During a panel from QuakeCon, Fallout 76 Game Director Todd Howard, Development Director Chris Meyer, and Project Leader Jeff Gardiner talked about the much-anticipated survival game.

  • About PvP, Howards explained that when you hit someone for the first time you do reduced damage. It's like an invitation to PvP or a slap at somebody in a bar. If the players decide to engage, they do full damage. There is a caps reward based on level for defeating someone (if you kill someone much higher than you, you get a much bigger reward). If you want to seek revenge after being killed, the caps reward is doubled.
  • If the player that is being attacked doesn't engage (or manage to run away. There are a lot of ways to do so), the attacking player can ultimately kill them. Yet, they get no reward, and they become a wanted murderer. According to Howard, the "assholes" are turned into interesting content. They appear on everyone's map as a red star and they have a bounty on their head. That bounty comes from their own caps.
  • PvP doesn't activate at all until level 5.
  • You can flag yourself as "pacifist" so that you won't deal any damage to others.
  • The death penalty isn't too punitive. You drop your junk. Junk is not your whole equipment, but it's something you can use to make and upgrade items. You can go back and recover it if no one picks it up. You can also store it into your stash (which is completely safe from other players). There are also shashes you can use in the world.
  • Respawn after death is free to the closest respawn point or at the entrance of the Vault 76. Respawning elsewhere (which you have previously visited) will cost you caps depending on distance.
  • You can block players. They won't be able to see you on the map.
  • The power curve against other players is different than the PvE power curve. It's normalized. It still feels right but the difference in power in PvP is smaller for both weapons and armor. This gives lower level players a chance against higher level ones.
  • When you nuke a camp it destroys all the structures, but the owner of the camp can easily rebuild it and relocate thanks to blueprints.
  • Blueprints let you pack up your whole camp and relocate anywhere else.
  • Camps are also easy to repair.
  • Musical instruments are in the game.
  • Voice chat is implemented in the game. There is also a proximity voice chat system for strangers, so you can communicate with those around you.
  • V.A.T.S. is in real time. Targeting different body parts is a perk so you can't do it from the very start. The percentage of hitting is based on your perception, and investing in P helps your accuracy and your ability to find enemies.
  • The soundtrack has been composed by Inon Zur. There is also a lot of licensed music. There are more tracks than ever in a Fallout game, and there are radio stations you can listen to. There is an "unbelievable amount of bizarre forties music."
  • Private servers are definitely going to be available, and they'll enable mods. Bethesda is 100% committed to supporting modding and private servers in the game.
  • 80% of the game is the Fallout people know and love, and 20% is completely new.

Below you can also check out a new video presented at the panel, showcasing the S.P.E.C.I.A.L. System.

If you want to see more about the game and the S.P.E.C.I.A.L. system, you can also check out some brand new footage. You can also read recent information about the upcoming B.E.T.A. which starts in October, and about the fact that the game won't be released on Steam.

Fallout 76 will release worldwide on November 14th, 2018 for PS4, Xbox One, and PC, and it can already be pre-ordered on Amazon.