 | The following is based on developer commentary. |
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The Fallout 76 November 2023 developer AMA was hosted in Bethesda Game Studios' official Discord on November 2, 2023, as part of the Fallout 76 5th Anniversary event. Users were asked to pre-submit questions days ahead of the Ask Me Anything (AMA) session, and developers chose a selection of questions to answer. The AMA was announced to feature environment artist Erin Bower, systems designer Jae Espinosa and quest designer Stephanie Zachariadis. Quest designer Joshua Moretto, systems designer Fahad Khan and technical director Brian Baird also appeared. 13 questions were answered in total.
Responses[]
Question: "expeditions purpose, difficulty wise"[]
SpaceLime: So are expeditions supposed to be challenging content for end game players with decent builds or is it just coincidence that they r more difficult than most content in the game?
If they are meant to be more challenging than will the newer expeditions that get added later down the line keep increasing in difficulty?
Stephanie Zachariadis: Expeditions are meant to be challenging for end game players, but also accessible for lower-level players. It's a little different from Daily Ops in the sense that we also test Expeditions missions on a wide variety of builds, including lower levels to ensure the mission feels solid to all potential players. That being said, it would be pretty difficult to play an Expedition mission if you're under level 50, but definitely not impossible.
Question: "Alternate visions for Atlantic City"[]
Flakles: I'm sure you guys must see players in the community constantly asking if we can get a more open world, traditional fallout DLC experience from expeditions, something like Far Harbor being the constantly echoed request. And I'm sure you guys must've at least experimented with it already - My question is, what sort of things would hold a choice like that back?
Maybe definitively providing a 'why not' will put the matter to rest among the community.
Joshua Moretto: Hi, Flakles. While we continue to expand the places players can visit outside our map, the focus of Fallout 76 is and remains Appalachia. That said, players will be able to visit Atlantic City for traditional story quests and exploration outside of Expeditions in Patch 50.
Question: "what builds are the devs using?"[]
Smitje: what builds are the devs using?
Stephanie Zachariadis: More of a rifle build 👀
Brian Baird: I split my time between a railway rifle/VATS build and a Cold Shoulder shotgun build. And I always keep a deathclaw gauntlet handy for close up fun.
Erin Bower: I am also more of a rifle person. I like being far away and sneaky. 🥷
Question: "Forbidden Camp Budget Question"[]
Reca: Are there any plans to increase the camp budget? 👀
Or allow for players to even pay (🥲) for more budget in all of their builds?
Erin Bower: Hello! As of right now there are no plans in the roadmap to change the camp budget. But the environment art team works diligently to make new items that are efficient and also as badass as possible. One example of this contribution is the new prefabs recently released and coming in the future. We aim to make them a single item that has the power to transform the player's camp and that can't be replicated with wall kits.
Question: "New Weapons in Atlantic City?"[]
gogtf: I love the Auto Axe in Pitt.
Is there a new weapon in Atlantic City?
Fahad Khan: We all love the Auto-Axe as well! For Atlantic City we're getting a new Named Legendary pistol called the "Circuit Breaker" that will have a unique AOE effect on the final shot of the weapon! And with the second part of Atlantic City coming up soon, there will be even more to look forward to!
Question: "Female Outfits"[]
Mimori 775: Is there an opportunity for more female outfits in the game that aren't so masculine/covered up? I know there used to be the nuka girl outfit, but that was offered a long time ago and I would like to see more outfits that fit more of my style. Shorts/Low cut top/tomb raider types etc. I know people used to mod Fallout 4 to get similar effects but I feel that 76 is lacking in the female outfit variety.
Erin Bower: we love expanding player choice in the store giving freed to be who they want in Appalachia!
We just released a Nurse Outfit based on Guinevere to the store but hear you loud and clear and will try to keep pushing more female options.
Question: "The Overgrown"[]
Lux: Hello Bethesda,
I was curious about the new overgrown enemies coming with the Atlantic City update. At the moment, we know little about them except what came up in the dev dives - that they’re plants controlling the corpses of people. What I’m wondering is if any insight can be shared on what caused them, as the other two instances of hostile vegetation were caused by some pretty out there sources (vault 22’s spore experiments and vault 94’s GECK explosion for the spore carriers and strangler vines, respectively) and there’s currently no indication of where they’re coming from.
Thank you for continuing to develop fallout 76 for these last five years!
Stephanie Zachariadis: The origin of the Overgrown is an unknown, but there's quite a bit of speculation within Atlantic City as to what they could be. There's more tidbits of lore to discover in Patch 50 to expand on the mystery.
Question: "New big open world"[]
KARU: Hello.
There are questions about future content. Will we ever have access to a new big open world in the future where we can explore in any direction we want? So that it is not associated with expeditions.
Stephanie Zachariadis: Atlantic City is open to tourists -- players will be able to explore our new Atlantic City locations without actively being on an Expeditions mission in the near future!
Question: "who is the Management?"[]
falloutparticle: Orlando references the “Management “ but who are they?
Stephanie Zachariadis: Orlando refers to "Management" as Mr. Otis... that name sounds oddly familiar 🤔
Question: "Devs feedback on our feedback"[]
Zaikhun: Would it be possible for some people from Bethesda staff to share their thoughts on our most common feedback suggestions? We would like to know the Devs' opinions regarding our suggestions. Are they too demanding or not? If so, in what way? If the Devs would propose something different but taking into account some particular suggestion what would differ from our suggestion?
Stephanie Zachariadis: We love hearing feedback. It shows us that people are engaging with the game and it's always exciting to see people interact with the content we make. It also shows us what issues are important to the community and helps us hone in our focus.
Question: "Regarding Level 60 Muni Armor"[]
coffee888: In the PTS, it appears that the Muni Armor can be crafted as an item level [60]. Are there any plans to raise the level cap for weapons/armor other than the Muni Armor from the current [45/50] to higher levels in the future? If so, would you consider implementing a system to increase the level of already crafted items?
Fahad Khan: We are exited about the new armour set and this set in particular will be actively adjusted before it goes live to the wider community, however we're actively looking at ways to improve weapons past their current level cap.
Question: "Weapon Paints"[]
Pie_Savvy: So how does the team choose what weapons get paints as rewards, and how does the team design them?
76 has its fair share of both subtle and wild weapon paints, and I'm assuming Atlantic city is no different, so I'm curious how does the team go about picking which weapons get that treatment and how does the process of creating them go?
(Bonus: I would love to see some concept art if at all possible)
Erin Bower: For items in general art direction seeks out input from both employees and players for ideas of what players would love.
Internally we all get to voice our opinions on which concept art designs are our favs. Once the design is picked art gets started arting!
Question: "Any plans for multiplayer gambling?"[]
rainking187: Just wondering if there’s any chance that we would be able to play like blackjack or poker against other players in Atlantic City.
Fahad Khan: We are continuously looking to expand our roster of multiplayer games and have some exciting new games available in the upcoming release. However, we have no current plans to allow active gambling against other players.