Inside the Vault – Adventuring in Appalachia Public Test Server Release

The holiday season is here and your adventures in Burning Springs are in full swing. We hope you’re enjoying the new region along with its deadly armored Deathclaws and even deadlier Radhogs. Seeing so many of you grab your pistol and cowboy hat to hunt down the largest bounties has also been rewarding.

Speaking of rewarding experiences, let’s chat about the content that is hitting the Public Test Server (PTS) today.We’re firing up the test servers to give you access to the next major update for Fallout 76. This update provides sweeping changes and improvements to events and public events. Touching everything from rewards to making event specific balancing changes.We will also be making improvements to armor with the goal of making sure you have more options in how you choose to armor yourself throughout the game and lowering the burden armor weight takes on your stash inventory. Like always, your feedback is critical during this stage so thank you in advance for sharing your thoughts!You’ll find more on all of this and a fair bit more below.

How to Participate in the PTS

All players who own a copy of Fallout 76 on Steam can participate in our PTS. Please note that progress from the PTS does not carry over into the live game. The Atomic Shop is also disabled during this testing period.To install the PTS, open your Steam library, and install “Fallout 76 Public Test Server”.As a general reminder, not all the content you see in the PTS is guaranteed to be released with the update that we’re testing.

PTS Locker

• The PTS locker now contains all Legendary Mods by default.

• Added a PTS only S.P.E.C.I.A.L. loadout that replaces one of the existing loadouts on the PTS servers. It’s called “Public Tester” and it starts at level 300, has 3 copies of all Perk Cards, lots of currencies, and some special items to help with testing.

• Special Testing Items – These are available in the PTS locker and on the PTS loadout. They are meant to aid in testing with a character that may not have much progress in the game.

  • Potion of Knowledge (Unlocks all learnable plans).

  • Potion of Exploration (Unlocks all map markers).

• During this PTS, all of the unique armors will be in the PTS locker and the PTS loadout.

Events

Events have been renamed to ActivitiesWe have rebranded the variety of smaller “Event” quests as “Activities” to better represent what we felt they truly are. A quick activity to go do 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.

• Activities have been given their own unique icon.

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

How to Start an ActivityActivities 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 all have 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.

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.

• Activities will now reward 75 Caps, chance at a Legendary Item, 1 regional item schematic or mod, a chance to receive 1-2 Legendary Modules, 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.

Uninvited Guests

Upon completion of certain Public Events, there will be a chance for a special creature to spawn that has some added difficulty and will drop additional rewards for players to enjoy…one of them will be much more challenging (4-star) and has some BIG feet.For the start of PTS, we will be rotating through these specific events every 20 minutes and the spawn chance of these encounters will be guaranteed, which will differ from when this update is fully released. Currently, this schedule will end January 5th, 2026 at 11:00 AM Central.

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.

• Ammo Crates will provide players with contextual ammo based on their current weapon of choice, and a random assortment of additional ammo for others.

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

• Known Issue: U-Mine-It Maps can be consumed even if the player has the quest active.

Balancing Pass on Activities and Public Events

Jail Break, Dogwood Die Off, and Hordes have been disabled. These three 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.

• Known Issue: On some rare occasions, we still have seen Hordes start up and are currently investigating this behavior.  If you encounter this, we’d appreciate any information on when / where you’d seen it!

Always Vigilant

• Additional Legendary Enemies can spawn

• Overall timer has been reduced to 3 minutes

• Roverbot's health has been decreased

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

• Known Issue: Steelheart may become stuck in the rubble at the 2nd terminal

Battle Bot

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

• Sentry Bot will now spawn as a Legendary

• The main door is no longer automatically open

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

• 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

• Known Issue: We’ve noticed that Players are being counted as “Undesirables” for this event and are investigating a fix.

• Known Issue: Distinguished Guests may not spawn enough Legendary enemies.

Dropped Connection

• Additional Legendary Enemies can spawn

• New rewards can now appear in the final cache drop

Eviction Notice

• Reduced the amount of Legendary Enemies that can spawn

  • Developer Comment: This has historically been one of the more lucrative events for obtaining Legendary items, and we feel the improvements made across other Public Events, Activities, and World Loot, will more than balance this out.

• Quest markers have been added to the Meat Bags

• Balance adjustments for the enemies

• 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 Legendary Enemy

• Known Issue: The speaker/intercom for the initial interaction does not have the proper effect on it, making it sound too clean. We will be looking to correct this.

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

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

• 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

Project Paradise

• Enemy waves have been adjusted for variety

• Adjusted the level modifier 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.

Known Issues (Pip-Boy Specific):

• Lock Button Hint moves to the left side of the bar after opening and closing the Inspect/Repair menu on consoles.

• Map Navigation is unavailable when opened while the Pip-Boy is active.

• Item Stacks cannot be separated when attempting to drop them in the Pip-Boy.

• Placeholder Names appear for some item parameters and may differ from the old Pip-Boy.

• Armor Values on Vault Boy always display 0 on Armor and Apparel pages.

• Holotape Stop Prompt is missing while playing a holotape.

• Resistance Stats in the footnote may show incorrect values or disappear after changing armor pieces.

• View Button Behavior: Pip-Boy switches views when pressing the old ‘View’ button.

• Quest Toggles: Leads and Misc quests cannot be toggled active/inactive.

• Show on Map Shortcut for Leads and Misc quests does not transfer to the map screen.

• Auto Scroll in the Armor tab cannot be turned off.

• Move C.A.M.P. Button shows various non-Xbox icons in the Pip-Boy menu.

• Debug Text: Repeatable D01A_Wasted appears under completed quests.

• Divider Missing between done and to-do quests in the Daily subtab.

• High Exposure: Quest Note items display high exposure when inspected.

• Hidden Objectives: New Pip-Boy menu displays quest objectives that were hidden in the old menu.

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, 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

• Reward Visibility Improvements

  • Rotating reward previews integrated into the widget.

  • Flyouts now highlight new page unlocks and major milestones without overwhelming players.

Vanity Lights for Photomode

Vanity Light is an additional QOL feature to Photomode for lighting the player character. Select lighting styles and change their intensity in the Player tab. This will enhance your images and allow for pictures to be taken easily during night time hours or in interiors.

• Steps to Access Vanity Lights:

  • Open Photomode

  • Select the Player tab

  • Choose from 5 light templates

  • Adjust the Intensity Slider for each

  • Take your picture

Armor Update

To kick things off, all armor now weighs 50% less when in your stash. We want storing items in the stash to be the ideal place to keep spare items. This may be applied to weapons and other types of items in the future, but for now we are exclusively doing this for armor in the stash. The weight of armor and power armor in your inventory has also been adjusted as well.As you read through the rest of the changes below, please keep in mind our goals with this update:

• Provide a wider range of viable armor choices based on your build and what you’re fighting.

• Add more flexibility with how you decide to modify your armor to cover your needs.

• Allow for more synergistic balance adjustments and better difficulty tuning for all present and future content. You can find all the changes to armor and related mods listed below.

• We have changed the equation used for calculating damage reduction to put more emphasis on armor rating. Damage you take is now reduced first by your armor and then by special damage reducing effects.

  • A side effect of this change is that your armors will no longer break faster when you have special damage reducing effects.

• All special damage reducing effects from different sources, such as “-15% Damage from Robots”, now multiply together rather than add.

• Armors now have more elemental resistance options.

• Braced armor mods have been redesigned to give +5% blocked damage reduction.

• All under armor now share a new mod slot that controls which S.P.E.C.I.A.L. stat bonus is gained. The existing lining mods no longer grant any S.P.E.C.I.A.L. stat bonuses and instead grant more resistances.

• +2 CHA +2 END +2 AGI

• Unlocked by default.

Vault Style

• +2 END +5 INT +3 LCK

• Unlocked by Gold Bullion Vendor (Foundation)

Raider Style

• +2 PER +3 AGI +5 LCK

• Unlocked from Raider Events (Moonshine Jamboree)

Secret Service Style

• +3 STR +3 PER +4 END

• Unlocked from Gold Bullion vendors (Vault 79)

Marine Style

• +4 STR +3 END +3 AGI

• Unlocked from Atlantic City quest The Most Sensational Game and Mutated Party Packs

Enclave Style

• +4 PER +2 INT +4 AGI

• Unlocked from Enclave Events

Casual Style

• +5 CHA + 3 INT +2 LCK

• Unlocked from Nuke Boss Events

Brotherhood of Steel Style

• +4 STR +3 END +3 INT

• Unlocked from Brotherhood of Steel Events (Test Your Metal, Line in the Sand)

Civil Engineer Style

• +3 STR +3 PER +4 CHA

• Unlocked from Flooded City quest The Human Condition

Default Legendary Mods and Unique

Updated default Legendary Mods and added a unique effect to several armors:Trail Warden – Metal Armor

• Default Legendary Mods: Hunter’s, Perception, Thru-hiker's

• Unique Effect: +50% Throwing Weapon Damage

• Now available from the Lode Baring Terminal

Stand Fast – Combat Armor

• Default Legendary Mods: Chameleon, Hardy, Sentinel’s

• Unique Effect: Armor Increases up to +50 as Speed Increases.

• Now drops from One Violent Night

Silver Lining – Leather Armor

• Default Legendary Mods: Life Saving, Endurance, Belted

• Unique Effect: Reflect 10% of damage.

• Now drops from Breach and Clear

Last Bastion – Urban Scout Armor

• Default Legendary Mods: Bolstering, Luck, Durability

• Unique Effect: Accuracy Increases up to +35% as Health Decreases.

• Now drops from Enclave Activities

NEW Last Stand – Brotherhood Recon Armor

• Default Legendary Mods: Zealot’s, Agility, Reflex

• Unique Effect: Gain 50% of your evade chance as Damage Reduction. You can no longer Evade.

• Drops from Nuka World on Tour Nuke Boss

NEW Bulwark – Secret Service Armor

• Default Legendary Mods: Assassin’s, Elementalist, Adamantium

• Unique Effect: This armor weighs twice as much and provides 35% more protection.

• Drops from the Storm Goliath Nuke Boss

NEW Road Kill – Trapper Left Arm

• Default Legendary Mods: Overeater’s, Glutton, Rack Rat’s

• Unique Effect: Eat animal corpses to restore life.

• Drops from Meat Week

NEW Rage – Raider Armor

• Default Legendary Mods: Auto Stim, Pain Killer, Burning

• Unique Effect: You deal +1% damage when hit and take +1% damage, up to 100%. Stacks expire over time when not taking damage.

• Drops from Earle Nuke Boss

Power Armor

• Significantly reduced the weight of all Power Armor and the base weight of the Power Armor Chassis

• A deployed Power Armor Chassis no longer removes its weight as if you dropped it.

  • Dev Note: This change was made to help indicate the item is still in your inventory and you have not dropped it.

• Power Armor Chassis weight is now derived from its contents.

• Equipped Power Armor now retains 100% of its weight.

• Equipped Power Armor that is broken no longer has reduced weight.

  • Dev Note: Regarding the notes that increase the weight of Power Armor in certain cases, the overall weight has been reduced such that in most cases you will have similar or less weight on your player and significantly less weight when in the stash.

Radiation

• Nuke Zones will deal more radiation damage to those in Power Armor if they are not fully suited up (full set of Power Armor and using RadX). The damage is not immediate, and you should still expect to have time to react if you’re suddenly caught in a Nuke Zone while in your Power Armor.

• Rebalanced radiation damage from the environment. Generally, damage the damage you take from environmental sources is now lower.

• It is now easier to leverage mods on regular armor alongside items like RadX to reduce incoming radiation damage. The Power Armor + Hazmat Suit option is still the best option to survive intense amounts of radiation.

• Hazmat suits now have a basic spread of resistances rather than just radiation resistance.

Legendary Mods

• Mutant’s

  • Changed from “+10 DR/ER Per Mutation” to “5% Damage Reduction when you have more than 3 mutations.”

• Bolstering

  • Changed to “Up to 10% Damage Reduction when HP is Lower” (5% HP is 10%)

• Vanguard’s

  • Changed to “Up to 10% Damage Reduction based on Max HP” (1000 HP is 10%)

• Overeater’s

  • Lowered the Damage Reduction from 6% to 4%.

• Aristocrat’s

  • Changed to “Up to 10% Damage Reflection based on Caps held” (40k = 10%)

• Elementalist

  • Increased from +5 All Res to +25 All Res

• Warming, Fireproof, HazMat, and Poisoner’s Mods

  • Increased resistance value from +25 to +50

• Defender’s

  • Redesigned to “40% Chance to Automatically Block Attacks” for Weapons and “5% Chance to Automatically Block Attacks” for Armor

• Cavalier's Weapon Mod renamed to Blocker

  • Damage Reduction from this effect explicitly applies to blocked damage now.

• Cavalier Armor Mod

  • Changed to “-10% damage taken while sprinting”.

• Riposting

  • This effect now specifically reflects blocked damage. It also works with the new “auto block” effect.

• Lightweight

  • This mod is now available to Armor and Power Armor

  • Reduces the items weight by 50%

• Weightless renamed to Heavyweight

  • This mod now grants up to 10% Damage Reduction the closer to 100% carry weight you are.

Perks

• Legendary Perks no longer require Perk Coins to unequip

• Removed the Sturdy Frame Perk

• Removed the Portable Power Perk

  • Dev note: Players will be granted perks coins for any removed perks they have. Please note that this exchange will not be in the first iteration of PTS.

• Blocker now reduces damage from Blocked attacks

  • Rank 1: 15% more damage blocked

  • Rank 1: 20% more damage blocked

  • Rank 1: 25% more damage blocked

• Fireproof

  • Renamed to “Hardy”

  • Removed fire damage reduction

  • Dev note: We have added many new sources of fire resistance and felt this perk was better suited to a single effect.

Creatures/Enemies

• Some stronger enemies' outgoing damage has been reduced (Raid bosses, etc.)

• Some enemies' poison, fire, and cryo damage has been increased a bit to account for players having much easier to access to those resistances.

Weapons

• All Cursed weapons can be modified in Legendary Crafting now.

• Plasma Caster

  • New Mod: Short Scope

  • New Mod: Splitter Barrel

  • New Mod: Automatic Barrel

  • New Mod: Burning Receiver

  • The Sniper Barrel has been redesigned to deal far more damage at the cost of spending more ammo per shot.

  • The Long Barrel has been redesigned into the Signal Dish Barrel which adds Rad damage.

• Added new Legendary effects to some unique weapons. This does not affect existing items.

  • Civil Unrest

  • Assassin’s

  • Inertial

  • Swift

  • Increased unique AP bonus from 10 to 50.

  • Perfect Storm

  • Quad

  • Hitman’s

  • Nimble

  • Black Diamond

  • Anti-Armor

  • Riposting

  • Strength

  • Bonus cryo damage

• All Rise (This change will be arriving in the next major patch which is currently scheduled to arrive in January)

  • Add the Juggernauts and Steady Legendary Mods to the default mods. This does not effect existing items.

  • Increased the unique effect from +10 HP to +50 HP.

Gameplay

• Increased the movement speed cap from 120% to 150%.

• The default amount of damage reduction when blocking attacks has been reduced from 100% to 60%.

• The Ultragenetic Mole Miner Stalkers now deals a significant amount of physical damage and inflicts a deadly bleed instead of dealing a killing blow.]

• Players have 90% damage reduction against their own attacks.

Workbench

• Arranged the armors in Light, Sturdy, and Heavy categories.

UI

• The unique effect of an item now takes priority over the 1-star effect in the Pip-boy Item Card.