Drastic changes have been made to Fortnite Battle Royale throughout the course of Season 10 and that’s been a continuing trend for this game, but let’s take a look at six things that should never have been added.
The game’s landmark tenth season has been somewhat marred by criticism from members of the game’s online community, particularly surrounding the introduction of BRUTE Mech suits, but people can’t help but feel that they’ve seen it all before in some ways.
While many fans will have enjoyed seeing fresh content added throughout this season already, including the exciting Borderlands 3 and Batman crossover events, there’s no doubt that they have also enjoyed seeing the back of some features since the game was released in September 2017.
So, let’s take a look at some of the things that should never have found their way into the battle royale mode.
The Infinity Blade
Right, let’s get this one out of the way quickly.
It could be argued that there’s never been a more polarizing weapon to enter Battle Royale than the Infinity Blade.
The sword, which was added to Fortnite in December 2018’s v7.01 update, encouraged players to use the close combat weapon instead of other guns by increasing the HP and shield of whoever held the Infinity Blade by 200 – which would replenish each time an elimination was recorded.
Therefore, if a good player was to get ahold of it, it would be very difficult to stop them – especially considering the huge leap they would adopt when carrying it as well. For all intent and purposes it was a disaster to add this type of weapon to the game mode.
X-4 Stormwing planes
Not everybody will agree with this and we can understand why – many people enjoyed playing with this feature.
After countless nerfs to planes and complaints from players stacking up during Season 7, it made sense for Epic Games to make the decision to remove them in Season 8.
They weren’t just circling over our heads in Fortnite since the v7.00 patch, though, they were shooting players down and crashing into their buildings – most of the time with very little damage being dealt to neither the vehicle, pilot or passengers.
For an extended period of time, X-4 Stormwings were too strong and by the time the developer made the necessary changes, the game’s community were sick of the sight of them. On reflection, they probably weren’t worth adding in the first place.
Shadow Stones
This piece of equipment lasted just season, as they were added at the beginning of Season 6 and scrapped by the v7.00 update after countless bugs.
Shadow Stones were only intended to give a player temporary invisibility, although issues hampered this item dramatically as some players found ways of disappearing from the eyes of their opponents for the entire game.
The idea itself was good, but the way it was rolled out and the bugs involved just made the addition of Shadow Stones a tremendous disaster.
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BRUTE Mech suits
The BRUTE Mech suits have been strongly defended by Epic Games during Season 10, having faced stern criticisms from members of the game’s competitive and streaming community – many of which have tried out other titles since these were added.
The powerful Mechs were added, in the view of the developers, to give people that are new to the game just as much chance of winning in the battle royale mode as slightly more experienced players.
In a statement, released on August 15, Epic Games stated: “We have seen players who had previously struggled with getting eliminations acquiring more, while the number of eliminations earned by more experienced players remained steady.”
While that much is true and they had the statistics to back it up, being destroyed by one of these huge vehicles – which can fit two people inside, one shooting and the other controlling movement – is something that people haven’t really warmed to.
No matter what side of the debate you’re on, for the Mech or against it, this has been one of the most controversial features added to the game. Some can’t wait to see it go.
Guided Missile
Anybody who played Fortnite when the Guided Missile was active knows what we’re talking about.
This weapon was perhaps the most overpowered thing on the game, allowing you to be anywhere on the map and call in an almost Call of Duty-style airstrike on opponents.
Thankfully, it was vaulted in November 2018 with patch 6.21 and long may it stay that way.
Other more practical explosive weapons still exist in the game, though, including the Grenade Launcher and Rocket Launcher. Hopefully, we never see this thing return.
The Block
Let’s hope you don’t hold too much deep-seated pain here, but the day that The Block is completely removed from Fortnite will be remembered long in the memory of many gamers.
It initially replaced popular destination Risky Reels, before its return to the game in one of the major map changes of Season 8. This location might be respected by some fans as a place where they’re able to celebrate community creations, and that’s understandable. It’s a nice idea.
However, there’s no continuity about this ever-changing location. One minute a good design comes around and you start dropping there – a week later it’s gone.
Whether you’re a top Fortnite player or just a casual fan, it’s nice to find consistent drop points that work for you or your squad. At the moment, it’s just taking up space on an already crowded map and that area could be used for something much better.
So, that concludes our list of worst things to be added. While every fan will have their own opinions on different features, there’s no doubt that each of these kicked up a fuss.