In the lead-up to the launch, Bethesda was exploring the notion of allowing private servers for Fallout 76. And now they are. But with a catch.
Private servers are part of a new premium subscription called Fallout 1st. For the price of $12.99USD (around RM54.40) for one month or $99.99USD (around RM418.71) a year, you get to set up an eight-player private server of your own, plus other perks.
Fallout 1st includes the Scrapbox that stores unlimited crafting components, a survival tent that acts as your second camp and also a fast travel point, 1,650 Atoms (micro-transaction currency) a month, a pack of exclusive icons and emotes, and the Ranger Armor Suit from Fallout New Vegas.
This sounds utterly egregious. For a higher price than a monthly PS Plus subscription, a month of Xbox Game Pass and the nearly the price of two brand-new AAA game, you get those perks in Fallout 1st. The worse part of these is the Scrapbox. Players have been clamouring for quality of life improvements, but for these to be placed behind a paywall, especially for game that wants to emphasise survival, it’s just… baffling.
Even the private servers are a bit underwhelming. You can’t tinker with mods yet, and there’s no option to change the ruleset available, so it’s just an option for you to play with only you and seven of your friends rather than 23 other strangers.
Fallout 76 is still a game with a price tag. And the pricing on Fallout 1st is too aggressive. Also, we’re talking about Fallout 76 here, which turned the seminal post-apocalypse RPG series into an online-only mess of a survival game, for the worse.
There are other big updates for Fallout 76 coming, including the Wastelanders update that will add human NPCs into the world. Though that has been delayed to next year.
Source: Bethesda