Reference: http://orcz.com/Fallout_4:_Perk_Chart

Which perk would in general be the best first perk to get?

Looking at the http://orcz.com/Fallout_4:_Perk_Chart am thinking http://orcz.com/Fallout_4:_VANS because of two reasons:

1) It has 1 rank so you are basically "done" with that perk after you spend a poin
2) It will help you level up faster by completing quests faster at a time experience is important

Another option I was considering is http://orcz.com/Fallout_4:_Gunslinger but only if i find a pisol

I wonder if we will get to pick any "Tag" perks to start with to represent what our characters know prior to starting the game. We might actually get to start with three or so perks.

Odd, I'm not planning to get VANS at all and I won't be in a rush to level up. I posted my general strategy in another thread so won't do that again here. I don't know enough about the specific perks to decide on one to start with but probably Science for the hacking and energy weapons.

A quick math run using the character system video shows that no ya dont, his stats and perks matches the 13 perk points he would have acquired reaching level 14.

Stats+perks=41
41-his starting stat total (28)=13

As tempting as it would be to start with Gun-Fu (AGI 10), I would more likely pick the lockpicking / hacking perks first. In the early game, I don't expect combat to be too strenuous since some players are still learning about the game, so they don't want to make it too hard, and everyone will have only lowbie / early found weapons. So I don't see the need to invest in, say, Solar Powered at level 1 or 2. But I can very easily see them putting a locked safe or a computer in an early area and I hate to think I'd have to come ~back~ to it later.

Of course that depends on whether the perks make it ~easier~ to lockpick/hack or they make it ~possible~. I mean, if you can TRY to pick a lock without the lockpicking perk, and it's just harder to do so, then I might just save/reload a few times to get an idea of how hard the lockpicking mini-game is, and practice at it a bit in the process. But if you have to have the perk to even ~attempt~ the lock / computer then that would be my first choice(s).

After that, likely Black Widow or similar conversation-boosting perks. Settlement-oriented, Companion-oriented and to a degree Combat-oriented perks would be farther down the list than these "access" perks (lockpick, hack, dialog).

As for the VANS perk --- I can see where it might come in handy at times, but we haven't had anything like it in previous games and we've still managed to find out way to the quest markers without ~too~ much trouble (the New Vegas vault that was overgrown with plants was very frustrating, though, and I would have loved VANS there). So ~if~ I got that perk, it would only be after wandering aimlessly trying to find a quest location and failing constantly. And even then I might just move on to something else and try again later rather than sink a perk point into it.

Depends of your play style of course, my 1st perk probably will be Better Criticals, having +50% damage to any attack with any weapon that you can execute at will is useful, then i'll go for Lock-picking and Hacking.

Does V.A.N.S. mean that there will not be a quest marker without the perk?

Course I liked it back in MW when you actually had to follow instructions to find a location.

Possibly more like Skyrim with Clairvoyance.....

I'm debating between lone wanderer or the lockpick one.

Yeah I have no interest in VANS. Completing quests quickly is silly to me in a Beth game. I like to explore, find new stuff, take a different approach than I had in a previous playthrough. My first one is going to be focused around carrying lots of stuff, crafting, and settlement stuff

I want to pick up Science first. I want to specialize in energy weapons and keep them up to date as much as possible.

Don't forget that perks also have level requirements apart from SPECIAL requirements, gun-fu for example requires level 50 i believe, which would make it impossible to start a character with endgame perks.

I think I used that spell once in Skyrim just to see it, and then never again. Cool idea but with quest markers totally pointless.

I may go with Commando first as I'm really going to milk the ex-soldier background in the first play-through.

I don't have the link to the video handy (and i"m at work: shhhh!) but I thought the ~base~ level of EVERY perk had no level restriction and it was just the higher ranks of a perk that were level-gated. If it's true that the BASE level of Solar Powered or Gun-Fu is level-restricted, that ~will~ definitely influence my choice of starting perks and the order / timeline in which I get new ones.

Remember that is the 3rd rank of Intimidate that we saw the L50 requirement, the first rank was obtainable regardless of level so long as you had the SPECIAL for it.

if it's true and we can pick the endgame base perks at the start then i stand corrected.

Only higher ranks has a level requirement, the first rank of each perk has only a stat requirement, so a lvl 2 character could pick gun fu

It sounds to me like you're thinking about this in the wrong way. I'ts not about completing the perk chart, it's about picking the perk that puts you on the path to the kind of character you want to play. IMHO.

Opposite for me. I used the spell quite a bit because I turned off the quest markers. Made it feel more magic and less gamey to me. Still, magic is a natural part of TES and a spell like Clairvoyance works because it belongs. Not sure how such a system would feel in Fallout. I imagine I'll want to see it work in a video before I decide whether I'd want to choose something like that or not ... or at least save before I select it so I can test it and roll back the save if it feels cheesy.

I've been toying with the idea of raising all my SPECIAL stats to max before allocating any points into perks. In doing so, I figure if there are any speech checks with NPCs dependent on SPECIAL stats, I'll be able to pass them early on in the game.

Then you'd truly be an android: The perfect human being =)

I might raise one SPECIAL to 10 if I find myself leaning that way, but I'm not going for a perfect complete built, but rather highly specialized in one direction. Probably focusing on C and A, but honestly I'm not putting too much thought into this until I have the game up and running.

Yeah, pretty much. I can't see ever taking VANS.

Yep. I won't have any idea what perk I'm picking first until I decide what kind of character I'll be playing (plus, have had a look at the full perk chart).

I'm waiting 41 days before I judge!

How did Orcz get the actual names of the perks so fast, besides the ones already mentioned on Bethnet? According to the http://bethesda.net/#en/events/game/fallout-4s-character-system/2015/09/24/31 on Bethnet, you can get any high stat 10 perk at level 1 as long as you have the required stat points.

I'm probably going for Concentrated Fire and Dodger early on just to give me an edge in early game combat since I'll be going in the opposite direction of any story related quests. Nothing like wandering off the guided path early game and getting your ass kicked by high level enemies. Hopefully, no annoying critters like Cazadores lurk in the Wasteland this time around.

A lot of that is speculation driven by GK's numerous threads. They didn't "get" anything, it's just educated guesses and such.