If you watched the Fallout 76 Panel at QuakeCon over the weekend, you may have had some similar concerns to other fans. Bethesda has now cleared up the rumours that the booster packs for the Perk Cards could be bought.
In a tweet following the Panel at QuakeCon, it was confirmed that Perk Card Packs could only be earned through levelling up. There is no way to purchase, through in-game microtransactions, anything that could help player progression. Bethesda has reassured that they do not want to go down the Loot Box path and that microtransactions will only occur for cosmetic items. This is to ensure that they can allow for dedicated servers to continue for players to enjoy.
So what are Perk Cards?
The Perk Cards will be the new way that players in Fallout 76 will progress their character. Still using the SPECIAL Stat system, players will earn points when levelling up. These points can be applied to one of the seven stat categories; Strength, Perception, Endurance, Charisma, Intelligence, Agility and Luck. Everyone will start out with one point in each stat so you can apply a perk card. You will have to make sure you have enough free points under each stat to equip the cards you want. These perk cards have different abilities that can aid the player in their journey through the wasteland.
Perk cards are received every time you level up. Bonus Perk Card Packs will drop at every level before level 10 and then every 5 levels after that. Even though your SPECIAL points will max out at level 50 you will still receive cards when levelling up. If you have duplicates of your cards you can combine them to rank up the ability. Each SPECIAL stat can only be levelled up to a maximum of 15 points so no one gets too overpowered. You can then reshuffle your cards to create the deck you think will best assist your play style or situation.
Fallout 76 is currently available for pre-order on PC, Xbox One and PlayStation 4. Pre-ordering will grant you access to the B.E.T.A (Break-it Early Test Application) which comes to Xbox One first in October. The full release on all platforms will be on November 14th as was revealed at E3.
