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Fallout 76 — Fallout 76: The Backwoods Release Notes

Fallout 76: The Backwoods Release Notes

thump, thump, thump

Bigfoot is coming! Put on your Power Armor and grab your favorite weapon. We have a 4-Star Legendary Creature to take down!

The Backwoods update arrives today, and it brings more rewards to all Vault Dwellers across the wasteland. Enjoy some great quality-of-life improvements to Public Events and Activities (formerly known as events), your Pip-Boy, and your Armor!

Read on below for the latest on today’s changes.

Update Highlights

  • Bigfoot Has Arrived – The legendary Bigfoot has appeared and will be invading your Public Events. This 4-Star Legendary creature has a chance to drop a new, exclusive 4-Star mod, Thrillseeker.

  • Uninvited Guests – Bigfoot isn’t alone with its desire to ruin your fun. Other special creatures such as a more challenging Deathclaw Matriarch, Wendigo Colossus, and more have the chance to show up and crash your party.

  • Activities and Public Event Balancing – Many Activities (formerly “Events”) and Public Events have received updates to improve their rewards and event flow to keep you playing and not waiting around.

  • Pip-Boy Improvements – Your Pip-Boy is now faster, smoother, and has some new menus to help you get to what you’re looking for faster than before.

  • Armor Balancing – Reduced armor weight (in and out of stash) and more resistances baked into the armor itself to give you more choices on how you protect yourself.

  • Vanity Lights - New Photo Mode feature. Take photos during the night or in dark interiors without worrying about how to make your character shine!

  • Season 24: Rip Daring and the Cryptids From Beyond The Cosmos – Rip Daring sets off on another adventure this time facing off against extraterrestrial creatures! We hope you’re ready for another Rip Daring adventure!

Update Version 1.7.23.30 & Sizes
  • PC (Steam): 3.9 GB
The Arrival of Bigfoot

Bigfoot has emerged from hiding in the Appalachian wasteland!

Armed with a giant tree branch to slap you around and bloodsucking ticks to throw, Bigfoot has a chance to appear at the end of a select group of Public Events. Which ones? You’ll have to figure that out because taking this creature down gives you a chance at earning a 4-Star Legendary Item with the new 4-Star mod, “Thrillseeker” on it.

To celebrate its arrival, we’re holding a little event for this larger-than-life creature. We’re calling it “Bigfoot’s Bash”! During the first full week of the update, Bigfoot and the Public Events that spawn it will have an extremely high chance of appearing. After which, it’ll return to being its normal camera-shy self.

We hope you’re ready to take on this legendary cryptid! Do note, if it takes you too long to bring this creature down it will return to the wild! So, act fast when you see it appear.

Uninvited Guests

Bigfoot isn’t the only surprise that could be waiting for you at the end of a Public Event. The Wendigo Colossus or a Deathclaw Matriarch can appear at the end of events like “Guided Meditation” and “Distinguished Guests”.

They are not the only two that can crash your party though. Make sure to participate in all the Public Events to see who else will show up to give you more rewards.

Season 24 – Rip Daring and the Cryptids From Beyond the Cosmos

Rip Daring is back for another adventure and this time he’s hunting extraterrestrial creatures. Earn new seasonal rewards such a Pip-Boy display, Bigfoot Stien Display, and an Alien Weather Machine!?

Events

Events have been renamed to Activities

We have rebranded the variety of smaller “Event” quests as “Activities” to better represent what we felt they truly are. A quick activity to complete with a couple of friends or on your own. Public Events will retain their name.

  • Activities will now be shown within the "Featured Activity" list when opening the map alongside Daily Ops and Public Events, making them much easier to find and join.

  • Public Events have been given their own unique icon.

  • We have adjusted the min/max levels of enemies that spawn during all Activities and Public Events to provide more of a challenge for higher level players, while still staying balanced for lower. Additionally, the difficulty labels have been removed.

How to Start an Activity

Activities will now operate on a time-based rotation which means several activities, such as Collision Course, can no longer be started by approaching the area it takes place in. There are some exceptions to this rule which we’ll detail below.

How does this work?

  • Approximately every 10 minutes, and depending on available activities being completed, players can expect a new Activity to become available, chosen randomly. Activities will not repeat until they have all been completed.

  • Enclave Activities, which previously required players to progress through the Main Quest to participate in, are now available to all players through this new system. (A Real Blast, Bots on Parade, Dropped Connection)

  • Worry not, members, as you can expect to receive…additional rewards for your commitment.

  • Powering Up will still need to be activated by approaching any of the 3 broken down Power Plants, which become available on a fresh server or 8 hours after the last repair was completed.

  • Riding Shotgun will also be excluded from the time-based rotation pool. You can repeat this activity every 20 minutes upon speaking to Vinny.

  • Hordes will appear as an Activity. They won’t interfere with the new Activity rotation noted above.

Reward Pools Update

All Activities and Public Events have received updated base reward pools. Any unique reward for an Activity or Public Event remains in place.

We have also removed items we felt bloated the play experience and just added weight to your inventory such as ammo/scrap/chem drops from the event rewards. These are things we feel should be found while playing and killing enemies rather than just dumped into your backpack without you choosing to get them.

  • Activities will now reward 75 Caps, a chance at a Legendary Item, 1 regional item schematic or mod, 3-5 Legendary Scrip, and Experience based on player level.

  • Public Events will now reward 150 Caps, 2 Legendary Items, 3-5 Legendary Modules, 3 Treasury Notes, 1-3 Improved Bait (if Fishing Main Quest is complete), 1 U-Mine-It map (if you have none), and Experience based on player level.

  • A variety of Player Titles have been added for Public Events, and a variety of C.A.M.P. Titles have been added for Activities.

World Loot Updates

We’re taking this opportunity to make a pass at updating various World Loot containers too.

  • The contents of lockboxes found throughout the world have had their loot improved.

  • Chance to receive a legendary item, depending on lock difficulty.

  • U-Mine-It Maps can now be found.

  • Contextual Season Items: depending on active challenges, players will now have a chance to find a related item (such as soap) to help progress their daily/weekly goals.

  • U-Mine-It Maps will now have improved loot depending on the level of the map used to activate the Lucky Strike quest.

  • Caps rewards have been adjusted for each tier of map used (75 -> 150 -> 225).

Balancing Pass on Activities and Public Events

Jail Break and Dogwood Die Off, have been disabled. These two events were going to take much more time and effort to bring up to the quality we would like so we have made the decision to disable them for now.

Always Vigilant

  • Additional Legendary Enemies can spawn.

  • Overall timer has been reduced to 3 minutes.

  • Enemies should now spawn more frequently.

  • Increased Roverbot’s health pool.

AWOL Armaments

  • Players can now begin the activate the recall beacon immediately after talking to Sergeant Gutsy

  • We've increased the variety of robots that will appear during the waves

  • Sentry Bot will now be a guaranteed Legendary enemy

Back on the Beat

  • Additional loot has been added to the saferooms

  • Enemy waves have been adjusted

  • Steelheart's movement speed has been increased, and health decreased

Battle Bot

  • Allowed time between the card swipes has been increased from 4 seconds to 10

  • Sentry Bot will now spawn as a Legendary

Beasts of Burden

  • Additional Legendary Enemies can spawn

  • The Ogua is now always a 3-star legendary enemy, and its overall strength has been increased

Bots on Parade

  • Additional Legendary Enemies can spawn

  • Amount of time required for the repair sequence has been reduced

Breach and Clear

  • The locked Hornwright Boxes now have a chance to drop a legendary item, and a U-Mine-It Map

  • Allowed time to start the activity has been reduced from 60 minutes to 5 minutes

  • Reduced the collection timer from 45 seconds to 30 seconds

Campfire Tales

  • Additional Legendary Enemies can spawn

  • Players can now receive Tadpole badges if they are not a Possum Scout, or Possum badges if they are. Ever upwards, scouts!

  • Increased the strength of the Flatwoods Monster

Census Violence

  • Additional Legendary Enemies can spawn

  • The Census Taker can no longer be crippled by enemies

  • Increased the Census Taker's movement speed and health

  • Reduced the length of the activity from 5 minutes to 4 minutes

Collision Course

  • Additional Legendary Enemies can spawn

  • Reduced the overall time of this activity by 2.5 minutes

Dangerous Pastimes

  • Additional Legendary Enemies can spawn

  • Balance adjustments for the enemies

Death Blossoms

  • Reduced the overall duration and wait times

  • Increased the health of the Corpse Flowers

  • Mole Rats have been replaced by Cultists

  • Health Bars have been added to display status of each flower

Distinguished Guests

  • Additional Legendary Enemies can spawn.

  • Increased Health pools of the Wait Staff.

  • The place settings and center pieces now have a glowing VFX, making them easier to spot.

  • Quest targets for the Robot Waitstaff have been adjusted.

Dropped Connection

  • New rewards can now appear in the final cache drop.

  • Increased odds of Legendary creatures appearing.

Eviction Notice

  • Slightly reduced the number of Legendary Enemies that can spawn.

  • Dev Note: Eviction Notice has always been a lucrative event. Today’s changes bring it closer in line with other events, but players should still expect for the event to provide more Legendary Enemies than other events.

  • Quest markers have been added to the Meat Bags

  • Balance adjustments for the enemies

Feed the People

  • Additional Legendary Enemies can spawn

Fertile Soil

  • Farmhand Supervisors are now all guaranteed Legendary Enemies

Fly Swatter

  • Increased the strength of the Vertibot

Free Range

  • Additional Legendary Enemies can spawn

  • The Brahmin will no longer attempt to attack

  • Sheepsquatch will now always be a Legendary Enemy, and has had its strength increased

Heart of the Swamp

  • Additional Legendary Enemies can spawn

  • Adjusted the difficulty of the Grafton Monster

Irrational Fear

  • Additional Legendary Enemies can spawn

  • Quest trackers have been added to the enemies

It's a Trap

  • Scorchbeast will now always spawn as a 3-Star Legendary Enemy.

Leader of the Pack

  • No longer triggers a Horde upon completion. Instead, a new objective to hunt the Alpha Wolf has been added to this Activity after defeating the pack leaders.

Line in the Sand

  • Adjusted spawn timers, allowing Enemies to spawn more often

  • Enemies should no longer spawn outside of the Event Radius

  • Pathing for the Scorched has been improved

Lode Baring

  • Adjusted the rewards available from the kiosk

Manhunt

  • Grafton Dam has been adjusted to make this feel more like an infiltration

  • Mad Dog Malone's health and damage have been increased

  • Mad Dog Malone's guards will now spawn as Legendary

Monster Mash

  • Additional Legendary Enemies can spawn.

  • Adjusted the rewards available in the Candy Machine.

  • Fixed an issue causing the Monster Mask appearance to be stuck on a character.

Moonshine Jamboree

  • Ghouls have been replaced with Floaters.

  • Reduced total time of different stages.

Most Wanted

  • Reduced the number of buckaroos needed to 500

  • If defeated, the Golden Varmint will now provide 500 caps and a random legendary item

  • Nuka Point payout has been increased to 7,500

  • Additional Legendary Enemies can spawn

One Violent Night

  • Additional Legendary Enemies can spawn.

  • The Nightstalker is now a guaranteed 3-Star Legendary enemy.

  • Increased the strength of the Night Stalker.

Path to Enlightenment

  • Additional Legendary Enemies can spawn

  • Cultists have been added to the attack waves

  • Reduced the required amount of bioluminescent fluid from 50 to 30

Patrol Duty

  • More enemies are now present during the defense stage

  • The Penitentiary Guard can no longer be crippled by enemies

  • Increased the Penitentiary Guard's movement speed and health

Project Beanstalk

  • Reduced the overall duration

  • Increased the movement speed of Pharmabot JD-7E

  • Pharmabot JD-7E can no longer be crippled

Project Paradise

  • Enemy waves have been adjusted for variety

  • Reduced the difficulty of the ambient creatures in Arktos Pharma

  • Reduced the required amount of collectables in each habitat to level the friendly creatures

Riding Shotgun

  • More loot has been added along the path of this event

  • Brahmin health has been balanced

Safe and Sound

  • Increased the strength of the Blue Devil

Spin the Wheel

  • Additional Legendary Enemies can spawn

  • Increased the health of the statues

  • Button timer has been adjusted from 30 seconds to 45 seconds

  • Nuka Point payout has been increased to 7,500

Surface to Air

  • Repairing the turret now only costs 1 steel, 1 gear, 1 oil, and 1 circuitry

  • Reduced overall time to 3 minutes

  • Increased amount of enemies

Tea Time

  • Additional Legendary Enemies can now spawn

  • Reduced overall time

Test Your Metal

  • If defeated, the Golden Eyebot will now provide 500 caps and a random legendary item

  • Reduced the start timer of the event to 5 minutes

  • Reduced the overall time

Tunnel of Love

  • Additional Legendary Enemies can now spawn

  • Nuka Point payout has been increased to 7,500

Uranium Fever

  • Molerats have been added to the enemy waves

  • Reduced the health of the Extractors

Pip-Boy Performance Update

Substantial Pip-Boy improvements are coming along with this update too. Smother navigation, improved responsiveness and more quality-of-life improvements should make navigating your Pip-Boy a better experience.

  • Performance Upgrades

  • Smoother Navigation: Menus load up to 52% faster, and inventory actions are 70% quicker.

  • Memory Efficiency: Up to 88% less memory usage, reducing lag and improving overall responsiveness.

  • UI and Quality of Life improvements

  • Clearer Tabs: Perks now have their own tab, separate from Effects, for easier management.

  • Recipe Book: Find Recipes and Plans faster with the new Recipe Book in the Notes tab.

  • Scrollable Text Boxes: No more shrinking text. Large Text boxes are able to be scrolled.

  • Dedicated Leads Tab: Organize quest-related info more clearly with a separate tab for leads.

Seasons Visibility Improvements

  • Season Flag Notification

  • A new blue exclamation mark flag appears to alert players about new seasons content they can unlock.

  • Disappears once the player enters the Seasons menu, it will reappear when new items are available.

  • Score Widget Enhancements

  • Updates to the score widget in the top corner of the screen now includes ticket balance, SCORE Progression, and a button to directly access the Seasons menu.

  • Includes reward image previews on unclaimed rewards.

  • Direct Navigation & UI Updates

  • Dedicated button mappings (V on keyboard, Menu Button on PlayStation and Xbox) for quick access to Seasons.

  • Updated flyouts for significant events (Challenge Completed, Ranking up, and Unlocking new Page).

  • Added ticket balance display to the paper map for better awareness

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