>>49654 (OP)
1. Release Timing

Fallout: 76 releases November 14, 2018.

Beta ("Break-it Early Test Application") is coming soon, but no date has been set.

For access to the beta, you have to pre-order the game, but all pre-orders will come with beta access.

Via u/SUCK-PIT: Beta access will be available for Xbox owners first. On PC, you can only play the beta through Bethesda.net.

2. Setting

The game is an online "softcore" survival game. The game is focused around PvE, but PvP is also possible.

The game takes place in West Virginia, 25 years after the bombs fell. Many creatures and locations are inspired by West Virginia folklore.

The map is four times the size of Fallout 4.

The map is divided into six distinct regions: The Forest, The Mire, Toxic Valley, Savage Divide, Ash Heap, and Cranberry Bog. Each area has its own theme, and its own "risks and rewards."

Some locations confirmed to be in the game: Charleston Capitol Building, Camden Park, Woodburn Hall, the Greenbrier, New River Gorge, Moundsville Prison, Morgantown, Summersville Lake, and Harpers Ferry.

The player is a member of Vault 76, a control vault. The game begins on Reclamation Day: the day everyone exits the vault and returns to the surface world.

Vault 76 acts as the character creation system. It may be possible to run into other players in the vault.

3. Online

Fallout 76 will be online-only: it is possible to play solo, but not possible to play offline.

Even when playing solo, you will be matched with other players.

"Private worlds", where you can play by yourself and use mods, will be possible down the line, but not at launch.

The game will have dedicated servers, which will be live "for years to come".

You will be able to have multiple characters.

Your character and their progression is not tied to a single server. There is no server browser, and players will "never see a server."

Player count per server is about 24 to 32.

Joining your friends is seamless - you can join "whenever you want" and bring all of your progression.

Groups of players are currently limited to 4. (Speculation: We may see this increased during future events.)

4. Game Mechanics

Perks and Leveling

The level system works similarly to Fallout 4, where various actions will earn you XP, and leveling up earns you a perk card.

The SPECIAL system is back, but works similarly to Fallout 4, where in addition to each attribute having its own bonuses, it acts as a requirement for certain perks.

Perks are now "Perk Cards". You can only have a limited number at once, but you can re-roll easily by swapping them out.

Perk card benefits can be shared with your party. This allows your group to specialize - you could have a medic, a gunner, a builder, and a crafter.

Some things that perks can do for you: More efficient crafting, better effects from cooking food, more damage, more AP, more XP for your team.

No level cap has been stated, but no characters in the gameplay trailers were leveled higher than 54.

Combat

HP and AP are back, and appear to work the same as Fallout 4.

VATS is back, and works exactly the same as in Fallout 4, but in real-time.

If you're not good at aiming, you can always build your character to be good at VATS.

Death never means the loss of progression or your character.

When you die, you will respawn in a nearby location.

Survival Elements

Weapon durability is back; possibly armor durability as well. Food will also rot over time.

Basic needs (hunger, thirst) are present, and being thirsty appears to limit your max AP.

Diseases and Mutations are new mechanics.

Not much has been said about Diseases.

The higher your rads, the more likely you will get a Mutation.

Mutations are like Traits from older Fallout games. They have a positive and negative effect, and some will even change your character's appearance.

Mutations that you like can be made permanent in the late game.

Crafting

Crafting is now a major part of the game.

Crafting now requires recipes, which can be found on monsters, as quest rewards, and throughout the world.

Recipes let you build guns, weapon mods, ammo, food, water, armor, and power armor pieces.

Most recipes have pluses and minuses, so you will have to make decisions about what attributes you want on your gear.

You can trade recipes and the items you craft with other players.

There are "orders of magnitude" more crafting recipes than there were in Fallout 4.

Components are still in use, like adhesive, aluminum, oil, gear, screws, etc. Some items also require having levels of certain perks.

They are exploring the possibility of having robot vendors for players in a hub area, to let you trade items & recipes while you are away.

Construction

Settlement building is done with the C.A.M.P device (Construction and Assembly Mobile Platform). You find flat ground, drop the CAMP (which appears to cost caps), and can then build in a small radius.

CAMP radius is the size of a couple buildings, not an entire town. See the gameplay trailers for a size reference.

You can drop your CAMP almost anywhere on the map, and move it anywhere you want.

Your buildings will follow you from server to server.

If your CAMP overlaps with another CAMP when you load in, it becomes a blueprint you can move somewhere else.

The building menu is a bit more streamlined, but very similar in layout to Fallout 4's.

Workshop "budgets", which enforce a max number of items, are still around.

5. PvE Content

Fallout 76 still has quests, and a main storyline.

Some other PvE things you can do: explore new locations, search for crafting recipes, hunt for components, build your base, capture public workshops, and more.

There are no human NPCs; not even raiders. Quests will be given by terminals, holotapes, robots, etc.

A lot of the quests and story are going to be "found world" style, like many were in FO3 and FO4.

Some confirmed enemy types: super mutants, robots, feral ghouls, deathclaws, intelligent plants, Mothman, "Snallygasters", "Scorchbeasts", a mega sloth.

There is a new faction of feral ghouls called the Scorched. While they are feral, they are smart enough to use guns. Basically, they're Fallout 76's version of raiders.

There are "public workshops" scattered throughout the map. Once you kill the monsters dwelling there, you can claim them, for access to "valuable crafting resources" and crafting stations to use them at. However, you may have to defend the workshops from additional waves of monsters.

Nuke System

The map has multiple (at least 4) nuclear missile sites, from which you can launch a nuke.

Once you obtain all the missile keys for a site, which are dropped by creatures in the world, you can select a location on the map and drop a nuke on it.

"Rare and valuable resources" can be found in irradiated zones after a nuke is dropped, along with tougher monsters.

Over a period of time that radiation will fade, and players will have to drop a nuke again.

There will be puzzles involved in getting to and launching the nukes.

The nuke system is primarily a way of letting high-level players set up a challenge for themselves in order to get high-level drops, and not an efficient way of destroying other players or their settlements.

Nukes are not easy to get or use, and there will be a warning before a nuke hits an area.

Launching the nukes starts out as a quest on the main quest line, which once completed, is repeatable.

The in-game reason for the player launching nukes is to stop the Scorchbeasts coming up from underground.

Based off where you nuke, you will find different things. Each area has its unique flora and fauna, which all have different mutations when you drop a nuke on them.

6. PvP Content

"Every surviving human is a real person." In other words, the only other humans in the game are the other players.

Via Todd: Players running into each other should feel special. The map is massive, so running into other players is not a regular event.

HOWEVER: The location of all other players in the session will always be visible on the world map.

Via Pete Hines: PvP is like a challenge to someone. But if you don't wanna deal with it, you won't have to.

PvP balancing is still being tweaked. They don't want the game to be "griefy in any way" but they do want "drama".

Bounty system: Players who behave aggressively will be given bounties, which you can then kill them to claim.

Player communication: You can communicate with others through voice chat and an in-game emote wheel.

Via u/Sub-Mongoloid: Players appear to go into a downed state before dying, where they can then be finished off or possibly revived.

Enemy players show as red dots on your compass bar after attacking you.

Via IGN interview: There will be no offline settlement raids. When you log out, your buildings come with.

Via IGN: It will be "pretty easy" to avoid PvP if you want to. The game will not be crowded.

7. Post-Launch Content

The game will be supported with FREE updates and DLC "for years to come".

Once they figure out what the game is lacking and what people want, they will start adding it. They will definitely be taking player feedback into account.

There will be microtransactions to support server costs, but these will be cosmetic-only and anything purchasable with cash will also be unlockable in-game.

Future content includes a Team Deathmatch mode, which is currently in progress.

The team is committed to adding mods in a future update, though they are not certain what form they will take. Mods will probably be linked to private servers.

The Fallout 76 team will be split into two groups - one working on smaller, regular content updates to keep the game fresh, and another working on "larger update content" to keep the game fluid and mix it up occasionally.

BGS will be scaling up to support the game post-launch and provide future content, while continuing development on their next 2 games.

8. Other

Todd Howard says the game "still feels like a Fallout game", so take that how you will.

The game has 2 radio stations: Appalachia Radio, and Peacetime Radio.

The game includes a camera system, which was created during a game jam. You use it to take in-game screenshots where you can pose with friends, and add depth of field, photo frames, textures, lighting, and more to your pictures.

The collector's edition ($200 and sold out) includes a glow-in-the dark world map, 24 Fallout miniatures, and a T-51 Power Armor helmet with a voice modulator, and some in-game cosmetic items.