Fallout 76: Skyline Valley - A Storm In A Teacup

Fallout 76 returns for a quick look at the Skyline Valley update, which promises new areas to explore, new quests and new characters, which all sounds rather positive, but is it enough to pull me back in...?
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Fanfare for Space, Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
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[@Fable041]

I mean with your build, you are not really good at shotguns or pistols Jon. You have two shotgun perks Master Shotgunner & Enforcer, but they are not maxed out (Plus each gun type perk has 3 different cards for damage multipliers, and it looks like you only took one rank of one of them). You have a lot of perks like Traveling Pharmacy, Slow Metabolizer, Ammo Smith, Mister Sandman and DEFINITELY Awareness that are just weighing your build down.

[@Zyroes]

The thing that gets me is, I haven't specialized into any weapon type, but I haven't ran into the issue of normal enemies being bullet sponges. Sure, I can't go around one-shotting bosses, but I've always gotten by just fine.

[@ronaldfutcher7239]

In case you weren't aware Jon, corpses will now drop teh type of ammo you used to kill them or are holding at the time of mousing over an ammo box.

[@Pseunomix]

Lol @ 2:37 Jon, you have 368 perk points on deck, put those points into Legendary Perks. Everything is a bullet sponge at your level because you barely have any perks that boost damage.

[@feidry]

Jon: "The enemies are really tanky in this game!" Also Jon: *using a confetti gun* My handmade auto rifle can kill a lost in under a second and I'm not even using a bloody build.

[@-DM]

That space ship you saw was a player camp.

[@ManyATrueNerd]

Ok, I accept they were able to use Bethesda Physics to get into the sky, but how did they put down a CAMP?

[@mid-nite_drive-thru]

And things like THAT are precisely why some of us never ASKED for a multiplayer Fallout game. Immersion is rather BROKEN by such nonsense.

[@sethkunkel4250]

"It just works" ​@@ManyATrueNerd

[@rolo6676]

You put the camp on ground build up then move the overhead projector thing into the building. Delete stairs. Space camp.

[@haro_yemon]

​@@mid-nite_drive-thru except co-op

[@Shadow-ue6fq]

2:00 "when it came out several years ago".....hmmm I wonder how long its been since Fallout 76 actually came out. OH GOD ITS BEEN 6 YEARS ALMOST!!!

[@jaywerner8415]

Shocking, isn't it? (pun intended.)

[@RichardIK7]

wow that's a bit surreal, it honestly feels like it's been 2 years for me

[@greenhowie]

and yet nothing was learned

[@DIYTAO]

And if they had spend all this wasted effort for good fallout RPG, we could well be playing it by now or at least soonish.Instead on waiting 10 more years.

[@jaywerner8415]

@@DIYTAO I mean would could all be playing FALLOUT LONDON right now, but betheada randomly decided to give Fallout 4 a NEXT GEN update like 7 years later.

[@prodjlane]

It seems like your progress is of a lvl 30 not 100

[@Sukafukazulu]

No legendary perks

[@bobsaget8791]

>the enemies are too tanky >uses a pipe pistol >refuses to elaborate there's a reason we love you jon

[@Thumper8544]

I recall guns having levels, so you'd get a level 2 pipe pistol before you got the next tier of gun and the lvl 2 pipe would be better so it was really hard to move away from basic guns

[@TheFatesBack]

Its a symptom of the terrible game balance of release 76, repairing high level guns was so expensive and not worth the scrap that re-crafting high level pipe guns that only did slightly less damage was far more economical which got even worse when bethesda nerfed the amount of junk we got from items and increased the amount needed to repair with. And then to add insult to injury they added mtx for repair kits in the real money shop to fix the problem they created with the nerfs, pretty scummy indeed and made me quit this shitshow xD

[@greatmightypanda]

@@Thumper8544 They rebalanced the pipe weapon perk cards for that very reason but they only made pipe weapons weaker, not other weapons stronger so not only is it hard to move from basic guns, those basic guns aren't as useful as they were.

[@hitomisalazar4073]

@@TheFatesBack Not only that but because Fallout 76 has that "Scrap to have a random chance to learn a mod for the weapon type" it makes it very hard to move on from things like Pipe Guns and Double Barrel shotguns, because those are everywhere and you'll scrap hundreds of them to learn the mods. Meanwhile you'll basically never see an enemy drop, say, a LMG to start getting enough to get mods for them. Last time Jon was playing "Fully Upgraded with Mods Pipe Revolver" was outdoing things like Plasma Pistols because he never found Plasma Pistols to scrap.

[@bobsaget8791]

As soon as youre level 50, you start getting level 50 guns from about every enemy, go to one event like eviction notice, suddenly you'd have 50 non legendary guns and enough legendaries to at least get you started on rolling something you actually want, add on top of that all the newer weapons with straightforward ways to craft them and acquire plans, there's really no reason to not have anything good other than just unwillingness to engage with 76. Which really makes me sad, because the deeper combat character building of 76 is one of its best features, all the silly hyperspecific builds you can make are great.

[@ClintHollingsworth]

Jon, it's been a long while since you've played. I don't think you availed yourself of any of the extras that have been added to the perk card menu. (More strength, intelligence, etc and greater damage cards) You're coming in as a fairly high player without any of the things that fairly high players use to stay competitive with the NPCs. Not even multi-legendary effects.

[@stirlinggerbic-forsyth3345]

So you're saying 76 isn't catered to casual players that don't or can't spend hours every day keeping up with it for years on end. Thats not good for most games. I've got near 400 games in my steam library. I dont have any single game that I can play nearly every day for even one year and stay interested. If I can't pick up a game a year after dropping it and still have fun, I'm not going to play it. It seems like 76 is a game that isn't fun if you step away for a time because it's designed around you always keeping up.

[@aedrarising2760]

@@stirlinggerbic-forsyth3345 I think what they're saying is that there have been a lot of additions to the game for things that make you stronger but he's not engaging with them. If you were a casual player just getting into the game you'd probably find out about them by the time you get to the point Jon's at.

[@captainkingpin6836]

@@stirlinggerbic-forsyth3345 more that its a Fallout game that plays differently than all other fallout games. a build that works well in others doesnt work at all in 76, Jon's issues with the enemies being too "Tanky" stems completely from building for a normal fallout and not for this fallout. Pistols and shotguns are pretty much garbage in 76.

[@stirlinggerbic-forsyth3345]

@@captainkingpin6836 which is an issue because it still markets itself as an RPG when it isn't.

[@captainkingpin6836]

@@stirlinggerbic-forsyth3345 it technically is, its an MMORPG with out the massively part of MMO. you can still RPG through it you just have a limit to how crazy you can build yourself out and definitely need to have some better thought for your build than just ooh this looks cool. my build is pretty all over the place as well but outside of bosses i have never said these enemies are too tanky.

[@OldmanSerious]

You really need to loot the bodies more. "Oh, I've run out of shotgun ammo"... not if you loot the bodies. And you can choose to loot like all the bodies within an area at once, it's amazing. The amount of ammo drops is huge now.

[@MrColbster94]

Also ammo drops on bodies according to the weapon you killed them with, so you literally get refunded ammo

[@bobsaget8791]

the problem is he's using quite terrible weapons so he's losing ammo overall lol

[@djbeema]

Yeah when they updated it so nearly every enemy drops contextual ammo it was a game changer

[@TigerXGame]

@@MrColbster94 Which makes combat even less meaningful...

[@JackalArtsmith]

@@MrColbster94 It's based entirely on the ammo for specific weapons. For instance, if you use the gauss minigun, you get a couple rounds at most back, because they balanced the ammo drops for the gauss rifle and nothing else, it's why the plasma caster makes such a net profit on ammo, plasma ammo drops are balanced for the plasma rifle. The whole point of the ammo drops is to give you some ammo yes but ultimately still push you toward crafting, because they want people to buy the scrap box to store their ammo crafting materials, you don't buy FO1st if you can just pick up all the ammo you'll ever need, and it's also Bethesda, ain't no way they're smart enough to balance by weapon lmao, it's 2024 and their balance for semi auto weapons and automatics is to just lower the damage of automatic weapons.

[@NMN]

Every time Jon visits Craig there's a cat meowing in the background and he doesn't *immediately* go look for the kitty to pet...

[@charlesfranks1902]

I thought one of Jon's kittens had decided to pay a visit while he was recording.

[@elel9640]

That "build" is.... it's something😂😂

[@grishemall]

I won't lie, when I saw his build, and immediately afterwards heard that he's very very good with shotguns - I just laughed 😁

[@mid-nite_drive-thru]

Also, just want to point at that around the 15 minute mark, I'm looking around the room thinking my cat has gotten into something.

[@TweeterAndTheMunkyMan]

Yeah my dog was looking around too 😂😂😂

[@KexCormacson]

Me too! What was that? John's new kittens?

[@356z]

I heard a cat too 😂

[@larryartichoke5976]

Hey Jon, I haven’t finished the video yet, but you often mention how enemies feel like tanks in Fallout 76. While it is true enemies can often feel like damage sponges, I believe your lack of specialization is also to blame. At 00:02:36 you mention how you are very good with shotguns and handguns. You only have rank one of each of the damage perk cards equipped though. You essentially have the equivalent of a single max ranked card. A level four character could easily have the same amount of damage boosting perks as you. The enemies are being scaled to you with the expectation that you have also invested in these areas to match them. Since you have not invested into combat, everything will be far more tank-like than they are designed to be. My goal is not to be critical of your playstyle and claim everything you are doing is wrong. I simply wanted to expand upon something you frequently comment on. If you are interested in gameplay suggestions though, then I would recommend swapping out some of the perk cards you have for crafting with damage perks and simply put the crafting perks back on when you need them. I believe they have made the system much easier to do this with loadouts and movable special points since your main time in the game.

[@andymingni]

Your not picking up the loot!! You would have never run out of ammo if you picked them up!

[@MoonFanatic]

As others have said, choose better perk cards, loot corpses, use legendary guns and perks

[@torgranael]

The key to any good mystery is keeping the audience guessing, and that requires drip feeding information at a particular rate. Too much information spoils the reveal, too little information removes any desire to investigate, both of which lead to the audience giving up. Based on this video, it looks like Skyline Valley will provide the same experience I had with Assassin's Creed Origins: blindly following waypoints for three hours, only to be rewarded with information that should've been used to kick things off, learn that most of what I'd just done was unnecessary filler, be provided with another blind waypoint, and get told to do it all again.

[@Tensen01]

They aren't tanky, Jon, your build is just atrocious and your guns are bloody terrible.

[@crickett3536]

I will say that, like the other games, the creature designs are fun. Turkey devolving into raptor is fun.

[@nknasi]

2:37 you literally only specced into level 1 of most of your weapon-based perk cards. of course you're not doing any damage! get rid of awareness, gunslinger, mister sandman and gunrunner to free up the perk points to invest more in the cards that up your damage with specific weapon types and rank each card all the way up to max level. level 1 master shotgunner isn't good enough without more points in that and expert and master shotgunner. the cards stack, so level3 shotgunner + level3 expert shotgunner + level3 master shotgunner gives you +60% shotgun damage, which would go a long way to helping your build. you'd be better served focusing on either single shot rifles with rifleman or auto rifles with commando as a secondary for your endgame build, rather than pistols, imo.

[@Clanwalk3r]

Fix the build. Perks, legendary guns, legendary armour, specialize into a weapon category. Youll have a much better time with killimg things. Unfortunately, game isn't like other fallouts and you need to specialize and grind gear to do well.

[@ThePhxRises]

Yeah I'm like, level 60 or 70 something and I've just been sitting here throughout the entire video trying to figure out why his damage is so terrible.

[@nknasi]

yep, it's definitely a build issue. my railway rifle/rifleman/vats build melts the lvl 100 champions in 4-5 shots.

[@Tensen01]

Stealth build using a SHOTGUN?! Also level 100 and still using Pipe guns? Yeah it's not that the enemies are Tanky it's that his build isn't just not optimized, it's downright bad. I'm hardly optimized and my attacks were taking them down in two hits, I'm only level 200.

[@agurdel]

One thing that Jon never noticed is that automatic weapons do the same damage per shot as single shot ones. He is using Fallout 3/NV/4 reasoning on weapon DPS which is just not the case.

[@MatchBreakers]

@@Tensen01 yeah it’s not that he needs a meta anything, but what he’s currently doing is akin to using a Gatling laser in new Vegas with no energy weapon skill, 1 strength and bulk ammo.

[@scottdevnull5778]

45:28 john your build isn't focused, its like playing fallout 4 but never putting more than one level up into any damage perk

[@funsamgaming]

My survival Fallout 4 is like that currently got all the good crafting perks, but hit barrier around lv50 without damage perks, Jon was like that in his Sim Settlement playthrough also were he only just push pistol perks when he was using them a lot, but not until he was in 40s.

[@zeropoint216]

I'm slowly realizing Jon plays every game the exact same way...

[@djbeema]

Like Jon?

[@DigitalNomad88]

The lazy stealth archer build? Every game every time, very easy and boring....

[@tylerpepper6986]

Yeah, the enemies aren't tanky, your build is just really not good. Your perks are all over the place and you aren't focused on one type of weapon. I'm running a simple shotgun build and having no issues at all.

[@Smeghead76]

9:45 Crafting ammo shouldn't be _that_ much of an issue if you have a secondary "crafting" set of cards that you swap to when crafting stuff... on second thought, I just checked and shotgun ammo is insanely expensive - I can make 540 Ultracite .50 ammo for the same(-ish) amount of resource as 320 shotgun shells and even _more_ .45 and 5.56 Ultracite ammo with the Ammosmith card. Yay for rifle-centric builds?

[@1996marioRH]

The spaceship was someone's camp. There's a way to make "floating" camps

[@CardSearcher911]

Aside from the combat issues which stems from your character's poor perk layout, most of what you said about the dialogue in the new area is pretty valid.

[@mihailnikolov4325]

They are not tanky Jon, your damage is low ;d get weps with good legendary effects and tweak the perk cards. it will be a different game experience for sure

[@liberalideas8224]

I am one of the few, less vocal people who actually loved this at launch and do jump back into it every so often. The game has certainly come a long way since launch though. I actually miss the NPC free environment a bit, but there is lots of other ways the game has improved too. EDIT: Jon, while the game does need some more balancing and some things can be a bit tanky such as the end game bosses, those enemies only "felt" tanky to you because your build just is not that good. Those events you avoided are great places for legendaries to drop and on top of that, there just isnt any way you can build your character to do good damage with a basic shotgun, a bloodied (more damage at low health) revolver, and a basic energy rifle. All three are very different builds in this game. Dont get me wrong, I would love some more balancing done on the game, but I have cleared those same areas you did with very little issue or ammo spent all while using a couple non meta builds. So, I understand that you are only playing long enough to make these videos, but it is not really on the game if you are actively ignoring a bunch of it, especially as high level as you are. I say all this with the highest respect for you and your content.

[@mara_jade021]

And you have to understand that we people who directly hate min max also exist. I am a role player and this game is designed to only cares about min maxers with the damn bloody and several broken builds on mind. It is a vicious cycle, they design all around min maxers, enemies loot, encounters and events. Then put a pikachu face when no min maxers left the game and complaint about how this game is ridiculously tanky. The game has been marketing as a Online ROLE-PLAYING game. They just forgot all that and make a grinding one built only shooter with a good story no person with role interest sees as the damn game are designed for people who give a sh*t story and want to shooting bloody

[@liberalideas8224]

@mara_jade021 Now that, I can sort of agree with. You might be surprised, but I also hate the commando bloodied build meta. That is why I mentioned I am using off meta builds, because I don't like the meta. And those off meta builds are still doing fine. Not amazing, but fine. You don't need to build meta to have a good build, but you do need to still put together a build. If your build didn't matter, than the progression, equipment, and skill points wouldn't matter. It would not be a fallout or even a RPG anymore. The game does need more balance and I said as much. I agree that alot of design seems to be focused on the very silly bloodied commando meta, but the game is still very playable as long as you still put something together.

[@mara_jade021]

@@liberalideas8224 I role-play normally characters build on charisma and of intelligence with decent agility. I tried at launch and after wastelander and I seed simply couldn't get any enjoyment of the combat. Pistols were slow and very low damage I just couldn't help to stopping play it.

[@liberalideas8224]

@mara_jade021 I understand, and it is fair that you simply did not enjoy it. We do not enjoy all the games we play after all. However, my point is that it was not any games fault if the play ignores/fights against the games overt mechanics. Let's say I was playing BG3 and wanted to make an intelligent barbarian for role play. It would not be the games fault if I put little thought into my build, dumping my strength for intelligence, and then got my butt kicked in combat. Can you still push through after a lot of save scumming, sure. However, you could also take some time to work within the games rules to come up with a build that is much more effective, fun, and can still be an intelligent barbarian. In your own post, you stated that you chose the weakest weapon set in the game, and even then, didn't build into it, but instead built into one that supports group play, while playing solo. If that means you didn't enjoy the game, that's cool, but that isn't the game's fault either. If it makes you feel any better, there are plenty of "good" games I didn't enjoy. Witcher 3 for instance. I just say it wasn't for me though, I don't hate on the game.

[@mara_jade021]

@@liberalideas8224 I don't hate the game. It is simply not what they advertise. This is not an online role-playing game. Because as Jon said there is nothing really for people who want to focus on a role and the history. The build here ia more important than anything else or is like game wants or you are done. .Barbarians high intelligence works great in Baldur's gate no I am not kidding. There is even rp walk through of something like that where the worm supposedly give a new consciousness to the barbarian

[@SuperSteelyGlint]

VATs headshots and crits are theway to kill things...

[@obiwankenny1966]

If you look at his build he has all the right perks for a VATS build (although he seems to think putting only 1 point in each is enough) with 15 luck, but he never every uses VATS except for shooting the legs of the Lost a few times. I'm not sure that the Lost = feral Ghouls but again he's stuck in the FO4 thinking.

[@Dishnu]

ok the fireworks gong off when you took out a enemy was from someone using a scout banner at the event that you wandered in to

[@Pseunomix]

"A storm in a Teacup" Fitting name for Jon's perk loadout

[@aphthakid]

No one from Vault Tec with a German accent could be evil!

[@Hellown]

Just went back to start of the video for the build and no wonder he can't kill anything.... Want to use a shotgun, has almost no shotgun perks, lots of critical stuff, doesn't seem to use many crits, almost no handgun perks.... I genuinely feel like if he redid his build to the point he could actually progress anything he might have a better time.

[@bdarner6944]

This is kinda the point Jon is making about 76. Narrative RPG (suboptimal builds don't make the game punishingly unplayable) vs MMO Grinder (optimize or else basically). The answer is it is still very much an MMO Grinder. There is nothing wrong with that per se; it just is what it is.

[@toakongu1]

I feel like that's the problem a lot of 76 players have coming from the rest of the games. They are so accustomed to the single player RPG games that they have trouble or, in some cases, flat out refuse to try adapting to the new format.

[@vf501]

@@toakongu1 Thing is Jon has no excuse not to figure out building a character for damage or specific purposes. He does it all the time and goes in depth in other Fallout games. The revamped Perk Respec system makes it easier than ever too change things around as well. He's still stuck in his initial impression of the game and isnt exploring all the QOL changes and Weapon Perks.

[@Hellown]

@@bdarner6944 you don't even need to "Optimise" tho .. just something that resembles a coherent build and it's good enough to not use 10-15 shots to I'll everything.

[@Daepilin]

@@vf501 he logged in after some years and just wanted to play.... perfectly reasonable to not want to deep dive character builds for that...

[@djbeema]

This update has been great. It feels so good to have story quests to do again. I've been taking my time with them because we probably won't get more for another loooong time. Prior to this I had all but stopped playing, as there was essentially nothing left to do but grind seasonal reward tracks.

[@scotteagle3597]

Leave it to Jon to spec out for the worst weapons in the game, and be surprised that they don't hit hard enough... There's stuff out there, but shotguns, pistols, and gauss rifles AREN'T it! Anything else would be doing you better at this point, including pipe guns! LOVE your stuff, give Claire and Teddy loves!

[@nknasi]

to be fair, a nice anti-armor gauss rifle hits pretty hard on a proper rifleman/vats build.

[@scotteagle3597]

@@nknasi Oh, no argument! But not an, in-your-face shooter like Jon is trying to use it as! Lol!

[@vf501]

Yeah shotguns are super bad now except Cold Shoulder or spam firing a Quad Gauss Shotgun. Kinda sad really, but during Year 1, Explosive Shotguns were so goddamn OP.

[@nocturnechanson]

Robots take the least amount of damage from a head shot. 😅

[@Dead-EyeJuncan]

But Robobrains... Literally the brain in a glass jar that controls them is the head!

[@khazadmann]

That is exactly how lightning works.

[@Lawsondgage]

Oh Jon... So many things to say, but other people have said most of them. I'll just point out that of *course* the water fountain was irradiated. The vault is full of ghouls! That's refreshing for them! XD

[@Zyroes]

Also, they told him the vault wasn't finished in time so the whole thing got blasted with radiation when the bombs fell.

[@hairylimey7709]

When dealing with Vault Tec just smile and nod ....and then leg it at the first opportunity 😁

[@kurohone]

I think the best summary is that Jon is having trouble with 76 because he's playing it like an action RPG. So the answer is... no.

[@butcherbyrd4282]

It’s funny to me that MATM is such an expert at FO4 but finds 76 difficult. I found what I’ve done of the new quests pretty easy and dropped ammo. The new bosses are legitimately bullet sponges, though.

[@gimok2k5]

The Storm Goliath are also supposed to be raid bosses. Like the Scorchbeast Queen, Earle, Ultracite Titan and Imposter Sheepsquash. They're intended to be tackled by the a big group on the server (Earle being capped at 8 total, rest can be fought by all 24 players). And of course the final boss is somewhat tanky, but it's also indeed a boss, so if they'd go down in only three shots, that would be anti-climatic.

[@butcherbyrd4282]

@@gimok2k5 so you're saying their legitimacy is legitimate :)

[@spoonz202]

I'd love to see a full playthrough of the story of 76 if it's even possible.

[@whatzabear6309]

I don't think that's how lightning works.

[@funsamgaming]

Jon I really like your content, but think you was a little harsh. Your build worked when enemies were set levels, but for past 4 years enemies level to you, mean very few weapons will get through enemy damage resistance, without some damage cards. A livestream where people could help you out would definitely give you a different opinion on enemies not being that tanky, also area loot would fix lot of ammo issues.

[@onyoursix8408]

You need to get yourself a cold shoulder shotgun. Pipe pistols are trash. Unfortunately, you'll struggle to kill anything with them.

[@albertice2]

John I would also play the brotherhood of steel questline, it has some really good story beats.

[@Jumzaaa]

Weirdly I didn't think the enemies were all that tanky outside of the final boss & some enemies in events - but explosive rifles are OP so Edit: also, lets be real Jon, ammo crafting is super easy in FO76 if you even slightly loot components or scrap weapons. And there's perks that drastically increase your ammo count, they're really not hard to get lol

[@michaelsutherland5848]

Well they really aren't. Jon just hasn't taken the time to learn how to exploit the game's mechanics. Jon's a story-driven player, where 76 is designed for grind-driven players. He will never really like the game.

[@Tensen01]

@@michaelsutherland5848 It's not even about exploiting, it's about engaging with them at all. I'm not exploiting, and only level 200 and those Lost were going down in one or two headshots.

[@Smitje_0]

@@michaelsutherland5848 Yet in survival he makes trips all over the map for materials.. And here in 76 he can't even bother buying plastic bulk to craft ammo instead of buying a low amount of it? (He also always has ammosmith equipped..) Or quickly look around the map for a player camp that sells ammo? How is that grind driven? The only thing 76 really does make you do is pick a weapon type. You can't do shotguns and pistols, and a gauss rifle.. As a pistol main, pistols do have issues and need a buff but then I'm mostly speaking about content Jon will never do, like DO bosses and Expeditions. He's set up for crits but then never uses them, while with his perks and Luck stat every third shot, that hits, could be a critical.

[@Nilon241]

​@@michaelsutherland5848could I ask what kind 'exploiting' he'd need to?

[@bvav9678]

You don’t even have to pick a single weapon type, I used shotguns and rifles for most of my currently 77 levels. Since one uses strength and one perception you can do both. I did eventually go full rifles so I could have more utility perks but it’s totally possible to have two weapon types. More than two would probably be stretching it.

[@yurimastermind1601]

I think you mightve been a bit harsh on the game, Jon. If you focus soley on one weapon youll have a much better time with the combat im sure, your build needs some review in my opinion. There are gems hidden in 76, including in skyline valley, enough to warrant another gander. Maybe a livestream?

[@obiwankenny1966]

I do not want to watch Jon do a live stream of 76. He will not take advice during the stream and will not adjust his gear, build, etc. It will be as shitshow of him being frustrated at how badly he's doing and everyone will walk away being dissatisfied. The same with Oxhorn. Neither one likes 76 because of the multiplayer aspects and they stubbornly refuse to play it differently than they would FO4. It would be better if they both just ignored the game from now on.

[@chriswriter9087]

Let’s be real John, it’s completely on brand for Fallout 76 for the frogurt to still be cursed.

[@botheringthewildlife9641]

It's real spooky to suddenly see someone else rocking the stealth armor and owl mask combo on the same screen that you usually play on lol

[@fuzzyfuzzyfungus]

"Come, let me reassure you: I'm not just a ghoul; but a prewar corpo and high-level Vault-Tec." I think someone doesn't realize how much relied on his PR team before they were all horribly incinerated; because that's about as threatening as you could get. At least raiders will keep it simple in killing you for laughs. And you never say 'consultant' with heavy air quotes without it meaning something dire. Roughly 80% of the time it means 'freelance murderer', 20% of the time it's 'expendable patsy'; but it's never good.

[@sandwich2473]

That looked a lot like the USS Enterprise

[@Zyroes]

Yes! That's what I was thinking!

[@haro_yemon]

Jon, can we take a look at your special andnperk cards? Shotguns already have a harder time than heavy pr automatic weapons. Thats also why the gauss rifle wasnt doing much, if youre gonna go from a shotgun to a rifle or any other weapon without switching your build, youre gonna have a bad time. I run a decent qol pqck rat build, im not fully invested in killing enemies but i still have an easy time taking most enemies out.

[@Oooga-Chaka]

Jon also hasn't played since before "One Wasteland" which was the update that changed enemy leveling and changed damage from multiplicative to additive.

[@haro_yemon]

@@Oooga-Chaka that's why I want to take a look at his perks. I know when I came back after a long break, before any of the big updates my perk cards had all been unequipped, I was thinking that might have happened to Jon too.

[@dadshirt6681]

@@Oooga-Chaka not a good excuse whatsoever

[@andyface]

2:38

[@haro_yemon]

​@@andyfacethanks, I wasn't watching the screen the whole time so I missed that. Oh man I'm not that good at builds but...that build does nothing and does it pretty badly. If jon let someone help him with a build it wpuld fix so many of his problems. I don't think he has a legendary perk equipped either, pretty sure you get your first slot at 100.

[@chellejohnson9789]

Skyline Valley is interesting, the plot is much more compelling than the last expansion but there aren't any fun decision moments like the circus in Atlantic City And then of course...the scams

[@ManyATrueNerd]

It does seem like an interesting story - I just wish the characters were willing to have proper discussions with me about it, instead of giving me a tiny bit of basic information and then saying they're too busy, or I'm not trusted/liked enough to tell me more. I just want to be able to have full conversations with the new NPCs.

[@chellejohnson9789]

@@ManyATrueNerd agreed. It could have certainly benefitted from being less coy. I assume it was just that way to make revalations last the whole way through, but then you have to ask why not just shorten the quests?

[@kingwanderer2734]

​@@ManyATrueNerd I just think of it like the mailman why should you tell him the reason behind why he had to deliver that car part to your house. In this situation they don't see you as a necessity just a hired gun to help so as to not risk their own people.

[@lrinfi]

@@chellejohnson9789 Games like this have one overarching goal: to keep you playing whether you feel like it/want to or not so there is a greater chance you will buy something from the in-game store. Ergo, not only must problems be created for which the supposed "solutions" can later be sold (e.g. the stash limit in this game), quests must be artificially long and drawn out, pinballing the player all over the game map. (Rose's "quests" are especially egregious for this. The higher ups didn't want to invest any more time and money in the game than was absolutely necessary, so nearly everything was tied to her in the base game to save on the cost of hiring voice actors to play actual characters in a compelling storyline.) That's why Jon is getting dribs and drabs from the NPCs: artificial means to a scummy end. It's quite sad to see BGS reduced to this from my perspective. The idea explored in background worldbuilding and often relayed by visuals alone in 76 had enormous potential as the SP with co-op some in the community had long requested and that potential never will be realized due to industry shenanigans that have sullied the reputations not only of BGS, but Arkane, Bioware, CD Projekt and so many other formerly great studios. Hopefully, in time, they will recover from the damage done in the name of obscene profit for IP owners and investors, but I don't see that happening anytime soon. More likely, their lot and ours will get far worse before it gets better because the definition of "success" of a game has been reduced in the industry solely to whether or not it is financially successful.

[@motherreaper7287]

"What's that in the sky? Is that a bug?" You dingus, that's the Enterprise.

[@ValTek_Armory]

I feel you're going about the combat wrong with 76. It is an entirely different beast from the single player games where you can be a generalist and do fine. 76 is more akin to an MMO, where you NEED to specialize to be able to keep up. I'm not saying it is a good thing, but that is just the nature of the beast with how this game is set up. It is designed around you having different loadouts for different scenarios that you switch between with the punch card machine. You also need to loot what you kill more. They added the effect of "contextual ammo" so whatever you kill will drop some of the ammo you used to kill them with. Helps with the flow of combat a lot more.

[@nxcrobutcher]

I'll be honest enemies seeming tanky might mean your build isn't the greatest. Aside from the obvious enemies like deathclaws there are very few things that take more than 5 shots to kill with a decent build

[@mikey-wl2jt]

"decent build" != "casual build"

[@haro_yemon]

​@@mikey-wl2jtare you trying to say that a decent build isn't a casual build?

[@mikey-wl2jt]

@@haro_yemon yes. casuals--and I'm kinda including Jon here--have only a minimal idea of what even constitutes a "decent" build

[@tylerpepper6986]

​@mikey-wl2jt Dude, he doesn't even have the perks for the weapon he uses maxed. I'm a casual F76 player and I mopped the floor with these enemies. Jon's build is just REALLY bad.

[@mikey-wl2jt]

@@tylerpepper6986 sure, not challenging that. I just don't understand why that bothers people so much.

[@LifelessTooth]

I've got a fair few criticisms against the expansion, but the gameplay balancing isn't really one of them. It's intended for endgame characters, definitely, but you never really graduated from your mid-game stealth shotgunner build. I could tell it was holding you back as early as wastelanders, and that was over 4 years ago at this point and the game now has multiple loadout slots and legendary perk cards to encourage players to invest in more powerful builds. I can't really fault the game if the player never utilizes its features.

[@MrMctastics]

Wrekt

[@DrLipkin]

Definitely. Not just his build, but I suspect his gear is significantly gimped. The gameplay loop seems to be built around grinding for the best gear, so it's not surprising that someone will struggle having not invested that time.

[@nknasi]

well said. he isn't giving the game a fair shake since he hasn't really learned how the mechanics work.

[@tadhgmcelligott3693]

Dear lord jon that build is... certainly something. Enemies are bullet hoses cos to put it mildy Jon, ur build is shit. Pick either pistols or shotguns and spec into one not both. Also combine ur perk cards, u have so many low level ones. Instead of having 3 that give 10% each or whatever max the 3 out so u do 90% or whatever the stat is. Also ditch the pipe pistol lmao

[@KelgorothTheFinalShape]

I mean shotguns and pipe guns were OP at launch

[@CoadyShay]

Very frustrating. This is stuff Jon usually grasps fairly quickly. It's like he wants to concern troll this game.

[@donovanfaust3227]

Well the enemies are still tanks, having that huge of a health pool automatically makes one a tank. You can complain about his build being weak making the tank-iness more apparent, but you can't deny the enemies are tanks.

[@michaelsutherland5848]

@@donovanfaust3227 You're not wrong, but the idea of building a powerful character is central to 76. Those enemies are not so tanky if you do that. He's complaining about the difficulty of a game where he hasn't taken the time to learn how to exploit the mechanics.

[@obiwankenny1966]

Yes, his build is terrible and he is running around basically naked. Chinese Stealth armor has 140 DR as opposed to a full set of Secret Service armor at 407 (+/-) DR. He has no mutations. Doesn't use food or drink to buff. No VATS head shots. Basically he is approaching this as FO4 on normal difficulty and although the games are similar they are not the same. And a black powder pistol? I mean he hasn't properly prepared his character and is surprised it isn't easy.

[@Zyroes]

The enemies were exploding into confetti because of the "Confetti Mess" Lunchbox effect you still had on your character from the last time you played. The countdown for those effects to expire gets paused while you're not playing.

[@jeremysaklad6703]

10:16 That was a neat cut.

[@alenvire]

Your homebrew build is why everything is so tanky. Try a more focused build and you will feel better. Until very recently I was a full time shotgun build. Now, I am a heavy gunner. The shotgun build had a higher dps but ONLY when I was in their face. A quad double barrel with armor piercing is my primary shotty. With a shotgun focus build that is more then enough to crush most enemies.

[@jimmyfingers2]

Why does crieg sound like jake from sim settlements 2

[@DavidRickmann]

I was thinking the same, but I just looked it up and they're not the same voice actor. Co-incidence I guess.

[@dontmisunderstand6041]

Voices are significantly less unique than you're expecting, I guess.

[@CoadyShay]

Honestly, 60 hours in a game is fine. Thats all I played on Starfield.

[@nba3830]

you may want to update your gear a bit if you're having trouble with level 100... there are craftable legendaries that are pretty decent these days and I'm sure the community can help you out with that...

[@cory6266]

Jon are they tanky, or are you missing shots? Because it really looks like you keep missing shots.

[@bobsaget8791]

no, unfortunately his weapons and build just arent very good

[@glasscanon8758]

I liked the turkeys. Ghoulble ghoulble ghoulble.

[@jtbilb1983]

Im so very happy to see you playing 76 again

[@sirkdopsah1081]

Best camp in all of 76❤️

[@Little_Milk120]

To be fair a stopped playing for a few months. Came back to explore this and wow. Just such a fun game still. Holds up so well. Just wish it was easier to swap out character builds. I don’t have time to just start a new character so I can do a gunslinger non-power armor build. The weight limits and stuff is so annoying. Makes it hard for me to just play it like a regular fallout game when I’m just exploring and having fun. Feels like I have to always use my tanky sweaty building to one shot everything. Hard to explain but easy to feel when you hit like lvl 300+

[@ChrisTrackninja]

Pulse grenades/mines work great against the lost

[@mbeasley90]

Happy to see you making a video on this. 💙💛

[@mikey-wl2jt]

ok the echoing ghouls in the background are creepy af

[@BattleUnit3]

26:42 I think he refers to the fact most Vaults arent control vaults therefore highly unlikely that anyone would leave them alive

[@Techstriker1]

Though "Contextual Ammo drops" (ammo dropping based on your gun) is helpful, you still need specific builds to deal with the economy. Gatling is probably the best in that regard because ammo drops like it would for a minigun, but gatlings use far less, meaning you're always gaining more.

[@matthewwhiteman6788]

John - "oh no this person i have just met won't tell me their deepest darkest secrets yet." Yeah, thats cos you need to earn their trust.

[@Smitje_0]

Seems Jon would enjoy the Atlantic City quest more then? I found that family way to trusting instead ;p

[@leadershrimp6166]

Hm. What are the odds the first proper expansion just happens to coincide with the show's release and when they significanlty gimped the Season Pass?

[@KelgorothTheFinalShape]

What did they do with the season pass, is it not the same as previous?

[@leadershrimp6166]

@@KelgorothTheFinalShape no So before season 16 it was a board game where you earned every reward just by reaching rank 100 and start getting recycling rewards at 101 Season 16(the one that was in progress when the show started) changed to the new purchase system where it takes closer to rank 120 to get everything and you have to reach 150 to get repeatables. There's also just less content than before, but they've been slowly doing that every season honestly Season 17 is the same as 16's but with even less unlockable stuff for the same amount of grind

[@mrplayfulshade1038]

​@leadershrimp6166 Eh. Not really a problem for me, as they are cutting people out to allocate towards content atm. This was said in recent interview. And I barely played season 16 and got to level 36 on the pass so I imagine it wouldn't even be hard to complete if you play often. In any case more expansion/content focus over season rewards is always better.

[@leadershrimp6166]

@@mrplayfulshade1038 I admire the optimism However, they have lied to us far too many times to get my hopes up Besides. They could easily give us as many atoms as before and it wouldn't cost them any extra dev time

[@username1660]

I mean, the season pass model was changed before the show released, and Skyline Valley presumably wasn't put together over the last two months.

[@craigdoran7873]

after seeing your twitter posts I'm sure this will be good

[@djstraylight]

To be fair, your weapons are kinda underpowered. Most people are using legendary 3 star weapons that can eliminate basic enemies in one or two shots. That would cut down on ammo usage. If you enjoy the Bethesda jank, grinding for weapons/armor/junk and group activities, then Fallout 76 works for those people.

[@mikey-wl2jt]

that's the thing, right? like how would casuals even know that stuff?

[@haro_yemon]

Not really, a big issue are the perk cards, take a look at his build at 2:38, his build does nothing to really help deal damage. I run a sub optimal explorer/pack rat build. I don't focus much on combat but even I can handle most things that aren't event bosses. Legendary effects do make a big difference, I'm not saying they don't, but before you think about legendaries you need to focus on a build. I came back to the game after a long time and had to learn that the death filled way.

[@Evil_Hypnotist]

Great to see 76 back on the channel! Any plans to look at the BOS expansion?

[@ViralMag_Ravager]

And to be honest some legendary weapons can make your build almost godlike my instigating cremator with the "slow burn?" mod makes grouped enemies a 1 shot affair.

[@MRInvidian661]

Jon: "Enemies are too tanky in Fallout 76!" Me: *Readies Instigating Gauss Rifle on my stealth sniper build* The "Problem" with Fallout 76 is it requires you to at least somewhat properly build your character, and the way 76 does it is different than how other Fallout games do it. TL;DR: Jon doesn't actually have a good build, so enemies take much longer to kill than they normally would.

[@obiwankenny1966]

Yep the way the game has evolved full health shotgun builds are second only to full health pistol builds as the worst builds in the game. Ok maybe bow is absolutely the worst but who would even try that. I'm not happy about the game's balance right now since I won't go bloodied out of principle and I don't like stomping around in power armor either. So I do commando which is reasonable except for the tiny ammo capacity of rifles. Anyway, Jon is going to have a rough go at this.

[@crypteknoname6669]

@@obiwankenny1966 i run a full health shotgun build, even the tankiest non-boss enemies only take 2 or 3 shots to put down. Like you said, it's all about building right

[@Swedishmafia101MemeCorporation]

​@@obiwankenny1966 Yeah absolutely. It makes no sense how the assault rifle with a DRUM MAG only holds 30 rounds when the exact same gun in Fallout 4 holds 80. It also annoys me how the submachine gun has such a hilariously low rate of fire when it's supposed to be a damn Thompson.

[@CardSearcher911]

Correct. And judging by the build 2:40 he's got almost no damage boosting perks. All he has is BloodyMess3, gunslinger1, and shotgunner1. A proper build will have about 2-3 rank 2-3 weapon damage perks. Jon can very easily be doing double the damage he's currently doing if he redoes his build.

[@dontmisunderstand6041]

@@CardSearcher911 So the question then becomes, would cutting the combat time in half be sufficient for Jon's tastes... and judging by what we see in this video, it sure does seem like the answer is definitely "no". And ultimately that does lend credence to the validity of his criticisms.

[@halenlazar9259]

On the topic of plastic I made my first camp on the White springs golf course, I found out you could scrap golf balls for plastic. I would load in collets all the golf balls, quit, load into a new world and repeat. I still have left over plastic from that lol

[@antonfowler6582]

Morgan town high school has tons of plastic with the plastic pumpkins usually can get 115 plastic from there .

[@jamesmaceaveli6679]

I'm intrigued by this DLC, maybe I'll finally give 76 a propper go.

[@valor1omega]

I found the clear weather control item from the store and you can actually clear up a little area(around your camp) while in skyline area. I found that one funny. Can you imagine what would happen if a bunch of people with that item built camps there? I think it would be funny.

[@Maxx_XIII]

Did anyone get a count of how many times he said "cocking"?

[@Mixxie67]

Are you new to this channel?

[@funsamgaming]

Cocking is a British thing said a lot in some areas.

[@robertrobinson2649]

no wonder he struggled to kill enemies, his perk loadout was all over the place, rofl.

[@NoReplyAsset]

Day 1 of requesting that Jon play Scarlet Hollow.... I'm.. I'm not actually gonna continue this - I'm just saying that he should play it because it ALSO takes place in a dying mining town in the northeast of America, just like Fallout 76. :)

[@kornaktanker7633]

Jon really needs some better guns, and to match wepon type to mob, and i am still not sure how he runs out of ammo

[@arcsta_rr]

Jon! Cheers!

[@CoadyShay]

Lol he defended his build on twitter

[@Wild-Moonchild]

As a fallout fan since day one. When they said they would make an online one, I was over joyed. But it never was as good as the stand alone games. I am level 150 something and I just do not feel drawn to it like the other games which I go back and play now and again. They said they would not charge us for updates and look charging for an update. I do not know if I will stay with the game. But watching you suffer through it was great fun.

[@grishemall]

I'm sorry to say this Jon, but the main reason that you have problems with enemies, is not that they're too tanky - it's just your build that is just not good for anything. You have literally no defense, and way to little firepower, unless you're not detected - which works quite fine in Fallout 4, but in 76 is pretty much useless. In your case: way too much luck, way too less strength. And don't even get me started about that .45 revolver piss shooter 😉I tried once build my character for long range suppressed sniping. Around level 100-150 if i remember correctly, that plan went straight in the bin. Now I have secret service armor (arguably the best non-power armor), and lot more strength, to make shotguns actually efective. I'm able to run all guns blazing, one shot kill those ghouls you've encountered at 5:00, and two-three shot the Lost.

[@jaywerner8415]

JON, Those perk cards could some serious UPGRADES! I haven't play much of Fallout 76 cus i got it last year when it was like 5 bucks then forgot about it, but getting those damage cards up to max would be good start, 30% more damage is ALOT more then 10%. Thats probably the worst part though like you said: The Combat is fun, when your not fighting a GOD DAME BULLET SPONGE! So your forced to "properly" build your character to get the damage you NEED. So much for "weapon variety", Id imagine Silenced Pistols or Shotguns would do you well. Thankfully the Punch Card racks are a thing so you might be able to change things up a little.

[@doggiethepug]

Hell yeah, finally a Many a True Nerd is back to Fallout 76! So happy for this update. Biggest one in a while. LETS GO!

[@Nilon241]

Love you Jon but; "Jon makes worst Fallout 76 build, asked to leave appalachia"

[@benjaminruth4769]

I wonder if Jon would be open to some mutations 🤔

[@bj20715]

Interesting, might get me to fire up 76 again, we'll see. Hilda sounds just like Rose, I assumed it was Rose at first. Not the same voice actor, but sure sounded similar.

[@ryancass2134]

So Fallout 5 is set in New Orleans then?

[@nonethy-9914]

The show was enough to bring me back to fallout 76 😂