PAX 2018 was a historic event in Fortnite’s history. The first Epic Games-sponsored event paves the way for the future of the game. A lot of critical events happened throughout the weekend that either improved the quality of the event or came across as totally off-base.
After four days of intense competition, Austin “Morgausse” Etue walked out as the winner, takinga grand prize of $250,000. The finals of the event averaged a groundbreaking 160,000 viewers on the main stream. However, many popular streamers also held watching parties, so the total viewer count was likely much higher than what the main stream’s viewership indicates.
The success of the event is eminent. Everyone got to see the skill of the most dedicated players in the planet. The quality of their play was unbelievable. All of their effort came together creating a beautiful spectacle.
The event was great and there are certainly some areas to praise, but there are also are many areas to improve. Here, we will reflect over the event, and how to make the next one even greater.
Viewer Experience
The viewer experience in Epic’s stream was excellent. Over the course of seven weeks of competition, Epic has gone through a lot of arrangements that improve the viewer experience.
The ongoing development for a solid spectator mode is there. As a tool during the event, Epic proved its progress. Battles were able to shine as the field of vision of the camera expanded. In the last circles, their camera change gave us the opportunity to see the big scale of the action.
Scheduling
The format of the event consisted of a series of heats that served as preliminaries for the nightly qualifiers. Through three heats, 97 players made it to the qualifiers were they duked it out for a spot in the finals. The nightly qualifiers were live on Twitch for anyone to enjoy, and learn the qualifying players. In the first day of the event, the qualifier stream ran late. It was set for 9:00 PM EST, but didn’t start until 10:20 PM EST.
The heats took a lot more time than Epic had anticipated. Tweets about the completion of the last heat did not surface until at least 9:30 PM EST, resulting in the delay. On the second day, Epic had some technical issues that resulted, delaying the start time yet again. This is reasonable, but not expected.
Two of the days ran late, and made us wait a sizable amount of time. This is something to learn from and improve upon so the next big event stands at the top.
The Anti-gravity Event
Fortnite’s lore runs very deep in the community. Epic does not use a written format to explain the story. Instead, the game’s lore is showcased in events through map changes in the game’s updates. Progress is seen by everyone as they play the game creating a storyline. The uniqueness of this style is something Epic really thrives on.
Season five – the current season – led to a massive cube that wanders around the map planting runes while it traverses the map. At a certain diameter around the zone, the runes that are planted in receive an effect: altered gravity, making you jump a lot higher, and disabling fall damage.
However, in game five of the event, things looked a little bit off. Suddenly, everyone started flying up and down the zone. Some players were even launched out of the gravity field making them die to fall damage. Epic saw the situation and after the game, they deactivated the low gravity zones in addition to the cube’s movement. To make up for the random deaths the cube caused, they added a game – a fair resolution, to say the least.
Coin Flip
In the third day of the tournament, a very particular event occurred. Place 33 and 34 tied in every single category. To solve tiebreakers, Epic evaluates total points, number of victory royales, total eliminations, and average placement. If the players tie in every one of this categories, a coin flip occurs.
To have two players tie in every one of these categories is very unlikely. Yet in the tournament, Colton “Colton” Masters and Sergio “Cryohme” Garibay did just that. A coin flip worth a minimum of $5,000 dollars occurs, and Cryohme advances.
Just think about it: both players push themselves to qualify, and tie. Both of them have the same right to qualify, however a coin flip solves the issue – the players have no control over their own fate. This is really unfair for both of them. A better tiebreaker needs to be established to ensure player’s advancements aren’t determined by sheer luck.
Peripherals
Players competing in PAX 2018 used a standard set of peripherals supplied by the event. The players familiarity with the peripherals was poor resulting on a harder. Most of the players bought the mouse, and keyboard used in the event just to gain the familiarity to be able to compete.
According to the players, some of the setups were wonky. Frame drops occurred, making the peripherals different. If Epic supplies the peripherals, they should be top notch. Players should also be allowed to play with their own set of peripherals.
This article is meant to start debate, so feel free to comment and express your opinions about the event.
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