The huge Wastelanders update for Fallout 76 is just around the corner and we were able to ask the director some questions just before the launch. It looks like a lot is changing in the survival game.
Shortly after we were invited by the developers to a playtest for Wastelanders on the test servers, Project Lead Jeff Gardiner and Lead Quest Designer Ferret Baudoin were available for some questions.
The interview itself was conducted by our colleague Michael Graf from GameStar, but MeinMMO had the chance to give him some questions to take along.
The impressions of MeinMMO author Benedict Grothaus on Wastelanders can be found in his detailed report: Wastelanders is now the game that Fallout 76 should have been.
Fallout 76 – A “Singleplayer-MMO”?
Fallout 76 comes from Bethesda, just like the MMORPG The Elder Scrolls Online, but developed by different teams. Nevertheless, this naturally led us to the question: Will Fallout 76 be a “Singleplayer-MMO” like ESO?
Gardiner’s answer to this question is somewhat evasive but nonetheless clear:
We are definitely catering to singleplayer people in a way that other MMOs do not. […] Wastelanders is more of a singleplayer experience. There is tons of community content and although Wastelanders is heavily focused on the singleplayer experience, we want to give the community more opportunities to come together. There are plans to do more for multiplayer throughout the year and bring “multiplayer” back into “MMO”.
Jeff Gardiner
He himself has spent thousands of hours in the MMORPG giant World of Warcraft – alone and without players. This has also influenced the development of content for Fallout 76.
Baudoin adds at this point: “For whatever reason you like Fallout 76, there’s more of it coming in 2020. If you say now: I miss characters, story, the classic Fallout feeling – then [Wastelanders] is for you. But there’s more to come for every type of player.”
A large part of the development costs for Wastelanders went into the new NPCs and the budget was even exceeded in some areas. So we can say with certainty: Yes, Fallout 76 appeals to singleplayer and yes, it is also an MMO.
For example, ESO is a game in which the player plays a significant hero themselves. The gameplay mostly corresponds to that of the singleplayer predecessors of the series – combined with the features of an MMO, so a kind of Skyrim Online. ESO is ideal for solo players and is expected to improve that even more soon.
We also present other online role-playing games that can largely be played solo: Which MMORPGs are fun to play alone? The 5 best solo MMOs.
The story is not over yet – More is coming
While Fallout 76 is currently being developed by a team and is set to finally be released on April 14, the team in Austin is already working on content that will still come in 2020.
We also inquired about this and compared it again with ESO, because in the MMORPG the zone guide has helped manage the content. Gardiner gives a promising answer to this:
[Wastelanders] is just the first story. We did not invent this whole technology just to create Wastelanders. We are already planning and working on story content that builds on what the Wastelanders team has created.
Jeff Gardiner
New content is also coming in the form of new and revised events. The first event, Fasnacht, thrilled players at its release, and new events like Grahm’s Meat Week were also well received.
Wastelanders itself will feature events in which the NPCs participate, allowing for more interaction, as Baudoin reveals. In the future, this opportunity to incorporate human NPCs is expected to be used more frequently.
Additionally, your choices should impact the future. Already now, it’s the case that NPCs behave differently towards you if you act like a complete fool.
Baudoin confirmed that NPCs react to your choices and even comment on details, which may be further expanded at a later time. How significant these impacts are, he cannot yet say – for now, it is just a thought.
Fallout 76 recently released the second official trailer for Wastelanders, just before the official release. It contains many details about the upcoming update and 5 reasons why it really makes you look forward to Wastelanders.
