Fallout 76 Wastelanders will begin testing this week

A select group of players will finally have the opportunity to see whether Fallout 76 can actually be turned into a game.

At this point I don’t really feel the need to rehash the drama that was Fallout 76. It launched in 2018, it was beyond technically broken and there was nothing but a measly skeleton of a Fallout game underneath all its junk gathering and bizarre PvP elements.

With such a notorious reputation behind the game, and many players turning it into the poster-child of how Bethesda was ruining their favourite role-playing game, the Wastelanders expansion is doing some serious heavy lifting to improve things. The update brings with it human NPCs, dialogue options, companions and a new story quest alongside a host of improved features and content, and if reports are to be believed, it could be available fairly soon.

While the Wastelanders update was initially set to release towards the end of 2019, Bethesda announced that it would be delaying the expansion to better polish everything, moving the release to early 2020 without giving a solid date. Later this week, a small group of players will be able to test the Wastelanders update by way of a private test server that is limited to PC only.

It sounds like Bethesda is taking the test server fairly seriously, as all the players have signed some pretty hefty NDA’s to keep everything under wraps (although when has that ever stopped an ambitious gossip hound). The PTS will also be kept online throughout the testing period instead of being activated during specific sessions, meaning it’s possible that Bethesda plans on opening it up to other players in the near future.

“Aside from occasional downtime for maintenance, invited players will be able to access the Wastelanders Private Test Server at all times after January 17 until we bring the PTS offline at a later date. We will evaluate what adjustments and fixes we can implement for the Wastelanders update based on your feedback and bug reports, and what will need to wait for a follow-up patch,” said Bethesda in an official blog post.

While the Wastelanders update is set to fix many of the complaints with the game, I highly doubt it will fix the class war that is, presumably, still present in the game. This has been your weekly reminder to YEET the rich.

Last Updated: January 14, 2020