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 Geifer wrote:
As someone with a computer that isn't the best anymore either I find low settings on everything with view distance of half the slider gives me a smooth game with very infrequent and short (less than a second) lags. It may not be as pretty as higher settings, especially some textures, but I got used to it and the world still looks immersive and vistas look pretty, even if it lacks in fine detail.

But you'd better believe that I'd rather play on low graphics than play a slideshow. One of those I can live with. The other, not so much.

For reference, automatic detection found both my CPU and GPU lacking.

I don't have much experience with online games, but I suspect not all of the issues I experienced while zeroing in on the settings that work for me were down to my computer's specs. I suspect Fallout 76 could use some more optimization.

Draw distance is the one thing I refuse to compromise on.

Geifer wrote:PVP isn't something I care for, but I will say that at least on PC there seems to be a majority of people who want to do their thing in peace or band together, which suits me fine. I don't really see much point in PVP and the game would be fine without it. The only game mechanic it would influence is contesting public workshops, but those are pretty pointless anyway. Woohoo, you have considerable resource production at your disposal so you can get everything you ever dreamed of, except you don't have room stash it and all that ever accomplished is you spend time sitting around and produce something you'll immediately throw away! Great job, Bethesda! Awesome game mechanic!

The secret to the workshops is you WANT them taken away. The value isn't in the materials, its in the {essentially} free XP. If you clear a workshop area and claim it (for a tiny sum) you get XP and some random stuff (including caps that don't quite equal the tiny sum you just spent to claim). Then something inevitably comes to attack the place within a few minutes. But it isn't very challenging, and that also gives you a reward of XP and some stuff.

If shortly someone else comes along and claims it from you they get free XP and probably a defense mission (this may actually be on a timer, don't know). And that means you can claim it back and continue the cycle of getting something for nothing.

If you're playing with friends (or even random strangers, provided they're not idiots and are fairly cooperative), you can basically ungroup, and claim places in turn. Everyone pitches in to defend from attacks, then the next person makes their claim. Just keep doing it until you very very slowly run out of money but run XP (and free loot) up and up. And you'll get more XP and stuff from the critters that attack.

The design of this game is laughable, even for its intended purpose.

People have already figured out a way to build homes hanging off of cliffs that can't be attacked by monsters, and often can't be spotted by players, due to the limits on draw distances.


And that doesn't even touch the furor over how quickly the game got discounted or the other furor over refusal to give refunds.

The game's already on sale.

Wow.

 H.B.M.C. wrote:
The game's already on sale.

Wow.

It was since black friday, discounted to $35

Shows how much faith the publishers have in it. This is exactly why you never pre-order games.

Hopefully, all the negative press and backlash hurt them enough sales wise for them to reconsider their approach to games releases and realize their overreliance on the modding community to solve their problems. Unfortunately, it's just as likely they'll just read it as "gamers don't want multiplayer, let's just add more microtransactions" rather than any of the actual issues people raise.

 Shadow Captain Edithae wrote:

Spoiler:

 Geifer wrote:
As someone with a computer that isn't the best anymore either I find low settings on everything with view distance of half the slider gives me a smooth game with very infrequent and short (less than a second) lags. It may not be as pretty as higher settings, especially some textures, but I got used to it and the world still looks immersive and vistas look pretty, even if it lacks in fine detail.

But you'd better believe that I'd rather play on low graphics than play a slideshow. One of those I can live with. The other, not so much.

For reference, automatic detection found both my CPU and GPU lacking.

I don't have much experience with online games, but I suspect not all of the issues I experienced while zeroing in on the settings that work for me were down to my computer's specs. I suspect Fallout 76 could use some more optimization.

Draw distance is the one thing I refuse to compromise on.

Try and see how it works. Honestly the only reason I haven't adjusted my slider yet is that I know it works and I wasn't in a hurry to see if my computer can handle more. I'm lazy like that. Tinkering with settings only cuts into valuable play time.

Voss wrote:

Geifer wrote:PVP isn't something I care for, but I will say that at least on PC there seems to be a majority of people who want to do their thing in peace or band together, which suits me fine. I don't really see much point in PVP and the game would be fine without it. The only game mechanic it would influence is contesting public workshops, but those are pretty pointless anyway. Woohoo, you have considerable resource production at your disposal so you can get everything you ever dreamed of, except you don't have room stash it and all that ever accomplished is you spend time sitting around and produce something you'll immediately throw away! Great job, Bethesda! Awesome game mechanic!

The secret to the workshops is you WANT them taken away. The value isn't in the materials, its in the {essentially} free XP. If you clear a workshop area and claim it (for a tiny sum) you get XP and some random stuff (including caps that don't quite equal the tiny sum you just spent to claim). Then something inevitably comes to attack the place within a few minutes. But it isn't very challenging, and that also gives you a reward of XP and some stuff.

If shortly someone else comes along and claims it from you they get free XP and probably a defense mission (this may actually be on a timer, don't know). And that means you can claim it back and continue the cycle of getting something for nothing.

If you're playing with friends (or even random strangers, provided they're not idiots and are fairly cooperative), you can basically ungroup, and claim places in turn. Everyone pitches in to defend from attacks, then the next person makes their claim. Just keep doing it until you very very slowly run out of money but run XP (and free loot) up and up. And you'll get more XP and stuff from the critters that attack.

The design of this game is laughable, even for its intended purpose.

People have already figured out a way to build homes hanging off of cliffs that can't be attacked by monsters, and often can't be spotted by players, due to the limits on draw distances.


And that doesn't even touch the furor over how quickly the game got discounted or the other furor over refusal to give refunds.

Heh, I guess I'm too casual to think of that or even care. It's not like leveling quickly does you any good. You just spend a lot of time missing the game.

 H.B.M.C. wrote:
The game's already on sale.

Wow.

Isn't it fun? I bet people asking for Bethesda to do damage control didn't have that in mind.

I'm not sure what you mean. Leveling in 76 has really obvious benefits- the good perks are all level locked. For example, you must be level 40 to get the level 3 lock picking or hacking perks and you can run into level 3 locks/computers just exploring in the early game areas and trying to find what story exists.

Same with crafting perks, damage boosts or anything even remotely interesting and quirky. Plus an absurd amount of gear is level locked. A quick XP loop is pretty much mandatory if you want to get to a point where you can play the game without a lot of artificial barriers. Finding one is about wasting the least amount of time so you DON'T miss most of the game (what little there is of it). Missions, especially easy, repeatable missions, are the best source of XP I've seen anyone find.

I take those early locked containers and terminals as an attempt by the designers to incentivize going back and revisiting earlier areas instead of trying to get people to level as quickly as possible.

I think the game design of different areas with different level requirements, so to speak, is meant to get players to take it slow and explore higher level areas with caution, advancing a little further each time they go. You get an easy starting area to get used to the game that you can fall back to and replenish basic resources in, but if you want the good stuff you need to go to more dangerous areas. To me it seems decidedly built around the idea that you are supposed to go back to places you've already been and give you small incentives and rewards for doing so.

By contrast if you speed level your way to victory, what do these areas have to offer? Enemies you steamroll, some story elements you go through and then you are done and leave for more challenging areas.

So to me the game as intended is that you slowly increase in power just as the critters you face do, giving you steady improvement to the point where you can access all areas and defeat any enemy, at which point you need end game content to keep you busy. That's really the reason why I think you are skipping parts of the game by farming XP at hot spots.

Obviously the system is way more open than what I think is the basic idea behind the game design, so people who are in a hurry to get to high levels have the means to get there easily. I don't know. Maybe they're just trying to cater to too many people at once and get a wonky system as a result that doesn't work too well.

I haven't seen anyone affected by monster levels. Ever. There are level 12s and even 20s near the starting town, and people right out of the vault fight them just fine.

The only time I've seen anyone die is when they run into mass monster spawns, or unexpectedly run into deathclaws and the rare actually hostile scorchbeast without decent weapons (which again is a function of level, as it has Diablo style 'must be this tall to ride' sensors on guns)


The way the game is designed, if you aren't interested in the small story snippets or exploration, it doesn't have anything to offer. Whether you've leveled to competence or not, it doesn't make any difference. But if you've done the smart thing and leveled, you can actually do all the activities in an area and then move on.

For example, manyatruenerd got really excited about the mistress quest line, but was functionally told to shove off and come back at level 25. There wasn't any particular reason for that (especially since a lot of the gear rewards are garbage), but there isn't much point in futzing around with that sort of thing at all. Just get up to a decent level first, then do the content. It isn't magically worse just because you have a different number floating next to your head than the endlessly respawning waves of crap.

I wouldn't really tie difficulty to monster level, which may well be meaningless, as much as monster class. I can tell you with certainty that a Super Mutant Fighter has way more health than a Super Mutant Brute and thus takes much more effort to kill. By contrast I couldn't tell you what levels they're supposed to be. But I know that even when I found some stray Super Mutant in the Forest, it was never going to be a Fighter because they are too harsh. There are some in larger Super Mutant camps that technically still belong to the forest that spawn Fighters, but I'd be surprised if they spawned randomly in the starting area just to gut some hapless low level character that have no way of dealing with them.

It seemed to me as a slow player that the quests were level appropriate with a sudden but manageable jump in difficulty as you leave the Forest behind. I've only done the Mistress of Mysteries quest up until Lewistown and yeah, starting a good few levels short of 25 is challenging because Lewistown is crawling with big ugly green meanies, but it's a quest for which you have to go to the fringes of the Forest and work your way through higher level Scorched, then immediately beyond. It's not a sudden rise in difficulty that cannot be overcome, and if you stick with it you will level quicker and start closing the gap between you and your opponents. Which I would consider a reward for doing something beyond your level, and thus consider it rewarding.

For perspective and since you mentioned Diablo, I've played the first dozen or so seasons in Diablo 3. I wasn't much of a fan of restarting a character over and over and trying to get to level 70 as that quickly loses its novelty, but at some point I was able to equip a level 70 weapon because of a gem (or some such mechanic, it's been a while) on a level 1 character and speed through those 70 levels because nothing could stand in my way (and it's not like the reworked Diablo 3 after the add-on was much of a challenge to begin with). I find this to be a significantly worse grind, even if it takes less time, than leveling normally because nothing can stand up to me, including the boss monsters that get slaughtered in record time, and all i do is perform a dull activity that does not in any way require me to think or act competently.There is no threat or thrill, nor any kind of reward. Getting through it is a technicality that can't be skipped.

And that's where I think Fallout 76 does things differently. It's not linear like Diablo (at least the campaign, but even adventure mode pits level appropriate monsters against you). If you level beyond the monsters in an area, you can just leave for another area. You don't have to go through them. There is neither incentive nor need to steamroll low level creatures in Fallout. If you go after story scraps in an such an area, you completely invalidate the combat portion that is supposed to break up travel and exploration. Thus I see it as skipping a part of the game. And furthermore I see it as somewhat nonsensical as you only take away your own excitement while playing. But of course, that may just be me.

 Geifer wrote:
Try and see how it works. Honestly the only reason I haven't adjusted my slider yet is that I know it works and I wasn't in a hurry to see if my computer can handle more. I'm lazy like that. Tinkering with settings only cuts into valuable play time.

I finished work early today so I'm gonna try that now but I doubt it. I was getting like 5 fps, it was a literal slideshow so bad I thought my computer was crashing.

Regardless, I need a new processor and that'll be on my list of things to get for myself around Xmas once I've finished moving and I've got the spare cash (new job, so moving away).

 Shadow Captain Edithae wrote:

 Geifer wrote:
Try and see how it works. Honestly the only reason I haven't adjusted my slider yet is that I know it works and I wasn't in a hurry to see if my computer can handle more. I'm lazy like that. Tinkering with settings only cuts into valuable play time.

I finished work early today so I'm gonna try that now but I doubt it. I was getting like 5 fps, it was a literal slideshow so bad I thought my computer was crashing.

Regardless, I need a new processor and that'll be on my list of things to get for myself around Xmas once I've finished moving and I've got the spare cash (new job, so moving away).

Hehe, yeah. First time in a week I got a chance to play and set my sliders from something like 55% to max to see how that works out.

I'm really not sure about the performance of this game. I got a slight increase in sporadic lags as new stuff gets loaded. Not great, but hardly detrimental. Did that for three hours, when performance went down and I played a slideshow for five to ten minutes. Afterwards the game ran fine again.

No idea if my computer decided to do something unnecessary at the time or if it was serverside, but considering this isn't the first online game I've played and all the others didn't give me that much trouble, I'm going to say it's shoddy work on Bethesda's part until I see evidence to the contrary.

I also tried to pay attention to enemy levels today with a couple of Ferals at Whitesprings. As expected I did fine against lower level ones, but I got a few level 52 ones that were mauled me pretty badly. One was ok, two was barely manageable, the one time I got three I got killed. Not because I couldn't have done anything about it if all had gone as expected, but I found another quirk I didn't know about before. Whoever thought it was a good idea to unequip grenades every time you start the game should be fired. Or flogged. Or flogged, then fired. Point is, I know Bethesda is somewhat eccentric but the implementation of some mechanics is GW levels of bogus.

Anyway, while it's not a comprehensive system like in Grim Dawn for instance where monster levels are arranged closely around player level and you can read a measure of difficulty out of it, I think it still fulfills that purpose to a degree. I had a thought that monster level in Fallout 76 might be more indicative of the maximum level of gear they might drop, so if you punch a level 20 enemy you'll be lucky to get anything that barely exceeds level 20 gear, with no chance of higehr level loot. That would fulfill a function as well, if it were true.

For those who have done it, how many hours do you reckon it takes to complete the main quest?

 KamikazeCanuck wrote:
For those who have done it, how many hours do you reckon it takes to complete the main quest?

Not sure. I have hit a point in the main quest where it is taking me places where the mobs are all a good 15 levels above me. I do ok if I can hang back and pick them off, but if they spot me and start running my way I get mobbed pretty quick and don't stand a chance. I also have a lot more difficulty with the "Crown", or boss, mob that usually is with them. I am currently doing side quests and adding to my C.A.M.P (just got a nice Nuka-Cola machine for decoration lol)

My build is a high agility/intel stealth build and I haven't really used any power armor yet, although I am about 46 screws short of making a set that you can get from the mining company plans. It also took me until level 25 to realize that even though they are the same weapon, the weapon level does make a difference in damage, primarily because I am an idiot.

That honestly seems fairly obscured by the weird UI and confused by the fact that some weapons don't show as scaling.

I've seen videos with people messing around with early 10mm pistols, for example, and there wasn't any way for them to make an improved version.

The damage and Armor Value between levels also seems to progress... oddly. It certainly isn't something simple like +2 damage per level difference.

IronWarLeg wrote:

 KamikazeCanuck wrote:
For those who have done it, how many hours do you reckon it takes to complete the main quest?

Not sure. I have hit a point in the main quest where it is taking me places where the mobs are all a good 15 levels above me. I do ok if I can hang back and pick them off, but if they spot me and start running my way I get mobbed pretty quick and don't stand a chance. I also have a lot more difficulty with the "Crown", or boss, mob that usually is with them. I am currently doing side quests and adding to my C.A.M.P (just got a nice Nuka-Cola machine for decoration lol)

My build is a high agility/intel stealth build and I haven't really used any power armor yet, although I am about 46 screws short of making a set that you can get from the mining company plans. It also took me until level 25 to realize that even though they are the same weapon, the weapon level does make a difference in damage, primarily because I am an idiot.

Those screws are hard to find....
Are you sure about the Weapon level? I could have sworn my level 10 guns do 5 more base damage than my level 5s.

sugar grove is your friend for screws. A good run will net about 20; plus 2 fusion cores drops by protectron sentries in the basement. A fair number of springs as well. I did most of my farming here for screws and spring for the excavator armor.

You can find about 6-8 more in the morganville high school gymnasium. This is a dream location for a shotgun build, nearly 100 plastic.

Another 8 in the charleston newspaper, plus the toy store vendor in the whitesprings resort usually has another 6-8 screws in junk for sale.

 KamikazeCanuck wrote:
For those who have done it, how many hours do you reckon it takes to complete the main quest?

Theres a main quest? Sarcasm aside, I completed it without even knowing it was the main quest. So not very long.

This game is atrocious. What a slap to the honestly.

KamikazeCanuck wrote:

IronWarLeg wrote:

 KamikazeCanuck wrote:
For those who have done it, how many hours do you reckon it takes to complete the main quest?

Not sure. I have hit a point in the main quest where it is taking me places where the mobs are all a good 15 levels above me. I do ok if I can hang back and pick them off, but if they spot me and start running my way I get mobbed pretty quick and don't stand a chance. I also have a lot more difficulty with the "Crown", or boss, mob that usually is with them. I am currently doing side quests and adding to my C.A.M.P (just got a nice Nuka-Cola machine for decoration lol)

My build is a high agility/intel stealth build and I haven't really used any power armor yet, although I am about 46 screws short of making a set that you can get from the mining company plans. It also took me until level 25 to realize that even though they are the same weapon, the weapon level does make a difference in damage, primarily because I am an idiot.

Those screws are hard to find....
Are you sure about the Weapon level? I could have sworn my level 10 guns do 5 more base damage than my level 5s.

Yep, I have been using a suppressed .308 bolt action since level 5 (obviously adding mods as I have learned them) that was at weapon level 5, and maxed at 77 (if memory serves, its 77 or 78 for sure) damage. When I hit level 25 I was finding its damage output lacking, even with sneak attack x2 damage, and for funzies decided to build up a level 20 .308 bolt action I got off a scorched. I have only modded the receiver and stock and I am at 88 damage.

Triple9 wrote:sugar grove is your friend for screws. A good run will net about 20; plus 2 fusion cores drops by protectron sentries in the basement. A fair number of springs as well. I did most of my farming here for screws and spring for the excavator armor.

You can find about 6-8 more in the morganville high school gymnasium. This is a dream location for a shotgun build, nearly 100 plastic.

Another 8 in the charleston newspaper, plus the toy store vendor in the whitesprings resort usually has another 6-8 screws in junk for sale.

Awesome to know! I have been grabbing every fan I see since they give 1 or 2, and the various other typewriters, toy trucks and such. I have so many fusion cores, probably 20 or so, since I haven't used power armor but 1 time. I really need to start using them to free up the 3 pounds of weight each one takes up in my stash.

The only thing holding me back right now is my stash limit. I have a full set of power armor, all but one piece is T-51 (left arm is T-45) but the level requirement is at 35. It stores fine since the frame only weighs 10 pounds, but when I have to take everything off the frame to make the excavator power armor it fills my storage with each individual piece.. Shouldn't be a problem since they upped the storage to 600 with today's patch.

 Midnightdeathblade wrote:

 KamikazeCanuck wrote:
For those who have done it, how many hours do you reckon it takes to complete the main quest?

Theres a main quest? Sarcasm aside, I completed it without even knowing it was the main quest. So not very long.

This game is atrocious. What a slap to the honestly.

I know. That's why I just want to finish the main quest and go on with my life....

So apparently there was a massive leak of customer info where tickets were sent to randoms players.

Impressive.

 Wolfblade wrote:
So apparently there was a massive leak of customer info where tickets were sent to randoms players.

Impressive.

Yup. Heard about that yesterday.


Blizzard: "We pissed off our customers using arrogantly clueless comments at our own event!"

Bethesda: "Hold my beer and watch this!"

Considering this was after all the issues with the bugs on release and the complete feth up on their initial response to their crappy nylon bags for the collector's edition, you gotta say Bethesda right now is the trash bag that keeps on giving.

What did you expect really?
It's bugthesda.
And so long their lead writer remains we will also not get a good enough story and lore consistency to look over the bugs. This game exemplified that, no story to cover up their mess.

Also the problem lies not with their engine but rahter that their coders suck massively at adapting the parts of their engine into a working one.

I mean, I was expecting bugs because it is really their first attempt at multiplayer games. But I didn't expect them to fail at the game, customer service, and security all in the same month.

Wow.

It's impressive alright. And here I thought I paid for a video game, not admission for the freak show.

Ill be interested to see where the future of 76 will go, or even Bethesda for that matter.

I like it but it is a huge pile 'o' garbage. Cant get a session in without a crash or 4. The glitches are ridiculous but funny sometimes. I have been using the carry weight glitch, ended up stealing 3 peoples loot, but then realizing what had happened, making me an A hole. 2 from taking a camp and another was killing a wanted. I found the initial guy and tried giving him back some of his junk plus some aid stuff, but he left before retrieving his stuff. Again Im the A hole

I ended up buying it for Xbox, only had to pay 20 for it, friend gave me some money for it, so its not too bad. Playing through it a second time, its more fun. You care less about whats going to happen and more about what you need but you know where to get it.

On PS4 I'm nearing 45 but have been messing around with Rose and the Top of the World, the adds spawn so frequently and the loot is superb.

I'm waiting for the $20 sale and about 3 months for them to fix enough of the bugs that it's relatively playable.

I am not sure how Bethesda could have handled this worse without literally trying to piss their entire customer base off. Pre-sales for their future games will be abysmal and all of the good will they have built over the past 10 years has basically all evaporated in the span of a month.

They are going to have to seriously correct their culture of bugs being acceptable, because the number of people who will put up with the bugs now, regardless of the gaming experience that may accompany them is severely reduced.

I'm level 11, and my friends are levels 20 and 25. We took the junkyard workshop, and fast traveled away for a bit. Came back to find 2 level 65 super mutant warlords and their posse. We all took turns dying gloriously for our scrap, but in the end (about 15 minutes, 11 combined deaths, and all of our stimpacks) we killed them all.

I do love this game, but sometimes it makes me want to rage quit mainly due to the random crashes at inopportune times and bugs that suddenly appear that get introduced with each patch..

I had a weird low-high-low moment last night. Whenever I hear the countdown for nuclear strike, I immediately head back to base...drop all my junk and outfit the excavator armor and grab the fun guns (mini-nuke, gatling gun, etc), then jump to the nearest location outside the blast radius. I'm level 46, so able to last a little bit of time, but nothing crazy yet.

So, nuclear weapons goes off, I jump into the fray and start running towards the carnage...and right when I enter the blast zone, it crashes. I log back in and it takes me to a server with no nuke...so I jump back to camp, take all my equipment back off and start back on my quests, when a nuke signal goes off again...jump back and repeat process.

This time I get into the zone and a level 104 player invites me to join a team, which made me feel like a little kid getting picked to play with the big kids, but I decline invites because I use the lone wanderer perk. Anyway, I basically follow all the big kids blasting the legs off anything that moves with my shotgun while the crazy melee folks brain them while they're down, even get to light off my mini nukes in whitesprings golf club building; eventually the party breaks up, when I realize the excavator armor bug has kicked in (not getting the bonus weight for wearing it, so I'm overencumbered and I'm not ditching any good loot to get my numbers down). So I slowly limp my way across the golf course when my combat shotgun breaks, but I luckily had taken the legs off the glowing old ones in front of me; no problem, time to pull the gatling gun out...and I forgot the ammo back in camp. Oh, luckily, I picked up a legendary handmade rifle as loot and am able to take them out with the very small amount of 5.56 I had, but I'm basically defenseless except for a sword I keep around as a walking weapon for molerats and mongrels and scorched. I finally manage to limp out of the blast area; out of ammo, out of stim packs, out of rad away, having gained 2 levels though and trying to figure out how I'm going to get back to my CAMP without a molerat taking me out...it crashes again. Come back into the server, where it takes me into the middle of whitesprings gold clourse and I have to repeat limping out and hoping no one looks at me funny. I manage to make it out and keep all my stuff, but if I had not, I definitely would have rage quit and probably burned all my Bethesda gams in a pyre.