In Fallout 76, a certain NPC is currently particularly unpopular with players. He causes annoyed reactions but also amusement and memes.
This is about the mayor: The “friendly” mayor of Grafton, whom most players will likely encounter fairly early in the game. He manages the town of Grafton located at the edge of the woods and Toxic Valley.
The mayor himself is an artificial intelligence sitting in a computer and re-elected at every period, meaning he has been in office for some time now. To do this, he repeatedly hires helpers to carry out tasks for him by tapping into the radio. This includes things like:
- burying fallen heroes
- cleaning up the surroundings for the upcoming tourists
- parades in honor of one of the mythical beings, the monster of Grafton
What annoys the players so much? For some time now, his requests have been extremely persistent. Since the range of his transmission is quite high and he always seems to have something that needs to be done, he often bothers players right upon login.
He informs them about daily and repeatable quests or events, even if they have just completed them or are not near him at all. This leads some players to even turn off their sound for the first few minutes to avoid hearing him.
The mayor of Grafton – between frustration and schadenfreude
This is how the fans deal with it: Although many players are extremely annoyed by the intrusive mayor, others enjoy the rather harmless frustration of their fellow players. Some even mimic his announcements in posts on Reddit, where users are actually complaining.
Quite often, the mayor is also compared to one of the most annoying characters in the series: Preston Garvey from Fallout 4. Garvey demanded players to save settlements at all possible times, even when they were often fighting in the middle of nowhere.
What is Bethesda doing about it? According to a Bethesda employee on Reddit, the developers want to look into what is causing the increased requests from the mayor and address his friendliness. In the next patch, he should be a little less sociable.
Maybe the mayor should also better promote something more popular:
