Fallout 76's massively-multiplayer online focus (MMO), as well as the fact that it's set before the rest of the Fallout games, leaves plenty of room for Bethesda to go wild with what it offers to the player. Here are five things that would make Fallout 76 awesome.
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Settlement blueprint sharing
Fallout 76 is going to overhaul Fallout 4's settlement system, allowing you to create blueprints for entire towns so you can pack up your settlement at a moment's notice and move it to a different location. This is similar to how Halo 5 lets people group objects together in the Forge mode and save them as prefabrications.
However, there is one key difference: with Halo 5, you can download prefabs and use them in your own maps. Currently, that doesn't appear to be the case with the settlement blueprints you can create in Fallout 76, but the option should be there for players who want to share their settlement-building results with the Fallout community.
A guild system
Guilds are a classic MMO feature, and Fallout 76 should definitely have them. While it is true you can team up with friends, you can only do so with three of them. Having a guild would allow larger groups of players to play together, and would also open the door for Bethesda to add in special competition, such as guilds competing to kill more NPCs over the course of a week than anyone else.
Remnants of the Chinese military
Unlike the previous Fallout titles, which take place place 150 to 200 years after the nuclear Great War, Fallout 76 is set just a few decades after the bombs fell. This, coupled with the fact that China had military stealth operatives in the US prior to the war (confirmed by Fallout 3) means that if they found a way to stay safe from the nukes, there's a very real chance they would be alive during Fallout 76.
Chinese military remnants would be an interesting type of enemy NPC faction, and would be a welcome change from the usual raiders.
More power armor customization
Fallout 4 introduced paint schemes and decals to power armor, but unfortunately, there weren't very many of them to choose from. With Fallout 76, this should change. Character customization is often a large portion of what drives longevity for MMO games, and giving the franchise's most iconic apparel more customization options will help Fallout 76 in the long run.
Global server events
Another crucial thing MMOs need to do is encourage players to come together and interact with one another. Often times, the best way to do this is to create special timed events at a specific location that everyone on the server is notified about. For Fallout 76, this could be things like massive raider attacks, a gargantuan mutated monster that requires several squads of people to kill, or a temporary appearance of a rare item.
Read: Fallout 76 uses bounty system to discourage killing innocent players
Your thoughts
What are some things you want to see from Fallout 76? Let me know.
Fallout 76 is available for pre-order now for $59.99 on Bethesda.net (PC), Xbox One, and PlayStation 4.
Brendan Lowry is a Windows Central writer and Oakland University graduate with a burning passion for video games, of which he's been an avid fan since childhood. You'll find him doing reviews, editorials, and general coverage on everything Xbox and PC. Follow him on Twitter.
