Dear Bethesda,
I promise I will try to keep this short and sweet.
As someone who has been a fan of games from both the Elder Scrolls and Fallout franchises for a number of years now you can imagine how excited I was when Fallout 76 was revaled earlier this year at E3. After the initial excitement of hearing about the game next, I was curious and had a number of questions which over time have been answered. With excitement around the game starting to set back in I went ahead and pre-ordered the game.
With news that the Fallout 76 B.E.T.A would start on the 23rd October I was lead to believe that the test B.E.T.A would be set between specific dates. Instead, it was to be found that it would be in sessions lasting between originally four and eight hours. Now don’t get me wrong this still at the time sounded like it would be plenty of time to explore Appalachia and try out the game.
The first four hour session I would miss due to the timing. That was fair enough these things happen but when there was only one “session time” announced I really did start to question when the next session be . The next session soon would be revealed as Saturday 27th October for two hours. Just a two-hour session and four days since the previous session.
I won’t go into all the little bits of detail as I’m sure if you are reading this then you already know and probably have read up about the Fallout 76 B.E.T.A. and the recent thoughts about the new session information.
I will say this though. I’m not mad. Just, disappointed.
While yes there was information given to players who had pre-ordered the game like myself about what to expect and the fact there was likely to be numerous bugs within the B.E.T.A. That to me wasn’t going to be a problem as isn’t that what the beta phase of a game is all about. Yes, the first session times for UK/EU based players was somewhat poor and that many people would be unable to play due to real life. I also understand that you, Bethesda have a plan in place for each of the B.E.T.A sessions for both Xbox One players as well as PlayStation 4 and PC players as well as wanting to review information from those sessions and act on that information.
I think what many of us wanted was more transparency and clearer communication around what to expect from the B.E.T.A sessions and as to when expect the sessions to be.
Despite the reactions from todays new B.E.T.A information, I will still be supporting the game by picking up a copy and I fully appreciate the hard work that has been put into the game so far and for the months to come. The concept of combing the Fallout world and adding multiplayer has intrigued me from the start and I can’t wait to try the game out once it is released in November.
I look forward to seeing you in Appalachia.
Yours,
A Fallout Fan.
LeeksPlays 