Update 04/12/2018 @ 15:34 – As laid out last week, the first of Bethesda’s two planned Fallout 76 December updates releases today on PS4, Xbox One, and PC.
Weighing in at around 3GB on consoles, most of the new features (increased stash limit etc.) were covered in our original article, which you can read below. However, the official patch notes, published today, reveal some of the various bug fixes and gameplay alterations included in the update. Unsurprisingly, there are quite a few.
Gameplay Improvements
General
- Stability: The Fallout 76 game client and servers have received additional stability improvements
Stash Limit
- Maximum stash storage has been increased by 50%, to 600 pounds. This is a conservative adjustment, and we plan to increase the storage cap further in the future once we’ve verified this change does not impact the stability of the game
Stability
- Enemies: XP rewards for killing high-level creatures have been reduced
- Bosses: Fixed an issue affecting instanced Boss loot. Players should now correctly receive 2-4 items per boss, depending on the creature’s difficulty and level
- Weapons: Automatic weapon damage has been increased by approximately 20% across the board
PVP
- Weapon Effects: Hitting another player with a Cryolator now applies a Chilled, Frosted, or Frozen status based on how many times they are hit. The duration of movement speed reductions applied by these effects have been significantly decreased
Bug Fixes
General
- Fixed an issue that could cause the player to encounter an infinite loading screen when signing out of their console account while playing Fallout 76
- Power Armor: Fixed an issue affecting Power Armor frames that could prevent the player from exiting their Power Armor
- Nuke Silos: Flipboards inside Nuke Silos no longer display portions of launch codes too soon after the codes were reset for the week
- Traps: Players can no longer continuously disarm the same grenade trap
C.A.M.P., Workshops, and Crafting
- C.A.M.P.: Moving C.A.M.P. locations will now correctly move standalone items built by the player into the build menu’s Stored tab
- Workshops: On PS4, wires will no longer appear to float in mid-air when attempting connect two or more objects
- Turrets: Will no longer become invisible if the player is not present at their C.A.M.P. when their turrets are destroyed
Perks
- Ranking up a Perk Card will no longer cause a duplicate card to appear
Social
- Teams: Fixed an issue that could prevent a team from being correctly formed in a game world after creating the team on the Main Menu when both players are using new characters
- Teams: Display durations for social notification have been reduced when many notifications are pending. This should help address an issue in which players did not see that they successfully joined a team
Survival
- Mutations: The Electrically Charged and Unstable Isotope Mutations no longer provide the player with bonus Health
UI
- AFK: Players will now be disconnected from a game world after 10 minutes of inactivity and will be prompted with a timer 1 minute before being kicked
- Enemies: Red crosshairs and enemy health bars will no longer persist on-screen when an enemy is no longer in view
- Localization: Subtitles will now appear correctly, and English voiceover will play, for game clients in languages that do not have their own localized voiceover when listening to a Holotape or interacting with robots
- Pip-Boy: Fixed an issue that could cause duplicate data to appear in the Pip-Boy’s Stat and Effects interfaces
- Respawn: Dying while severely overencumbered will no longer remove all map markers when attempting to respawn. Instead, the player can now respawn at the nearest discovered Map Marker
- Quest Tracker: Quest objective notifications will no longer appear for inactive Quests immediately upon connecting to a world
Original Post 28/11/2018 @ 15:48 – After apologising to its fans for both the recent lack of communication and the current state of the game itself, which is ropey, to say the least, Bethesda has taken to its official Reddit account to provide a bit more information on its two planned Fallout 76 December updates.
With full patch notes due to arrive either tomorrow or Friday.
Fallout 76 December Updates – Number One
The first of the two, scheduled for the 4th December, finally increases the game’s stash limit from 400 to 600.
Admittedly, it’s not a massive increase, as Bethesda itself has acknowledged. But it’s important to note this is only the first in what could be a small series of gradual increases. “While this is somewhat conservative, we plan to increase the storage cap further once we verify that this change will not negatively impact the stability of the game.”
Other notable features of the impending update, meanwhile, include:
• Boss Loot: Players should correctly receive two to three items after taking down a boss, depending on the creature’s difficulty and level
• Cryolator Effects: Players hit with the Cryolator are now Chilled, Frosted, or Frozen depending on how many times they are hit. The duration of movement speed reductions applied by these effects have also been decreased from 2 hours to 30 seconds
• Respawning When Overencumbered: We’ve resolved an issue affecting players who die while overencumbered that only allowed them to Respawn at Vault 76. Now, overencumbered players will be able to respawn at the nearest discovered Map Marker
• Stuck in Power Armor: We’ve addressed an issue in this patch that could cause players to become stuck inside Power Armor. We’re also aware that there are some additional cases where this can occur, and we are actively investigating them
There will also be a bunch of performance enhancements, stability improvements, and bug fixes implemented as part of the update. Exact details of which we expect to see covered in the official patch notes.
Fallout 76 December Updates – Number Two
Exactly a week later (the 11th December) Bethesda will release the second of its forthcoming updates. This one bringing with it a handful of welcome changes to Fallout 76’s C.A.M.P system, including the addition of a new Bulldozer feature which allows players to remove small trees, boulders etc. from their base and the surrounding area.
Additional changes include:
• SPECIAL Respec: After level 50, you’ll be able to choose between a new Perk Card, or moving a SPECIAL point you had previously allocated
• C.A.M.P. Placement on Login: Your C.A.M.P. will no longer be automatically blueprinted and stored if someone is occupying your location when you log into a server. Instead, you’ll receive a notification that your space is occupied. If you decide to find a new home for your C.A.M.P. on that server, it will be free to do so. However, if you don’t attempt to place down your C.A.M.P., you will be able to switch to a new server where that spot is vacant and your C.A.M.P. will be fully assembled and waiting for you
• Sundry bug fixes
For those who haven’t given up on Bethesda’s latest post-apocalyptic adventure just yet, we’d advise you keep a weather eye on the official Bethesda Reddit account over the coming days.