Fallout 76 will be getting a public test server and perk loadouts in 2020
Fallout 2020
I can’t believe it’s been ten months since I was camped in Fallout 76’s wrecked Appalachia for the winter. I had a good time with ‘76, and I would probably return if something big enough happened to warrant a revisit. So it's nice to know that Bethesda are still stirring the coals of the game - they've announced a public test server is coming next year.
There are lots of large changes coming, they say. The Wastelanders update adds quests, human NPCs, and more. Making sure that won't break is definitely a requirement. A public test server, where players will be able to smash everything, is very much-needed. That being said, you’d be a brave person to try out a test version of the game. I enjoyed it, but it was shakier than a Scorchbeast’s sonic attack. An unfinished version might just reach apocalyptic proportions of broken.
I’ll be keeping my eye out for the update that has perk loadouts. The perk cards in FO76 are swappable, but you have to do it manually which was a right old pain in the Snallygaster, let me tell you. I ended up with the Perk Loadout Manager mod that did it for me. It's the second most downloaded mod for the game, which goes to show you how necessary it is to the base game. I also had a mod that replaced the menu music with the trailer music, which added 3 minutes to my load time as I refused to start the game while it was on. There are no plans to make that official, so you might as well enjoy it here.
Joining them both next year will be the legendary player system. The high-level player respec system was planned for 2019, but it's being pushed to 2020 to join the other updates.