A Quick Look at Fallout 76's History
Fallout 76 is the technical if not spiritual prequel to the Fallout series by Bethesda Softworks, revolving around the survival in a world devastated by a Nuclear War twenty fives years prior, in which the player takes on the role of a Vault Dweller tasked with bringing civilization back to the Wasteland by any means necessary.
Gameplay revolves around scavenging of materials necessary to craft, repair and to also keep yourself fed and hydrated in your adventures. When not trying to survive the Wasteland, players explore pre-war locations and the mysteries found within.
Players must rely on their own fortitude and that of their fellow Vault Dwellers, as every human in West Virginia has either mutated into a feral abomination or died. Players must trade with each other or with scattered vending robots for supplies and equipment.
The game features two modes when previously there were three. It started with Adventure Mode as standard player experience. Survival Mode released in beta later and offered a more intense player versus player experience versus Adventure Modes invite-only PVP.
Nuclear Winter was added later in the game’s first year as a Battle Royale mode in which large groups of players in teams contend against each other in an ever decreasing battle arena, in a ranking competition for the title of Overseer of Vault 51.
The Survival Mode existed in beta on March 26, 2019. In favor of the new Nuclear Winter mode which debuted in the Summer of 2019, the Survival Mode was removed on October 1, 2019.
When the game was launched
At the time of the game's launch, Fallout 76 sold an estimated 1.4 million copies on PC
The game was received harshly by critics and players alike after it’s seemingly “bad launch”. The Guardian referred to it as a “pointless walk in the post-apocalypse”.
Fans uttered their concerns that there was not much to do in the game with its lack of NPC’s and overall lackluster narrative presenting an experience in which the player was in control of their own story as it were.
Overall reception painted Fallout 76, during its first year, as not so much a successor to the previous entries of the Fallout RPG franchise, but as a spinoff survival simulator with roleplaying game features.
None of this stopped the game from achieving a following of dedicated players.
Current state of activity
At the time of this writing, the player count for Fallout 76 is an estimated 22,000 to 34,388 players online for the PC version of the game, with console users for XBOX One and PS4 ranging at an estimated total of 400k users across all platforms, showing a decline from the 1.4 million copies sold at launch.
The official forums on Bethesda’s community website are highly active, with hundreds of posts and responses listed daily. While there is no listing of the number of posts made to the forums, I can safely tell you...The Fallout boards are jumping.
There are multiple subreddits dedicated to the Fallout, and Fallout 76. The r/fo76 subreddit hosts 207k members at the time of this writing and sees daily, if not hourly activity. The subreddit is notoriously more vocal about issues and concerns in the game. They cannot be silenced.
Doing the math, each World in Fallout 76 can host a total of 30 players. This would mean if there is an estimated 30,000 players online, that is over 1,000 game worlds at play on any given day.
How often are the developers improving the game?
The game is still being tended to and updated enthusiastically by the developers, their progress and doings communicated in their regular “Inside the Vault” newsletters hosted on Bethesda’s website, which details various changes to the game and features being added.
In early 2019 the developers released a roadmap of content, starting with their Wild Appalachia updates, which included a new system involving following in the steps of a boy scout troop to earn merit badges for extremely useful equipment like the Backpack.
Several quest updates were added, including a questline to unlock a hidden speakeasy and ability for players to brew and ferment their own alcohol, and the hunt for the deadly Sheepsquatch.
Seasonal events were introduced, the first being Fasnacht, an actual holiday hosted Fallout style. Meat Week became a popular event during the summer, in which players came together to host a wild barbecue party. Halloween and Christmas events were soon to follow.
During the Summer and into the Autumn of 2019, the game hosted a contest for players to attempt to reach a milestone of Scorched enemies slain across all worlds. The final tally was in the high millions. As a reward, there were XP boosts, as well as the second round of Meat Week, which proved very popular with players.
On August 20th, 2019, the game saw its first Raid content in the form of Vault 94, which had players completing rotating weekly objectives to earn powerful endgame rewards and crafting materials. These missions were designed for a full party of players, however, could be completed by two with great difficulty.
At the time of this writing, the focus appears to be on game balances, and the upcoming Wastelanders expansion update, which was pushed back from it’s previous December release. Wastelanders aims to bring more life to the Wasteland with the return of NPCs and acted faction quests.
What impact Wastelanders will bring to the game is unknown, originally promising a return of NPC entities to the game, as well as two active factions contending against each other in which the player will influence.
The delay in Wastelanders has many in the community theorizing that the update will be much broader than the “two factions at each other's throats” formula, and may see more NPCs added to the game world, possibly even replacing quests in which a robot was your chief contact.
Wastelanders is expected to be released in Q1 of 2020.
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