Let me preface this by saying this is probably not a comprehensive list of details, this is only what I have gathered from hours of YouTube footage, most of which comes directly from developers’ mouths. Feel free to add any details I missed.
This is what we know about PvP so far:
1. You can attack and kill other players.
2. You can challenge a player into fighting by “poking” them, which does very minimal damage.
3. If the other player accepts the challenge, damage gets mostly balanced so the fight is, to some degree, fair. (However, based on some examples I have seen, you still shouldn’t pick fights with people you have a huge disparity in level with.)
4. When you die, you lose only your junk that hasn’t been dismantled yet. Players who win duels are awarded a small amount of caps and have the option of looting dead players’ junk.
5. If you attack and kill another player who does not accept your challenge, that player will still die, but you get marked as a murderer with a bounty on your head. While marked, you cannot see other players on the map, and the bounty is pulled from your personal cap supply.
Additionally, we know:
1. Bases can be destroyed, but are blueprinted and easily rebuilt.
2. You cannot steal, pickpocket or otherwise take anything from other players (except by looting dead players’ junk).
There is a part of me that is very happy with Bethesda’s attempt to suppress the trolling and overall ability to grief people in this game. I also fully expect to still be trolled to no end because this is an online game, and people suck. Thankfully it seems like those in this subreddit who aren’t just whining about the game not being an RPG seem to be pretty on board with not being total douches when the game comes out.
That being said, I think Bethesda took the game too far in the other direction. I would totally understand if the game wasn’t high risk/high reward, and I would be okay with that. However, the game seems to be zero risks/negligible reward. There is no point in engaging in PvP even if you want to engage in PvP. At the end of the day, this is not a Fallout RPG, but it is a survival game with a Fallout skin on it. One of the biggest parts of a survival game is the constant threat of death and loss. Without that, you get a PvE co-op sandbox.
I believe I am going to enjoy wandering through West Virginia with my group, and we plan to do some light role-playing. We were considering trying to play as a Raider group. Run a toll road and basically haze people for caps or items, but in a way that was fair/fun for the server. However, without any real threat of death, it seems kind of pointless. Sure, we can kill you, but then nothing happens. You are slightly inconvenienced until you spawn.
That is my thoughts on the PvP. What do you guys think? Does it seem fair? What would you change? Do you like it the way it is?
Bethesda has done so much to counter trolling there is no real risk/reward for people who want to participate in PvP.
Edit: 1. To clarify, I in no way want to infringe or ruin the single player experience for other people, and I don’t want Bethesda to make the game unplayable for solo players. I do however think believe PvP players are being shorted. I’d rather there be no PvP in the game at all if it is going to be ultimately pointless.
I’ve seen it commented below, and my friend and I had discussed this, but implementing a PvP zone in the form of an arena or a Rune Scape-esque wilderness would work well in a Fallout game.
Alternatively, hopefully, Bethesda rolls out private/custom servers really early with a lot of options to tweak how PvP works.
Edit 2: Even more clarification. I don’t think you should be forced to participate in PvP if you don’t want to. My problem is how Bethesda has blanketed the entire server with rules where people who actively, voluntarily opt into participating in PvP fights aren’t really, IMO, rewarded or punished for doing so. It just seems odd to have PvP as an option without rewarding those who are good at it. Todd Howard from Bethesda has stated that the currency used to buy Fallout 76 weapons are going to be earnable in-game or purchasable from genuine money. https://www.u4gm.com/fallout-76-items