Unlike the Vault 79 Raid that takes place duringFallout 76’s main storyline,Fallout 76originally featured repeatable endgame Raids. However, these repeatable Raids were removed in 2020 and most of the rewards from this activity have since been added to other activities in the game. With theGleaming Depths and Season 19 updatecoming in December 2024, Endgame Raids are set to return toFallout 76.
Fallout 76has come a long way over the past few years, arguably redeeming itself from the troublesome state of the game when it first launched in 2018. With all the latest improvements toFallout 76and more accessibility features coming in the near future, the return of Raids inFallout 76is a sweet treat for fans of the game that couldn’t have come at a better time.
Fallout 76 Is Bringing Back Endgame Raids
After the original Vault Raids were removed in 2020, new endgame Raids are coming toFallout 76in the Gleaming Depths update. These Raids are currently available for players to experience over onFallout 76’s Public Test Server, to provide feedback on this activity before its official release.
Players who ownFallout 76on Steam can participate in the PTS for free.
So far, players who have been jumping into the new Raid in the PTS are reporting that it will bethe hardest content inFallout 76to date. Some players are criticizing the excessive use of one-shot kill attacks from enemies and not being able to revive teammates. Overall though, the community is praising the difficulty and challenge of this returning endgame activity.
Fallout 76’s New Gleaming Depths Raid Won’t Repeat Past Mistakes
With Raids making a return toFallout 76, this raises the question of why this content was previously removed from the game – but more importantly – what the new raid will be doing to avoid the same fate. Allegedly, the originalRaids were removed fromFallout 76due to a lack of engagement. One of the main criticisms of the old Raids was how they often relied on teamwork and coordination that wasn’t commonplace inFallout 76, mainly because the game’s only agency for coordinating was through voice chat. With the new Raid coming in the Gleaming Depths update,Fallout 76will be adding several new accessibility features that will avoid repeating the same mistake as the original Raids.
New QoL Features Coming in Fallout 76’s Gleaming Depths Update
Fallout 76 Has Come a Long Way In Recent Years
Theremoval of legacy weapons fromFallout 76, namely explosive energy weapons (EEWs), marked a major turning point in the game’s combat balancing for both PvE and PvP. The damage of legacy EEWs was bugged and these weapons were capable of taking down Raid bosses inFallout 76with little to no effort. While it was initially highly controversial forFallout 76to remove legacy EEWs, it has proven to be for the best for the game’s overall balancing.
With thenew legendary crafting system, players can once again obtain legendary weapons that were once considered legacy weapons, like EEWs, but their damage/performance is now generally in line with other weapons.
This broad approach to adjusting the game’s balancing has been an ongoing process that goes far beyond the removal of a few problematic weapons. Just recently,Fallout 76made considerable changes to the new-player experience, and with the upcoming Gleaming Depths update, additional changes will be coming to weapons, armor, perk cards, and enemies.
Between these combat rebalances and all the new accessibility features coming in the near future,Fallout 76has seemingly been building up to the return of Raids for a long time. Ultimately, the return of endgame Raids inFallout 76couldn’t have come at a better time.
Fallout 76
WHERE TO PLAY
Bethesda Game Studios, the award-winning creators of Skyrim and Fallout 4, welcome you to Fallout 76. Twenty-five years after the bombs fell, you and your fellow Vault Dwellers—chosen from the nation’s best and brightest – emerge into post-nuclear America on Reclamation Day, 2102. Play solo or join together as you explore, quest, build, and triumph against the wasteland’s greatest threats. Explore a vast wasteland, devastated by nuclear war, in this open-world multiplayer addition to the Fallout story. Experience the largest, most dynamic world ever created in the legendary Fallout universe. Expand southward to Skyline Valley – a brand-new region of Appalachia. Investigate the cause of the electric storm circling overhead and unveil the mystery around Vault 63 and its dwellers, including a shocking new Ghoul type – The Lost.
