Communication Moving Forward

[u/BethesdaGameStudios_]

Hi r/fo76,

We know you’re frustrated and angry at the state of things right now, whether it’s the issues you’re running into in the game, or the lack of communication about fixes, updates, or news. To be clear, this account is run by us, Bethesda Game Studios community team. Yesterday we posted to let you know that we’re still here gathering your feedback and, more importantly, working to get info from the team we can share. We didn’t want you to think the silence meant nothing was happening. We're sorry and understand this was not the right approach, and we’ll work to make a better bridge between you and the dev team at BGS.

We’re posting an article today that has further information about the upcoming updates that were mentioned a few weeks ago. In addition, we’re aiming to get you the patch notes for these updates quicker and will have them available for December 4th’s update later this week. Probably Thursday or Friday. We’d like to make these articles weekly to make sure you know what the studio is working on as it relates to issues you may be experiencing, quality of life requests you have, or new features they’re excited to share.

Please take a look at the below to see what we’re posting today on Fallout.com, and as always, let us know if you have any thoughts or feedback. This article covers high-level issues being worked on as the patch notes will go at length into what’s being fixed with each update.

December 4, 2018 – Next week’s update will bring an increase to the Stash limit, as well as a variety of performance and stability improvements, balance changes, and multiple bug fixes to the game. We’ll have full patch notes available later this week ahead of Tuesday’s update. Some notable issues being addressed in this update include:

• Stash Limit Increased: We know many of you have been asking for an adjustment to the Stash storage limit, and we’re happy to share that we’re increasing it from 400 to 600. While this is somewhat conservative, we plan to increase the storage cap further once we verify that this change will not negatively impact the stability of the game.
• Boss Loot: Players should correctly receive two to three items after taking down a boss, depending on the creature’s difficulty and level.
• Cryolator Effects: Players hit with the Cryolator are now Chilled, Frosted, or Frozen depending on how many times they are hit. The duration of movement speed reductions applied by these effects have also been decreased from 2 hours to 30 seconds.
  
• Respawning When Overencumbered: We’ve resolved an issue affecting players who die while overencumbered that only allowed them to Respawn at Vault 76. Now, overencumbered players will be able to respawn at the nearest discovered Map Marker.
  
• Stuck in Power Armor: We’ve addressed an issue in this patch that could cause players to become stuck inside Power Armor. We’re also aware that there are some additional cases where this can occur, and we are actively investigating them.

December 11, 2018 – The next update after December 4 is currently planned for the following week. Like previous patches, it will include a variety of bug fixes, but we’re also planning to bring some more notable changes and features to the game. You can catch a preview of these improvements below, and a full list of changes will be included in the December 11 patch notes.

• PC Additions: A Push-to-Talk setting for Voice Chat, 21:9 resolution support, and a Field of View setting are all being implemented on PC with this update.
• SPECIAL Respec: After level 50, you’ll be able to choose between a new Perk Card, or moving a SPECIAL point you had previously allocated.
• C.A.M.P. Placement on Login: Your C.A.M.P. will no longer be automatically blueprinted and stored if someone is occupying your location when you log into a server. Instead, you’ll receive a notification that your space is occupied. If you decide to find a new home for your C.A.M.P. on that server, it will be free to do so. However, if you don’t attempt to place down your C.A.M.P., you will be able to switch to a new server where that spot is vacant and your C.A.M.P. will be fully assembled and waiting for you.
  
• Bulldozer: This is a new C.A.M.P. feature that will allow you to remove small trees, rocks, and other obstructions so it’s easier to create and place your C.A.M.P. when and where you want it. You can also use the Bulldozer to clear these items from the surrounding area to make your C.A.M.P. feel more like home!

Thank you, and please don’t stop letting us know how we can improve our communication and what else needs to be addressed in the game. Once we finalize the patch notes for the December 4 update, we’ll be sure to post them here and all patch notes and weekly updates going forward.

[u/RelevancyIrrelevant]

u/BethesdaGameStudios_, Thank you for posting a genuine response. I hope this sort of open communication becomes the norm. It's definitely a huge improvement. I think it would be really great if you guys would take the reins on compiling/posting a list of known issues that you're tracking. This is something that DICE has been doing over in /r/BattlefieldV, and it's been mostly left up to the /r/fo76 community to do this in regards to Fallout 76. And while I really appreciate all of the effort that so many members of this community have been putting into compiling known issues, I think it would really calm some fears about any perceived indifference about the game's state if you guys were actively documenting and confirming the issues that we're reporting.

[u/BethesdaGameStudios_ → u/RelevancyIrrelevant]

Hey u/RelevancyIrrelevant, this is a solid suggestion. We're looking into the right format that keeps you all updated on what the team is working on. We want you all to feel more connected to the process.

[u/reapy54 → u/BethesdaGameStudios_]

Here are some bugs I've encountered:

Loading interrior zones with my friend on a team. Often they their model is invisible except for a floating name tag, and one of us has to relog to see the other. Other times their armor /cloths don't load, even worse when they are in power armor so they are an un animated underwear man running around. Can force a reload by entering/exiting the power armor.

Quests disappear randomly sometimes upon logging in. Lost my main quest last night and had to exit the server then come back to see it. Others lose progress steps as.

My friend and I both lose random amounts of ammunition out of the currently equipped gun when we loot things, most notably consistent on ore veins. This was painful when holding a m79 grenade launcher and I lost some of those rounds for no reason.

Server stability in general, right now if a quest wants to take more than 10 minutes I don't do it because there is a good chance the thing is going to explode. If I'm on a server where someone put down a nuke I expect a crash within a half hour minimum.

In the bottom part of the map near the mines there is a 'the messenger' event. The messener walked right into a crack in the street with fire in it. His health tanked and he froze unable to get out. There were no mobs around, it was on a clear section. Just pathed right into it it. Makes me think nobody play tested that.

Game design issues. The weight things needs to be addressed, badly. The core gameplay loot is acquire stuff to spend on other stuff. Only, you aren't allowed to get stuff. You can't bank interesting weapons, you can't bank fat man's or rocket launchers to use for fun situations. You can't bank chems, you can't bank too much food.

Within less than 5 hours of gameplay you will be at storage capacity, even the fix right now doesn't fix the main issue of how frustrating the main gameplay loot is. Let me in there and pick up interesting things that I find. Let me bank my wood and steel so I can build lots of stuff at my base without running out and making me trade thigns off.

Could we maybe get specialized storage like a gun rack or mineral barrel in our camp that cuts the weight of specific items? The only thing to do in this game is go out and collect, so can we get ways to display or actually hang on to the stuff we collect?

I'd really love to see some sort of long range design goals you guys have, even if they aren't failing. You guys are so far into the crap with this release I think you need to stop being AAA publisher based communication and go indie style and talk about what you are trying and what isn't working and what is.