Fallout 76 released in November 2018, and Bethesda's latest entry in the franchise had a bumpy road at the start. Fans and critics' reception was relatively mixed regarding the game's mechanics, amount of content, and online limitations. However, since then, we saw numerous patches and major content updates. The most significant expansion, Wastelanders, added two new factions, quests, and much more content for players to crunch through in West Virginia. Recently, Bethesda released their content roadmap for the remainder of 2020, and it features several significant changes and additions.
We are well into 2020, with only around 6 months to go, but it didn't stop Bethesda from giving their Fallout 76 players a peek at what is to come for the multiplayer title. The studio plans to perform a major rebalancing of several core aspects of the game, including combat and rewards for Dwellers of all levels, including even Legendary Perks.
Players will get to enjoy a whole new story arc featuring the Brotherhood of Steel for players to enjoy spanning an entire year from now. Most importantly, Fallout 76 will receive a major overhaul of its Challenge system to an account-wide progression called Seasons with lots of rewards for players to earn. The Challenges associated with it won't be too complicated, and won't force players to go out of their way repeatedly to complete them.
Fallout 76 will get to see numerous events during the upcoming period, some of which the community is already familiar with or been asking for it for a while now. “Hunt for the Treasure Hunter” and “A Colossal Problem" are examples of what Bethesda has in mind for the new events coming players' way soon enough.
On the other hand, “Fasnacht Parade” and “Meat Week” are events fans of the title have been asking to return for a while now, and the studio confirmed they are coming back this year. Bethesda promised fresh and new content for players to experience with the Daily Ops and Expeditions. The infographic below gives you a better overview of what the studio has in mind for Fallout 76 for the remainder of 2020.
The Seasons system introduces even a new currency for players to earn, S.C.O.R.E. points to act as a new currency available in Fallout 76 next to Atoms. Not only that, the season pass-inspired progression will feature bigger rewards than usual at quarterly level milestones, and you will have ten weeks to reach the final tier before Bethesda drops a new one following a brief two week break between every season.
The blog post's FAQ list answered a number of concerns players might have regarding how much atoms is up for grabs and how difficult the new challenges will be for players to complete. The overall amount of atoms you can earn has decreased, because daily and weekly challenges no longer give Atoms, instead giving you S.C.O.R.E. which helps you rank up on the season board getting a variety of rewards from cosmetics to atom packs.
Of course, with any tier-based system, there are people who like to skip the grind and jump ahead of the competition to get their hands on the rewards right away. However, players won't be able to purchase tiers during the first two weeks of the start of a season, thus if you see someone with the top gear from the season reward track during that time you know you've got a serious grinder in front of you. As of now, the studio didn't set a release date on when we should expect this major patch to drop, but promised fans to expect it some time during the summer.
There are considerable differences between the old Challenge system, and the following is a brief list of the changes coming to Fallout 76:
- Players will see a new option on the Main Menu that will take them to a uniquely Fallout-themed seasonal progression screen. During Season 1, this will be a Captain Cosmos-themed board
- All players begin at the first space on the board -- Rank 1 out of 100. Advancing along the board involves acquiring a new type of currency, S.C.O.R.E., obtainable through the revamped Challenge system and other in-game activities.
- Challenges will be less complicated and easier to complete, typically involving activities players would complete by playing Fallout 76 as they normally would. Challenges should take between 1 to 2 hours to complete.
What do you think of Bethesda's plans for Fallout 76 during the remainder of 2020? Do you think the features coming and combat rebalancing is what the game needs at its current state? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section down below.
