After a short delay, the Wastelanders update for Fallout 76 is finally here. Considered the biggest update to arrive for Fallout 76, it offers a new main story along with a lot of new quests. It also introduces human NPCs, something that many players have long been requesting.
There’s no doubt that this new update has a lot to offer. Here at Player.One, we’ve actually covered some of those. We talked about the new Reputation System and Allies and what they have to offer. There are even two new events arriving with the update as well which you can read here.
NPCs are finally here
Going back to the Wastelanders update, the arrival of NPCs is truly a welcome sight. New people have arrived in Appalachia, whether to seek their fortunes or simply looking for a safe place to stay. Here’s what you need to remember for these NPCs:
- The mechanics of the dialogue is similar to that of Fallout 3. That means players have different choices, S.P.E.C.I.A.L. checks, and even options that are available to players contextually.
- A single player response can have different choices available. If there are more choices that can fit in the display, simply scroll down in order to see all of them.
- Full conversations have been added to many of the original NPCs of the game.
- It’s now possible to engage different NPCs in dialogue like Grafton Mayor and Rose.
Time to take on a new quest
With new people arriving to Appalachia, it means that new adventures are available. Here’s what you can expect:
- Once you go outside Vault 76, you immediately get into the Wastelanders story and meet both Lacey and Isela. They will be the ones to guide you to the Wayward quest line.
- On reaching level 20, the full main quest becomes available in Sutton which lets you meet the Raiders and Settlers, two of the largest factions in the area.
- When you do the Main Quest, you need to choose which side you want to work with. While you can do quest for the two factions, it’s going to reach a point of no return.
- The original main quest of Fallout 76 is still available.
Choose your faction
Talking about the factions, the Raiders are survivors that initially fled Appalachia, but have since returned to reclaim what they believe is theirs. Their base of operations is a Crashed Space Station known as the Crater. The Survivors, meanwhile, are constructions workers from Washington D.C. that have moved to Appalachia. They have since repurposed the Spruce Knob and turned it into the Foundation.
While the Settlers are more than happy to trade and speak with you, the Raiders aren’t as friendly. However, once you get to know either of them, they become an ally to you.
New enemies to watch out for
New NPCs, new Allies, and new Factions, are not the only new things that the Wastelanders update has brought to the game. There’s also going to be new enemies that players can look forward to destroying. These are:
- Floaters
- They are the same creatures from the previous games that have made a return.
- There are three versions:
- Flamer
- Freezer
- Chomper
- They may not look tough but they can swarm you.
- Wendigo Colossus
- This elusive monster is rumored to be in areas hit by atomic fire.
- This monster is tough and you may need a team to bring it down.
- Blood Eagles
- Fueled by chems, this group of human miscreants are both bloodthirsty and cruel.
- They have treated the Wasteland as their personal playground.
- Bands of them are present across Appalachia so be ready to defend yourself.
- Cult of the Mothman
- Though nobody knows what they are up to, they been seen across Appalachia
QoL and Bug Fixes
This being an update, there are quality of life improvements and bug fixes. Examples include:
- All quest markers wnow appear on the map.
- Inactive quests show up as black map markers, and quests you’re actively tracking now display the yellow markers you’re already familiar with.
- Main quests display square markers, while side, misc., and daily quests show diamond-shaped markers.
- Clicking a quest marker on the map will display a pop-up showing more details and a description of that quest.
- There are three new options on this pop-up that you can select to mark the quest as active, make it your only active quest, or show the quest in your Pip-Boy.
- When viewing a quest in your Pip-Boy, you can now choose to show that quest’s location on the map.
You can read the complete patch notes here.
