I Haven’t Completed a Single Main Quest Since Leaving the Vault, and I Regret Nothing

Since leaving Vault 76, my dweller has become more of an explorer than a mystery solver. My quest log is absolutely packed with interesting quest lines, whether it be those involving the Ghouls of Vault 63 or the Overseer’s mission to get rid of the Scorched. However, I’m holding off on these quests for the time being, as I’m making sure I discover every single area of Appalachia first. There are a few reasons for this approach beyond just wanting to run any connected Fallout 76 quests back-to-back to really immerse myself in their stories. However, the simple answer is that I simply have more fun with an efficient approach.

Fallout 76’s Major Quests Aren’t Co-Op Friendly

One of the big things I quickly came to realize after returning to Fallout 76 after years away is that it’s basically two games in one. There is the multiplayer portion, which sees players running events, completing daily quests, enjoying raids, and working on CAMPs, and then there’s everything else, which is best enjoyed solo. This is because players cannot work on main quests at the exact same time as their friends; if the quest requires players to talk to a certain character inside a building or explore a certain area that requires them to load in, then only the team leader will be able to progress their quest.

Other members of a Fallout 76 team can enter these buildings on their own to progress their version of the quest, essentially completing the main story levels at the same time as their friends. However, they’ll be clearing out these indoors areas on their own, essentially turning a Fallout 76 story playthrough into two or more singleplayer experiences running alongside each other. This is a pretty big barrier to me, as like with all other games, I’m going through Fallout 76 with my fiancée. When we realized we have to do each quest separately, we instantly decided that the story can wait until later. We wanted to play Fallout 76 together, and main quests don’t really allow for that without hindering the story progress for one of us. Fortunately for us, questing isn’t what we were looking forward to most.

The Three Benefits of Waiting to Complete Fallout 76’s Main Quests

Since my partner adores cozy games, CAMP building was a big draw for us. However, to build CAMPs, players need resources and plans to decorate with. This is where the benefits of exploration come into play, as we’re able to horde junk as we tick off every POI on the map. Then, when we go through the story, we’ll be able to re-loot the locations we’ve already been to, ensuring that we have as many materials as we can ask for. This has also been a boon for killing Spooky Scorched and Treasure Hunters, as we’ve seen many of these enemies while journeying across Appalachia.

Outside of doubling up on materials for building Fallout 76 CAMPs, we’re essentially making the story quicker to go through when we are ready to experience it since we’ll be able to travel directly to wherever we’re told to go. We’ll have the entire map opened up, and we’ll have enough Caps from all our exploring to pay the travel taxes. We’re already treating the story as a payoff of sorts to cap-off our time in Appalachia, and by taking this approach, we’ll be cutting out any filler between the quests.

However, the greatest benefit of all to doing Fallout 76’s story last is better rewards. If we were to complete major quests below level 50, we’d get weapons and armor tied to our lower levels. That means we’d be missing out on better copies of some of Fallout 76’s best gear, as level 50 versions of quest-exclusive drops can be extremely powerful. Sure, they’re not as powerful as raid drops or the loot from certain events in Fallout 76, but I’d much rather have the option to enjoy a maxed out version of an item from the Skyline Valley content than one I use for a few levels and stash away forever because it becomes too weak.

Fallout’s Main Quests Aren’t What Make The Series So Special

Given the way I like to approach open-world games, I needed no such incentive to put the story off in Fallout 76 — especially when considering that the main quest line is rarely the coolest thing about Fallout in my opinion. Sure, The Courier’s journey throughout New Vegas was full of standout characters, but in most Fallout expansions and games, it’s the following things that really hook me:

• Fallout’s worldbuilding always shines, as it’s interesting to find notes and terminal journals to unpack what happend in the area you’re currently in.
• For me, the music of Fallout is essential to its identity, so breaking that up with tons of dialogue when I could be rocking out to “Big Iron” instead is hard to talk me into.
• Some of Fallout’s most entertaining side characters appear randomly in the world, and some of its most enjoyable fights aren’t tied to major quests.
• While settlements in Fallout 4 were a bit divisive due to how heavily they were focused on in that game, I still adored the system and spent plenty of time trying to unlock the Benevolent Leader achievement.
• Looting in Fallout is consistently satisfying, and there’s no better way to do a ton of looting than by wandering off and visiting all the locations.

In addition to all of these reasons, I’ve loved ignoring the Fallout 76 main quests because it’s allowed me to focus on what makes this specific game so special: the community. I’ve had players sniping ghouls around me while hidden by a Stealth Boy, having no idea where my protector even came from. My fiancée has panicked upon seeing a nuke drop right in front of her, we’ve been carried through events we had no business taking part in, and I’ve been randomly gifted some fun items from kindhearted players to help me on my adventures. Staring in awe at some of Fallout 76’s best builds has been a constant source of inspiration for my own CAMP-making, and even just emoting at players as we pass one another has put a smile on my face. Though I’m sure I’ll enjoy Fallout 76’s handcrafted quests, I haven’t needed them to fall in love with the game.

Released

November 14, 2018

ESRB

M for Mature: Blood and Gore, Drug Reference, Intense Violence, Strong Language, Use of Alcohol