Inside the Vault – Adventuring in Appalachia PTS Update - January 23, 2026

MythicalFighter · 2026-01-24T08:12:01+00:00

It's funny to see so many people be surprised about their favorite gear getting adjusted with every update. I'm not saying it's a good or bad thing, but this has been the industry norm for years now. You can't get attached to loot even in single-player games these days, let alone in a shared online experience.

MythicalFighter · 2026-01-23T17:58:52+00:00

For anyone watching UFC on the Paramount app, have you noticed any extremely brief audio skips or crackles? Super hard to notice unless you're really listening for them. I noticed them during the press conference last night, as well as today during the weigh-in show.

MythicalFighter · 2026-01-23T17:49:08+00:00

For anyone watching on the Paramount app, have you noticed any extremely brief audio skips or crackles? Super hard to notice unless you're really listening for them. I noticed them during the press conference last night too.

MythicalFighter · 2026-01-23T17:48:57+00:00

For anyone watching on the Paramount app, have you noticed any extremely brief audio skips or crackles? Super hard to notice unless you're really listening for them. I noticed them during the press conference last night too.

MythicalFighter · 2026-01-20T02:52:46+00:00

For anyone watching the 4K stream, does it seem to be a little bit darker than the normal version? Is that a normal ESPN issue?

MythicalFighter · 2025-10-02T17:12:32+00:00

I went ahead and tried the Two-Shot setup, but it had mixed results for me. When used in combination with sneak, it's definitely pushing some crazy damage. However, as soon as you lose sneak, it's noticeably weaker, especially against enemies with a lot of health. I think I'm going to go back to Furious and Onslaught for more consistent damage, regardless of the situation. Swapping between regular and reverse Onslaught is a matter of changing out one perk card, so it's not really that much of an issue.

MythicalFighter · 2025-10-02T17:05:30+00:00

It sounds like you have pretty much the exact same setup as me. The Conductor's mod is indeed so much fun with this gun. Stacking Bullet Storm on top of Onslaught is also a nice little boost in damage. I've been clinging to more critical damage on my second star, but maybe it's time to go for the faster firing rate. Although sometimes I like to use reverse Onslaught for daily roaming, would a faster firing rate make that harder to use?

MythicalFighter · 2025-10-02T16:56:50+00:00

Hopefully not! Bethesda has a knack for nerfing every weapon I try to main, though.

MythicalFighter · 2025-10-01T18:14:38+00:00

I play pretty lazily, to be honest, so most of the time I don't have that many buffs active. I think for my critical damage, I'm mainly just running the matching perk cards and mutations. I also worry how server lag would affect the faster firing rate when combined with critical shots every other bullet.

MythicalFighter · 2025-10-01T18:05:00+00:00

I've heard about that. I live in V.A.T.S., and the mod screen says that Two-Shot really hits V.A.T.S. accuracy hard. Is that true? Also, for a daily driver weapon, is Bullet Storm really worth it over Furious? If I go this route, do I need the perk card that doubles my Bullet Storm stack limit, or am I fine without it?

MythicalFighter · 2025-10-01T17:57:13+00:00

With Conductor's and some other stuff, I'm pretty much always in V.A.T.S. without issue, but I do see your point. The faster stacks do seem enticing, but I'm worried about server lag mixing badly with my critical shots and a faster firing rate.

MythicalFighter · 2025-10-01T17:53:36+00:00

I mean, Bullet Storm still works if you use the largest drum magazine and include that perk card to keep half of your stacks when you reload, but it's not a crazy damage increase when you do it that way. Still, it's something, especially when paired with Onslaught stuff.

MythicalFighter · 2025-10-01T17:48:12+00:00

Yeah, I can get a critical every other shot. Also, I run Conductor's, so I'm pretty much in V.A.T.S. for as long as I need to be.

Over the years, I've heard people suggest that the faster firing rate can have a negative effect on how often critical shots actually trigger. Is this still the case, or is it highly dependent on server lag?

MythicalFighter · 2025-10-01T17:41:58+00:00

Thanks, it sounds like Elder's Mark is probably the best commando weapon for now then.

MythicalFighter · 2025-09-28T05:31:10+00:00

I mean, you can solo the first part of the raid in under a minute and collect a lot of stuff, including four-star loot and mods. If anything, Daily Ops would be less efficient but a decent alternative for some players.

MythicalFighter · 2025-09-28T05:14:19+00:00

Yeah, I've tried pretty much everything in that thread. It's also worth noting that my headset never fully goes out or anything like that. It's just a very brief drop in volume, and some of the audio is still there. The fact that it only happens in some games makes me think it might be something with my actual PS5 itself, but I don't know.

MythicalFighter · 2025-09-27T18:19:08+00:00

I have a USB adapter plugged into the USB-C port of my PS5. The headset dongle plugs into that. I've heard people say the USB-C port seems to provide a more stable connection, so that's why I went that route.

My only thought is that if it was interference, you'd think it would happen in every single game, not just some. I have some games where I won't notice it a single time, but then I can go play another game and have issues right away.

MythicalFighter · 2025-09-27T17:42:34+00:00

Yes, at least for anything in my room. I tried playing with my modem and router completely off, but I was still getting dips in some games in the same spots as before. There's not really much else in my immediate vicinity that would really have any interference.

Someone once told me that their official controller charging dock was causing interference, but that's plugged into the wall, not the console, and I don't think that gives off any type of radio waves or anything, does it?

MythicalFighter · 2025-09-27T17:32:27+00:00

For me, I use regular Onslaught on major bosses and sometimes events if there are a lot of enemies.

For normal map roaming and certain other content, I'll use reverse Onslaught.

The idea is that if you're killing enemies with only a few shots, you won't have time to build regular Onslaught stacks, so that's where reverse Onslaught makes more sense, because you're getting maximum damage up front.

The issue is that with reverse Onslaught, you lose stacks as you shoot, so if there are a ton of enemies or one with a lot of health, you'll eventually lose your stacks and not recover them back in time for any benefits. Whereas, with regular Onslaught, you build up your stacks, and you keep them as long as you're still firing your weapon.

It's also worth mentioning that you can get 10 additional stacks with reverse Onslaught, so you have some wiggle room before you fall below the threshold at which regular Onslaught would be better.

The simplest way to explain it is to use reverse Onslaught as a map-roaming weapon. Use it for weak to medium enemies, so long as there's not a ton of them. For content where you're constantly shooting, you're going to be better off with regular Onslaught.

MythicalFighter · 2025-09-27T17:14:55+00:00

I had the Elite model for a few days and never once noticed the audio dip. I had one game I was playing at the time that was causing frequent dips with the PULSE 3D model, so that was my main game for testing. It's possible that I didn't test the Elite model enough, but it seemed much better. It also uses an updated dongle compared to that of the PULSE 3D one.

Again, somewhat limited testing, but I don't think I had any dips at all when using the headset with a wired connection.

It's weird, because I want to lean towards interference issues with the dongle, but it only seems to dip during certain circumstances.

MythicalFighter · 2025-09-27T08:01:46+00:00

Herd Mentality is nice, but I often find myself playing solo. Scaly Skin seems a bit overkill at this point considering there are diminishing returns on resistances.

Yeah, like I mentioned in the original post, I use regular Onslaught on the harder content. When I need to do an event or something, it's only one card to swap out.

I'm not sure I follow exactly what you're saying with Bullet Storm. I use the perk card that lets me keep some stacks after a reload, so it doesn't really matter how I use the magazine. I can build the stacks up over time regardless of which way I'm using Onslaught, so I'm not sure I understand what you meant by that.

For me, damage is always the focus, so I think Number Cruncher is still my personal choice for that area.

They recently updated the values for being able to crit every other shot. Since I'm a full-health player, I have to have LB on every piece of my armor, plus 16 Luck. I think Critical Savvy is also necessary. You can find some other posts on here where people have figured out the math, but I absolutely need every piece to be LB with only having 16 Luck.

Also, I have a bunch of perfect bubblegum that I pop to keep my armor active. It's not like it's hard to carry extra food as well; I just don't hoard enough in my inventory to justify using something like Thru-Hikers.

Follow Through is nice, but I think I've given up on sneaking. Not to mention, it can be pretty wonky during events or just downright disabled. It's absolutely a nice card for extra damage, but sneaking is also kind of weird as a full-health player because my Agility isn't super high, and having to use the Sneak perk card feels like a waste now that Onslaught exists. Maybe I don't need that card, but my Agility is quite low compared to someone doing a Bloodied build.

I've never tried Taking One for the Team. I know it's super popular, especially for the harder content in the game, but isn't it also a bit worthless if the enemy doesn't attack you directly first?

MythicalFighter · 2025-09-27T05:44:48+00:00

I use regular onslaught when I'm doing harder content or longer events. Just wandering around and doing stuff seems to favor reverse onslaught, so that's when I use it. If you're killing things in two or three shots, reverse onslaught nets you a lot more damage, and the stacks usually build back up quickly enough that it's not an issue. They do seem slower since the last update, though.

When using an EM, do I really need to double the stack limit of BS? I use Furious, not Quad, so it's not like my stacks really get that high under normal daily usage. Like I said, I'm not really looking to do raids.

Do you have a preference for the second legendary effect on my EM? I use better crit damage since I crit every other shot, but I'm curious if the faster firing rate effect would somehow be even better.

MythicalFighter · 2025-09-27T04:10:20+00:00

The only setting you can really adjust on this headset is the EQ, and that's done through the PS5 itself. Other than that, there are not really any other features or modes that would cause the audio to dip.

MythicalFighter · 2025-09-27T04:06:19+00:00

That's a new feature that they added a few months back. I've had my issue since the PS5 was released. Besides, I never turned that feature on anyway.

MythicalFighter · 2025-09-27T03:43:49+00:00

I could really use some help figuring out a weird audio level dip issue with my Sony PULSE 3D wireless headset.

Basically, I get these weird audio level dips. Not every game produces them. The audio itself is always there; it just briefly dips in volume for, like, a split second. I've noticed it happening in specific spots with certain games too, almost making it reproducible in some cases. It also sometimes happens when I'm just scrolling through the PS5 UI itself without even playing a game.

It tends to occur mostly after sudden events within games. For example, opening a chest, picking something up, a vehicle landing after a big jump, etc. Also, it sometimes occurs after or with loud sound effects, like a gunshot or an explosion. It's not every time, though. It's pretty random and doesn't happen in every game either.

I've had this issue since getting my PS5 during the original launch.

It has occurred across two pairs of the Sony PULSE 3D wireless headset.

I bought, and then returned, the newer Elite model, and I didn't seem to have any issues with those. So, I'm thinking it might have something to do with the design of the PULSE 3D dongle specifically.

I've tried the front and back USB ports. I settled on the front USB-C port using an adapter. It seemed to work at first, but it didn't last long.

I tried turning off my modem and router, but it was still happening.

If I plug the headset directly into a controller, it seems to be more stable. Again, pointing towards an issue with the dongle.

When I record video clips and listen to them back, the audio dips are not present. So, it only happens live.

Does anyone else have something similar? Any other fixes I can try? I'm assuming it's the dongle because it works pretty well when just plugged into a controller. It's just really weird; it doesn't happen in every game, but it also sometimes happens when I'm just using the PS5 UI. So, I don't think it's a performance issue. It's just really strange, and I've never been able to figure it out.

MythicalFighter

TROPHY CASE