Inside the Vault – World Pets Console Public Test Server AVAILABLE NOW

Welcome back console players!

We’re excited to announce that the Public Test Server (PTS) for XBOX Series and PlayStation 5 platforms is available now with the World Pets update which is planned to release on December 1. Alongside World Pets, you can also reexplore Skyline Valley by participating in Bounty Hunts in the region. While you’re taking out the trash, also consider putting together a crew to challenge and Hideouts (coming Spring 2027) which are in an early testing state. Learn all you need to know about all these features below!

How to Participate in the PTS

All players who own a copy of Fallout 76 on XBOX or PlayStation can participate in our PTS. To install the PTS, open your respective platform game library, and install “Fallout 76 Public Test Server”. As a general reminder, not all the content you see in the PTS is guaranteed to be released with the update that we’re testing.

If you would like access to the console PTS, please join our Discord Server and follow the steps listed there to gain a code.

Sharing Feedback

Don’t forget to join our Bethesda Game Studios Discord Server to share all your feedback and bug reports! The team wants to know more about your experience with everything this PTS has to offer.

World Pets

Finding your Pets

Every C.A.M.P. Pet you currently own can be brought out into the world as a travel partner. In your Pip-Boy, you’ll find a new tab under the “Stats” menu that shows your entire catalogue of Pets. Selecting one of the pets in that menu will summon them beside you. Ready for the many adventures that await you! Once this update releases, all pets will be able to be used in your C.A.M.P. or out in the Wasteland.

Important Note: All accounts have been given access to 1 pet of each species to assist in your testing purposes. When World Pets releases, you will only have the pets you have previously obtained.

Pet Commands

With your faithful companion beside you, you’re ready to take on the wasteland. When looking at your pet, an interact button will appear that allows you to issue one of the commands below. The emote wheel has been updated to provide a way to quickly access these commands as well.

• Stay – The pet will remain at its current location until you give the follow command, or you move too far away.
• Neutral – Your pet will follow you.
• Attack – Send your pet to attack your target! Pinging a target while your Pet is active will also send them charging towards your target.
• Protect – Your pet will follow you and only attack if you take damage. When it comes to having your pet follow you around, the only places you won’t be able to take your furry friend is into a Raid or a Shelter. Pets will also not be able to swim underwater.

Combat

Health

All pets have the same amount of HP regardless of their species. You can increase pet HP by leveling up and unlocking Pet Prowess combat upgrades.

Allowing your pet to take too much damage will put them into a downed state. Requiring you to rush to their side and deliver a Stimpak to get them back up. Clearing out all nearby enemies will also pick your pet up, but they’ll still require a Stimpak to get them back to full health.

Pets will not be affected by Radiation or Diseases, and they cannot be hurt by other players. Other players can give your pet a Stimpak though. So, if see someone’s Glowing Radhog is down in the dumps, be a good Samaritan and give it a quick pick-me-up.

Combat

All pets can attack enemies through a series of melee attacks. Dogs will bite and Deathclaws (and cats) will scratch. Radhogs, well Radhogs RAM!

Pets will never attack other players or other player’s pets even if they are hostile to you. They will only attack enemy NPCs.

Pet Progression

You can track your Pet’s leveling progress by navigating to the Pets tab in your Pip-Boy and pressing the “Right Stick” on your controller to open the Pet Progression Menu.

Anytime that you earn XP with your World Pet active allows them to gain XP as well. They can reach a max level of 200, unlocking HP/DMG increases, increased player carry capacity, Pet Passive improvements (more on that below) as well as rewards such as outfits, backpacks, Player Titles, and more.

Don’t worry about having to level up each individual type of Dog you have though. Pets are leveled on a per species basis. Meaning that leveling your German Shepherd will bring all your dogs up to the same level. So, feel free to swap that German Shepherd out for the RoboPaw Steel Dog whenever the mood strikes.

Pet Buffs

Each pet has two passive buffs: one that grants you a useful item, and one that improves rewards in a specific type of activity/event.

These passive buffs can be applied to any pet species after they have been learned. This means that if you level up your pet Deathclaw enough to unlock the Fun-Festation 1 passive, you can have that buff be active while your Cat, Dog, or Radhog are traveling with you.

All you need to do after unlocking a passive is select the buff you want from your Pip-Boy. You can do this by navigating to the Pets page in your Pip-Boy and then press the button that appears on the bottom of your screen for “Pet Buffs”. This will take you to a list of unlocked Pet Buffs where you can choose which two buffs you would like to have activated. These can be changed at any time!

After being activated, Passive Buffs are displayed in your Pip-Boy under the Effects tab.

Dog Progression Unlocks

• Passive 1: Stimpak Fetcher
• • Your pet can find Diluted Stimpaks. The quality of Stimpaks increase as the passive is leveled up.
• Passive 2: Bounty Sniffer
• • Your pet finds an extra Legendary Item when completing a Grunt Hunt. Starts with 1★ and then increases to 3★ as the passive levels up.

Cat Progression Unlocks

• Baits Finder
• • Your pet can find Improved Bait. The amount of Improved Bait increases as the passive levels up.
• Mega Bits
• • Your pet grants their human extra Fish Bits after catching a fish. The number of Fish Bits gifted by the cat increases with levels.

Radhog Progression Unlocks

• Goo-Getter
• • Your pet can find Toxic-Goo. The amount of Toxic-Goo found increases as the passive levels up.
• Rad-Dration
• • Your pet finds High-Radiation Fluids as they spend time in a Nuke Zone. The number of High-Radiation Fluids found increases as the passive levels up.

Deathclaw Progression Unlocks

• Dark Titan
• • Your pet can find Black Titanium. The amount of Black Titanium found increases as the passive levels up.
• Fun-Festation
• • Your pet finds extra Legendary Items when completing Infestations. Starts with 1★ and then increases to 3★ as the passive levels up.

World Pets Known Issues

• Misaligned text in Pet Progression Menu.
• "�" where stars should be in the Pet Progression Menu.
• Pet buffs Pip-Boy menu has placeholder formatting.
• Some looping audio for mechanical Pets.
• Cannot equip/swap pet buffs while in Power Armor.

Return to Skyline Valley

Skyline Valley – Environment Refresh

The Skyline Valley environment has received some love with the team doing some landscaping work to improve how it feels to travel around the region. In some cases, entire mountains and hillsides have been reworked, in others new pathways have been laid with extra trees and vegetation to give the region the extra environmental love it deserves. All this combined with the lighting and the weather improvements for the region really set the mood.

Local tour guides recommend the following locations:

• Three Ponds
• Grindstone Arch
• Hawksbill Weather Station
• Old Crimora Mines
• Rapidan Camp
• Dark Hollow Manor

Skyline Valley - Bounty Hunting

Head on over to “The Trading Post” which now acts as the hub for Bounty Hunting in Skyline Valley.

There you will find Marshal Canton, a reprogrammed Robo-Brain who was probably left out in the storm for too long. Marshal Canton has been tracking a number of dangerous visitors who have arrived in the valley and is ready to reward you for taking them down.

Bounty Hunting in Skyline Valley introduces new factions to the experience. Prepare to fight Super Mutants, Mothman Cultists, The Lost, and more.

Skyline Valley – New Collectible Questline

While you’re taking in the sights of the renovated Skyline Valley, you’ll likely stumble across mysterious glass cannisters. These canisters look like they’re filled with a live brain specimen, but surely that can’t be the case. Someone must know what they’re being used for.

After collecting your first glass jar, you Pip-Boy will update with a location for you to take it to and there your adventure will begin.

Hideouts

This is a call to the bravest Bounty Hunters in Appalachia. Thanks to your dutiful work clearing out those villainous rapscallions, we’re starting to get a picture of where they’re all coming from.

These encampments can be found around Appalachia, and those that have made it out say they are filled with some of the biggest and baddest from the various factions around the region. It will be up to you to find leads that will direct you to where these Hideouts are and give you access you need to enter.

Arriving with four different difficulties (Basic, Challenging, Lethal, and Marked), Hideouts serve as a dynamic new challenge where you get to control the difficulty through the type of lead you craft. And of course, if you want the highest chance of getting some of the best rewards, you’ll want to clear these out on higher difficulties.

Round up your posse, bring your favorite pet, and head over to Marshall Canton at the Trading Post in Skyline Valley. There are Hideouts that need to be cleaned out.

Please Note: For the purposes of this testing period, The Drifter will not appear in Hideouts. Also, all rewards you obtain from completing Hideouts are TEMPORARY and don’t include any of the unique rewards we have planned for this content. The focus of this testing period is Hideout difficulty.

Picking Up the Lead

Finding and crafting leads on the various Hideout locations is how you’ll be able to craft your entrance key to their encampment. It will also be how you control the level of challenge too.

Basic Leads can be obtained through Daily Quests, Activities, Grunt Hunts, and from various cabinets and safes in the world. Targeted for a team of Level 20 characters.

Challenging Leads can be crafted by exchanging 3 Basic Leads and some Caps at your Tinker’s Workbench. Or by participating and completing in Head Hunts, Seasonal Public Events, Infestations, and Public Events. Targeted for a team of Level 75-100 characters.

Like Challenging Leads, Lethal Leads can be crafted by exchanging 3 Challenging Leads and some Caps. This will be your primary way of accessing this harder difficulty. They can also be found on the final season repeatable page. Targeted for a team ready to face enemies that are Level 175+.

Marked Leads are the highest challenge and can only be obtained through crafting. Costing a mixture of Lethal Leads, Caps, and Drifter Intel. Once this update is released, these leads will guarantee The Drifter’s appearance but are also significantly more challenging to complete. Targeted for late game players with strong builds and coordination.

During this PTS, Drifter Intel is only obtainable as a rare crafting outcome when Lethal Leads are crafted from Challenging ones.

Locations and Factions

The two Hideout locations for this update will be The Forever Farm in Burning Springs and Vault 63’s Immortality Sector in Skyline Valley. Designed as non-linear spaces, you will have to determine which approach is the best to tackle the challenges in front of you.

Various environmental and enemy mutations ensure that no two Hideouts runs are the same. One time you could be facing The Lost and the next a Mutated Super Mutant gang. Maybe parts of the Hideout are bathed in irradiation? You won’t know until you get in there. There are things to discover in every run.

Other potential Hideout inhabitants include Robots, Rust Raiders, and Mothman Cultists. Rust Raiders and The Lost will appear only in Hideouts within their respective regions.

These locations are not locked away from you outside of attempting them as Hideouts either. Feel free to enter either location to experience it as you would any other space. Get a feel for the layout or just run in there to defeat and loot anything foolish enough to be hanging around.

Bonus Objectives

Once you start a Hideout, you will have bonus objectives to complete. Each objective will award the team with a Fallen Deputy’s Pack which contains bonus loot (reminder, loot you obtain through this pack is placeholder for this PTS). The bonus objectives will be:

• Find a Fallen Deputy’s Badge inside one of the 4 hidden containers in the Hideout.
• The reward for finding one of the 4 hidden containers will only be obtained if found before clearing out the Hideout gang leader.
• Defeating the Hideout gang leader within a time limit.
• The time limit begins once you move past the prep area of the Hideout.

Known Issues

• The Hideout Caches are sometimes empty.
• Environment art and VFX is not final.
• Currently, the Rust Raiders will appear in the Immortality Sector and The Lost will appear in the Forever Farm. These factions are intended to exclusively appear in the Hideout that exists in their respective region.
• There are occasions where only the party leader will obtain the Fallen Deputy’s Badge.
• During the PTS, you will not be able to continue a Hideout after logging out or disconnection. This will not be the case upon release.
• Hideouts may take a little while to spawn enemies once they are started.
• While exploring a Hideout outside of the Quest, some enemies in the location may attack each other when they shouldn’t.
• If you leave a Hideout while the quest is active, you will be removed form the quest and unable to rejoin. The intended flow is that players will be able to be re-added to the quest if they return.
• Currently, death in a Hideout drops your loot like death in the open world. This is not intended.
• The Tesla trap in the Immortality Sector is not functioning as expected.

Things to Know/Schedule

Because we’re testing this feature in an earlier than normal state, there are a few things we want to make sure you’re aware of.

• Rewards will be obtained once the quest is completed.
• Consuming a new Hideout Lead will abandon any current Hideout quest currently have active.
• A new Hideout quest cannot be started while you are inside of a Hideout location (Forever Farm or Immortality Sector). Please leave the Hideout before attempting to activate a new lead.
• You can only join your team leader’s Hideout. Any Hideout quests started while you’re in a team, but NOT the team leader can only be completed solo.
• The PTS locker (the locker outside Vault 76) has Hideout Leads to assist with your testing needs.