Fortnite Battle Royale developers Epic Games have finally announced that they will take action on the controversial ‘B.R.U.T.E’ mechs in competitive play, after players’ complaints became too loud to ignore.
Since being added back at the start of Season 10, the Mechs have done little but aggrevate much of the player base, deemed far too overpowered, with high-damage weapons and incredible mobility.
Competitive players were particularly vocal about the addition of mechs, as they seriously threatened to ruin tournament games, but at first Epic Games did little to address the complaints.
Finally, on August 10, the backlash from players, particularly big name pro players and streamers, likely got too loud for Epic to ignore, and they have implemented a change – but maybe not the one everyone was hoping for.
Most players were asking for the complete removal of BRUTE Mechs in competitive, but instead, their spawn frequency will simply be reduced – but not eradicated.
Epic have said that they will “impact of this change in advance of next weekend’s Champion Series event.”
We’ve lowered the spawn rates of the B.R.U.T.E. per Storm circle in Arena and Tournament playlists. We will continue to monitor the impact of this change in advance of next weekend’s Champion Series event.
Find full details on the new spawn rates here: https://t.co/iG5UDJJD8G
— Fortnite (@FortniteGame) August 10, 2019
In their Reddit post, Epic explain exactly how the changes will affect spawn rates in Tournament and Arena playlists:
Beginning of Match
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- 21.5% chance that between 1-3 B.R.U.T.Es will spawn
- Previously was 100% chance that between 2-4 B.R.U.T.Es would spawn
Storm 1
- 44% chance that between 1-4 B.R.U.T.Es will spawn
- Previously was 100% chance that between 2-4 B.R.U.T.Es would spawn
Storm 2
- 40% chance that between 1-2 B.R.U.T.Es will spawn
- Previously was 100% chance that between 1-3 B.R.U.T.Es would spawn
Storm 3
- 40% chance that between 1-2 B.R.U.T.Es will spawn
- Previously was 66% chance that 2 B.R.U.T.Es would spawn
Storm 4
- 10% chance that 1 B.R.U.T.E will spawn
- Previously was 50% chance that 1 B.R.U.T.E would spawn
Storm 5
- 3% chance that 1 B.R.U.T.E will spawn
- Previously was 10% chance that 1 B.R.U.T.E would spawn
The change is an improvement, but it’s unlikely to completely satisfy most players, who would certainly rather the mechs were simply removed instead.
For regular casual matches, it seems Epic has no immediate plans to nerf or remove BRUTE Mechs – despite the wave of criticism.