Fallout 76 – Patch 13 and Public Events Preview

The two most recent development updates for Bethesda’s Fallout 76 talk about some of the new features we should expect from the upcoming Patch 13 for the multiplayer survival RPG. First, we get a general overview of the quality of life improvements coming with the patch, and then we’re treated to a detailed preview for the so-called Public Events that will overhaul the game’s timed event system. Here’s what you can expect from the latter:

Patch 13 is coming to Fallout 76 next Tuesday, and we are pleased to announce we’ve taken your feedback to heart and made quality of life improvements to the event system. We’ve reclassified select events as “Public Events”, which will feature added details on the map, free fast travel, and server-wide announcements, among other improvements. Catch everything you need to know about Public Events below.

INTRODUCING: PUBLIC EVENTS!

Earlier this year, we asked you to share your thoughts with us on events in Fallout 76. After reading through many pages of your likes, dislikes, and suggestions, we put together a plan to address your feedback with a series of quality of life improvements. We’ve selected a number of existing multiplayer-focused events and recategorized them as “Public Events,” which will differ from regular events in many ways.

For starters, you told us that it’s a pain to cough up caps to fast travel to an event that’s almost over, or about to end in failure. We agree, that’s not much fun. Since we can’t predict when an event will fail as that’s based on player action or inaction, we decided to make fast travel to Public Events free. That way, you can hang onto your caps for your adventures around the Wasteland. Many of you also mentioned that you’d like to see more event information on the map, and we’ve made a variety of UI improvements that we hope you’ll enjoy.

KNOWLEDGE IS HALF THE BATTLE

When you look at the map after Patch 13, you will find that Public Events display a larger and flashier icon than normal events, which should help you spot them more easily. When you highlight one of these icons, a new dialog box will appear to give you many more details to help you make an informed decision about whether you’d like to join that event, like:

• How many other players are already at that event.
• How much time has passed since the event began.
• A general difficulty rating (Though, in some cases, this rating is based more on the complexity of the event’s objectives.)
• The type of gameplay you’ll experience (Boss, Defense, etc.).

On top of all that, the loading screen that appears when you fast travel to a Public Event will now show a more detailed description at the top of the screen, including tips about how to successfully complete the event.

We’ve also seen your suggestions to add more event announcements to the game, and you may be happy to know that all players in a world will now receive a notification when a new Public Event begins. There are some exceptions—you won’t see Public Event notifications if you’re in a Vault or if you haven’t reached level 7, for example—but these announcements should help to recruit some more helping hands for tougher events, like Project Paradise.

THE MECHANICS OF PUBLIC EVENTS

Aside from free fast travel, we’re making a few additional changes to how Public Events actually work. First up, you will no longer drop your junk when you die during a Public Event in Adventure Mode. Instead, the respawn timer will increase each time you die until it reaches a max of 20 seconds.

Next, Public Events no longer start based on entering or fast traveling to the event area. Instead, a timer will start ticking down once a Public Event appears on the map. To kick off the event, you will need to perform an action, like turning on the boilers for Tea Time, or finding the Strangler Heart for Heart of the Swamp. You and your eventmates can use this time to group up and coordinate your plan of attack, or you can perform the required action to start the event early. If no one is in the event area when the timer expires, the event will shut down.

Finally, the majority of Public Events now share a single cooldown between the start of one and the beginning of the next. This means that only one* Public Event will be active at any given time, which will help players come together to focus their efforts on success during that event.

* Scorched Earth and Encryptid are both exceptions and can run independently from these rules, since Scorched Earth can only be triggered by launching a nuke and Encryptid by turning in a Keycard

PUBLIC EVENT LINEUP

In Patch 13, the following events will become Public Events and will feature all of the improvements mentioned above:

• Campfire Tales
• Distinguished Guests
• Encryptid
• Feed the People
• Free Range
• Guided Meditation
• Heart of the Swamp
• Jail Break
• Line in the Sand
• Lode Bearing
• One Violent Night
• Path to Enlightenment
• Project Paradise
• Scorched Earth
• Swarm of Suitors
• Tea Time
• Uranium Fever

We’ve also retrofitted popular Seasonal Events, Fasnacht and Meat Week, with this functionality. So, if they occur again (hint!) they will benefit from the improvements.

THERE’S MORE TO COME!

Finally, we wanted to let you know that your feedback has not gone unheard when it comes to players who don’t help out with event objectives, or legendary enemies that get killed before you’re able to land a few hits of your own. We are working on a second phase of event improvements that will include a performance-based reward system and enable you to loot legendary enemies during events without having to hit them before they die, but this is still further down the road. We will keep you posted in the coming months and will share more details when these changes are ready.