I've been a fan of role-playing games for a while, most specifically games which feature a leveling system that allows for a variety of character play styles and "builds". Many rpg's(role-playing games) allow you to choose various abilities or upgrades for your character as they gain levels and experience, usually offering choices that impact the strengths and weaknesses of the character. A major reason I look for these features is that when well-executed, they allow me to explore a variety of play-styles, or simply find the one that suits me best.
I've played Fallout since Fallout 3, and have spent quite a few hours between Fallout 3 and Fallout New Vegas exploring the leveling and character progression offered by the series - and in general I really enjoyed exploring not just the world, but also the many ways I could shape my own character through the skills and perks to create vastly different play-styles. Fallout 4 streamlined the process and dropped skills from the system as well as changing how perks were acquired slightly since skill requirements no longer applied. I didn't play much Fallout 4, but mechanically, I liked the game quite a bit - especially the settlement system.
Fallout 76 changes the leveling and progression a bit more, and I think it's in a really good place for the game and players. It's a bit hard to explain, but rather simple once you grasp the concept, but how high any given S.P.E.C.I.A.L. attribute is determines how many perks related to that attribute can be equipped at a time. A Strength of 10 would allow 10 Strength perks to be equipped, as long as each perk was only valued at 1 point. Some perks have a greater impact, and have a higher value/cost/weight when being equipped, adding a little more thought as to how you'd like to shape your character.
I like how the perks work with the Special system, yes, but the best feature(in my opinion) to come of this is the ability to equip and change perks at any point, granted you have unlocked the perk card you want to equip and have the points available to do so. You stop gaining Special points after level 50, but you can still select a new perk card each time you level, or if you need to refine your allotment of Special points, you can move a point from one attribute to another. I've seen some complaints that this doesn't allow for you to easily change your character's build entirely, but as far as these and most rpg's go, that requires a new character.
Leveling and progress systems in role-playing games are some of my favorite aspects in video games, due to allowing me to have a larger choice in how I can play the game. For Fallout 76, I like the system as a whole, but I also very much appreciate the ability to make adjustments more freely. After reaching level 50, I started to realize that much of what I had spent my points on didn't make sense, and I spent the next while refining my Special points and gathering different perk cards to make a more cohesive build. I wasn't only able to fix my "mistakes", but since then I've been able to find a few other options and upgrades that I can add through perk cards. Something that I felt more strongly about once I reached higher levels, was that ability to equip different sets of perks for different... adventures?
I spent a lot of my effort when leveling on perks that allowed me to craft items and carry more junk(crafting components), but these perks also took points that could have been spent making me better at fighting enemies, a major aspect of the game. These quality-of-life perks are still useful to me, but if I'm not going on a trip to loot a bunch of places for scrap, I might be better off equipping perks that will help me survive in combat. With system in place, I'm not locked out of combat perks just because I wanted to carry more junk when I was leveling up and getting to know the game. I did spend way more points in Strength than I intended to, but in the end I liked the opportunity to change how I was playing the game and instead leaned into after level 50 and started collecting heavy guns and melee perk cards.
Fallout 76 gets a bad rap, and there are certainly some flaws, can't argue that. For me personally though, the changes they made to the leveling and perk system are good systems in their own right, even if it might be hard to determine if the are an "improvement", and many of the other changes and systems added to create a game that is Fallout but multiplayer were well-done despite challenges of an aging engine and online play.
