Fallout 76 is arguably getting its most significant update later this year in the form of Burning Springs. Coming in December (but able to play on a public test server right now), the latest content drop adds a whole new region to Fallout 76 – and even adds The Ghoul, voiced by Walton Goggins himself.

“Planned as the beginning chapter for a story that spans multiple updates, this quest works as an introduction to characters that you’ll end up spending more time with down the line,” reads the expansion’s official synopsis. Ahead of the release proper, FRVR joined a roundtable hosted by key members of the Fallout 76 team, creative director John Rush and production director Bill Lacoste, where they fielded questions about the update.

One of the big changes coming is around gunplay, where it now feels ‘a lot tighter than it used to be’ and is heading ‘in the right direction’. Sadly, those improved mechanics are bundled with the expansion’s December release, so you’ll still have to manage with Fallout 76’s more cumbersome gunplay until then – something the developers acknowledge.

“Yes, sorry, you all have to mess with your loadouts a little bit more until this, this updates out. But trust us, it’s going in a right direction,” said Lacoste. “I think from some of the gameplay you’ve probably seen today, you can see that the gun plays a lot tighter than it used to be.

“Trust us, it’s going in a right direction”

Fallout 76 production designer Bill Lacoste

“You have LMGs now that you can actually aim down sites and shoot around. So, all the things we’ve been building up to towards this Burning Springs update and everything we’ve done since, you know, even before Wastlanders has been just a real treat and an amazing experience to be part of.”

While Fallout 76 may have the best gunplay in the series, there are still elements of the game that feel incredibly dated compared to other shooters. With continued updates, the team explained gunplay updates are coming, and the MMO-lite Fallout game should feel even better to play in the future.

The team went on to acknowledge that they’re ‘ very, very proud of this game.’ and confirmed they have planned Fallout 76 content for ‘years down road’ .Rush said: “Everything that we’ve done in the past couple of years or so on 76 has been great in shaping up the game, in giving out early, mid-level players hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of hours of stuff to do, not even including the building and exploring, and we’ve been giving out elder players challenging experiences to tackle with raids and, of course, headhunts coming up. So, stuff for down the road, years down the road, is just going to get bigger and better for everyone.”

After a rocky start, Fallout 76 has found a loyal and engaged player base. At the time of writing, there are more 15,000 people regularly playing the game on PC alone. However, while not a ‘hard no’, the devs say no crossplay is planned in the near future.