[ad_1]
Yesterday new Fallout 76 patch has added a new mode called Survival, currently in beta. It is separate from the main game, which has been renamed Adventure, although players can still explore it using existing characters – which they will certainly want to do if they do not want to be shredded.
I made this mistake by creating a character from scratch to try to explore Survival as a freshly minted Level 1 rider. At first everything was fine. The sun was shining and I was excited to see the Appalachians through a new, more unforgiving goal. A few minutes later, I was jogging when I heard gunshots. A notification then appeared on my screen informing me that two players had just died at the hands of a third. Moments later, a level 146 player blew himself up in a Fasnacht owl mask.
The biggest thing that distinguishes Survival is that it does not have rules of engagement. Players can damage each other at any time, contrary to what is now called Adventure Mode, where no one gets hurt until they start to to fight. But this is only the tip of the iceberg soaked in blood. Players can tidy up their weapons as they approach each other so that their names appear over their heads, or let them drawn to show they are hostile. And while potential hazards may encourage people to team up, they will earn extra rewards for being killed, including double the normal value of the bottle cap and the opportunity to loot their opponent's corpse for buy health items and craft materials.
Many global changes mean that Survival also looks very different. A ranking shows the cumulative statistics of all people currently on the server, including the number of people they have killed and the time since their last death. In addition, unlike the Adventure mode where each player appears visible on the map, in Survival, only players with bonuses placed on their heads and the three highest survivors will be visible. Everyone will be hidden, making it even more dangerous to venture into the world.
When people die, they can only breed at Vault 76, their campsite or their train stations. This means that death is more expensive and it is difficult for players to hunt each other by going quickly to all important places.
While this makes sense at first glance, such rules have other consequences that can help show why it is so difficult to balance a PVP oriented mode. For example, since players can only use the stations for quick travel, they are excellent camping sites (not the type of campsite that includes tents and grilled marshmallows). I discovered it the hard way. After putting on my Power Armor, repairing my minigun and swallowing a bottle of Vintage Nukashine to double my damage, I quickly went to the Whitespring station to go hunting. When I played, even before my screen was fully charged, three other players shot me, each with his assault rifle drawn on me.
I chose to come back to the station, curious to see if, now that I had lost all my caps, they could take pity on me and invite me to their post. Nope. Not this time, nor the dozen after. I finally sent them a message asking them to be friends, but they ignored my greeting.
In the few hours that I've played Survival to date, the average player level I've encountered is in the low hundred, which makes it incredibly inhospitable for anyone. has spent only a few dozen hours with Fallout 76. Bethesda has attempted to limit this slightly by reducing the damage caused by the weapons in Survival in order to prevent people from being pissed off, but the current balance does not prevent most people from consuming dog meat. As a result, some players in the game sub game have already started jokingly asking for Survival to be renamed Deathmatch.
Other players have suggested to Bethesda to add a third mode that looks like Survival but without the rankings and that would force everyone to create new characters locked in this mode. While the increased tension of anyone is able to attack anyone at any time for any reason offers plenty of options for an interesting role-playing game, in its current version, Survival is basically just a playground for the most invested players to inflict the results of their hundreds of grinding hours on all the others.
Bethesda seems to be aware of the asymmetries she is wooing with Survival. In a preview of the mode posted on his website, he indicates that players will earn 20% bonus experience for everything they do while playing Survival. "It should help your new characters get in shape faster and give your senior characters more frequent upgrades when you conquer the Appalachians," he writes. It's a good idea, but good luck catching a level 146 player that way, especially when he's actively chasing you.
Of course, despite these problems, Survival has a major advantage: it is hoped that most griefs will disappear from Adventure mode so that at least those present can continue to rebuild the wild land in a peaceful way.
[ad_2]
Source link