Fallout 76’s big new patch brings in public events, a ton of balance updates, and more battle royale content

Patch 13

Bethesda’s latest promise to bring good public events into the fray for Fallout 76 is coming to fruition, as their newest update, patch 13, is now live.

As we previously discussed, public events are actually fun to do now, and there are a number of UI and mechanical enhancements in place (the biggest one is that you can travel to them instantly with no cap currency cost) that should spur players into doing them. Vault 94 rewards (the first raid) have also been buffed, and a new map, Morgantown, has been added to the Nuclear Winter battle royale mode, on top of global matchmaking.

Energy weapons also now utilize armor penetration effects (which should make them more useful), and a small backpack has been added to help alleviate early leveling growing pains (they have 50% of the capacity of a normal backpack, but can be crafted more easily). The Purveyor, which is basically Fallout 76’s version of Diablo’s gambling NPCs, can also randomly dish out legendary weapons.

Finally, and what is a meta victory for the community, Bethesda removed Atomic Shop Access Points (read: microtransaction store access) to train stations. Fans have been complaining about the ubiquitous nature of Fallout 76‘s microtransactions since launch: a muddy river that Bethesda themselves waded into without a life vest when they puffed their chest about how micros would be downplayed in 76 pre-launch.

One step forward, one back though, as Bethesda also added a non-cosmetic item to the Atomic Shop: a refrigerator that allows you to stash food and drink items with a 50% slower spoilage rate.

Patch 13 [Bethesda.net]

PATCH VERSION

Download sizes for this update will be less than 7 GB for consoles and under 1.5 GB for PC.

• PC: 1.2.3.9
• PS4: 1.2.3.11
• Xbox: 1.2.3.11

GENERAL UPDATES

Please Note: As part of today’s maintenance, we have deployed a fix for the Power Armor system that will unstack Chassis that were never meant to stack. This issue affected approximately 9% of Characters.

• With this change, some players may notice the following upon initial login after the patch:
  • An additional empty Chassis may appear in the Character’s inventory, Stash, or both.
  • Power Armor may have been unequipped and moved into the Character’s inventory.

Additionally, we are still actively working to address the control lock that can occur when exiting Power Armor and plan to release a hotfix as soon as possible once we are confident that our fix will fully resolve this issue. Thank you for your continued patience.

PUBLIC EVENTS

The Events system has received quality of life improvements, based largely on community feedback, and select events have been reclassified as “Public Events.” These events feature new UI improvements, as well as several mechanics adjustments.

UI IMPROVEMENTS

• Public Events feature a larger and more noticeable Map icon compared to normal events.
• Highlighting an active Public Event on the Map now displays a dialog box that offers more details, such as:
  • How many players are currently participating.
  • How much time has passed since the event began.
  • A general difficulty rating, which is based more on the complexity of the event’s objectives than the difficulty of the enemies.
  • The type of gameplay offered by that event (Boss, Defense, etc.).
• Public Event Loading Screens now display more detailed event descriptions, including tips for success.
• When a Public Event begins, all players on that world who have reached level 7 and are not inside a Vault will receive an announcement near the top-left corner of the screen.

MECHANICS CHANGES

• Fast Travel to Public Events is now free.
• Players no longer drop Junk on death during Public Events in Adventure Mode.
  • Instead, the respawn timer will increase with each successive death, up to a max of 20 seconds.
• Public Events feature a period of time that players can use to gather and coordinate before starting an event.
  • After entering the event area or Fast Traveling to the event, a timer will be displayed to show how long players have left to group up and make plans.
  • Players can complete a starting objective to begin an event early. For example, turning on the boilers during Tea Time.
  • If no players are in the event area and no one has completed the event’s starting objective when the timer expires, the event will shut down.
• All Public Events, except Scorched Earth, Encryptid, and Seasonal Events, now share the same cooldown period from the start of the previous event until the next begins.

Visit our recent Public Events Preview article on Fallout.com to catch even more details about these changes, including a full list of Public Events.

DESIGN AND BALANCE UPDATES

• Energy Weapons: Now benefit from Armor Penetration effects, including those provided by Perk Cards. For example, Energy Weapons with the Anti-Armor legendary attribute will now bypass Energy Resistance.
• Hazmat Suits: Can now be crafted and a Hazmat Suit Recipe can now be purchased from some Train Station Vendors.
• Mods: Bonus Anti-Scorched damage provided by Prime Receiver Mods has been increased from +25% to +35%.
• Plans: The Protective Lining Plan for Casual Underarmor is now available for purchase from Vendors at Harper’s Ferry, Watoga, and The Whitespring if the player has already learned the recipe for Resistant Lining.
• Small Backpacks: A new type of Backpack, the “Small Backpack” has been added in an effort to help more players acquire a Backpack earlier on during their Appalachian adventures.
  • A Plan to craft a Small Backpack can be found inside the Overseer’s Cache inside the Morgantown Airport Terminal. This Plan cannot be traded, sold, or dropped.
  • Small Backpacks have 50% of the carry capacity provided by a standard Backpack.
  • Small Backpacks can be equipped with all the same Mods as a standard Backpack.
  • Players can still learn to craft Standard Backpacks by completing Pioneer Scout Quests.
• The Purveyor: When purchasing weapons from the Purveyor, players now have a chance to receive legendary versions of the following weapons (as long the player has already learned the recipes for the base weapon):
  • Sheepsquatch Club
  • Sheepsquatch Staff
  • Shepherds Crook
  • The Fixer
  • Bear Arm
• Train Stations: Atomic Shop Access Points have been removed from Train Stations.
• Vault 94 Rewards: The XP rewards for completing Vault 94 Missions have been increased to 1,600 (Novice), 1,800 (Standard), and 2,000 (Expert). Additionally, the Expert mid-quest XP reward has been increased to 1,000.
• Vault 94 Rewards: The Drill has been removed as a possible legendary item reward when completing a Vault 94 Mission.

QUESTS AND EVENTS

• Bucket List: The Personal Terminal, which can be unlocked for free in the Atomic Shop, now includes an entry that will lead players to the current location of the Tourist corpse.
  • This quality of life improvement will help players more easily begin the Bucket List Quest and obtain a ProSnap Deluxe Camera.

THE ATOMIC SHOP

Several new items have been added to the Atomic Shop with today’s update. Catch a brief description below and look out for today’s Atomic Shop article on Fallout.com for more details.

NEW UTILITY ITEMS

• Collectron Station: After building a Collectron Station in C.A.M.P., a Collectron bot will search the nearby area for Scrap and other simple items. Collectron Stations can be unlocked in the Atomic Shop.
• Refrigerators: After building a Refrigerator in C.A.M.P., players can assign food and drink items to it from the Stash to slow their spoilage rate by 50%. Refrigerators can be unlocked in the Atomic Shop.

NEW C.A.M.P. DÉCOR

• Wallpapers: The Modify menu can now be used to apply a wide variety of Wallpapers to Walls in the player’s C.A.M.P. Wallpapers can be unlocked in the Atomic Shop.

EXISTING ITEM UPDATES

• White Picket Fences: Players who already own the White Picket Fence set can now build alternate versions that snap together.

USER INTERFACE

• Crafting Menus: Weapon and Armor Workbenches now display the number of Mods the player has unlocked so far for a given item, as well as the total number of mods available for that item.
• Stash: Players will now receive a “Stash is full” message when attempting to assign items from their inventory to objects like Vending Machines or Display Cases while the Stash is full.

NUCLEAR WINTER UPDATES

NEW MAP: MORGANTOWN

• ZAX has decided that the Vault 51 Overseer selection process needs a change of scenery! A new Morgantown map for Nuclear Winter is now available for play.
  • Morgantown features lots of opportunities for urban combat, and some of the highest peaks in Appalachia, giving Candidates a diverse battlefield to master.
  • Candidates can also take on new enemy creatures, including Assaultrons, the Grafton Monster, and Radscorpions.
• All Nuclear Winter matches will temporarily be taking place in Morgantown to give Candidates a chance to master the new map.
• Learn more about Morgantown by reading the latest transmission from ZAX on Fallout.com.

NEW LIMITED-TIME REWARDS!

• In celebration of our new map, we’ve added six new Vault-Tec University themed rewards that you can unlock for free by completing Nuclear Winter Challenges for the next few weeks.
• These rewards include new apparel and C.A.M.P. décor, so be sure to claim them before they’re no longer available!

GLOBAL MATCHMAKING

• Matchmaking improvements for Nuclear Winter allow Candidates to take the battle to become Vault 51’s Overseer worldwide, and compete against players from around the globe.
  • This will also help players in all game regions find matches more quickly in cases where matchmaking would have otherwise taken additional time.

CHALLENGES

• Daily Challenges: Nuclear Winter Daily Challenges are now automatically tracked in the Challenge Tracker that appears on the Map screen.

ITEMS

• New Weapons: Assaultron Heads and Gauss Rifles have been added and can appear in Medium and Large Supply Crates, respectively.

PERKS

• Dead Man Sprinting: This Perk Card’s functionality has been updated: While below 50% health, run speed is increased at a greater Action Point cost.
• Overly Generous: Chance to inflict Rads has been increased, and the amount of Rads inflicted has also been increased from 50 to 200.
• Rad Resist: Rad resistance increased from 40 to 650.
• Refractor: Energy resistance increased from 40 to 80.

SOUND

• Sound Effects: New audio queues will now play when downing or killing another player.
• Main Menu Music: Players can now choose to lower the volume on or mute the Main Menu music while queued.

BUG FIXES

ART AND GRAPHICS

• Graphics: Fixed a visual issue affecting dust effects caused by footsteps.
• Graphics: Frozen visual effects no longer persist on a character that was killed by another player’s Cryolator.
• Graphics: Mothman Cultist Wall Torch flame visual effects no longer momentarily disappear.
• Graphics: Fixed an issue that could cause the Grafton Monster’s ranged attack to leave behind incorrect visual effects on the terrain.
• Graphics: When attacked by a Scorchbeast’s Radiation Cloud, robotic enemies no longer display Scorched visual effects.

C.A.M.P., CRAFTING, AND WORKSHOPS

• Crops: Can now be sunk further into the terrain and in most cases no longer appear to float on uneven terrain. There are still some instances where Crops may appear to float, such as on very steep hills, but this has been significantly improved.
• Crops: Fixed an issue that could prevent players from placing Crops in locations where they would intersect with logs or collectable flora.
• Exploit: Addressed an exploit that could allow a player to build more than 4 Vending Machines.
• Floor Décor: The Future-Tec World Globe can no longer be built if it has not been unlocked in the Atomic Shop.
  • Note: Existing Globes placed by players who do not own this item have not been removed. However, those players will be unable to place additional Globes unless they unlock it in the Atomic Shop.
• Locks: Locking a door and pressing the “Scrap/Store” button at the same time no longer causes the Lock menu to persist on the screen.
• Wires: Fixed an issue that could cause the player to jump when attempting to attach a Wire between two electrical objects.

CHALLENGES

• Character: Challenges requiring the player to reach certain levels now appear in the correct order in the Challenges Menu.
• Daily: The “Kill a Legendary Enemy at a Fissure Site” Daily Challenge can now be completed correctly.
• Weekly: The “Kill a Sheepsquatch” subchallenge for the “Kill Huge Creatures” Weekly Challenge can now be completed correctly. This Challenge originally appeared during Wild Appalachia and will Return in October.
• Vault 94: The Weekly Challenges (and some Daily Challenges) for Vault 94 now match the Mission that’s currently available.

ITEMS

• Apparel: The Mr. Fuzzy Costume now correctly appears in the Camden Park Company Store Terminal and can be purchased by redeeming 150 Tokens.
• Armor: The Urban Scout Armor mask can now be worn with hats and many open-faced helmets.
• Armor: The Damage Resistance provided by the Urban Scout Armor Left Arm has been increased from +12 to +25 to match other pieces in the set.
• Mods: Scout Armor Mods available for purchase from Enclave Vendors now indicate which piece of armor they correspond to and can be correctly applied to that armor.
• Power Armor: The Bright and Red Tactical Headlamps for T-60 Power Armor now appear in the correct location when applied to a Helmet.
• Power Armor: Pieces of Power Armor that have been placed on a Chassis and stored in the Stash no longer appear for sale in the player’s Vending Machines.
• Power Armor: Solar Armor’s self-healing effect now correctly heals the player while at or above 60% health.

QUESTS AND EVENTS

• Daily Quests: The Waste Not, Idle Explosives, Play Time, and Queen of the Hunt Daily Quests in The Mire region will once again appear for players who had previously completed them.
• Distinguished Guests: Bolton Greens Centerpieces and Place Settings are now correctly removed from the player’s inventory at the end of this Event.
• Distinguished Guests: Place Settings in the Bolton Greens Dining Room no longer appear to float in mid-air during this event.
• Distinguished Guests: Corrected the text on an objective marker that appears when setting tables.
• Exploit: Fixed an exploit that could allow players to earn the Zen Mastery buff without completing the Guided Meditation event.
• Feed the People: Fixed an issue that could prevent Ghouls from reaching Food Processing Machines if one of the Machines has been destroyed.
• Free Range: Adjusted multiple objective timers to ensure players have time to complete this event.
• Free Range: When any of the Brahmin are attacked, an announcement and a quest objective will now appear for all players in the event instructing them to defend the Brahmin.
• Guided Meditation: Ghouls now spawn rather than Super Mutants during this event, and enemy spawn locations have received adjustments.
• Guided Meditation: This event will now correctly fail if all 4 Meditation Hubs are destroyed.
• Guided Meditation: Objective markers now correctly appear for each Meditation Hub.
• Guided Meditation: Corrected the description for the Zen Mastery buff that appears in the Pip-Boy’s Effects tab to state “Increased Health Regen.”
• Jail Break: Updated an objective’s description to better indicate where players should focus their search.
• Lode Bearing: Player will now spawn facing the interior of the mine when Fast Traveling to this event after the interior door has been opened.
• Line in the Sand: The Scorchbeast that spawns during this event now correctly flies to the event area.
• One Violent Night: The Jukebox in The Buck’s Den at the Sons of Dane Compound can no longer be damaged by players.
• One Violent Night: The Legendary Wendigo that spawns during this event now correctly displays “Nightstalker” as its name.
• Operation Tidy: Excess Toxic Mutagenic Waste is now correctly removed from the player’s inventory at the end of this Daily Quest.
• Order of the Tadpole: Robot NPCs no longer sometimes play Scout Leader Jaggy’s voice lines or begin the Order of the Tadpole quest.
• Path to Enlightenment: Fixed an issue that could prevent Radtoads from correctly reaching Landview Light House.
• Possum Badges: The Operation Tidy and Stings and Things daily quests and the Campfire Tales event once again have a chance to award Possum Badges on completion.
• Swarm of Suitors: Objectives during this event now update more quickly.
• Turrets: The Turrets that appear during the Jail Break and Project Paradise events can no longer be damaged by players.
• Uranium Fever: The event marker for Uranium Fever will now display properly on the Map after players advance into the interior of the mine.

PERFORMANCE AND STABILITY

• Stability: Fixed an issue on PS4 where a player could crash when using a workbench with a very large number of unique inventory items.
• Stability: Implemented an additional improvement for an issue that could previously cause a crash when placing a Fusion Core into Power Armor.
• Stability: Implemented an additional improvement for an issue that could previously cause a crash when exiting to the Main Menu while wearing Power Armor.
• Stability: Attempting to Inspect and use a Misc. item at the same time no longer causes a crash.
• Stability: Addressed an issue that could cause a server crash.
• Stability: Fixed an issue that could cause the client to freeze during events with many participants.

SOUND

• Voiceover: Increased the volume of the loudspeaker audio that plays after initiating the “Pre-Combat Check” during the Line in the Sand Event.
• Voiceover: Added post-processing to voice lines that play during the Guided Mediation event.

USER INTERFACE

• Atomic Shop: Featured items in the Atomic Shop can now be correctly unfavorited for Nuclear Winter after purchase.
• HUD: Fixed an issue that could cause Action Points to continue to drain after the player stopped sprinting.
• HUD: Fixed an issue that could sometimes cause the Hunger or Thirst meter to incorrectly reset to full after logging out and back in.
• Events: Fixed an issue that could cause rewards fanfare after completing an event to persist on screen, or fail to appear.
• Localization: Character names in the Korean version of the game can now correctly include lowercase English letters.
• Menus: The Theremin now correctly displays the premium icon in game menus.
• Pip-Boy: Fixed an issue that could cause Component View to display duplicate entries or exhibit flickering.
• Vault 94: The Vault shutdown timer now correctly displays for all players on a team after completing a Vault Mission.

WORLD

• Charleston Capitol: Fixed a pathing issue that could prevent certain enemies from reaching the player.
• Morgantown: The ceiling of an apartment in Morgantown is no longer see-through.
• Morgantown Airport: C.A.M.P.s can no longer be placed in such a way that they block access to Miguel’s Campsite near Morgantown Airport.
• Sutton: Fixed a location where players could become stuck in Sutton.
• Vault 94: Fixed an issue that could cause players to become stuck in a specific spot inside Vault 94 while wearing Power Armor.
• Vault 94: Fixed a rare issue that could prevent the environment from loading correctly when entering Vault 94.

NUCLEAR WINTER BUG FIXES

C.A.M.P.

• Structures: The Storm now correctly destroys Doors and Walls that have been placed by the player.

ITEMS

• Power Armor: Fixed an issue that could prevent a player from entering Power Armor in Nuclear Winter after exiting to the Main Menu while wearing Power Armor.
• Quick Kit: Stairs created by a Quick Kit can no longer be destroyed in sections.

PERKS

• Clubber: The description for Clubber now correctly states that “melee weapons do significantly more damage” rather than “+40% damage.”
• Wrecking Ball: The description for Wrecking Ball Perk now correctly states that it increases damage dealt to Workshop objects by 20%, rather than 120%. This was only a typo correction and functionality for this Perk Card has not changed.

USER INTERFACE

• Localization: The descriptions for several Perk Cards that increase damage are now localized in non-English versions of the game and correctly reflect balance changes made in a previous patch. These are text updates only and the functionality for these Perks has not been changed.
• Localization: Corrected several item names that were missing localization in non-English versions of the game.
• Localization: The Lock Detector Perk Card is now correctly renamed “Hack Detector” in the Japanese version of the game, though the Card’s name is in English.

WORLD

• Activatable Objects: Fixed various C.A.M.P. objects that were not intended to be activatable during Nuclear Winter matches.
• Exploit: Fixed an issue that could allow a player to move in the world for a few seconds before other players.
• Vault 51: Hit indicators no longer appear when punched by another player in Vault 51.
• Vault 51: Removed hackable Terminals inside Vault 51.