Over the course of the three years that Fortnite Battle Royale has been out, there have been many great changes to the game. However, some of the changes affected the game in ways that negatively impacted the community and created a lot of backlash towards certain features.
The past year has marked a huge shift in Fortnite Battle Royale with a brand new graphics overhaul and tons of new features that have been added since the release of the game. While Fortnite is still kicking and doesn't seem to be going anywhere anytime soon, it's worth looking back on some of the major changes made to the game. Here are five features that made the game more fun and five more that made it worse.
10 MADE IT MORE FUN: Season 3 Graphics Overhaul
The graphics overhaul that started during Season 3 of Fortnite Battle Royale Chapter 1 was an amazing change from the very rough looking graphics that were present in the game prior to the overhaul. The update in Season 3 also made the game run a lot smoother on consoles while giving it a much more polished look.
Even though the console community is often looked down upon due to the many differences from playing the game on PC, console gaming is a very important part of any gaming community and it was nice to see that the developers cared about this.
9 MADE IT WORSE: Skill Based Matchmaking
Skill-based matchmaking is becoming more and more common in competitive games and seems to be part of the new normal. It basically uses a system that pairs players up based on skill levels and reduces the chances of a very skilled player to play against someone that's brand new to the game.
The major flaw with this is that it takes away any hope of casual play from a player that's taken time getting better at the game and wants to play with friends at a lower skill level. The system seems to always place decent players in lobbies that are quite an unenjoyable experience and the feature has gotten a lot of backlash since its release.
8 MADE IT MORE FUN: Arena
Somewhat of a solution to skill-based matchmaking is the Arena mode feature that works as a ranked mode where competitive players can put their skills to the test around players at their skill level and work their way to the top.
There's a ton of tournaments in Arena mode with high prize pools that give skilled players the chance to win cash prizes. This is something that could be expanded upon with new features and rules that make the experience more enjoyable for players looking to go pro or for current professional players.
7 MADE IT WORSE: Challenge Table
Although it does have some unique and cool visuals, the challenge table that was added in Chapter 2 Season 2 is a bit confusing compared to the original season challenges menu that was available in previous seasons. It isn't terrible but isn't quite as easy to follow and can be a bit difficult to use with its slightly unfriendly user interface.
It'd be pretty cool if the ability to pick specific challenges to appear on the screen while in a match was added. This would make it a lot more simple to set a plan for what challenges can be completed in a specific area.
6 MADE IT MORE FUN: Vehicles
Chapter 2 Season 1 was a pretty rough time in Fortnite as the mobility that once existed in the game had been entirely stripped away. Thankfully, vehicles have been added to the game after a ton of feedback from fans.
The helicopter is extremely useful for getting around the map and escaping certain situations and launch pads have been added back into the game for even more mobility in fights. There's a possibility that the cars around the map might be driveable in the future which will be really cool. One thing that would be great is the readdition of shopping carts. They weren't exactly fast but were hilarious for transporting your duo around.
5 MADE IT WORSE: Mythic Weapons
Mythic weapons were a strange addition for Fortnite as they were added at a time were players were mostly asking for gun balance and variety so that different weapons in the game were viable. Since the final seasons of Chapter 1, there have been very specific load-outs that perform extremely better than other weapons in the game and almost completely ensure a victory royale.
Some of the mythic weapons are completely overpowered, even in the hands of a newer player. It'd be great to see the weapons balanced out a bit in the future or only be used for certain game modes.
4 MADE IT MORE FUN: Turbo Building
This could also go in the worse category depending on the player. Turbo building allowed for the player to hold down their building input button to constantly keep placing builds down rather than have to click the mouse or press on the trigger on a controller over and over again.
The main downside of this is that it gives players of all skill level the ability to spam builds constantly. Other than that it saved a lot of players from having finger injuries and is responsible for evolving building into what it is now in Fortnite.
3 MADE IT WORSE: Ballers
The baller was one of the most interesting vehicles added to Fortnite Battle Royale but was also one of the most frustrating to deal with. When it was added, it made tournaments extremely awkward as players were traveling at high speeds inside a hamster ball and grappling from extremely far distances.
In casual play, it was quite fun to use and would be a great addition for the current map. However, for competitive play, it should probably remain vaulted.
2 MADE IT MORE FUN: Cross-Play
Nothing is better than playing with friends and one of the dreams that all console players had during the first couple seasons of Fortnite was to be able to play with their friends on a different platform. Cross-play gave players the ability to play with their friends on PS4, Xbox One, PC, Nintendo Switch, and even mobile.
It brought everyone together and showed that the whole gaming community could get along. It's a feature that should be present in any multiplayer game released from now on and will hopefully set an example for other developers.
1 MADE IT WORSE: Chapter 2 Graphics Overhaul On Consoles
Unlike the first graphics overhaul, Chapter 2, unfortunately, made Fortnite run a lot worse and caused a lot of rendering issues on current-gen consoles. This was to be expected given the updated visuals, but issues could have been fixed if the developers allowed console players to turn down certain settings such as shadows and view distance.
Some games offer a lot of customization for graphics settings to allow for better gameplay and hopefully, next-gen consoles will handle the game a lot better as well as offer these settings for Fortnite in future updates.