Bethesda Clarifies Fallout 76's Private Server Issues, Acknowledges Some Players Are Losing Items

[UPDATE] Bethesda released a new statement to GameSpot on this matter that, among other things, confirms that a "small number" of players are in fact losing scrap items. The studio is working to fix this issue right now; it is a "top priority" for the company.

"Following the release of Update 14 earlier this week, the development team has been looking into player reports of scrap going missing. We have some details to share with you on our findings and our plan moving forward. Our initial investigation indicated that this was a display issue, and that no items had gone missing. However, we have since found that a small number of players have in fact experienced a loss of scrap items after placing them into the Scrapbox and then loading into a world. Resolving this issue is currently our top priority.

We are also exploring ways to restore the missing items.We are working to address this with a hotfix as soon as possible, and we will let players know once we are ready to deploy the fix."

The original story is below.

Bethesda has released a statement in regards to some of the more prominent issues in Fallout 1st--the new subscription-based content update for Fallout 76. Speaking to GameSpot, Bethesda addressed the reported issues individually.

In regards to the disappearing scrap issue, Bethesda said, "A small number of players with a large quantity of scrap are experiencing a display issue causing their Scrapbox to appear empty. At this time, we believe this is a User Interface issue and that players have not lost any scrap. Players should still be able to access the scrap for crafting from workbenches. We are actively working to address this issue, both internally and using the data and characters folks from the community have provided us."

Players have also expressed concern that their private servers have appeared already looted, but Bethesda clarified that this is most likely not an issue. Instead, private worlds behave like Fallout 76's public worlds do. "When a Fallout 1st member starts a Private World, a dedicated World is launched on an AWS server," Bethesda said. "Players who have seen looted containers upon login may be experiencing the expected behavior upon log out and log in. Loot is instanced for each player in containers. As Fallout 76 players know, if you loot a container on one server, and then log out and log back into another server, the container remains in a looted state for a period of time."

Finally, Bethesda admits that allowing friends to join private worlds without gaining permission from the host player is not ideal and should be changed. "Currently, players on your friends list can join your Private World without an invitation," Bethesda said. "We understand this is not what players expected for their private worlds and we are looking to provide an option in an upcoming patch that will allow Fallout 1st members to restrict access to their servers more completely, preventing friends from joining without permission."

For $12.99 / £11.99 a month or $99.99 / £99.99 a year, a Fallout 1st subscription provides you with access to private worlds, a monthly bonus of 1,650 atoms to spend in the Atomic Shop, discounts on certain items in the in-game store, a private Scrapbox, unique emotes, the Ranger Armor outfit, and a survival tent that acts as a fast travel point you can put anywhere on the map.

Bethesda had already announced that some of these additions would be coming to Fallout 76 but gave no prior indication that they would be locked behind a paywall. This has attracted some criticism from players in the Fallout 76 community--though it remains to be seen how this will affect the overall reception that Bethesda has been cultivating for the game with its free post-launch content updates.

One of Fallout 76's most anticipated expansions, Wastelanders, has also been delayed. Wastelanders is scheduled to add NPCs with dialogue and quest-lines to Fallout 76, which would ideally curate a gameplay experience similar to Fallout 76's single-player predecessors.