The studio reestablished that players will not be able to play Fallout 76 offline or if they disconnect for a “considerable amount of time.” However, if players lose connection due to a glitch or another technical issue and are able to reconnect to the game within a 10-minute timeframe, “it will automatically join you with your equipment or it will be left in half of what you were doing.”
In its explanation (translated from Spanish with Google Translate), Bethesda said that this is an effort to keep the servers “invisible” to Fallout 76 players. The ability to disconnect and reconnect to the game as though nothing has happened is part of that. With this in mind, players will be able to establish a camp, disconnect, reconnect to the same (or different) server and the camp will be in exactly the same place where they left it.
For players who have spotty Internet connections that are often dropping or losing strength, Bethesda’s latest comments should be great news. While they still won’t be able to enjoy the game smoothly, per the always-online requirement, it’s comforting to know Bethesda has at least planned for short-term drops in connection like that.
The decision to make Fallout 76 an online multiplayer game is a major shift for a series that has typically been enjoyed offline. Bethesda has made lots of changes to the way that the game fundamentally works including the removal of NPCs in favor of player-controlled characters.
Bethesda has also had to introduce mechanics for PvP, including a system to combat toxicity and discourage players from griefing one another instead of playing nice. While any change to the Fallout format was going to be divisive, Bethesda does seem to be making an effort to appease fans. Not everyone will be satisfied but there’s not long to go now to see if the majority is happy with the new game.
Fallout 76 releases November 14, 2018 for PC, PS4, and Xbox One.
Source: Atomix
