Summary
Fallout 76’s upcoming America’s Playground Update will be available on March 26. This update will be the conclusion ofFallout 76’s two-part Atlantic City updates, and it will also kick off Season 16. Ahead of its release, this new update has already stirred controversy among the game’s community regarding the changes it will bring to the game’s Seasonal Scoreboards.
Fallout 76has been making a lot of changes specifically geared toward new players recently. For the most part, the game’s existing player base has generally been unaffected by this ongoing process to improve the new player experience. However,Fallout 76’s upcoming America’s Playground update will bring major, permanent changes to the game for both new and returning players.
Changes to Fallout 76’s Scoreboard Were Always Going To Be Controversial
Scoreboards are one of, if not the main progression system inFallout 76that gives new and longtime players an endless way to progress. Consequently, anynew changes toFallout 76regarding the Seasonal Scoreboards were an inevitable controversy waiting to happen. Given that Season 16 will be introducing several major changes to Scoreboards, as expected, this new update forFallout 76has stirred plenty of negative responses from fans.
Fallout 76’s New Scoreboards Mark The End Of A Fun Tradition
Fallout 76’s Scoreboards are essentially battle passes, but they get their name from their stylized resemblance to tabletop board games. Upon completing a Seasonal Scoreboard, players could collect these Scoreboards as a display item for theirCAMPs inFallout 76. As of the new update, though, Scoreboards will now be redesigned to resemble a more traditional battle pass format, which unfortunately means that the collectible Scoreboard backdrops will no longer be available. A new collectible item will be replacing the Scoreboard backdrops going forward, but this seemingly small change ultimately marks the end of a fun tradition of collecting Scoreboards inFallout 76.
Concerns About the Longevity and Monetization of Fallout 76’s New Scoreboards
Another reason why the new Season 16 update has stirred controversy is because the new Scoreboards will seemingly now require more effort to earn the same amount of rewards. Previously, players could fully complete a Scoreboard and collect all of its rewards by reaching rank 100. With the new Scoreboards, these will now require players to reach rank 150 to complete the Scoreboard and collect all of its exclusive rewards. While this change has the potential to extend the length offuture Seasons inFallout 76, increasing the level requirements without directly increasing the number of rewards is justifiably a cause for concern.
After players finish a Scoreboard and collect its unique rewards, a repeating set of post-completion rewards would become available. The new Season 16 Scoreboard will still offer post-completion rewards, but the items that are available as post-completion rewards will be changing. While new items will be available as post-completion rewards for Season 16, one reward will also be leaving that could have lasting implications forFallout 76. Specifically, the premium Atoms currency will no longer be available as a post-completion reward from the Scoreboards inFallout 76.Players can still earn free premium Atoms currency inFallout 76’s new Scoreboards, but there will now be a limited quantity of Atoms available since this currency will no longer be an infinitely redeemable post-completion reward.
For players that have exhausted all of their in-game methods for earning free Atoms currency, the post-completion Scoreboard rewards are the only option to obtain Atoms outside of microtransactions. So, not only will the limited amount of Atoms in the new Scoreboards naturally mean that monetization will become more prevalent inFallout 76, but it will also give players one less reason to play between new Seasons andnew updates forFallout 76. Both of these factors could negatively impact community support for the game.
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.
