Epic Are Trying To Make Fortnite Less “Just Build LOL”, And Fans Don’t Like It

Fortnite’s Battle Royale mode always had a rather different tone to the likes of H1Z1 and PUBG, largely thanks to being able to build ramps and walls to create impromptu defences and sniping nests, but as time has passed players have come to rely on this more and more. The top players in the game are able to throw up a tower in a matter of moments, out-building their opponent and typically finishing the job with a shotgun. It’s a gameplay meta that Epic want to balance differently going forward.

Writing in a blog post titled ‘Counterplay and Play Styles‘, they write:

Fortnite is constantly evolving. Our goal with any changes is to keep the game fun and interesting, keeping it feeling fresh and new.

It’s important to support a variety of late game strategies, that don’t boil down to “just build lol”. We strongly believe that the evolution of Fortnite supports a wide range of play styles and counterplay. Currently, the superiority of shotguns, rockets, and uncapped building are such a dominant play style in the final circle that most other strategies are being drowned out.

In recent updates they’ve tried to give players more options for taking down towers, such as miniguns and more powerful explosives, but they’re also exploring more changes which could include introducing resource caps to the game.

However, the fans of the game are not happy about this, and in particular feel that the building and mastery of this mechanic for high end play and victories should be preserved. Naturally there’s memes and jokes about the forthcoming changes, but there’s also more verbose responses. “Building is not a playstyle, its a core mechanic of the game and the most skill based aspect of it,” reads on lengthily titled thread, another tells Epic to “make BLITZ a permanent mode so we all have something to enjoy while you kill the standard game,” or likens it to removing aerial boost in Rocket League. Summing it up is a reminder of a motto from the game:

Changes are coming, and fan feedback and player behaviour will naturally play into how Epic rebalance the game. Personally, taking a step away from the building feels more inviting for newcomers – I myself have really enjoyed the balance on Switch where players aren’t so adept at building, and just a few days ago people were reminiscing on Reddit about how the game used to be played in the first few months. How do you feel about this?

Source: Epic, Reddit

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4 Comments

  1. Never got the hang of building, seemed horribly fiddly, so gave up on Fortnite.

    • Same. Got down to the last three a few times and just couldn’t build the same way as others so knew victory was most likely out of my reach. Gave up then.

      • Indeed, unless you can build a 100ft tower within 5 seconds you’re screwed.

    • Same here. The building mechanic is a great idea but for me I feel it’s very overpowered. But it’s their game so it’s their call. Would be interesting to see just how much they’re willing to switch things up.

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