Fallout 76: Multiplayer thoughts
My buddy TRex and I both love FO. He got me hooked on playing FO4 on Survivor mode, although he'd go on to finish the game and I didn't. I really hated the limited endings.
We both said we might wait until Christmas to get the Fallout 76. You know, let the devs shake the bugs out first. My Darling Daughter called me on the 13th and asked if I was playing yet - it was out early. It wasn't out, but I logged into Bethesda and downloaded it. It took forever.
TRex had a hard time logging into Bethesda on Nov 13th but managed to on the 14th. His copy downloaded in less than half an hour.
I knew we wouldn't make it until Christmas, but I thought we'd make it longer than opening day!
Creating each other as friends worked well. We did that from the Main Screen before logging in. Just select the Social choice.
Once in the same world, we tried to team up and it failed, over and over. Eventually I got tired and went to bed. TRex went on to conquer the local Super Mutant camp. Solo.
That's the way he rolls.
So you can see players running around. What they don't tell you is that you're safe up to Level 5. At Level 5 you become possible bait for the player killers.
It isn't as bad as it sounds. In all the hours I have played, only one player became WANTED, meaning they are killing a lot of other players without provocation. They are visible on the map in bright red. Yeah, I stayed away from that spot, since he was already in mid-30s and I was about level 8.
Yesterday TRex and I teamed up successfully with no problem at all. I don't know if they fixed the bug or if the stars were correctly aligned.
Trading was more problematic. I had some things he wanted and vice-versa. The trade screen looks fine and it's intuitive to mark the items and costs for them. Nowhere could we figure out how to activate the trade. We ended up dropping the items on the ground where a brown paper-bag appears that you can pick up. Be quick. While it sits there, it's fair game for anyone.
Accessing the team menu while you're in the game is tricky, at least for me. Bethesda says you can use Ctrl-Tab, but all that did for me what make me crouch in the game and twitch in real life. Instead, access the menu (use ESC) and then go to the social selection in the upper right (or press C). Make sure you're in a safe spot since the game doesn't pause when you do this.
We could fast travel for free to the other player. TRex helped me finish a few quests and we didn't cause each other damage by stray shots or erratic swings of my serrated machete.
On that note, I apologize profusely to the guy I wounded the other day. I was going a little nuts and when you came down the stairs I thought you were a zombie. That was my bad. Although you might consider a change in hair style.
There is no way to communicate except by voice and emotes (Press G for emotes). We had some technical issues with voice, but those were machine related and not because of the game.
The emotes are idiotic. I wave to someone and it looks like I've eaten a few too many hot peppers and I'm trying to wave down a medic in the middle of a seizure. The thumbs-up is too enthusiastic. I'm not that happy. The question mark is okay, and the one I use the most.
I have a lot of questions.
Some of the quests in the game are Player Events. You can pay caps to teleport to the Event, and if it is successful, you get awards consisting of loot and Perk cards.
I'm working on figuring those out, also, but they seem to work similarly to FO4. You need to move the selected Perk card to the top-screen tray to activate it.
Our beloved bobble-heads only give temporary boosts now. Since this is multi-player, if you see a bobble-head, you'd better grab it first.
This is Fallout, so Power Armor is available. Like the bobble-heads, though, you'd better get there first if you want it. I have no idea what the respawn time is. Logging into other worlds doesn't seem to work to find one either.
Oh, you don't log into the same spot you logged off. Apparently there are login areas. You get close, but not where you'd expect.
You can also get more than one Power Armor frame. TRex has two now. You can put them in your inventory and they are safe from other players. If you leave them sitting around (just exiting them), they are up for grabs.
Frankly, that mechanic should be changed. For a rare resource such as Power Armor, each player should only be able to capture a single frame. More than one, and you are keeping someone else from getting one. Yeah, yeah, I get the whole "but I want a Power Armor for radiation and a Power Armor for jumping high and a Power Armor for parades through Main Street."
More than one frame just isn't a good idea, Bethesda. Let players set up their bases to modify the suits with the armor pieces.
Oh, that's right. Bases. They do seem to be a bit of a problem...
And that takes me to tomorrow. See you then.
We both said we might wait until Christmas to get the Fallout 76. You know, let the devs shake the bugs out first. My Darling Daughter called me on the 13th and asked if I was playing yet - it was out early. It wasn't out, but I logged into Bethesda and downloaded it. It took forever.
TRex had a hard time logging into Bethesda on Nov 13th but managed to on the 14th. His copy downloaded in less than half an hour.
I knew we wouldn't make it until Christmas, but I thought we'd make it longer than opening day!
Once in the same world, we tried to team up and it failed, over and over. Eventually I got tired and went to bed. TRex went on to conquer the local Super Mutant camp. Solo.
That's the way he rolls.
So you can see players running around. What they don't tell you is that you're safe up to Level 5. At Level 5 you become possible bait for the player killers.
It isn't as bad as it sounds. In all the hours I have played, only one player became WANTED, meaning they are killing a lot of other players without provocation. They are visible on the map in bright red. Yeah, I stayed away from that spot, since he was already in mid-30s and I was about level 8.
Yesterday TRex and I teamed up successfully with no problem at all. I don't know if they fixed the bug or if the stars were correctly aligned.
Trading was more problematic. I had some things he wanted and vice-versa. The trade screen looks fine and it's intuitive to mark the items and costs for them. Nowhere could we figure out how to activate the trade. We ended up dropping the items on the ground where a brown paper-bag appears that you can pick up. Be quick. While it sits there, it's fair game for anyone.
Accessing the team menu while you're in the game is tricky, at least for me. Bethesda says you can use Ctrl-Tab, but all that did for me what make me crouch in the game and twitch in real life. Instead, access the menu (use ESC) and then go to the social selection in the upper right (or press C). Make sure you're in a safe spot since the game doesn't pause when you do this.
We could fast travel for free to the other player. TRex helped me finish a few quests and we didn't cause each other damage by stray shots or erratic swings of my serrated machete.
On that note, I apologize profusely to the guy I wounded the other day. I was going a little nuts and when you came down the stairs I thought you were a zombie. That was my bad. Although you might consider a change in hair style.
There is no way to communicate except by voice and emotes (Press G for emotes). We had some technical issues with voice, but those were machine related and not because of the game.
The emotes are idiotic. I wave to someone and it looks like I've eaten a few too many hot peppers and I'm trying to wave down a medic in the middle of a seizure. The thumbs-up is too enthusiastic. I'm not that happy. The question mark is okay, and the one I use the most.
I have a lot of questions.
Some of the quests in the game are Player Events. You can pay caps to teleport to the Event, and if it is successful, you get awards consisting of loot and Perk cards.
I'm working on figuring those out, also, but they seem to work similarly to FO4. You need to move the selected Perk card to the top-screen tray to activate it.
Our beloved bobble-heads only give temporary boosts now. Since this is multi-player, if you see a bobble-head, you'd better grab it first.
This is Fallout, so Power Armor is available. Like the bobble-heads, though, you'd better get there first if you want it. I have no idea what the respawn time is. Logging into other worlds doesn't seem to work to find one either.
Oh, you don't log into the same spot you logged off. Apparently there are login areas. You get close, but not where you'd expect.
You can also get more than one Power Armor frame. TRex has two now. You can put them in your inventory and they are safe from other players. If you leave them sitting around (just exiting them), they are up for grabs.
Frankly, that mechanic should be changed. For a rare resource such as Power Armor, each player should only be able to capture a single frame. More than one, and you are keeping someone else from getting one. Yeah, yeah, I get the whole "but I want a Power Armor for radiation and a Power Armor for jumping high and a Power Armor for parades through Main Street."
More than one frame just isn't a good idea, Bethesda. Let players set up their bases to modify the suits with the armor pieces.
Oh, that's right. Bases. They do seem to be a bit of a problem...
And that takes me to tomorrow. See you then.
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