At QuakeCon last weekend, Bethesda showed off a little more of Fallout 76. While multiplayer is a huge addition to the series, as part of that Bethesda are making big changes to the series’ iconic Perk system.

Fallout 76 instead has a new system of Perk Cards, which can be used mix and match abilities and change them depending on the situation players find themselves in – so they won’t have to start a new character every time to change those abilities. However, players were concerned by the appearance of ‘Perk Card Packs’, which players can open to get a random selection of cards – which seem very much like loot boxes.

Bethesda has now taken to Twitter to allay Fallout fans’ fears and confirm that players will not be able to buy these packs with real money. The publisher confirms that Perk Cards are earned each level, and Perk Card packs are received “solely through leveling up.” It’s unclear if Bethesda will be charging for anything else in Fallout 76, but this particular microtransaction nuclear bomb seems to have been avoided for now.

While Bethesda failed to mention that Perk Cards couldn’t be bought with real money at the QuakeCon panel itself, they did have a lot of information about the new card system, including the neat way players can change them on the fly to approach any situation.

In #Fallout76, Perks are represented through Perk Cards. You earn them every time you Level Up. Earn Perk Card Packs solely through leveling up. Every other level up to 10, and every 5 levels after. pic.twitter.com/JRRHFRLNk8 — Fallout (@Fallout) August 11, 2018

Loot boxes are still a hot topic right now, mostly thanks to the likes of last year’s Star Wars Battlefront II where they were tied in to how players levelled up. EA now claim to have developed a “moral compass” to help the publisher decide what’s best for their games, so it’s good that Bethesda have steered away from this debacle.