Fortnite adds in new weapons, modes, and vehicles all the time, but Epic Games plans to slow that pace ahead of the Fortnite World Cup finals in July. A new post on Fortnite's official website explains the studio's recent philosophy in balancing the game for competitive play, something Epic admits it hasn't been as active in discussing with players "as we ought to be". The post also went in-depth with explanations of the decision to scale back Siphon, and why you probably shouldn't hold your breath for official field-of-view sliders.
What should you expect, or perhaps not expect, as the World Cup gets closer? Big meta-shifting stuff like new vehicles (remember when everybody was mad about planes, then Ballers) will probably hit the brakes for a while, and powerful new weapons will likely slow down as well. This will allow competitive players to practice with confidence knowing that their strategies won't be upended by some meta-shaking addition. Epic Games actually wanted to start smoothing things out for all of the Online Qualifiers as well, but their new weekly schedule means it will only be able to do so for some of them.
Getting rid of Siphon (earning health/shields for every elimination) was also spurred by competitive players, though in this case it's because they were messing up the game for their more casual peers, "Players at large grew more frustrated with Fortnite play, feeling they had less of a chance due to encounters with high-skill players with full health and shields," Epic said. "Ultimately, Siphon increased engagement for the highest-skilled 10%, while the remaining 90% were more frustrated and played less."
Same thing for field-of-view adjustments and stretched resolutions; they benefit the top tier of players while worsening the experience for everyone else. Either you crank up your FOV to max and stretch the hell out of your resolution until it looks like you're playing through a fever dream fishbowl, or you consign yourself to inferior situational awareness. "Fundamentally, we seek to avoid optional settings which provide players with a significant gameplay advantage," Epic explained.
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