the devs finish it properly. so is missing quite a bit of polish.

 

[silentbogo]

I'm actually playing Elder Scrolls Online right now... and it is at this point a game that shows Bethesda / Zenimax does know how to do online. Strange how FO76 was such a major screwup.

The major difference is that it was made by Zenimax Online (not Bethesda Game Studios), and they've used Hero engine instead of whatever mutated iteration of gamebryo Bethesda recycled for other titles of the past decade and a half. Also, ESO had a relatively bad start too, but there were no high expectations from potential buyers/subscribers to begin with, no outrageous claims by devs in expos and ad campaigns etc. Plus they had a semi-open beta period, so that people would know exactly what they were getting into before release.

 

[notb]

they should just remake morrowind and new vegas in the this stupid creation engine, make them exactly the same.
A lot of people probably never played morrowind and it really is a good game but a bit clunky to go back to now compared to skyrim.

I'm actually strongly against this idea (and most of the time against "enhanced" / "special" editions as well).

Yes, we've historically had many great games that today lost attractiveness due to old image quality. We should not remake them. We should make new great games.
Most people aren't gaming for more than 10-15 years of their lives anyway. Why not just stop making anything new and recycle every decade?

It's very likely I just got old and look at things differently. I'm not an active gamer anymore.
But IMO the games today are nowhere near as diversified and attractive as they used to be when I was a kid in late 90s/early 2000s. We had many gaming studios and many good games to choose from. The stories and universes were better as well. I guess producers concentrated on this, because graphics sucked so much.

 

[Ravenas]

Bethesda would by wise to go back to Fallout roots via Tactics. This crap they keep pushing, Elder Scrolls reskinned with Fallout world is just a total knock off.

 

[Mescalamba]

Bethesda always prefers Elder Scrolls over Fallout

I'm not excited at all about any of this, I rarely play it anymore despite having a bit of fun with it for a couple weeks. I also feel Fallout is pretty much dead thanks to Bethesda, Fallout: New Vegas is, and always will be my favourite 3D fallout game. *sigh*

FNV made with the same engine and gameplay as Fallout 4 would be so cool. I wonder if modders are doing that, without being shut down for copyright.

Its possible, modders are doing amazing number of huge scale mods for TES, no reason why not for Fallout.

Fallout is a special thing, that Bethesda doesnt actually get. Bit like new Blizzard doesnt get old Diablo. They do the "thing", but they do it wrong. Its not like there is only one way to do it right, there is tons of ways to do it right, just they pick always the wrong ones, since there is also plenty of those..

It doesnt even have anything to do with money, just that they are literally unable to do it right (both Bethesda and Acti-Blizz).

 

[Vayra86]

As someone that has played MMO's since EQ1, I thought ESO was awful. Grabbed it from a humble bundle sometime last year and the world was stale, much due to the fact that the enemy NPC were set (and in many places didn't even move from where they spawned). Combat was just another hotkey MMO. PvP might've been alright? I never could be bothered. I could only play it a few hours before I dropped it. Never played an MMO less time than I could tolerate ESO, and I've played more than I can remember.

The real problem with Fallout 76 was it was just a bandwagon survival money grab. Limited budget needed to throw together a map & some networking programmers together with a few writers that could write a few lazy event timers. All that with an engine that is 20+ years old and honestly made for an awful FPS engine, and you have a below-average game that doesn't have the ability to ascend to anything higher than mediocre.

Like yourself I've also seen my share of them MMO's are a strange beast like that - it all depends on your mindset and expectations going into it. I played ESO starting at beta and it was easy to see its flaws. At the same time it offered a degree of freedom very much akin to a single player experience like Skyrim. At its time it was quite refreshing. I came from Guild Wars 2, which also tried to approach the MMO not as a fixed line of progression to endgame, but as an open, freely accessible world where you can do whatever you please to hit max level. ESO has a similar approach, but adds deep RPG progression to the mix. There aren't many MMO's where you can simply craft your way to the near-top of best in slot items. In ESO you can, and the only real grind involved is levelling up your crafting skills.

It still has that to this day, in spite of many content updates. There is no tiered progression and infinite treadmill like in WoW. In my view, ESO should be approached just like that: a single player game in a persistent, multiplayer oriented world, trying to marry the best parts of single player TES with online functionality - and it does succeed quite well at that IMO.

I'm actually strongly against this idea (and most of the time against "enhanced" / "special" editions as well).

Yes, we've historically had many great games that today lost attractiveness due to old image quality. We should not remake them. We should make new great games.
Most people aren't gaming for more than 10-15 years of their lives anyway. Why not just stop making anything new and recycle every decade?

It's very likely I just got old and look at things differently. I'm not an active gamer anymore.
But IMO the games today are nowhere near as diversified and attractive as they used to be when I was a kid in late 90s/early 2000s. We had many gaming studios and many good games to choose from. The stories and universes were better as well. I guess producers concentrated on this, because graphics sucked so much.

I feel the same way, but its also easy to mistake your own 'first' experiences with game types and genres as more unique than those of others. Many games coming out today offer the same novel experience to young gamers as they did to us in our younger days. And if I look at what's on offer in the indie dev corner, the diversity is greater than it ever was. But that diversity is also easily drowned out by the fact there are so many releases these days. Only those who shout loudest jump out at you, especially if you're not that actively participating anymore.

 

[jboydgolfer]

its good theyre still "working" on this "game". I try to see good in most of what i encounter, & i think the good in this title, is that it might have FINALLY helped some people see, that pre-ordering titles is Killing the gaming industry. By giving developers your money with no product available for you to judge if your money was well spent, you've set a very unhealthy precedent in gaming. Now, Dev's are able to squeeze out a game, like a Sh!t, and people have already paid for it, so Dev's dont really care if you dont like it. Pre-ordering , is the act of buyers giving up the entirety of their power & influence in the gaming industry, & for the life of me, i cannot understand how a person would willingly give up their power, all for a stupid "exclusive" gun skin, or some other gimmick garbage, that was intended to lure actual children in the beginning of the pre-order schemes invention, but it works on gullible adults very well apparently. Now, we have a generation of kids who grew up pulling mommy & daddies shirt sleeves, crying "i want this game, pre-order it for me", who are now adults, & dont give a second thought to dropping $60 on a title, after reading a paragraph of promised content, or game functionality by its developer , or watchign some ridiculous trailer, that we ALL know will not reflect the actual gameplay in a way simialr to how McDonalds ad's look, compared to the actual Cheeseburgers. A product is NOT meant to be sold, & THEN developed as fallout 76 & many other are, it is FIRST meant to be developed, have time & money invested in it & refined to either full completion, or VERY near completion. Where else do we see this insanity? Would You pay in full , for a car that was missing its wheels, or brakes, or engine, or doors? only to have them added at a later date "to be decided"??!! C'mon people, If your not a child, & Your not an imbicile, then Stop pre-ordering, & Stop feeding this ridiculous method of "development", that only benefits the developers & their investors.....Stop giving your money for nothing, because its not "just $60" , its Your power to affect the gaming industry in a positive way, its "your vote", why would you give up your say, for something that is important enough for You to sink Thousands upon thousands of dollars on, & Many thousnads of Days of Your Life on?? If your a gamer, & your Pre-ordering Games, your part of the problem, & to complain about sh!t games, as a pre-ordering contributor to the problem, your complaining about a problem You created, & not just created, but You fed it, incubated it, & loved it while it grew into a giant pile of steaming mess, with 30+Gb "updates".....updates arent meant to be bigger than the game itself.

I spoke to my daughter about sims4. She was asking me , "why dont they release sims5 yet?" I told Her, "you know how you keep asking me to buy the Sims4 DLC?" she replied "Yes"...i said ,"why would they bother to create a sims 5, when sims fans keep paying $40 for DLC to a game the Dev already made?"

She decided She would no longer ask for, or buy DLC after that talk....She is 10, & she gets it......at this point, only willful ignorance can be the excuse used by those contributing to these issues in gaming. Now , you dont have to wonder, why SO many games released in the recent years are SO often terrible, and seem unfinished, its exactly what gamers asked for, Enjoy.

 

[Shambles1980]

I'm actually strongly against this idea (and most of the time against "enhanced" / "special" editions as well).

Yes, we've historically had many great games that today lost attractiveness due to old image quality. We should not remake them. We should make new great games.
Most people aren't gaming for more than 10-15 years of their lives anyway. Why not just stop making anything new and recycle every decade?

It's very likely I just got old and look at things differently. I'm not an active gamer anymore.
But IMO the games today are nowhere near as diversified and attractive as they used to be when I was a kid in late 90s/early 2000s. We had many gaming studios and many good games to choose from. The stories and universes were better as well. I guess producers concentrated on this, because graphics sucked so much.

think im probably slightly older than you, but i dont think that matters lol.
the issue isnt they should remake old games because they aged, its they should remake them because they lost their way and need guiding back..
capcom is a great recent example. with resident evil

for me bethesda need to remake nv and morrowind so they see the feed back and comprehend where they went wrong and what was loved about those games.
and morrowind in particular needs to be expirienced by more people, just like resident evil 0, 1 and 2 (although 2 is quite different to the original res evil 2)
as for new vegas, they never got to really finish that game because bethesda rushed them but its still the best modern fallout so they really need to remake that to comprehend what fallout is.

 

[BorgOvermind]

Failout 76 needs to go away.
Give us back Fallout.

 

[yotano211]

I think they should just let fallout 76 just die. If they think that gamers will comes back to this game they are mistaken. Just move on to another project.