Fallout 76’s Latest Patch Brings SPECIAL Re-Speccing, Push-to-Talk, and 21:9 Resolution Support

Bethesda has released the patch notes for today’s Fallout 76 update, which include SPECIAL re-speccing, push-to-talk support, and 21:9 resolution support on PC, to name but a few of the highlights.

The news comes from the Bethesda site itself, which outlines the contents of the Dec. 11 patch. Due to arrive on PC today and weighing in at 3GB, console players will have to wait until Thursday, Dec. 13, until they can download the 5GB patch.

SPECIAL Re-Speccing is arguably the most interesting new feature coming in this Fallout 76 patch, allowing players to choose whether they want to unlock a new Perk Card, or reallocate a SPECIAL point upon reaching level 51 and every time they level up after that. This provides players the opportunity to completely change their playstyle and have their character match it, without having to start a new character entirely.

Elsewhere, fans will be delighted to hear that push-to-talk now has a hotkey for Voice Chat on PC. This will allow players to control when they can be heard and when they want to mute their mic while wandering the world of Appalachia, so other players don’t randomly hear conversations about your lunch.

PC players get a whole host of other new display settings, too. Alongside the aforementioned 21:9 resolution support on PC, Field of View and Depth of Field sliders have now been added into the display settings menus to enable players to further customize their viewing experience.

Finally, for those of you who are into the CAMP, workshops, and crafting elements of Fallout 76, Bethesda’s implemented some handy features, too. When placing objects in CAMPs, any obstructing items or objects will be removed automatically, and if someone’s already occupying your CAMP location when you log into a new server, you’ll immediately be notified.

There’s a whole bunch of other bug fixes and slight tweaks to Fallout 76. We’ve noted the most important new features and noteworthy elements of Fallout 76’s patch notes down below. However, if you want a full breakdown of all the bug fixes, be sure to check the patch notes yourself here.

GENERAL

• Performance: Several improvements have been made to in-game performance.
• Stability: The Fallout 76 game client and servers have received additional stability improvements.

ART

• Lighting: Exposure values have been adjusted for exterior environments, allowing them to appear brighter in dark conditions.

BALANCE

• Loot: .308 Ammo dropped by creatures has been reduced. Players will now receive .308 Ammo in stacks of 1 – 5, rather than up to 12 for a single kill.
• Loot: Super Mutants will now drop Gunpowder half as often, and the chance for additional loot has been reduced. Caps are guaranteed loot on Super Mutants until level 16.
• Scorchbeast Queen: Will now land on the ground more often.
• Workshops: Players no longer gain XP when crafting at a public Workshop.

C.A.M.P., CRAFTING, AND WORKSHOPS

NEW – Automatically remove obstructions in C.A.M.P.s:

• Rocks, small trees, and other small objects no longer prevent players from building items in those locations.
• These obstructions are now automatically removed upon constructing objects and structures in C.A.M.P., such as Foundations.
• Placing an object to remove an obstruction and then removing that object, will cause that obstruction to reappear after some time or upon logging back in.

NEW – C.A.M.P. placement improvements:

• A notification will now be displayed to players upon logging into a world if their current C.A.M.P. location is occupied by someone else.
• If they to choose remain in that world, they will be able to place their C.A.M.P. in a new location for free.
• Alternatively, if the player decides not to place their C.A.M.P. in a new location, and instead joins a new world, their C.A.M.P. will be automatically placed back in its original location—provdided that spot is unoccupied.

Additional C.A.M.P., Crafting, and Workshop updates:

• C.A.M.P.: The percentage of a C.A.M.P.’s Budget that is being taken up by stored items and Blueprints will now appear in the Budget bar.
• C.A.M.P.: While in build mode, players can now toggle the left joystick on controllers, or press “Q” on PC, to switch view between objects that can be built and those that cannot.
• Windmill: The power produced by the Windmill has been increased from 3 to 12.
• Workshops: Players can now purchase Atomic Shop items directly from the Workshop menu.

PROGRESSION

NEW – SPECIAL Re-speccing:

• Every time a player levels-up after level 50, they can now choose whether to unlock a new Perk Card or transfer one previously allocated SPECIAL point from one category to another.
  • This change is not retroactive for characters that have already progressed beyond level 50 but will apply to every level-up they achieve going forward.
  • If a player chooses to reallocate a SPECIAL point on leveling-up, they will be unable to select a new Perk Card for that level, and vice-versa.
  • Re-speccing details have also been added to the “Perks” section of the in-game Help menu.

QUESTS

• Event Quests: A 15-minute cooldown timer has been added at the end of each Enclave Event Quest.
• Event Quests: XP reward amounts have been reduced for the following Event Quests:
  • Fertile Soil, Collision Course, Tea Time, Guided Meditation, Distinguished Guests, Battle Bots, Line in the Sand, Protest March, Grafton Day, Patrol Duty, Jailbreak, Back on the Beat, and Feed the People.
  • Additionally, the cooldown timer that begins after starting each of these Events has been increased from 48 minutes to 1 hour and 12 minutes.

USER INTERFACE

NEW – Push-to-Talk Setting (PC):

• A Push-to-Talk setting has been added for Voice Chat, and is set to the Caps Lock key by default.
  • The “Toggle Always Run” hotkey, which used to be set on Caps Lock, has been moved to the “/” key by default.
  • Both the Caps Lock and “/” hotkeys can be rebound in the Controls Menu.

NEW – Depth of Field Setting (PC):

• A Depth of Field slider has been added and can be adjusted in the game’s display settings menu.

NEW – Field of View Setting (PC):

• A Field of View slider has been added and can be adjusted in the game’s display settings menu.
• The Field of View slider can be adjusted in increments of 5, to a maximum of 120, and a minimum of 70.
• Note: Field of View will be automatically set to 70 while modifying a character’s appearance but can otherwise be set between the values mentioned above.

NEW – 21:9 Resolution Support (PC):

• The game client will now automatically detect and apply the correct display resolution for monitors that use 21:9 resolutions.
• Additionally, various 21:9 resolutions can be selected in the game’s display settings menu.

Additional User Interface Updates:

• AFK Timer: The timer that disconnects players after a period of inactivity in-game has been increased from 10 to 30 minutes, and the warning prompt will now display 3 minutes, rather than 1 minute, prior to being disconnected.
• Atomic Shop: Items that have recently been added to the Atomic Shop now display a “New” icon, and new items will now sort to the front of their associated subsections.
• Atomic Shop: Item subtitles in the Atomic Shop have been moved to the top of item images.
• Compass: Maximums have been implemented for each type of marker that can appear in the compass, and up to 60 markers in total can be visible at once:
  • Up to 10 markers each for quests, locations, hostile players, and enemies.
  • Up to 8 markers each for neutral players and targeted enemies.
  • Up to 4 markers for teammates.
  • Players can still use their Pip-Boys to toggle tracking off for individual quests if they’d prefer to reduce them amount of quest markers in the compass, and on-screen.

Fallout 76 is available now on PC, PS4, and Xbox One. Looking for some tips, tricks, and guides for your adventures across Appalachia? Be sure to check out our Fallout 76 guide wiki.