History YMMV / Fallout76

* EnsembleDarkhorse: The most beloved [=NPC=] from the base game is probably Rosie the Raider, an adorable Ms. Nanny that has been reprogrammed as TheQuincyPunk and having a BadButt personality that makes her stand out from so much of the rest of the wilderness.

* CompleteMonster: [[PresidentEvil Thomas Eckhart]] was a member of the Enclave and the Secretary of Agriculture under the Pre-War Government who was obsessed with eradicating Communism not matter the cost. Being the last surviving member of the presidential cabinet, he became the leader of the Enclave forces inside the Whitespring bunker. His first action as leader was to hold a vote on whether or not they should continue the [[NukeEm nuclear war against China]] and then had everyone who voted against him locked inside a room that was flooded with DeadlyGas. In an attempt to have the automated control system of the Appalachia's nuclear silos raise the DEFCON Level and give him access to nuclear missiles, he unleashed [[KillerRobot Liberators]] and Super Mutants onto the survivors on the surface. When this wasn't enough, he also released the Scorchbeasts, which would eventually wipe out most of the remaining human population in the region. Despite being [[PosthumousCharacter long dead by the time the game takes place]], he left behind a region devoid of human life and full of dangerous creatures.

** Legacies tend to be quite divisive. On the one hand, they're quite popular among the older playerbase who were around when they were a natural part of the game's loot system, who see them as invaluable relics of a time before numerous balance changes removed their GameBreaker status. On the other, newer players tend to dislike them for being reflective of the game's wonky balancing on launch that necessitated such changes to begin with, and not helped by how egregious exploits and cheats were prolifically used to obtain them (and the third-party trading of such Legacies that ensued) before Bethesda clamped down on illicit behaviors.

%%zce** Legacies tend to be quite divisive.

** Legacies (as described under GameBreaker) tend to be quite divisive.

** Legacies (as described under GameBreaker below) tend to be quite divisive.

** Elizabeth Taggerdy is a woman with a lengthy character arc as she joins the Brotherhood of Steel via radio for lack of anyone better to join but never quite joins entirely with Roger Maxson's views. She is a PragmaticHero who wants to use nukes against the Scorched Queen and TheExtremistIsRight. However, she too, is a character we never meet in person.

%% Please do not add any Broken Base or Base Breaking Characters entries unless the conflict has been ongoing for at least six months and shows no signs of
stopping, with two or more strongly-motivated sides and very little middle ground. Knee-jerk reactions and pure complaining are not allowed.

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot: A prequel detailing a community of Vault Dwellers trying to rebuild the world in the wake of a nuclear holocaust while interacting with natives and fighting radioactive threats could've been a great story in itself. However, any potential for that story is squandered by there being zero human [=NPCs=] to interact with in the game.
** In terms of the game world, rural West Virginia ought to be a pretty interesting setting for an open-world RPG. Fallout 3 and 4 were set in decidedly urban areas that were hit hard by the war, so going to the comparatively rustic and untainted countryside could have been something special. Ideally it'd take a page from Skyrim's book and present an expansive wilderness full of forest-swept mountain ranges and river valleys for the player to traipse around in. That's not even accounting for all the industrial set-pieces that would make for perfect post-apocalyptic ruins (IE, dilapidated train bridges, underground shaft mine tunnels, the gorges left by ancient strip mining, ruined steel mills overgrown with creeper vines, ramshackle mountain towns inhabited by the tribal descendants of pre-war coal miners and labor unionists, etc). While some of these elements are present, they're not executed anywhere as effectively as they could have been. [[SceneryPorn The game-world certainly looks lush and pretty]], but the rural Appalachian setting's potential isn't fully taken advantage of. The developers failed to make it truly absorbing and fleshed-out like the Mojave was. Part of the problem is that this stretch of Piedmont mountains being populated entirely by monsters and bland zombies but barely any actual human beings. It doesn't feel like a believable location that human beings live in because there aren't any human beings to be found. Combined with the underwhelming writing and artificial, halfhearted design, the game-world ends up feeling even more empty and lifeless than the barren wastelands that 3 and 4 were set in.
** Not enough is done with the short time frame after the nuclear war. 25 years isn't anything to sneeze at, but it's short enough that many people still alive in the wasteland are in living memory of the pre-war times. It would have been interesting to see civilians reflect upon what the pre-war world was like, and come to terms with the scale of what they've lost. Hell, with the Brotherhood of Steel it would have been interesting to have a phasing out of the old guard sub plot. 25 years after the war there would be many US military veterans that are in their middle age or are already old, and they still think of themselves as agents of the pre-war military and hold on to hope they can bring their country back online. It would be a melancholy experience to see these veterans give way to the Brotherhood of Steel, accepting that while the country they once loved and the US military gone for good, the traditions of discipline and brotherhood in combat can still live on in the Brotherhood of Steel -- all of them uniting under the banner of Roger Maxson. Arguably the Enclave, for all of their stubborn refusal to admit America has died completely, have room for such a subplot as well.
** Enclave fans felt that having no surviving members of the Enclave aside from MODUS was an wasted opportunity to explore a [[TokenGoodTeammate saner side]] to the Enclave that might have rejected the genocidal direction the organization went in going into the 2100s and 2200s, especially with the implications that the majority of those in the Whitesprings Bunker rejected Eckhardt's mad plans to destroy China at all costs, resulting in him killing them to push his plans unopposed.

%% Please do not add any Broken Base or Base Breaking Characters entries unless the conflict has been ongoing for at least six months and shows no signs of stopping, with two or more strongly-motivated sides and very little middle ground. Knee-jerk reactions and pure complaining are not allowed.

[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder:Gameplay and Story Related]]
* AlternateCharacterInterpretation: Is the Overseer of Vault 76 a TokenGoodTeammate of the Vault-Tec corporation or a KnightTemplar extremist who never stops to question why she's getting nuclear weapons for a defunct corporation or why they're performing experiments on the sole surviving groups of humanity?
** Did the Vault 76 Resident GoMadFromTheIsolation or are they just SidetrackedByTheGoldenSaucer? While they don't have many people to talk to, a lot of the quests they voluntarily perform are just pointless in terms of rebuilding America or helping their surival. For example, there's no reason to help the Mayor of Grafton repair tourist traps given there's no tourists left.
** Was Shannon Rivers in [[BecomingTheMask assuming the role of Mistress of Mystery]] in real life to [[VigilanteMan fight crime]] using the Mistress' methods helping Appalachia the only way she knew how? Or was she a past her prime actress playing her dream role no matter what? Was her decision to only take in orphaned girls, sexist and misandrist? Or did she take in girls only, because they were the most vulnerable compared to other refugees? Or was it because [[FridgeBrilliance she only has experience raising a daughter and would have been out of her depth trying to care for orphaned boys?]] Was her decision to keep her Order of Mysteries completely compartmented from other groups such as the Responders and Brotherhood of Steel, out of a desire to protect her Order via secrecy? Or did she just not want to have any outside influences on her organization, fearing that she can't role play as a comic book superheroine once actual professionals at law enforcement (Responders) and warfare (Brotherhood) start working with her and force changes?
** Was David Thorpe's attack on Charlestone a rescue mission for Roselynn that went horribly wrong? An act of blind, furious vengeance on the Responders for daring to defy him? A deliberate act on Roselynn's life to keep her from telling the Responders any of his secrets or to punish her for getting caught to begin with?
* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: Spank's absolutely ''gorgeous'' [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FRPeYP6gS-s cover]] of Music/{{John Denver}}'s "Take Me Home, Country Roads" is used as background music in the teaser trailer, and is generally seen as the game's main theme. Indeed, the one thing universally praised about the game is the music which combines recycled music from previous games with lots of excellent new choices including "Ghost Riders in the Sky", "Old Man Mose", and "Sixteen Tons". [[https://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2018/11/16/radio-active Penny Arcade even did a comic on it.]]

* DemonicSpiders: Many return from [[VideoGame/Fallout4 the previous installment]] alongside several new ones, including:
** Liberators. Small robots with only three real attacks, these little shits can be some of the most tedious enemies to kill. Their small size makes it easy for them to jump around and avoid being hit, they rarely are alone and thus tend to swarm players in large groups, and despite often being lower level enemies, they are surprisingly tough to kill and do decent damage to even high level players. It certainly doesn't help that you can encounter them right out of the gate, since a small pack of them have taken up residence on the road to Vault 76.
** Scorchbeasts. First off, they deal huge amounts of damage with their primary attack (which they love to spam [[InterfaceScrew and also takes up most of the screen]]), Secondly, due to them being mutated bats, they're flying most of the time, meaning they're well out of range for many guns (and also making melee-oriented builds useless). Thirdly, they're ''incredibly'' persistent, being nigh-impossible to lose once one has spotted you. And lastly, they can show up randomly around the map no matter where you are, and many show up at the same time in the Cranberry Bog region due to the many Fissure Sites there. Have fun with dealing with ''3'' of them at the same time! They were eventually toned down so they no longer spam their sonar blasts, but they're still incredibly difficult to deal with
** Wendigos are essentially Deathclaws but ''much'' harder to hit due to their skinnier bodies. They do craptons of damage even in Power Armor and despite their appearance are surprisingly tough to kill. Facing one without a strategy will easily get you killed.
** High-Levelled Colonel Gutsys armed with pistols. They have high health with a pretty small frame, and they're the ''only'' enemies in the game capable of outright ignoring armor to a degree, making them all too capable of quickly killing a player in only 3-4 shots. There's a reason they're feared even more than ''Annhilator Sentry Bots.''
** Floaters, but ''especially'' Freezer Floaters and Flamer Floaters. Freezer Floaters have a unique ability in ''DRAINING POWER ARMOR BATTERIES'' in addition to the slow effect. A 100/100-charged fusion core will get drained in a matter of 'seconds,'' and will quickly eat up whatever other cores you have in your inventory. Flamer Floaters aren't better either, as they spit fireballs at you with terrifying accuracy and damage. And if that doesn't kill you, the burning effect will. Even without taking their special abilities into account, all 3 types of Floaters deal obscene damage with their cloud attack regardless of what you're wearing for armor, and their TakingYouWithMe explosion-on-death is sure to kill players at low health.

* GameBreaker:
** Since health doesn't regenerate in this game, any armor with the Regenerating prefix will save you a lot of healing, especially if you don't want to leave an area. It isn't very fast and only works out of combat, but that's pretty easy to pull off if you just move far enough away from any threats.
** The Speed Demon, Healing Factor and Marsupial Mutations are widely considered the best mutations to get in the game, even without using a serum (which only gives you the positive effects of the mutation and forgoes any negative penalties).
*** Speed Demon buffs movement speed and reload speed by 20%, but makes you get thirsty/hungry quicker.
*** Healing Factor grants players with extremely fast health regeneration when not in combat. However, it reduces the effects of ''all'' chems by a lot.
*** Marsupial increases jump height significantly, adding a great amount of mobility when combined with a Power Armor...but it reduces your intelligence by 4 points. Combined with the Starched Genes perk (which when upgraded Radaway and Decontamination Showers will never remove Mutations), and Class Freak (Reduces the negative effects of mutations), and you end up having flat buffs to ''everything'' when stacked together.
** Nuka-Grape. It heals 150 health, cures 400 rads and grants a AP boost. Not too bad by itself, but the real game-breaker comes from having a maxed-out Cola Nut perk card (which doubles and later ''triples'' the effect of Nuka-Colas). With this card, a single Nuka-Grape will heal 450 HP, cure ''1200'' rads and grants a hefty boost to your AP regen, in addition to restoring 45% of the thirst bar. [[TooAwesomeToUse The only drawback is Nuka-Grapes rarely spawn in the wild (aside from one relatively unknown vendor who's guranteed to sell one, but only one at a time), making it hard to stockpile.]] But once you actually manage to stockpile a few dozen Nuka-Grapes, you'll never have to use another Stimpak or Radaway ever again.
** The Two-Shot Legendary perk when combined with the Explosive legendary perk. Even the most useless of weapons turn into damage-chugging monsters with these two perks. Shotguns in particular were capable of one-shotting nearly ''everything,'' with the drawback of lower accuracy with the Two-Shot perk not being much of a problem due to Shotguns being a close-range weapon. It was so overpowered that the perks were eventually nerfed so they don't dish out obscene amounts of damage when rolled onto the same gun but even then it remains pretty powerful.
** The Bloodied and Unyielding legendary perk combo. Bloodied gives you a damage bonus based on how low your health is while Unyeilding gives +3 to every SPECIAL stat except for Endurance when at low health making them synergize incredibly well together. When used with rads to lower your max health and specific perks you can turn into a nigh-invincible monster that pumps out more damage than any other build in the game.
** A minigun with the Vampire effect. The minigun's extremely fast fire rate, combined with the healing effect, will pretty much override any and all damage, as long as you're hitting your target.
*** Bonus points if it has 25% faster fire rate...or better yet, [[StuffBlowingUp exploding bullets (!!!)]]
** Energy weapons with the explosive legendary mod (A.K.A "Legacies") take this up to eleven. They were removed from the loot pool only a few months after the game's release and do not legitimately spawn anymore. The reason for this is because they can kill pretty much any non-boss enemy in less than a second, even if your build is not appropriately set up to accommodate them. Explosive gatling plasmas are widely considered the most powerful weapons in the game, especially after the accidental buff they received in the spring of 2022. Players have been known to kill the Scorchbeast Queen and even [[{{Superboss}} Earle Williams]] '''''by themselves''''' using legacies.
** A much more subtle (but no less groundbreaking) example is the Survival Tent that's granted as part of your Fallout 1st subscription. It basically works as a separate, small-scale C.A.M.P. that you can prop up anywhere in the world (with the only gripe being that it needs to be at a set distance from a map marker). Apart from being a free fast travel point, the tent also allows access to your Stash and the ultra-convenient Scrap Box, along with a bed and cooking station to provide an easy source of healing and cooked food, respectively. All of this pale in comparison to its most outstanding quality, however, since the thing also happens to be ''indestructible'', where if cleverly set-up, can allow it to serve as a makeshift bunker when assaulting a heavily-defended enemy position, since no amount of damage done to it will affect it (and you hiding inside) in any way, be that from a Scorched plinking away with a .38 pipe gun, or a super mutant going ham with a minigun or missile launcher.
** Not a direct example, but can be used to ''facilitate'' one, are Daily Ops and Expeditions. By their nature, all enemies killed with the player's ranged weapons will drop ammo for them on death, meaning that outside of certain examples like Gatling Lasers or Plasmas, these mission types can be used to effortlessly mass-farm ammunition types that are harder to find or make out in Appalachia, such that they alone can negate the TooAwesomeToUse nature of Prime receiver-modded firearms by allowing you to resupply faster than you can deplete them, especially while soloing.

* ScrappyMechanic:
** The initial exclusion of push to talk in-game voicechat meant that players could only use voice activated voicechat, which caused all sorts of problems such as inadvertent transmitting of background sound or the mic catching you saying something you didn't intend other players to hear. This led to many players just disabling ingame voicechat altogether. Thankfully, Bethesda fixed this a few weeks in.
** Roaming packs of enemies. Randomly across the world, small groups of sometimes four to six enemies will travel around and attack players that they run into. While this was likely intended to provide a surprise, it can be very annoying for players early on to be walking and suddenly have six ghouls attack without warning, or worse Super Mutants. If a player gets attacked while at low health, expect to die quickly with no way to survive. They also often spawn at your C.A.M.P., meaning if you load into the game or fast travel to it, you can find yourself in the middle of an instant ambush not because you were reckless, but because the game forced one onto you by teleporting enemies onto you.
** C.A.M.P. attacks. Randomly while hanging out in your C.A.M.P., the game will spawn a pack of enemies to go attack your C.A.M.P., ranging from Wild Animals to Super Mutants. This can get irritating ''very'' quickly if you're simply trying to craft or modify inventory items at various workbenches and don't have the necessary turret defenses yet, forcing you to get out of the workbench and go kill the pack before they destroy the C.A.M.P. (they absolutely love targeting generators the most).
** The game's implementation of VATS. Since the game cannot be paused due to its online nature, the traditional method VATS worked by slowing down time to allow you to aim better was impossible to implement. Instead, VATS is now just a basic autoaim function that uses the same AP resource that you need to sprint, making it a far less compelling game mechanic.
** The game's UI received much flak, due to it being slow and unwieldy to navigate. While it wasn't much of a problem in the single player games since the game would pause when you opened the menu, the game still runs in real time in ''76'', meaning that if you run out of ammo or your weapon breaks mid fight, you'll be left digging through your inventory while you're getting mauled by enemies.
** Weight limits for the player's inventory and stash. While it is natural for online games to have caps on inventory space to reduce stress on their servers, the way it is implemented in ''76'' is particularly egregious. All of your armor, weapons, and healing items have their own weight, and carrying your basic combat loadout inevitably means up to 60-70% of your weight limit is already taken up. Add the fact that the crafting system requires you to collect various items for raw materials, and that leaves players with the choice of heading out into the world with less armor and weapons in order to collect more loot, or repeatedly make more tedious trips to carry small amounts of loot back to camp quickly. The relatively small stash size also puts players in the bad position of choosing to either use it as long term storage for valuable weapons and armor or to stock all of their raw materials, not both at the same time. Additionally, this also means that every last bit of ammo you collect has weight as well. This actually got blown up into yet another issue at launch due to the fact that the ''bobby pins now have weights that take away from your overall weight limit.'' This was an especially annoying mechanic as this is not the case in Fallout 3 or Fallout 4. An irate player actually took the time to math it out and the bobby pins weigh dozens of times more than their actual weight in real life and actually bothered to mail Todd Howard a box of bobby pins with a note that simply read, "Weigh these." Todd Howard related this story on a panel once and in one of the game's many updates, they reduced the bobby pin weight to .01.
** The inability to increase the level of acquired gear has been a constant thorn for players. If the player finds gear they might like, such as a semi unique weapon, the weapon cannot be upgraded beyond whatever modifications allowed to it, meaning a unique level 5 weapon will always be a unique level 5 weapon. This means the player needs to basically invest in generic weaponry every five levels because their gear will be outdated as they explore, leaving behind unique weapons or armor behind simply because they lack the raw stats of other weapons or armor. Armor suffers this the most as a result; if you don't have the resources to consistently create armor close to your level, expect to take a lot of damage that could have been avoided.
** The shop system has been completely revamped, to its detriment. Where previous installments allowed you to barter for things by selecting shop items and your items until you've worked out a favorable trade, this game forces you to buy or sell one item (or stack of them) at a time, meaning you absolutely need enough caps to afford whatever it is you want. Furthermore, vendors only retain about a fourth of the caps you pay them, and only to a maximum of 1400 (originally only ''200'') caps, so the trade system is intrinsically weighted against the player. Given the system charges you for fast travel to locations other than to public events, a teammate's location, a C.A.M.P. or Survival Tent belonging to the player or a teammate, or certain major locations (such as Vault 76, the Rusty Pick and faction headquarters such as Foundation, Crater and Fort Atlas), this is almost certainly meant to be a MoneySink.
** The game's PVP system is so neutered and inconsequential it may as well not exist. In an effort to minimize potential griefing, Bethesda made it so that players have to mutually agree to PVP by actively shooting each other at the same time, otherwise if only one player is attacking another they deal significantly reduced damage giving the attacked player plenty of opportunity to run away or prepare themselves to retaliate. Given how troublesome it is to engage in PVP, most players don't even bother. The removal of the Hunter/Hunted mode in patch 46 of ''Once in a Blue Moon'' nerfed the game's PVP even further.
** At launch, there was no way to respec your stats, meaning that if you didn't know what stats to prioritize or made a mistake in your build, you're locked into it permanently. This could prevent you from using certain perk cards and skills, especially if you already hit the perk point cap. A respec system was eventually added, but it initially had its own problems: it only kicked in at level 50, which is where SPECIAL allocation caps out, and forced you to choose between reassigning a single SPECIAL point or selecting a new perk card. The ''Locked & Loaded'' update finally remedied this by introducing a punch card machine that allows you to fully respec any and all SPECIAL points starting from level 25, as well as allowing you to save multiple SPECIAL and perk card loadouts (initially only two, but as of ''Steel Reign'' up to an additional 13 loadout slots can be purchased from the Atomic Shop for 500 atoms per slot).
** The way the game handles enemy levels causes significant problems for lower-leveled players. The game weighs spawns based on two factors: the location and the level of the players in the area. Beyond the game's Forest region, which is designed to keep enemy levels at a low threshold, a high-leveled player can massively increase the levels of the enemies in a given area just by being there, effectively making it suicide for lower-leveled players to even approach. Furthermore, certain areas of the game attract players merely as a consequence of their utility (Whitespring, Watoga), so these areas will almost always have spawns that are maxed out. The only hope is to server hop until you find an iteration that is currently devoid of players and hope it stays that way until you finish what you're doing.
** The usage of bobbleheads and magazines. In the previous games, each of these were in a hidden but specific location, and gave you a permanent increase to your stats. But in ''76'', the locations are not only randomized, but the perks you get are ''temporary'', leaving little reason to go out of your way to find them.
** The new seasonal rewards system introduced with Season 16 (''Rip Daring's Duel with the Devil''), which abandons scoreboards in favor of a system more akin to Fortnite's Battle Pass where rewards were purchased with tickets earned through ranking up, and premium rewards can now also be claimed by buying a season pass for 1500 Atoms instead of requiring a full Fallout 1st subscription. The developers claimed the move away from scoreboards was done to make it easier for players to preview rewards, as well as to add the potential for post-war themes in future seasons (as the previous scoreboards were all supposed to be in-universe board games made pre-war), but the new system was widely criticised by players, including for having an inferior quantity and/or quality of certain rewards (most notably a significant drop in free Atoms) as well as the 1500 Atoms required for the season pass costing more than a month's Fallout 1st subscription.

* ThatOneSidequest:
** When you go to the Whitespring Golf Course, you're given a task to kill ten feral ghouls in golf outfits. As simple as it sounds, this is a nightmare to complete. The golf course is frequently visited by high-level players, so lower-level players can get shut out by high-ranking enemies. Only ghouls in golf outfits count, and the club is mostly filled by generic ghouls. Finally, because players tend to congregate there because they're also trying to complete the sodding quest, others may/will probably kill the few valid targets in the area.
*** A later patch addressed this issue, by counting ANY ghoul killed on the golf course to count as a 'golfer'.
** Rose, despite being an EnsembleDarkhorse, sends player characters all over the map in order to fulfill her insane requests. ''Key to the Past'' is the worst of these by having almost a dozen steps to completing it, but it's part of a trio of tasks that also include many-many steps to complete. Even when you finally get the digital keycard made and find Rosalynn Jeffries' body, you are then informed by Rose that: [[spoiler: 1. She never actually needed you to do any of it. 2. YourPrincessIsInAnotherCastle.]]
** The "Kill a Wendigo while wearing a clown costume" miscellaneous quest. For starters, Wendigos themselves are massive DemonicSpiders. Secondly, it's possible to come across this quest while in the lower levels, meaning you'll likely be unprepared to go up against such a threat. Thankfully, you can still wear Power Armor, as long as the clown suit is on underneath, alleviating this somewhat.
** When it comes to public events, Project Paradise is possibly the most disliked group quest out there due to its difficulty, all but necessitating entire crowds to participate in order to properly feed and defend the three specimens (and even then that can still fail, due to the animals' SuicidalOverconfidence). This is made even more frustrating by how some of the better quest rewards demand that at least two of the quest targets survive for a ''chance'' to even drop, and none of which are even good for late-game, which makes players even less incentivized to join whenever the event pop-up appears. As a knock-on effect of this, the Tadpole: Medic badge is often regarded as one of the hardest challenges to complete despite it being intended simple nature, due to it requiring the use of Stimpak diffuser grenades which can only be crafted from plans obtained through Project Paradise (or as whole units from other players who know the plan, whichever is rarer).
** Both of the Pitt expeditions have finale events that involve the players protecting ''all'' of the marked [=NPCs=] from Trog attacks, meaning that the side objective instantly fails even if ''one'' of them die.
*** While the Union fighters in Union Dues are capable of combat, their SuicidalOverconfidence often causes them to run off of their vantage points and be swarmed by Trogs on the ground level, assuming they didn't already spawn down there to begin with. Understandably, this does them no favor in trying to stay alive, and also complicates players trying to revive them before they expire, which only gets harder once the Trog Devourer rocks up to the scene.
*** From Ashes to Fire's finale instead tasks the players with finding and saving three groups of escaped slaves from mutated Trogs while a rad storm is brewing up above them. The frustration factor is several-fold: unlike the Union fighters, two out of three escapees cannot defend themselves, and will not go into bleedout when downed, meaning that running out of HP will kill them instantly; the Trogs attacking them are Glowing, and thus are significantly stronger than the ones in Union dues; the Trenches are ''huge'' and easy to get lost in, all while the severe rad storm is rapidly burning up your maximum HP; and all three slaves will begin losing health the moment one loads into the final section, thus further complicating matters. Without good map knowledge and/or a group to split up and rescue all three targets simultaneously, it can be a real chore to complete this objective and receive the full reward bonuses for this Expedition.

[[/folder]]

[[folder:Design and Marketing Related]]
* FranchiseOriginalSin:
** The previous ''Fallout'' games developed and published by Bethesda were criticized for their technical issues and dated visuals stemming from the increasingly aging engine. However, this criticism was overshadowed by praise for their diverse open-worlds, interesting characters, rich quests, and the VATS-system which compensated for the less-than-stellar gunplay. ''Fallout 76'', as a real-time online-only title with no non-player-characters, can't rely on any character-driven quests or storytelling, and the VATS system is neutered to the point of uselessness. The real-time nature also means the clunkiness of the Pip-Boy interface is exacerbated as you can't pause the game while using it. With almost none of the positive aspects that salvaged the previous games, what's left is an unstable, bog-standard survival game with combat and looting. A combination of the removal of the series' signature role-playing coupled with trying to make a multiplayer-game on an engine that can't handle it [[note]]Which is ironic since the Creation Engine's original incarnation, [=NetImmerse=]/Gamebryo, was first used in ''VideoGame/DarkAgeOfCamelot'', an MMORPG[[/note]] has proven the breaking-point with fans and critics.
** Bethesda-produced games [[ObviousBeta have always been released in beta]] with seemingly no prior testing, and have even previously gotten ''worse'' through attempts at bug fixing.[[note]]Skyrim patch 1.2 utterly broke the game in a large number of ways, for instance.[[/note]] This game finally hit the point where fans of the company were no longer willing to tolerate it, as the always-online multiplayer-only gameplay made fan-patches impossible while opening up new avenues for ways for things to go wrong and need to be patched, and the fact that ''76'' still includes some bugs ''from Fallout 4 that were only fixed by fan-patches''.
* GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff: "Love" might be pretty stretching the term, but the Japanese Fallout fans are tad more forgiving toward ''Fallout 76''[='=]s faults and flaws. For instance, this [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQuOAa_OFOo post-launch review]] and this [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zHLbWkp1-ZA review]] of Fallout First is surprisingly pretty optimistic that the game can be better, including the comments.
* HarsherInHindsight:
** Bethesda Softworks made a [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DPl-YMq2WTM video defending singleplayer]] in response to claims by Creator/ElectronicArts executives that most people didn't enjoy singleplayer games anymore. Bethesda Game Studios then later made a multiplayer-only game in their primarily singleplayer franchise. Though some could see this as HilariousInHindsight, especially since EA has gone the opposite way by realizing singleplayer-only games still sell, then acting shocked every time they ''re''-realize this every couple of years.
** While the lack of a unified government in the Capital Wasteland circa 2277 was already pretty depressing, it becomes even ''more so'' after learning Vault 76 had first tried to rebuild the United States way back in 2102, which heavily implies that the Vault 76 Dwellers' efforts are [[ShootTheShaggyDog doomed to failure]].
** The state of West Virginia was elated by the attention brought by the game's announcement and thoroughly embraced it as a vehicle for promoting tourism, culminating in the state government [[{{Defictionalization}} defictionalizing]] the in-universe "Reclamation Day" holiday. The game's lackluster-at-best critical reception and the spate of controversies surrounding it make this enthusiasm somewhat awkward to look back on.
* HilariousInHindsight:
** Almost two years before the teaser trailer was released, [[http://fav.me/da9wmga DeviantArt member LocalSpaghetto]] drew a picture of [[VideoGame/{{Overwatch}} Soldier: 76]] in a Vault jumpsuit.
** Due to the many similarities between the ''Elder Scrolls'' and ''Fallout'' franchises (aside from them sharing the same developer), many fans have jokingly suggested over the years various ways for [[OurDragonsAreDifferent dragons]] and other supernatural elements to show up in the Wasteland. This {{Prequel}} game introduces to the franchise the "Scorchbeasts," ferocious mutated bats the size of small business jets that can [[SuperScream unleash sonic blasts from their mouths]]. So apparently, dragons have ''already'' existed in the Wasteland this entire time!
*** This one got even more hilarious when a programmer on Twitter dug into the game and [[https://www.dsogaming.com/news/fallout-76-features-engine-code-and-scripts-that-were-taken-directly-from-fallout-4-and-skyrim/ discovered]] that the Scorchbeasts' coding was almost entirely recycled from ''Skyrim's'' dragons, with most of the files not even being renamed. Dragons were shoehorned into the ''Fallout'' universe with the SerialNumbersFiledOff!
** Ever since ''Fallout Online'' was shut down by Interplay, rumors about a possible MMO game set in the far future of the Fallout universe have circulated. Lo and behold, Bethesda announced at the E3 2018 ''Fallout 76'', which is a multiplayer RPG taking place '''before''' the entire main series.
** The song "Take Me Home, Country Roads" in the game's trailer had been adopted, among others, by the West Virginia University and their sports teams, the West Virginia Mountaineers, who play it during every match. Their colors are old gold and blue, which just so happen to be the same color scheme as Vault-Tec and, by extension, the iconic Vault Suits.
** Prior to the game getting revealed, Pete Hines claimed that the game wasn't an MMO or a Battle Royale. Take a wild guess what mode for ''76'' was announced at Bethesda's E3 2019 segment.
* MemeticMutation: As soon as the name was revealed, the memes began to fly.
** Fans began joking that this is the [[RidiculousFutureSequelisation 76th entry in the series]] and asking where are the all other entries, with one of the most popular suggestions being that [[WebVideo/MonsterFactory the Final Pam]] ruined [[PersonOfMassDestruction the missing 71 games]]. Variants of this meme also applies to other media with high-number titles such as ''VideoGame/Cyberpunk2077'' and ''Film/WonderWoman1984''.
** Speaking of ''Cyberpunk 2077'', that game's [[ObviousBeta unfinished state at launch]], which earned unflattering comparisons to this game, led to the nickname ''Cyberpunk 76''. (The fact that, in the ''Fallout'' lore, WorldWarIII happens in 2077 certainly didn't help.)
** People started depicting [[VideoGame/{{Overwatch}} Soldier: 76]] with a BorrowedCatchphrase.
--->'''Soldier: 76:''' We're ''all'' Vault Dwellers now.
** Tabasco sauce/Hot sauce. [[labelnote:Explanation]] A [[https://www.reddit.com/user/squidrobotfriend/ Reddit user]] [[https://www.reddit.com/r/Fallout/comments/8n6vyp/its_just_gonna_be_a_fo3_remaster_guys_if_im_wrong/ posted]] that if the game wasn't a ''VideoGame/Fallout3'' remaster, she'd drink a bottle of Tabasco sauce. She [[https://www.reddit.com/r/Fallout/comments/8nbhvu/i_dont_want_to_set_the_world_on_fire/ delivered]], and [[https://www.reddit.com/r/Fallout/comments/8rlhy0/so_tabasco_guy_here_and_i_have_some_stuff_i_want/ Bethesda took notice]]. [[https://www.reddit.com/r/Fallout/comments/8nd34h/i_did_a_drawing_of_theyadda_after_drinking_the/ Fan]] [[https://reddit.com/r/Fallout/comments/8ntb0c/i_spent_far_too_long_on_this_for_utheyadda/ art]], [[https://www.reddit.com/r/Fallout/comments/8nwwxa/someone_made_a_fallout_76_hot_sauce_shirt/ shirts]], and [[https://www.reddit.com/r/Fallout/comments/8nefak/petition_to_add_johnny_cashs_ring_of_fire_to/ petitions]] [[https://www.reddit.com/r/Fallout/comments/8noaid/bethesda_make_an_npc_drink_tabasco_sauce_because/ to reference]] it in-game followed, and it even expanded [[https://reddit.com/r/pokemon/comments/8njieu/a_facebook_post_from_pokemon_exclusives_has_a_big/dzx3j2b/?context=3 outside]] the fandom, with the user in question being nicknamed "hot sauce man/woman" or "Tabasco guy/gal."[[/labelnote]]
** Due to the game being set in West Virginia, fans of semi-famous West Virginians the Creator/McElroyBrothers have demanded references either to the brothers themselves or any of their large family of podcasts in the game. The most common [=McElroy=] shows that people want to see references to are ''WebVideo/MonsterFactory'', since Justin and Griffin played both ''VideoGame/Fallout3'' and ''VideoGame/Fallout4'' on that show, and ''Podcast/TheAdventureZoneAmnesty'', which is about cryptid hunting in rural West Virginia.
** WEST VIRGINIAAAAA. [[labelnote:Explanation]] Fans often quote the chorus for [[Music/JohnDenver Take Me Home, Country Roads]], the song used for the game's teaser when talking about the game. Especially this one particular line, which you can expect to see frequently written in all caps.[[/labelnote]]
** "It just works." [[labelnote:Explanation]]An older meme referencing a quote from Creator/ToddHoward when he was describing ''Fallout 4'', this line came back into popularity among critics and players pointing out the numerous bugs in ''76''.[[/labelnote]]
*** "Sometimes, it doesn't 'just work'." [[labelnote:Explanation]]Another quote from Todd Howard, deliberately referencing the previous meme as a way of announcing ''Fallout 76'''s private beta and [[WeDontSuckAnymore acknowledging the notorious bugginess of Bethesda's past games.]] The fact that the beta was actually just a glorified stress-test for the game's servers and the release version, which came out less than a month later, was just as buggy as ever -- if not moreso -- led to people mockingly using this attempted apology against Bethesda.[[/labelnote]]
** "16 times the detail." [[labelnote:Explanation]]This quote from the E3 2018 presentation promised texture improvements. However, it turned out that textures in the final game often show up as low-quality.[[/labelnote]]
** [[https://rosebudyke.home.blog/2018/11/30/cewn-milknjuice-love-bethesda-saying-sorry-we/ "Truth is... bag was nylon from the start."]][[labelnote:Explanation]]A twist on Benny's iconic line from the intro to ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'', referring to how one of the promised goodies that would come with buying the "Power Armor" pre-order deluxe edition of the game would be a survivor's bag made from canvas. Many disappointed buyers quickly discovered upon receiving the Power Armor edition that said bag was, in fact, ''not'' made of canvas, but rather cheap nylon.[[/labelnote]]
*** Bethesda's initial response to the uproar over the nylon bags, "we aren't planning on doing anything about it", also quickly became memetic for just how [[NotHelpingYourCase bad of an answer]] it was.
** LIGHT WOOD LAMINATE. LIGHT WOOD LAMINATE. LIGHT WOOD LAMINATE.[[labelnote:Explanation]]Bethesda made a '''half-hearted''' apology to everyone that bought the Power Armor Edition, who were fully expecting to get a Canvas Bag but getting a Nylon Bag instead, by offering them a free reimbursement of 500 atoms which was the game's premium currency. Not only was this an absurdly low amount of compensation ($5.00 when converted from atoms to real dollars), but, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kjyeCdd-dl8&t=15m4s as mocked by]] the WebVideo/InternetHistorian, it was barely enough to buy Light Wood Laminate from the Shop.[[/labelnote]]
** [[Music/FleetwoodMac "Tell me lies, Tell me sweet little lies"]][[labelnote:Explanation]]Due to all the misleading statements and missteps above, this 1987 Fleetwood Mac song shot back into the spotlight with many using it to mock Creator/ToddHoward and Bethesda. [[/labelnote]]
** "This is GRRRAAAAAFTON's Mayor!" [[labelnote:Explanation]] Following in the infamous footsteps of [[VideoGame/Fallout4 Preston Garvey,]] the Grafton Mayor has quickly become notorious for [[AnnoyingVideoGameHelper always chiming in through the Pip-Boy to offer one of his daily quests as soon as you step just one foot in the Toxic Valley region.]] Comparisons between him and Preston's "A settlement needs your help!" arose quickly.[[/labelnote]]
*** The curator at Prickett's Fort has excavated a civil war soldier's remains. He's asked that I give the body a burial in Philippi Battlefield Cemetery. [[labelnote:Explanation]] Continuing from above, the most common quest the Grafton Mayor gives you is one where [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin a curator at Prickett's Fort excavated a civil war soldier's remains and asks you to give it a burial at Philippi Battlefield Cemetery.]] The above quote comes from the Pip-Boy's description for the quest, which became a copypasta in light of the Grafton Mayor's notoriety.[[/labelnote]]
** Bethesda nuking their fanbase[[labelnote:Explanation]]The canon date for the Great War and its nukes fell on October 23rd. And on October 23rd of 2019, Bethesda announced the '''extremely''' poorly-received Fallout 1st subscription service. Thus, the news was compared in destructiveness to an actual nuke.[[/labelnote]]
** ''[[VideoGame/TheOuterWorlds Outer Worlds]]'' advertising[[note]]Multiple internet pundits have commented on how Bethesda's abhorrent Fallout 1st yearly paid subscription service, in terms of presentation, function, and practice, actually serves as effective advertising for ''The Outer Worlds'' which came out not long after. To say the internet is milking this for all its worth is putting it mildly.[[/note]]
* MisBlamed: Many of Bethesda's singleplayer-oriented fans have complained that the development time spent of ''Fallout 76'' will further extend the amount of time before the releases of ''VideoGame/{{Starfield}}'' and the next main entries in ''The Elder Scrolls'' and ''Fallout.'' While it's true the main team at Bethesda Maryland ''did'' work to a not-insignificant degree on ''Fallout 76'' (and even Bethesda Montreal helped to a much lesser extent), the actual game is almost entirely the labor of Bethesda Austin (formerly [=BattleCry=] Studios, who make up an entirely separate team from the Maryland and Montreal divisions), meaning that the actual difference in development time is likely far more negligible than first assumed.
* OvershadowedByControversy: And ''how.'' All the things described on this page made it so even people who have never played a single Fallout game heard about the disastrous launch and subsequent failures related to it (the Duffle Kerfuffle, the botched Nuka Cola Dark in the cheap plastic shell, the refusal to grant any refunds enough that ''it garnered them an actual class action lawsuit'', and of course there was the game itself being a buggy, tedious bore) and have been enjoying the schadenfreude of everyone demanding that Bethesda do better. Since launch, there was one large update that put the [=NPCs=] back into the game, which saved it for the fans still clinging to it hoping for something fun. But that came a ''while'' after all the controversies, so it's safe to say it wasn't exactly an AuthorsSavingThrow for the game either.
* PortingDisaster: The PC port of the game was considered one of the worst ever released by Bethesda. First, there are the poorly mapped and clunky controls that don't take full advantage of the keyboard and mouse setup. Second, there is lack of basic graphics settings such as FOV sliders and widescreen and 4k support. Finally, there is the poor optimization, which means even the beefiest top of the line gaming computers struggle to run the game at 60 fps. They later added these basic features in, but it still reflects poorly on the company that they weren't present to begin with.
* TaintedByThePreview:
** The new VATS system was poorly received by many fans. Since the system no longer freezes or slows time, the odds of hitting enemy body parts now increases or decreases in real time. Many fans wonder why the game would include such a system in a clunky form when it would be better off without the system.
** The reveal that the game would be an online-only MMO hasn't done much to assuage long-time fans. The painful memories of ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsOnline'' didn't help matters, especially given how the game was initially lambasted for its lore discrepancies and tedious grind.
** The announcement that the game would not have any [=NPCs=], save for questgivers and traders-almost all of which are either robots or left messages-was not exactly liked by many fans because it makes the world feel empty and forces the game to rely on more generic ways of having quests or stories being presented to the players. That being said, the idea of players being [=NPCs=] to some has an appeal to it. In practice, having players as [=NPCs=] doesn't have the same effect as actual [=NPCs=]. Most players were far more interested in doing their own things and exploring on their own than interacting with other players.
** The game's open beta felt rushed and underdeveloped. Many early play testers reported an empty, boring world filled with glitches and gamebreaking crashes, a sporadic story, some areas (Flatwoods, Abbie's Bunker) having hours of content while other seemingly intriguing locations (closed vaults, Valiant space station) having few rewards. Although comments from Bethesda about future events and free DLC gave hope that these locations will become more interesting, this also led many to decry the game as little more than an early access game.
** The PVP has also gotten much flack with many reporting that after killing another player, that player will respawn within 5 feet. This means getting rid of that griefer will not help, and if the player isn't ready to turn off PVP mode they will spawn close by and be back for more.
[[/folder]]

* ColbertBump: The ''Series/{{Fallout}}'' show included a free Fallout 76 copy to all Amazon Prime users. [[https://www.reddit.com/r/Fallout/comments/1c4123c/fallout_76_has_just_reached_its_new_alltime_peak/ This helped, along with the show, to have the game reach a new all time high on Steam.]]

** The new seasonal rewards system introduced with Season 16 (''Rip Daring's Duel with the Devil''), which abandons scoreboards in favor of a system more akin to Fortnite's Battle Pass where rewards were purchased with tickets earned through ranking up, and premium rewards can now also be claimed by buying a season pass for 1500 Atoms instead of requiring a full Fallout 1st subscription. The developers claimed the move away from scoreboards was done to make room for future seasons with post-war themes (as the previous scoreboards were all supposed to be in-universe board games made pre-war), but the new system was widely criticised by players, including for having an inferior quantity and/or quality of certain rewards (most notably a significant drop in free Atoms) as well as the 1500 Atoms required for the season pass costing more than a month's Fallout 1st subscription.

** The new seasonal rewards system introduced with Season 16 (''Rip Daring's Duel with the Devil''), which abandons scoreboards in favor of a system more akin to Fortnite's Battle Pass where rewards were purchased with tickets earned through ranking up, and premium rewards can now also be claimed by buying a season pass for 1500 Atoms instead of requiring a full Fallout 1st subscription. The developers claimed the move away from scoreboards was done to make room for future seasons with post-war themes (as the previous scoreboards were all supposed to be in-universe board games made pre-war), but the new system was widely criticised by players, including for having an inferior quantity and quality of rewards (most notably a significant drop in free Atoms) as well as the 1500 Atoms required for the season pass costing more than a month's Fallout 1st subscription.

* EnsembleDarkhorse:
** Rose is a BadassAdorable UglyCute Ms. Nanny programmed with the personality of Poison from ''VideoGame/FinalFight''. She's a PerkyFemaleMinion and a MinionWithAnFInEvil. The fact she's blackmailing you into doing meaningless "evil" tasks makes her entire questline hilarious.
** MODUS is also considered to be a highlight of the game, perhaps because of how ObviouslyEvil he is and yet simultaneously helpful.

* CompleteMonster: [[PresidentEvil Thomas Eckhart]] was a member of the Enclave and the Secretary of Agriculture under the Pre-War Government. Being the last surviving member of the presidential cabinet, he became the leader of the Enclave forces inside the Whitespring bunker. His first action as leader was to hold a vote on whether or not they should continue the [[NukeEm nuclear war against China]] and then had everyone who voted against him locked inside a room that was flooded with DeadlyGas. In an attempt to have the automated control system of the Appalachia’s nuclear silos raise the DEFCON Level and give him access to nuclear missiles, he unleashed [[KillerRobot Liberators]] and Super Mutants onto the survivors on the surface. When this wasn't enough, he also released the Scorchbeasts, which would eventually wipe out most of the remaining human population in the region. Despite being [[PosthumousCharacter long dead by the time the game takes place]], he left behind a region devoid of human life and full of dangerous creatures.

* ComplacentGamingSyndrome: When it comes to CAMP sites, the most popular areas to set up are the immediate areas surrounding the Whitespring Resort and Watoga after completing the Mayor For A Day quest. Whitespring is popular due to being full of friendly robots who will happily defend you from any enemies that wander too close, [[spoiler:the Enclave bunker]] provides an easy access to various crafting stations and vendors, and as of ''The Pitt'', the Whitespring itself is now full of vendors where you can unload any excess loot. Meanwhile, Watoga, after completing the quest, will also have infinitely respawning friendly robots, and is an ideal place for scavenging supplies.

** Roaming packs of enemies. Randomly across the world, small groups of sometimes four to six enemies will travel around and attack players that they run into. While this was likely intended to provide a surprise, it can be very annoying for players early on to be walking and suddenly have six ghouls attack without warning, or worse Super Mutants. If a player gets attacked while at low health, expect to die quickly with no way to survive. They also often spawn at your camp, meaning if you load into the game or fast travel to it, you can find yourself in the middle of an instant ambush not because you were reckless, but because the game forced one onto you by teleporting enemies onto you.
** Camp attacks. Randomly while hanging out in your camp, the game will spawn a pack of enemies to go attack your camp, ranging from Wild Animals to Super Mutants. This can get irritating ''very'' quickly if you're simply trying to craft or modify inventory items at various workbenches and don't have the necessary turret defenses yet, forcing you to get out of the workbench and go kill the pack before they destroy the camp (they absolutely love targeting generators the most).

** The shop system has been completely revamped, to its detriment. Where previous installments allowed you to barter for things by selecting shop items and your items until you've worked out a favorable trade, this game forces you to buy or sell one item (or stack of them) at a time, meaning you absolutely need enough caps to afford whatever it is you want. Furthermore, vendors only retain about a fourth of the caps you pay them, and only to a maximum of 200 caps, so the trade system is intrinsically weighted against the player. Given the system charges you for fast travel to locations other than a C.A.M.P. or Vault 76, this is almost certainly meant to be a MoneySink.
** The game's PVP system is so neutered and inconsequential it may as well not exist. In an effort to minimize potential griefing, Bethesda made it so that players have to mutually agree to PVP by actively shooting each other at the same time, otherwise if only one player is attacking another they deal significantly reduced damage giving the attacked player plenty of opportunity to run away or prepare themselves to retaliate. Given how troublesome it is to engage in PVP, most players don't even bother.

*** A recent patch addresses this issue, by counting ANY ghoul killed on the golf course to count as a 'golfer'.

* BrokenBase: Legacies tend to be quite divisive. Plenty of gamers immediately hated removing the single player mode and making the new game multiplayer always online, and they weren't comforted once the game launched and was a buggy mess and its marketing and related products all suffered from the same disorganized, seemingly apathetic attitude that the game's launch state reflected. Other fans were willing to wait and see if Bethesda fixed all the issues and the update that included [=NPCs=] and more engaging storylines did win back some of the gamers. Some have said it's closer to the quality of Fallout 4 now that the update has gone through while others continue to consider the game a failure and are waiting to see if Bethesda goes back to the format from Fallout 3 and 4 in a future entry.

** Weight limits for the player's inventory and stash. While it is natural for online games to have caps on inventory space to reduce stress on their servers, the way it is implemented in ''76'' is particularly egregious. All of your armor, weapons, and healing items have their own weight, and carrying your basic combat loadout inevitably means up to 60-70% of your weight limit is already taken up. Add the fact that the crafting system requires you to collect various items for raw materials, and that leaves players with the choice of heading out into the world with less armor and weapons in order to collect more loot, or repeatedly make more tedious trips to carry small amounts of loot back to camp quickly. The relatively small stash size also puts players in the bad position of choosing to either use it as long term storage for valuable weapons and armor or to stock all of their raw materials, not both at the same time. This actually got blown up into yet another issue at launch due to the fact that the ''bobby pins now have weights that take away from your overall weight limit.'' This was an especially annoying mechanic as this is not the case in Fallout 3 or Fallout 4. An irate player actually took the time to math it out and the bobby pins weigh dozens of times more than their actual weight in real life and actually bothered to mail Todd Howard a box of bobby pins with a note that simply read, "Weigh these." Todd Howard related this story on a panel once and in one of the game's many updates, they reduced the bobby pin weight to .01.

** Weight limits for the player's inventory and stash. While it is natural for online games to have caps on inventory space to reduce stress on their servers, the way it is implemented in ''76'' is particularly egregious. All of your armor, weapons, and healing items have their own weight, and carrying your basic combat loadout inevitably means up to 60-70% of your weight limit is already taken up. Add the fact that the crafting system requires you to collect various items for raw materials, and that leaves players with the choice of heading out into the world with less armor and weapons in order to collect more loot, or repeatedly make more tedious trips to carry small amounts of loot back to camp quickly. The relatively small stash size also puts players in the bad position of choosing to either use it as long term storage for valuable weapons and armor or to stock all of their raw materials, not both at the same time. This actually got blown up into yet another issue at launch due to the fact that the ''bobby pins now have weights that take away from your overall weight limit.'' This was an especially annoying mechanic as this is not the case in Fallout 3 or Fallout 4. An irate player actually took the time to math it out and the bobby pins weigh dozens of times more than their actual weight in real life and actually bothered to mail Todd Howard a box of bobby pins with a note that simply read, [[MomentOfAwesome "Weigh these."]] Todd Howard related this story on a panel once and in one of the game's many updates, they reduced the bobby pin weight to .01.

** Weight limits for the player's inventory and stash. While it is natural for online games to have caps on inventory space to reduce stress on their servers, the way it is implemented in ''76'' is particularly egregious. All of your armor, weapons, and healing items have their own weight, and carrying your basic combat loadout inevitably means up to 60-70% of your weight limit is already taken up. Add the fact that the crafting system requires you to collect various items for raw materials, and that leaves players with the choice of heading out into the world with less armor and weapons in order to collect more loot, or repeatedly make more tedious trips to carry small amounts of loot back to camp quickly. The relatively small stash size also puts players in the bad position of choosing to either use it as long term storage for valuable weapons and armor or to stock all of their raw materials, not both at the same time.

* BrokenBase: Legacies tend to be quite divisive. Plenty of gamers immediately hated removing the single player mode and making the new game multiplayer always online, and they weren't comforted once the game launched and was a buggy mess and its marketing and related products all suffered from the same disorganized, seemingly apathetic attitude that the game's launch state reflected. Other fans were willing to wait and see if Bethesda fixed all the issues and the update that included [=NPCs=] and more engaging storylines did win back some of the gamers. Some have said it's closer to the quality of Fallout 4 now that the update has gone through while others continue to consider the game a failure and are waiting to see if Bethesda goes back to the format from Fallout 3 and 4 in future entry.

%%zce** * BrokenBase: Legacies tend to be quite divisive.

* OvershadowedByControversy: And ''how.'' All the things described on this page made it so even people who have never played a single Fallout game heard about the disastrous launch and subsequent failures related to it (the Duffle Kerfuffle, the botched Nuka Cola Dark in the cheap plastic shell, the refusal to grant any refunds enough that ''it garnered them an actual class action lawsuit'', and of course there was the game itself being a buggy, tedious bore) and have been enjoying the schadenfreude of everyone demanding that Bethesda do better. Since launch, there was one large update that put the NPCs back into the game, which saved it for the fans still clinging to it hoping for something fun. But that came a ''while'' after all the controversies, so it's safe to say it wasn't exactly an AuthorsSavingThrow for the game either.