Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2019/10/24/bethesda-is-launching-a-subscr.html
…
2 Likes
This is the part that strikes me as insane; rather than merely scummy(Path of Exile might get a pass on selling inventory space; because that’s how they make money on a free game. I seem to remember Fallout 76 being a full priced title…)
Selling servers where you and your pals get to make the rules has been a viable enterprise since the before times(back when ‘private server’ was more about paying for the server and bandwidth, with it being more of a commonplace that the software to run a server instance, and even your own mods, was just a thing that would be available); and, given that the rather hollow and ‘inertia-less’ feel of the ‘worldbuilding’ imposed by the fact that there is no persistent world, just a bunch of expendable instances to hop through, has been a major complaint I would have assumed that charging people a modest fee for a genuinely persistent instance that they can merrily Minecraft around in would be a slam dunk.
Instead, it sounds like we get an almost-as-ephemeral instance with the ability to keep randoms out. Hooray?
2 Likes
I guess they have to pay for the servers some how cause I can’t imagine there is till large community still actively playing it after Bethesda’s repeated screw ups. Though I would think something like this would have gone over better if done after they added promised content.
I’m glad I never got into Fallout 76, it just seems like a bad game over all. Bethesda must be desperate if they have to use this and future MT scams to get money.
1 Like
The way I hear it is the servers are non-persistent. It doesn’t change over time. As soon as you turn off the game it resets. Also 8 players on your private server doesn’t amount to much…
2 Likes
Well, the server maximum is like 20-24 on the public servers. It’s not like regular MMOs that way. It’s more an individual game with the option for small teams as desired. I generally play solo, although I do take advantage of other players’ vendors for equipment.
It would be wonderful if builds were persistent after logout, but that doesn’t work with the small (compared to Minecraft) map size and server distribution style. Camps disappear when the players leave either way. As it is, you sometimes get notifications that your camp can’t be placed, because someone else is setup in an overlapping area. So I suppose a private server means you could get together with your regular group of seven friends and make a collaborative town that shows up when you all login together. Feels a bit hollow to me, too.
I did play a few minutes on a private server, solo, last night. It was oddly lonely. More like the single player games, obviously. I suppose it helps out with farming and such, to be able to run an event and then be assured you have all the mobs and spoils to yourself. That’s been touted as one of the biggest features by many. Hell is other people, I suppose.
And yes, I did get the subscription package, because I know I’ll keep playing at least until the next DLC launches. Like everyone else, I was irked by the delay and questioned their timing in launching FO 1st. It does smack of desperation on their part.
1 Like
Obsidian and The Outer Worlds FTW (I hope).
3 Likes
Desperate Bethesda is desperate.
From everything I’ve seen, I’m glad I didn’t hop onto this train, in spite having bought every Fallout game prior to this. Yes, even Fallout Tactics. Mainly because I wouldn’t be “buying” this game, just renting it.
Instead, I’ll be picking up The Outer Worlds tomorrow and enjoying the spirit of Fallout without Bethesda’s shitfest.
@SeamusBellamy I spotted a couple typos: “seen fit to longe in the bed” and “but It’s fair” (lowercase “i” needed)
4 Likes
Fallout games were always glitchy, but there’s a large difference in immersion and storytelling when interacting with NPCs who inhabit the Fallout timeline versus interacting with random dickweeds who are playing a Fallout game.
I will never be interested in the latter.
7 Likes
Was it though? I seem to remember it being announced and released in pretty short order with a lot of “wait, what now?” around it. I mean “new Fallout game” was out there longer and there was anticipation on that was there. But once it was announced and clearly a multiplayer game i mostly remember confusion.
Every one? Even the Brotherhood of Steel on the consoles 
We have that, even Fallout 76 because they paid us $100 to take it (needed to replace our 360, the One X / 76 bundle was $100 cheaper than the plain X). I still haven’t played 76, my wife has once or twice and that’s it.
Like you, I can’t freaking wait for Outer Worlds.
1 Like
Yeah, even that one. I can’t say I enjoyed playing it, but I did buy it.
Have you actually played it, though? You complain about being “being attacked every five minutes by other players,” but I’ve played the game off and on for about a year and basically never have been attacked by other players.
The subscription model is laughable shit, but I’ve noticed that a HELL of a lot of the people bitching the loudest about Fallout 76 are people that either never played the damn thing in the first place, or played for like a week during beta and then stopped.
I’d argue it shit the bed as soon as it was revealed at E3 2018. From the collective groan at it being a MMO that nobody asked for, to the revelations on that same day that there would be no NPCs (you’ll have other people to play with!), no real story (players will make their own story!), no cross-platform, that the story’s roots would be betrayed by the end game involving nuking the world, and so on.
Since then it’s just been one constant stream of choleric diarrhea, so it should be no surprise that Bethesda has gone back on their word about there being no Pay to Win elements with the announcement of this new service. (Even though they have been toying with the idea already by adding repair kits and the much-requested refrigerators as P2W elements in the past couple of months.)
I think if they just wanted to charge for private servers, that would be somewhat reasonable since you’re essentially renting one of their servers for yourself. (But of course they fuck it all up by making it so the world isn’t persistent after you and your friends log off.) Adding other much-requested features like the Survival Tent, and unlimited stash box for junk – especially after they made such a big deal out of having capacity caps because of performance issues – behind a paywall is going to make a lot of people really pissed off. It’s worth noting this isn’t a Free to Play title – you have to buy the game; having it as F2P to start would forgive some of this bullshit.
While I don’t play FO76, Mrs. Ficus does so I follow the zeitgeist, and I’m pretty convinced at this point that Bethesda is using FO76 as a Skinner box to see how just much shit their user base will put up with before they throw in the towel.
It’s not like they don’t know what they are doing – Elder Scrolls Online is a fine example of a game that was pretty rough and terrible at launch but eventually became pretty good.
5 Likes
The game sounds dystopian on many levels.
5 Likes
Surprise. It’s currently a mess
2 Likes
I’m beginning to suspect that Bethesda may not actually be very good at being a services company…
4 Likes
They definitely don’t have the same experience with online services as other companies do, though their biggest enemy is how cheap they’re being about the whole thing. They’ve jerry rigged an old engine to do things it was never meant to do, long standing bugs since Oblivion was a thing weren’t patched and when F76 became a thing those patches broke the game. Had they done the title with a new engine, or done a single player game with the existing engine they would’ve not caught as much flak.
I did play quite a bit of F76 and i loved it despite its shortcomings, i think there’s something worthwhile there in spite of Bethesda’s incompetence but i would’ve loved a single player version of the game.
3 Likes
ESO is doing fine, isn’t it?
Yeah that’s one of the major issues I had. When they removed human NPCs, they mentioned because they wanted people to play the role of the NPCs. But they didn’t offer any technical solution to organize as a group (raiders, settlers, etc.) and so groups didn’t form, unless you say that everyone became raiders…
3 Likes
