Fortnite

[Scream Aim Fire]

I've been considering just dropping the game to be honest, as I've found myself getting increasingly frustrated with how it's been going. The gameplay itself is decent, but there feels like a complete lack of focus on anything in the game for a while now. Feels like the game's just shoving in random crap without any rhyme or reason these days; out of all that I've played, there's only a handful of seasons I can look back on and say that I enjoyed, which is a bit sad.

Chapter 4, where I started, only had one season that I enjoyed; that being Season 2, where I started playing. Chapter 5 just felt like crap overall; we had the overpowered Reaper Sniper and Frenzy Shotgun in the first season, Mythic spam in the second, tons of glitches and a lack of a solid theme for the third, and the fourth was a Marvel season. The OG chapters and maps are... okay, but there's not my favorite, and it feels like they got added more to pander to the fanbase more than anything. For Chapter 6, meanwhile, Season 1 was pretty great overall, but Season 2 - the current one - just feels like it's devolved into a "land at Black Markets, grab guns/supplies, grab a bat," etc.

The obsession and focus on collabs don't help; it feels like the devs are putting more effort in shoving in random crossovers rather than actually making new/unique content for the game. It gets particularly crap when the crossovers don't even fit the theme of the season; for the current "Lawless" season, I could see the MK stuff working a bit, but why the hell is Adventure Time in a season about committing bank heists? The Greek God Season from Chapter 5's another good example; the Avatar stuff straight up took over the season halfway through, with collabs and weapons that were pretty strong, and the all-important thematic consistency grinded to a halt.

I'd say the season that really disappointed me the most is Chapter 5 Season 3, AKA "Wrecked". As I've said elsewhere on here, post-apocalyptic settings are my jam in video games, but the game in general just failed in damn near every way. The actual post-apocalyptic bit of the map was regulated to a few POIs down in the southern part of the map, with the rest of the island being unchanged; it got jarring to wander from Mad Max to Mount Olympus, and the antagonist of the plot - Megalo Don - didn't do anything of note. The tie-in collaborations either didn't do anything (we got nothing Fallout-related aside from cosmetics, Nuka-Cola, and a crap laser gun) or just didn't fit the season at all in terms of themes - I get that Magneto was a teaser for the upcoming Marvel season, but why the hell did the devs put Pirates of the Carribean in? Doesnt help that the season was both glitchy as crap - certain vehicles or weapons would disable your controls - and the fact that the story just felt dull and coming on the heels of two crap seasons meant that I mostly skipped Wrecked... at the worst time, as I missed out on both the Metallica concert, and the Cybertruck, and it's highly unlikely that either are ever going to return to the game at this point - the latter because of the whole "Musk is a NAZI" shit the community can't stop parroting.

It's shit, too, because I do want to keep playing, but there's just so much dragging the game down that it's become frustrating. The FOMO stuff is exhausting to deal with, given that most of the actually cool stuff was in prior seasons before I joined, and the game's rather negative effect on the gaming industry as a whole just makes it worse.

 

[Cougar Pump]

The gameplay itself is decent, but there feels like a complete lack of focus on anything in the game for a while now. Feels like the game's just shoving in random crap without any rhyme or reason these days; out of all that I've played, there's only a handful of seasons I can look back on and say that I enjoyed, which is a bit sad.

I dropped it a while back after they had a staff cull. The chapters after started re-using content in a blatant way to cover over having way fewer bodies working on the game. This also coincided with a notable drop in cohesiveness and the game starting to feel a lot less engaging overall. I've been wanting to pick an mp game back up recently and checked in on a few streams to see what the current game looked like. Not good.

 

[Stab You in the Back]

Next week we get a month long Star Wars season. Looks like it might be fun. I'm probably expecting too much, but if Death Star Sabotage is just reskinned alien abductions from Chapter 2, I will be so happy.

 

[D.Angus]

Next week we get a month long Star Wars season. Looks like it might be fun. I'm probably expecting too much, but if Death Star Sabotage is just reskinned alien abductions from Chapter 2, I will be so happy.

I'm pissed that there's more Starwars slop. I will forgive it, because the mad lads did it and made Darth JarJar or Hell even putting him in to begin with. Though, we'll know we've hit the bottom of the barrel when we start adding in characters like "Kit Fisto" (But please do, he is my favorite lol)

I saw this posted on Twitter and in the "Random Pics, Gifs, and Vids" thread and I hate Soy-Jacks, but "Movement Fan Jack" is literally my team-mates.

Spoiler: Movement Jack

 

[skykiii]

I've been considering just dropping the game to be honest, as I've found myself getting increasingly frustrated with how it's been going.

Recently I've reached a point where I only play it for EXP so I can unlock stuff before my battle pass is up, and honestly I've come to regret purchasing that because it turned what was once just pure fun, into an obligation to grind in order to get everything (or most everything--really right now all I care about are the Joss variants, I don't care about playing as that wolf dude).

But like..... its not even worth it. Play in OG you can do the dailies for a free level essentially, but play in regular and nine times out of ten you get merc'd before you do a quest. Or, more than once I've had a player wait for me to do the bank heist then come come in, kill me, and take the fruits of my labor.

I think a lot of these gimmicks wear on me. When I was first joining we had those damn floating islands which I always hated because people would camp on them and snipe at those on the ground. They're somehow less of a problem now, but like others have mentioned, the bank heists and black markets dominate.

And like I ragged about before, the stupid melee weapons that wind up dominating the meta. Basically if you don't have the kneecapper bat you're gonna lose. Same deal with the typhoon blade last season. Just, this shit needs to stop. One reason I prefer OG is because its all guns, no melee, and I know eventually that's gonna get fucked.

Finally... sometimes I wonder if the devs realize that Fortnite is kinda on a time limit. Some of the "quests" are rather lengthy and involved, almost like something I'd expect from a single-player game. Combine that with the whole "you could get merc'd at any time" thing, it just leads to another feeling of "why am I even bothering?"

A few years ago I did grinding to earn tickets in Tetris 99, and as tedious as that was... at least most of the "quests" and achievements were just "play Tetris." Not go around talking to NPCs you might not have a chance to pay attention to because of other players.

 

[Scream Aim Fire]

I've come to regret purchasing that because it turned what was once just pure fun, into an obligation to grind in order to get everything

Can't disagree with this; you get compelled to play and grab everything because you purchased the pass, and it just gets frustrating. Yes, Battle Passes are no longer exclusive, but thier contents won't pop up back in the store for another year and a half, so...you still feel forced.

But like..... its not even worth it. Play in OG you can do the dailies for a free level essentially, but play in regular and nine times out of ten you get merc'd before you do a quest.

Yeah, playing BR to do the quests is frustrating; you deal with sweats so much that it just gets to the point where most people don't even bother. Probably why there's so many bots around these days.

And like I ragged about before, the stupid melee weapons that wind up dominating the meta.

Recent BR match I had, all of the top players were exclusively using the Kneecapper. Gotten to the point where I'm seriously considering not playing at all, unless I don't have to deal with the stupid melee weapons.

Finally... sometimes I wonder if the devs realize that Fortnite is kinda on a time limit.

The game's basically designed to be predatory at this point; the quests are designed to force people to play for longer periods of time to complete, the shop has weaponized FOMO to force people to check it constantly so they don't miss what they're looking for - especially since the Jam Tracks, Lego Kits, and Vehicles are also on a limit, putting the content of their respective modes on a strict time period - and the Battle Passes have been getting increasingly annoying and not worth leveling, especially since you have to go into the bonus section just to earn your money back. That's also not getting into the amount of cosmetics that won't likely ever return at this point, like the Cybertruck, despite how many people have been wanting them back because of the shitty community; the Truck most likely because of the "NAZI" shit they keep parroting, and the prior Battle Passes because some community members have actually threated to sue Epic over "false advertisement".

Also, remember how there's now certain quests that require you to land at specific areas and talk to NPCs first in a match. Bear in mind, all of these quests tend to be in popular drop areas, they tend to be glitchy as crap - Big Dill's quest was softlocked for over a month - if you're not the first person to talk to the NPC then your progress won't get saved regardless, and each of these quests tend to rely on performing specific objectives that have a high chance of failing regardless, whether due to the game's spaghetti code freaking out or the community gunning you down at the first opportunity.

Not go around talking to NPCs you might not have a chance to pay attention to because of other players.

Don't forget the possibility that the NPC's might be glitched, meaning you won't be able to talk to them regardless, therefore wasting your time.

 

[skykiii]

Don't forget the possibility that the NPC's might be glitched, meaning you won't be able to talk to them regardless, therefore wasting your time.

I've discovered another kind of quest glitching in the OG Fortnite mode, where the daily quests will say one thing, but then you do them and don't get the XP bonus, then you check once the game is over and its "Oh, did we tell you the daily quest was this? Actually, we wanted you to do this other thing!"

Yeah its like... if you're not even gonna give me the correct quest, why should I bother?

And what am I doing this for? So I can unlock a Joss variant? Because I don't care two wits about playing as the wolf guy.

 

[broners]

I don't usually play Battle Royale/Zero Build anymore unless my friends want me to, because the other modes are more fun and less stressful to get XP in. I usually play Save the World for fun, or the Lego modes if I need XP.

They haven't actually required you to play BR to unlock anything for a few seasons now, so I don't. But if you don't like any other modes then I don't blame you for burning out.

 

[Scream Aim Fire]

I've discovered another kind of quest glitching in the OG Fortnite mode, where the daily quests will say one thing, but then you do them and don't get the XP bonus, then you check once the game is over and its "Oh, did we tell you the daily quest was this? Actually, we wanted you to do this other thing!"

Yeah its like... if you're not even gonna give me the correct quest, why should I bother?

I think I got that one before; got pretty annoying when I'd put in the effort and then not get rewarded.

And what am I doing this for? So I can unlock a Joss variant? Because I don't care two wits about playing as the wolf guy.

Yeah, I get what you mean; I went out of my way to unlock all the bonus rewards - Fletcher Kane, the wolf, was admittedly my favorite this season - but by the end of the level process I was ready to send my controller through the wall. The devs have made the game genuinely frustrating to play; the Quests are my main way to get EXP, but when you get dropped into BR matches full of sweats non-stop, you just get so tired of just having to tryhard just to make some form of progress. Coupled with all of the FOMO shit and you just get to the point where you genuinely don't even want to play, but you feel forced to keep going because you will miss something if you do.

I don't usually play Battle Royale/Zero Build anymore unless my friends want me to, because the other modes are more fun and less stressful to get XP in. I usually play Save the World for fun, or the Lego modes if I need XP.

They haven't actually required you to play BR to unlock anything for a few seasons now, so I don't. But if you don't like any other modes then I don't blame you for burning out.

Believe me, I've tried giving other game modes a shot; thing is, I like being able to do the Quests, as they appeal to my fondness of having actual objectives. Thing is, I just couldn't really "get into" any of them; LEGO just felt boring, Save the World I've been having difficulties getting started again, Festival gets a bit repetitive - especially in multiplayer modes where you have to deal with AFK players - and while there are a few decent custom maps out there, they don't feel like they give the most amount of EXP in comparison and some of them just don't work. Doesn't help that you still have to deal with tryhards on some of them, like the Tycoon maps; those maps are designed to be really simple ones where you can basically just AFK and base build, but it's not exactly uncommon to repeatedly get shot in the back by some sweat for little to no reason.

Also doesn't help that some of the main stuff for LEGO and Festival - characters/build kits and Jam Tracks, respectively - are all on timers, and if you miss them, there's a very real chance they'll never come back. Same with Rocket Racing with a number of the vehicles, and even the skins in the BR matches can heavily skew odds in your favor; seriously, some of the camo options some characters get makes your character genuinely invisible in some areas - like the old Roze skins from Warzone - and if I have to deal with one more Miles Morales sweat...

It's a shame too, because... well, the gameplay itself is still really solid; it's a very easy game to just jump in and play, but all of the issues surrounding it kill it.

 

[Stab You in the Back]

Yeah, I get what you mean; I went out of my way to unlock all the bonus rewards - Fletcher Kane, the wolf, was admittedly my favorite this season - but by the end of the level process I was ready to send my controller through the wall. The devs have made the game genuinely frustrating to play; the Quests are my main way to get EXP, but when you get dropped into BR matches full of sweats non-stop, you just get so tired of just having to tryhard just to make some form of progress. Coupled with all of the FOMO shit and you just get to the point where you genuinely don't even want to play, but you feel forced to keep going because you will miss something if you do.

In my experience, nobody does the vaults anymore. Everybody beelines for the black markets for their free shit. If anybody is hanging around a vault, its usually one dude who wanders in halfway through the heist, and since I've learned to not stand near the vault during the event, I usually just snipe them the second they walk into the bank.

Quests are the funnest--but ultimately the worst--way to obtains battlepass levels. There is maybe a million XP locked behind ALL the available quests in battle royal. Meanwhile, there's like 3+ million XP in milestones and dailies. If you want to level, just play casually like two to three times a week.

Also, if you haven't touched the Festival Stage all season, jump in and do like two or three rounds of Festival. You'll get like 15 levels from all the intro quests, milestones and weeklies.

 

[Tony Martin's Force Ghost]

It sounds like this is a shorter chapter, hopefully, but the idea of a meta of just lightsabers sounds boring. I am so sick of melee weapons dominating, there is no skill. I barely play anymore, just because the game is this depressing FOMO hellscape. I would rather play Wow...

 

[Stab You in the Back]

Finally finished every (non-expertise) quest this season. Hardest quests for me were the "Kill [X] Players with Exotic Weapons." Because I didn't have the legendary outlaw card, I didn't see a single exotic weapon all season. So, today, I grinded out the legendary card, then loaded into a ranked match. Since it was my first ranked matched all season, I was put into a lobby of noobs and bots, and was literally the only person who stepped into any black market. Got my exotic, blew up a few bots, and finished off the last couple of quests.

Overall, Chapter 6, Season 2 wasn't a remarkable season. I can't think of a new PoI that I was really wowed by. The season gimmick was kinda blah. And the season was definitely casual unfriendly with the outlaw card progression system. Fortnite has been experimenting with carrying over progress from one match to another for YEARS now. This one in particular I believe was a failure. It was too much power for too few people every match. And you either joined the fray for the black markets, or you were guaranteed to lose.

 

[Scream Aim Fire]

Okay, so what was the story for Lawless, again? I get that it was supposed to be about a bunch of outlaws teaming up against Fletcher Kane, but... why exactly are we supposed to hate him again? We get told that he's a crime boss - by a bunch of anarchist outlaws - but we didn't really see him do too much in the game itself. Aside from him supporting Daigo, the main reason why we're supposed to hate him is because... he's rivals with Midas, I guess? I find "the man with the golden hands" to be overrated as fuck, personally...

Also, how was crashing the island's economy supposed to be a good thing, again? Comes across as a bit tone-deaf, especially given certain IRL issues as of recent.

Legit question, I'd appreciate an answer if anyone's got one.

Also, if you haven't touched the Festival Stage all season, jump in and do like two or three rounds of Festival. You'll get like 15 levels from all the intro quests, milestones and weeklies.

I actually did a pretty good chunk of work in other modes this season; Festival was my main, often played for about an hour straight or so before taking breaks. Rocket Racing was also good for a bit, though I had to quit after the game started putting me in a bunch of lobbies filled with sweats that'd all finish the race while I'm still halfway through Lap 2. I even went out of my way to complete the Ranked quests for this season and get all the rewards.

Hardest quests for me were the "Kill [X] Players with Exotic Weapons."

Struggled with that one myself; can't even remember how I completed it, I think I used the Exotic Auto Shotgun? Really can't remember.

I can't think of a new PoI that I was really wowed by. The season gimmick was kinda blah.

I think Crimson Crime City was my favorite this season; cool atmosphere, though I really think it should've been bigger. The vaults and Black Markets were pretty crap, I agree; in theory they're kinda cool, but in the actual game all they did was force everyone into fighting over a few select points.

And the season was definitely casual unfriendly with the outlaw card progression system. Fortnite has been experimenting with carrying over progress from one match to another for YEARS now. This one in particular I believe was a failure. It was too much power for too few people every match. And you either joined the fray for the black markets, or you were guaranteed to lose.

The Outlaw Card was EXTREMELY bad, I agree. The quests were a bit ridiculous, the rewards were overpowered (guaranteed Legendary and Exotic weapons and 2 Shield Pots at the start if you landed at a BM first), and the game more-or-less lost the original BR charm that it had - no more scavenging when you're guaranteed loot, after all. I wouldn't say that they were "required" to win; I've won a number of BR matches without ever stepping foot in one myself, though I will say that they make for a VERY good and reliable place for loot. Frankly, I found the Kneecapper to be the biggest issue; faster movement and high damage made it ridiculous.

It sounds like this is a shorter chapter, hopefully, but the idea of a meta of just lightsabers sounds boring. I am so sick of melee weapons dominating, there is no skill.

I just played - and won - a match myself of the new season; here's my thoughts:

- New POIs are... okay? Nothing terribly major, but I guess if you're a Star Wars fan...

- They got rid of the banks in the various POIs; while it means no more easy loot, it also raises the question of the island's economy, in-universe. Bit upset, they were my favorite locations for running around in.

- Black Markets are also gone. Basically just blocked off, like Skillet's cave being caved-in, though you can still find a few chests laying around.

- Haven't done much with the flying vehicles as of yet, though I'm pretty certain I watched someone get a pretty good streak going with one.

- In terms of lightsabers, managed to pick up one for myself, and... they're not that good, actually. Combo's decent but a bit slower than the prior melee options, and it doesn't have the insane lunge. You get increased movement speed, but not stamina, and the force powers you get from it are dependent on which Jedi/Sith trainer you go to; I got Rey - I know, fuck me am I right? - so I got stuck with a double jump (which kinda sucked) and Force Push.

- All the normal ballistic weapons have been vaulted and replaced with Star Wars laser guns, which is... a bit complicated to really grasp right now. As someone not familiar with Star Wars lore myself, I have some difficulties telling them apart at a glance, making finding a good gun more trial-and-error... with lots of error. All the weapons do have unlimited ammo, meaning you won't need to scavenge, but they also overheat and have both lower fire rates and kinda weird accuracy, from my experience.

- There's pinata tauntauns you can hide in up near the First Order Base to restore health; thought it was a funny little gag.

Overall, not a very interesting season for me, already got the umbrella, probably just going to skip this one. If you guys are looking to snag the umbrella for yourself, might want to strike while the iron's hot and get a victory soon, before all the real kiddies start getting the melee weapons buffed. I'm already dealing with a bunch of sweats.

 

[skykiii]

So before the last BP ended I managed to find a convenient way to get levels.... Lego Fortnite Brick Life gives 3,000exp a minute, just for playing. The only caveat is you have to be active, tho "active" seems to mean moving around and occasionally doing other button presses to prove you don't just have something holding down an analog stick... so I did that, but also would press the jump button occasionally, while spending most of the day watching stuff on my PC (I play Fortnite on Switch).

And now that that's done, I basically don't want to touch it. I may pop in to see what this new season is like but honestly I'm not a huge Star Wars fan and I'm so burned out on Fortnite that I'm borderline burned out on 3D and/or multiplayer games in general and may just hit up my Sega Genesis.

 

[BunchaBabyDucks]

So they’re selling Star Wars crocs to kids for ten real people dollars?

 

[Scream Aim Fire]

So, Epic removed most of the more advanced movement options that they released in Chapter 6; wall jumping, wall scrambling, and rolling, apparently because the competitive side of the fanbase hated it and said that it made the game "impossible" to play. Not sure why they hated it so much, I found them to be pretty useful and fun.

 

[D.Angus]

Honestly, focusing on the competitive side is what made me quit fucking overwatch in 2017.

I love'd the movement, Getting that boost of moment off a ledge feels great, as well as rolling when you land. They animated and worked the camera great so it feels impactful...

Not sure why they hated it so much

I think it's because they don't like people having an advantage. I play builds, and I cannot remember the amount of times that just being able to quickly scale whatever nonsense they were throwing up was freeing. Build players mostly use buildings to entrap and control people, i.e. what I like to call "Gay Baby Jail", because they cannot shoot.

Just remember the mantra of "The Meta":

 

[Stab You in the Back]

So, Epic removed most of the more advanced movement options that they released in Chapter 6; wall jumping, wall scrambling, and rolling, apparently because the competitive side of the fanbase hated it and said that it made the game "impossible" to play. Not sure why they hated it so much, I found them to be pretty useful and fun.

The video I watched on it suggested that because all movement options were mapped to the same button, pros were accidentally killing themselves during frenetic endgame tower battles.

It doesn't explain why they had to turn it off for EVERYBODY, but fucking over normal people to please the 1% of pros who abuse mechanics seems to be the way of all multiplayer games.

 

[Scream Aim Fire]

Honestly, focusing on the competitive side is what made me quit fucking overwatch in 2017.

I love'd the movement, Getting that boost of moment off a ledge feels great, as well as rolling when you land. They animated and worked the camera great so it feels impactful...

I think the boost jump is still in the game, but the sweats are trying to get it removed as well; something about it being "too strong" or some shit. That being said, Epic is apparently planning on returning the advanced movement sometime in the future, tweaking it so it's more "balanced"... somehow.

I think it's because they don't like people having an advantage. I play builds, and I cannot remember the amount of times that just being able to quickly scale whatever nonsense they were throwing up was freeing. Build players mostly use buildings to entrap and control people, i.e. what I like to call "Gay Baby Jail", because they cannot shoot.

Probably why I ended up winning so many matches against others; it's easy to notice someone throwing up giant walls everywhere and prepare accordingly, and oftentimes they get so secure in their own bases that they either forget to actually watch their backs - making them VERY easy to sneak up on - or they forget about the storm and die.

Just remember the mantra of "The Meta":
View attachment 7324214

Yeah, this change; I admit that I was more "taking a break" from the game after going through so many crap seasons, plus me getting sick of both the unchanging meta, the broken melee weapons, the FOMO shit, etc., but I think the removal of movement to cater to the build sweats might've just killed the game for me. At this rate, unless Epic starts making some SERIOUS changes in the right direction, I'm just going to be playing something else.

 

[D.Angus]

My tinfoil hat theory is that "Star Wars Battle Royal" will become it's own septate thing and that this is the "Test" to engage interest/run numbers.

While it might be cool, Fortnite adding and having to maintain all these game modes is going to spread people thin. Plus, Star Wars fatigue is real and in full effect. I've never fully liked Star Wars to begin with, so I might be biased.