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Why Fortnite Isn't Ready For Worlds
Fortnite

Fortnite: Why They Aren’t Ready for Worlds

Nicholas RiveraBy Updated:7 Mins Read

Fortnite is under all kinds of fire right now for all of their updates in season eight. With the removal of planes early on, the community was happy, aside from a few minor things. Now with the removal of siphon and Ballers not being changed, Fortnite is not in a good state. Players are not enjoying playing and Epic is distant from the community. Fortnite isn’t ready for Worlds because there are too many little things adding up making the game sub-par and not fun to play.

Reboot Vans

Reboot vans are supposed to be the saving grace for siphon, but nobody really likes the change. Sure it is nice to bring a teammate back from the dead, but the mechanic is something players did not need. Epic decided to remove siphon and put in vans to make up for the lack of shields/hp and provide a solution to third parties. With a poll of hundreds of thousands of people hosted by Tyler “Ninja” Blevins, players just want siphon back, not the ability to revive.

Why Fortnite Isn't Ready For Worlds
Reboot van in Paradise Palms // In-game capture by Nicholas Rivera

The vans also leave a lot of room for issues in certain fights. Since it is not possible to build near the van, it could result in issues late game. If a small circle is around a van, players will not be able to take that part. This also makes it hard to rotate on the ground since it would be easy for players to shoot enemies near the van. Instead of adding vans, Epic needs to listen to their community and revert back to siphon. Now a core mechanic to Fortnite, it makes public games feel boring, slow and not enjoyable for the masses.

These issues are going to cause issues for World cup qualifiers because players do not have a good way to practice/warm up. Customs are hard to get lots of people who follow rules and jumping into tournaments cold is a good way to lose points. Siphon would fix this issue and it would allow players to play slow in their games based on decisions they would make in a qualifier.

Ballers

Ballers are the new vehicle in season eight and are disliked by so many players. While they are great for mobility and avoiding enemies, Epic is not following through on their claim. In a Reddit post a few weeks ago, Epic said they would allow balls to be shot through. This week after the v8.30 update, a hotfix gave the balls 100 less hp. While this is still a step in the right direction, it is not a solution.

The ability to shoot through balls would encourage players to build instead of rolling around waiting for everyone to die. Balls are not a competitive vehicle, but without one it is hard to get those top placement scores. Given all of the disadvantages, Epic should not have the balls in competitive mode. Sure they are fun and cool to use, but in a competitive setting, they do not belong.

For World Cup qualifiers, the Baller is about as RNG as it gets. The health nerf makes them easier to shoot but does not encourage the players inside to build. Since they cannot be shot through, players will continue to roll around. Players will also get to save materials and ammo,  waiting for end game patiently. This makes it unfair to those who rotate well and can survive despite not having a ball. These players are then punished by being at a disadvantage against someone with no kills who rolled around the entire game.

Late Game Performance

Late game performance is an issue Fortnite has had for a long time. With the most expensive rigs, lots of pros cannot run more than 80 frames in the final circles. As the circles get smaller, frames get worse and players experience a lag type gameplay. With frame drops and issues like constant red lines in the ping bar, there is lots of work to do here. Players have complained about this for a long time, but Epic is just now acknowledging it.

Lots of people played on stretched resolution to avoid late-game stutters and drops, but Epic banned stretched from all competitive gameplay. This is another change that has totally turned players away from Fortnite recently, and some have no plans to come back. Players who are adapting still want it back claiming native is hard to play late game since the lag is just too bad.

Since the World Cup qualifiers are online, it does not make sense to leave performance the way it is. LAN tournaments do not have ping issues, but online ones do. Those red lines across the ping bar don’t let the player do anything since the connection is constantly interrupted, even when the ping is low. This issue and the FPS drops late game make the game super hard to play at the end. This is a time where edits, shots and peeks are most important, so the disadvantage it puts players at is unacceptable.

Audio

Audio is another issue players have with Fortnite. While some audio was updated this week, the overall experience is not great. It is very hard to hear enemies in certain situations and to tell where they are. Inside the apartments in Tilted Towers, players cannot hear where enemies are. The above and below sounds do not change if players are one or two floors away. The sounds are also very similar and the transition is not good. Players running upstairs, for example, do not sound like they are getting closer or to the same level, but the sound just changes. Players with hundreds of dollars in sound equipment cannot make out these indistinct noises. This results in lots of missed opportunities and lost shots on players since it is too hard to hear.

In the World Cup, players are going to be very close to each other. End game lobbies are going to be so large with all of the pros in one game. This means players need to be able to hear what is going on around them and who is where during the game. This is going to be hard since the audio is not very good at telling players where an enemy is. General directions do not help against high-level players, only precise positioning. The current state of audio makes this a very hard thing to do.

The Community

The Fortnite community is also shifting very fast. At one time, the Fortnite community was full of players looking for others to succeed. In its current state, the amount of pleading and negativity towards Epic is bringing that vibe down. Players want to enjoy the game again like when it first came out. Since the game is making such drastic changes and not listening to popular feedback, it is going downhill.

Many pros like Liquid Poach say that the only reason the game still has players is because of the money involved. People are not having fun and with stretched taken away and Ballers being the way they are, it is frustrating. Siphon and a few tweaks would have made the game normal again, and players could have fun and enjoy the World Cup. At this rate, players will compete because they want to win, not because they are enjoying the gameplay. Epic needs to work with its content creators to make sure the game is brought back to a normal state again.

Featured Image Courtesy of Epic Games

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