The NPCs in Fallout 76 not only provide you with quests, they can also be quite nasty. Because if you die, they steal your weapons and ammunition.
What exactly do the NPCs do? If you die in the game and an NPC introduced with the Wastelanders update is nearby, reports from players suggest that he may loot your corpse and take your weapons and ammunition.
If you respawn, you will be missing the items. You won’t get them back from the NPC either.
Thieving NPCs
Why is this a problem? Players quickly lose powerful legendary weapons and thousands of rounds of ammunition that they have farmed over a long time. This frustrates them.
The problem seems to occur particularly frequently during events like “Radiation Rumble” or “Raiding Shotgun”. Here it is especially annoying that the NPCs who take the weapons are friendly and immortal.
In theory, it would not even be possible to retrieve your gear if the NPC is dead – because he cannot die. This can be clearly seen in the following video. Around minute 1:00, the player dies, and at minute 2:25, you can see NPC Marion Copeland using his Gatling plasma:
How do players react to this? Players are unsure whether to laugh or be angry about it. However, the situation is quite funny.
- Mavor516 comments on reddit: “I had to laugh about it, but it’s definitely a mess.”
- SlumberBalu thinks it’s not that bad on reddit: “So they are smart and loot you when you die. That’s what any player would do.”
- woosha_me expresses dissatisfaction on reddit: “That’s not funny. I lost my best 50cal this week. It was even the golden color…”
This also happens not only with players. NPCs even loot enemies when they die.
Bethesda is addressing this
What does Bethesda say about the situation? The developers want to take a look at this, as they explain on reddit and may then deploy an update.
Until there is a patch, you might not want to use your most valuable weapon in battles involving NPCs.
MeinMMO author Andreas says: One of my best gaming memories is from The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion. I was sneaking into a cave, saw a sleeping bandit, and quietly looted him. After I took his weapons, he woke up. Unarmed, he ran away and discovered the corpse of another bandit that I had taken out earlier. He bent down, looted the corpse, and then attacked me with a weapon he had found. I had never experienced something like that in a game before.
So, I find the situation with the stealing NPCs in Fallout 76 to be cool and funny on one hand, but on the other hand, it’s annoying because you can’t get back the stolen weapons.
I personally hope for a fix that does not prevent item stealing. However, you should be able to reclaim the weapons. This way, cool situations like item stealing could remain in the game, but we would get our things back.
If you want to learn more about the big Wastelanders update and whether Bethesda’s Fallout 76 is now more enjoyable, MeinMMO author Benedict Grothaus has already played it and introduces you to the “new Fallout 76” in his game report.
