With “One Wasteland for All” (engl. “One Wasteland for All”) Fallout 76 has received its second major update for year 2. This brings numerous changes that benefit both newcomers and veterans. The idea originally comes from The Elder Scrolls Online and has worked great there.
What kind of update is this? “One Wasteland for All” is the fall update 2020 for Fallout 76 and was released on September 15, 2020. It brought numerous changes, such as:
- daily operations
- the already promised legendary skills
- dynamic enemy levels
- adjustments to public teams
In addition, the S.C.O.R.E. board continues, which already represented the season pass in season 1 in a way. This time there are again over 100 rewards to grab, including lunch boxes, C.A.M.P. items, and plenty of cosmetics.
Just before “One Wasteland for All”, there was already an update that added the Wendigo Colossus as a new boss. This one is tougher than the Queen of the Scorchbeasts but also delivers better rewards in form of legendary weapons.
What does this have to do with ESO? The MMORPG The Elder Scrolls Online already took the same path with “One Tamriel” back in 2016. The plan back then was to make the game more beginner-friendly, encourage group play while still being challenging.
In the review of One Tamriel on MeinMMO, ESO expert Jürgen Horn concluded that it has more MMO content than ever before. Through “One Tamriel”, ESO manages to keep its content consistently relevant.
The update is considered a major breakthrough for the game, after it had previously flown under the radar or was even considered too demanding:
ESO therefore had great success, as it is still one of the best MMORPGs in 2020. Fallout 76 is following ESO’s lead with “One Wasteland for All” and going down a path that has proven successful before – hence the rather similar name.
The new enemies are tough but useful
This is how gameplay improves: With dynamic enemy levels, it is easier for newcomers to play together with more experienced friends – or in general as a new character with veterans.
This changes leveling a bit, but in general it is a bit smoother than before, so you are likely to reach better skills and perks and eventually also the legendary skill or be able to fight the bosses.
How does it work? Through the new level adjustment, the strength of an enemy changes based on your own level. This means: The stronger you are, the stronger all enemies basically become as well.
However, there are minimum and maximum levels that enemies cannot exceed or be below. This means they won’t scale to ridiculous heights, but they also can’t simply be taken down by naked level 1 characters.
The adjustment occurs dynamically for each player, and everyone sees their own enemy level. Bethesda explains it like this: “If multiple players encounter the same enemy at the same time, this means that the enemy’s level rises for high-level players while it decreases for low-level players.”
However, this is not yet optimal for all enemies. The mole rats seem to be unfairly strong and take too much damage at higher levels, which has already resulted in numerous complaints. Bethesda is already working to adjust this.
Daily Operations reward you handsomely
What is that? The daily operations are a new feature in which you must complete a task at a different location each day. Currently, this task is called “Connection Device” and consists of several steps:
- activate a sensor
- hold two positions for a while
- defeat a group of enemies
- defeat the boss of the operation
While you complete tasks at the mission site, more enemies from a specific faction, such as Blood Eagles or Super Mutants, will appear. You don’t have to worry about ammo, as enemies drop the type of ammunition you need for your equipped weapon.
What makes the operations special and what do they bring? As a major feature, the enemies receive special mutations that function as a kind of “affix”. For example, they can become invisible, slow you down, or explode upon death.
The missions are timed, and the faster you complete them, the better your rewards will be. In general, you will receive legendary items, experience points, currencies, and consumables, and more depending on your performance:
- 16 minutes and under: Recruit
- 12 minutes and under: Paladin
- 8 minutes and under: Elder
Legendary Skills – What is that and what does it bring?
What are legendary skills? This feature has been in planning for a long time and aims to further enhance your character. With special abilities that work in addition to regular perks, you can gain additional traits, such as:
- an improvement of your S.P.E.C.I.A.L. values beyond the maximum of 50 points in total, but not exceeding the limit of 15 per value
- “Master Infiltrator”, which sets your skills in lockpicking and hacking to 3 each. This way, you save up to 6 card slots
- additional perks that grant you greater yields when crafting ammunition, bonuses when using power armor, or additional chems.
In total, there are 26 different legendary skills, and you can equip up to 6 at the same time. You choose the cards above your regular perk selection. The cards themselves are all unlocked and only need to be leveled up.
How do I use them? You receive a slot for the cards at levels 50, 75, 100, 150, 200, and 300. It is sufficient to have one character at that level. All other characters can then use those slots.
To upgrade the cards, you need coins that you get from scrapping regular perks – 2 per rank of the card. The legendary skills have a total of four ranks with increasing costs:
- Rank 2 – 50 coins
- Rank 3 – 100 coins
- Rank 4 – 150 coins
The upgrades apply only to each character individually. Even if you have slots and can equip perks with a new character, the ranks of the cards are not transferred across the entire account.
Public Teams are now even better
What are public teams? This feature was already introduced in summer 2020 and simplifies playing together with others. With public teams, you can easily create or join teams. There are different types of teams with their own bonuses.
In addition, there is a tab for the teams in the social menu, where up to four players can fit in each. The more players there are, the better the bonuses that apply. With “One Wasteland for All”, these bonuses have been adjusted and improved a bit.
This is how they are even better: Previously, there were numerous team types that were hardly or not at all used – such as exploration, role-playing, or casual. The benefits were too weak – Or rather, the others were too strong. Therefore, there are now groups with new and different bonuses:
- Casual teams now increase intelligence – construction teams have been removed
- Teams for daily operations grant bonus XP for the new feature
All of these are useful for gaining experience faster. This helps you to complete the new Battle Pass faster, as the only repeatable task is to gain experience. Already in season 1, we had some tips for leveling faster with teams.
What’s next?
After “One Wasteland for All”, “Steel Dawn” will be released in winter 2020. In a new roadmap, the developers have already revealed what content is still awaiting you. This includes:
- new weapons and armor
- new quests
- season 3 for the S.C.O.R.E board with more rewards and cosmetics
Especially C.A.M.P. builders can look forward because with the shelters, every player gets their own instantiated area in their camp (or more precisely: beneath it). In this area, they can do as they please and host allies. The shelters will soon be available to test on the new PTR.
In addition, the update will last until 2021 and will provide new experiences even then. Promised innovations for the coming year include expeditions and additional daily operations like the ones that have already started.
Recently, software giant Microsoft announced that they have acquired Bethesda for a whopping $7.5 billion. So far, there are no concrete impacts, but for the future, it means many possibilities. MeinMMO author Benedict Grothaus believes that every Fallout fan should celebrate the Bethesda acquisition.
