Summary
Bethesda announced that the next update toFallout 76will bring with it a number of “substantial” changes to various in-game Perk Cards. The update, titled “The Gleaming Depths,” will launch in December 2024 alongsideFallout 76Season 19.
Despitenegative reviews that criticizedFallout 76for its attempt to pivot the beloved franchise in the direction of persistent online live service play, the game survived its rough launch. In the years since, numerous updates and feature additions, from interactable NPCs to improvements to the in-game events, have cultivated a dedicated audience that loves building characters, assembling camps, and earning loot in the post-apocalyptic Appalachian wilderness.
Based on a reveal from developer Bethesda, the upcoming Gleaming Depths update might shake things up for a few players by bringing significant balance-related changes to some popular and not-so-popularFallout 76Perk Cards. InFallout 76, Perk Cards substitute for the skills and perks that definedFallout 4’s gameplay, injecting a sense of randomness to character progression (since the cards are acquired from packs rather than simply selected after leveling up) and allow players to build powerful character setups specialized in different tasks.
Fallout 76 Perk Card Changes Improve Both Popular and Underperforming Cards
According to Bethesda’s post, the goal behind the changes to theFallout 76Perk Cards is to boost “underperforming” cards and make them “more interesting” and easier to add to a player’s build. Some of the Perk Cards that will change include Perks like Adamantium Skeleton, Bullet Shield, Evasive, Cap Collector, and more. The majority of changed cards will have fewerFallout 76Perk Card ranksneeded, making them easier to simply slot into a character build without having to worry about upgrading them to receive their best effects. Other planned changes include alterations to the card effects, including which stats they scale with. For example, Adamantium Skeleton will become a 1-rank Perk Card, and its new effect reduces damage taken to limbs, scaling with a player’s Endurance. Meanwhile, the Batteries Included Perk Card will its ranks reduced, allowing players to gain a more dramatic amount of weight reduction for energy weapon ammo.
Online reactions to the changes were mixed. One player complained that changes to the Lone Wanderer perk make it “useless” for their existing solo builds, as its effect now scales based on Charisma. Others were hopeful about the changes. One user remarked that Cap Collector, which was once regarded as one ofthe worst perks inFallout 76,might become easier to slot in thanks to needing fewer ranks, having an expanded scope of effect, and scaling the cap rewards with Luck.
Fallout 76
WHERE TO PLAY
Bethesda Game Studios, the award-winning creators of Skyrim and Fallout 4, welcome you to Fallout 76. Twenty-five years after the bombs fell, you and your fellow Vault Dwellers—chosen from the nation’s best and brightest – emerge into post-nuclear America on Reclamation Day, 2102. Play solo or join together as you explore, quest, build, and triumph against the wasteland’s greatest threats. Explore a vast wasteland, devastated by nuclear war, in this open-world multiplayer addition to the Fallout story. Experience the largest, most dynamic world ever created in the legendary Fallout universe. Expand southward to Skyline Valley – a brand-new region of Appalachia. Investigate the cause of the electric storm circling overhead and unveil the mystery around Vault 63 and its dwellers, including a shocking new Ghoul type – The Lost.
