Epic Games have officially removed Ziplines from their popular battle royale title Fortnite following the discovery of multiple exploits involving the rotation tool.
Unlike previous seasons, Fortnite Chapter 2 doesn’t feature an abundance of ways to travel quickly around the map. Those who want to use the rivers and waterways that slice through the island can use Boats, which were introduced to the game when the new era of the game began back in October.
Epic Games also brought back Ziplines, which were a major feature in the game previously, placing them on the east side of the map to allow players to move up and down the right side of the island quickly and easily.
Players hopping into the game on January 21 will notice that these Ziplines are now gone, with Epic Games confirming that they were temporarily placing them into the vault on January 20 as they attempt to deal with a number of exploits and glitches that were affecting their use in game.
Due to an issue, Ziplines have been temporarily disabled. We plan to re-enable them in our next update.
Please note that the “Use a Zipline in different matches” Challenge will be auto-completed shortly.
Trello card here: https://t.co/7XK4IMoUAD pic.twitter.com/FM52Nf4Y8R
— Fortnite Status (@FortniteStatus) January 20, 2020
Why are Ziplines being vaulted?
Epic Games moved to quickly vault Ziplines when a number of glitches and exploits appeared in-game, allowing players to zoom through the air to connect to one, or use them as a way to land quickly when jumping out of the Battle Bus.
The most popular glitch was the ability to fly from the ground up to the Zipline by standing directly underneath one, staring straight into the sky, and pressing the interact button. Players would magically teleport from the ground into the sky above, allowing them to travel in either direction much quicker than they could on the ground.
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Players could also use Ziplines to avoid pulling out a glider while descending from the Battle Bus, allowing them to hit the ground before opponents who were using the traditional method. By flying over the Ziplines, players could pull the same trick in reverse and attach onto the transportation method from crazy heights by looking straight down while flying above them, and simply jumping off to land first.
Players also found a way to use Ziplines to destroy structures, with the glitch happening when they connected to the lines while standing in water. The glitch would then cause explosions at players’ feet, allowing them to destroy buildings as they walked, and even glitch under the map.
When will Ziplines return to Fortnite?
Epic Games have confirmed that they plan to re-enable the transportation method in the game’s next update, but didn’t give fans an exact date as to when they can expect that patch to release. With the v11.40 Update going live on Tuesday, January 14, it’s likely that we may not see a fix until January 28, and may have to wait for Chapter 2, Season 2, which kicks off in early February.
The issue has been added to Fortnite’s official Trello board, with the developer stating that the exploits are “important,” and confirming that it will be fixed for the next patch.