Today’s Fallout 76 Update 20 release adds a battle pass in the form of what Bethesda is calling “Seasons,” but without the upfront cost. What does that mean for players as the first season arrives? Let’s look at the patch notes and find out.
As described by Bethesda, Seasons are an account-wide progression system for earning currency, cosmetics, and more across your Fallout 76 characters. Like a traditional battle pass, the Season will last for a specified amount of time in which the player levels up said pass, visualized in-game by this nifty game board. “Each Season brings a new progression of 100 Ranks to reach, plus exciting rewards like Atoms, Perk Card packs, and unique cosmetics. By completing Daily and Weekly Challenges, you’ll earn S.C.O.R.E. which will allow you to rank up and claim a new reward every time you do!” says Bethesda.
Worried about not finishing your pass before the season is over? Well, lucky for you that Atoms–the game’s premium, paid currency–can be spent to unlock levels just like in battle passes for other games. The ability to do this begins two weeks from now on July 14. There’s a whole host of other changes, bug fixes, and more on the patch notes that can be viewed, so here’s the quick and dirty rundown of the biggest additions:
Fallout 76 Update 20 Highlights
- 76 Seasons: Earn S.C.O.R.E. to rank up and claim tons of stellar new rewards with our all-new progression system, which brings a major overhaul for Challenges.
- The Legendary Run: Our first 10-week Season begins today! Race across the galaxy against the evil Dr. Zorbo and unlock unique cosmetics, in-game currencies, and much more along the way.
- Public Teams: Use the Social Menu to easily find, join, or form Public Teams that bring players together under shared team goals and offer themed in-game buffs.
We’ve talked a lot lately around here about the cost of games and the ways that publishers counterbalance the rising cost of development with the stagnation of a game’s retail price. One of the more brilliant, if not sinister ways that have risen to power in the past few years are battle passes. Perfected by Battle Royal games such as PUBG and Fortnite, the battle pass is meant to get a small amount of money every couple of months, with the option of the player paying additional, real money to level up the pass to completion.
If you’re like me then you’ve been waiting for a reason to jump back into Fallout 76 and there’s no time like a major update to do so. So, let’s get out there together, level up our game boards, and be really nice to one another! Right? No? Okay then!
