At this point, game-breaking bugs in Fallout 76 patches are becoming as common as...well...as game-breaking bugs in Bethesda games. If you've played the game, it won't shock you to learn that another one has arrived with the recent Wastelanders update. This one rather ironically involves the very NPCs players have been clamoring for since the game's launch.
This news comes courtesy of Reddit user Lizardinosaurus. In a thread on the official Fallout 76 subreddit, Lizardinosaurus explains that if the player dies while in an event that includes NPCs, the NPCs will occasionally loot the player's weapon and all of their ammunition. Lizardinosaurus says they were running the Riding Shotgun event and after they died, their Gatling gun and ammunition were looted by an NPC. The user goes on to caution players not to use rare weapons in events like this just in case NPCs decide to steal them. There's no way to kill NPCs, either, so you can't loot your stuff back.
Bethesda associate community manager Devann McCarthy - on Reddit as Ladydevann - replied to the report thanking Lizardinosaurus for the tag. McCarthy says the team will "investigate this immediately". Obviously, this wasn't intentional, but it's not good optics for a long-awaited update to launch only for a game-breaking bug to rear its ugly head pretty quickly.
This is just the latest in a long line of woes for Bethesda when it comes to the ill-fated Fallout 76. The devs have weathered storms involving hackers, private server problems, and controversial subscription services. It's hard to imagine news like this doing anything but turning new players and returning veterans off Fallout 76, if they haven't deserted already. Bethesda is working on a fix for this issue, but until then, make sure you don't bring any rare weapons with you on missions with NPCs. They're vicious and they want your stuff.
Have you experienced this NPC bug in Fallout 76? Let us know in the comments below!