Fortnite Chapter 2 is now well underway and players are getting used to dropping in on the new map and adding fishing to their list of things to do on the island. In a surprising turn of events, many players felt like they were performing way better than usual during their first Fortnite Chapter 2 matches. As it turns out, there's a reason for all of those first drop Victory Royales.
Yes, Fortnite Chapter 2 has made some significant changes to the game beyond just altering the map, adding in fishing, and unlocking water vehicles. Adjustments have also been made to matchmaking and how players can work their way through the game before they are very skilled. Some of the methods to accomplish this are a bit surprising or unclear, since Chapter 2 originally launched with no patch notes to help maintain the excitement and surprise of the event.
So, why did so many people earn Victory Royales during their Fortnite Chapter 2 #FirstDrop? The answer is simple: Bots. Epic Games had announced that it was planning to add bots to the game, but nobody was sure if they were going to arrive at the start of chapter 2 when the Black Hole disappeared. It turns out the bots are here and they are... Not super skilled when it comes to earning kills.
During each player's first drop in Chapter 2 (now that The End event is over), it seems like the vast majority of opponents are going to be bots. This is likely to make sure all players have a positive memory of their first Chapter 2 interaction, but it also gives players a chance to earn their first Victory Royale and unlock the associated aesthetic rewards. The bots aren't going away after match 1 though, until players rank up and demonstrate that they've got the skills, their Fortnite matches are still going to include at least a handful of bots every time.
Early on, some players are managing to capture pretty entertaining footage of how a lot of bot interactions end up playing out during the early Chapter 2 matches...
As is often the case when a new feature like bots is rolled out, there's definitely room for improvement. Though it's great that there's a new path for rookie players to learn about the game and advance to later stages of each round, these bots definitely seem to be a little on the basic side. Many players report running into bots who just ignore player characters and continue mining resources and going about their business. This obviously makes it incredibly easy to takeout the bots and harvest any items that they leave behind.
A few weeks before the bots were added to the game, Epic had this to say about bot implementation and strategy...
In the next Season, we are adding Bots to Fortnite. They will behave similarly to normal players and will help provide a better path for players to grow in skill. Bots will work in conjunction with the new matchmaking system, and as your skill improves, you’ll face fewer Bots. Bots will not be present in Competitive playlists. This is another system that we will continue to update and iterate.
At this point, there are some limitations to how bots work and when players will face off against them. Bots will never appear in a Competitive Match or in Creative Mode. When bots do show up, they will not currently be able to use vehicles and players do not have the option to party up with them (so players won't be teaming up with bots to go on Mythic Goldfish hunts). There are no settings to tell Fortnite you want to play against all bots or anything like that, the Matchmaking formula sort of makes the decision on how many bots will be in each of your rounds. That said, it does seem likely that some kind of all bot training round mode may be implemented in the future after the bot AI gets a bit more advanced.
As Fortnite Chapter 2 advances, hopefully we see some speedy improvements to the bot AI. Epic Games is invested in making bots a positive part of the Fortnite experience, so it seems very likely that the developers will continue to tweak and patch the bot behaviors until they are actually able to pose a threat and put up a real challenge for players who are still in the bot game matchmaking tiers.
Be sure to check back in the near future for more Fortnite strategy guides, news, and updates. Until then, good luck out there!
Fortnite is out now for iOS, Android, PC, PS4, Switch, and Xbox One.