What is wrong with Fortnite and how Epic

can fix it.

EDIT: ​The 8.3 update was disappointing. :(
I want to preface this by saying,
1. I do not agree with the recent changes regarding stretched resolution
2. I support Epic as a company

That being said, lets get to the important stuff

COMPETITIVE
Alright folks. This paragraph will focus on the Baller, stretched resolution and permanent ranked
mode. Im gonna take it back to Winter Royale. ​After sitting down to catch the lastfew games of
the winter royale, I was greeted with a ton of high skill players competing in a life changing
semi-final tournament, with huge emphasis in life changing. The reward of placement was to get
a chance at competing in the finals. The chance of 10s and 1000s of dollars and exposure to
the community and invitations to future events.But in the most simple way possible it just felt...
Cheap. Now I don't want to discredit Psalm on his great placement, he utilised mechanics
effectively and intelligently to his advantage and that's fair. HOWEVER there are numerous
issues with the comp scene and how it's being ran. This post will highlight the issues currently
affecting the standard of gameplay that causes eSports for fortnite to be ruined.

To begin I will discuss the fact that there is no seperate matchmaking system for players to
increase skill and play against other same skilled players. The pop up cups illustrate how a
SBMM system can be implemented and worked in to help players have a competitive game
mode to practice in, this isn't a new concept as numerous other games implement a "ranked"
system to measure players performance in relation to others. This is a fundamental problem
since you can't play public games and improve, you have to find scrims and even then hope you
get into good players lobbies.

Secondly, the tournaments need to have rulesets specific for them (in events and in a comp
gamemode) ranging from shield/hp on kill, capped mats, no op items/certain vehicles (we all
know which one). This creates a constant in the competitive gamemodes which lets you
become accustomed to the way tournaments are played out and helps to keep players
consistent in gameplay. Without this possibility for players they become inconsistent and under
perform.
I've always used analogies that highlight sports and eSports, for example if a football team
qualified for a league then the next match they play the association behind the event said
"SORRY THE RULES AND THE WAY THE GAME IS PLAYED HAS CHANGED BUT YOURE
PLAYING ANYWAY" millions of people and players would be outraged, so why "evolve" a
competitive gamemode when it creates an extensive amount of issues? You don't.
Thirdly, this argument mixes with the second. This would be patch versions, basically the same
idea as before players qualified on v69.69 so they should be able to practice on v69.69 and then
compete on v69.69. you don't play soccer and qualify to then play baseball do you... Epic needs
to seperate the community as players that take this seriously and want to earn a living off their
passion are being drowned out and neglected due to the game being aimed at casuals that can't
win or get good so Epic has to keep player retention by trading having fun for skill gap. E.g. if a
new player can't win and they want to quit what do you do? You add toys and gimmicks to make
the game fun even when they lose such as planes and quad launchers and balloons and
FUCKING SWORDS!?!? Epic create a comp gamemode to allow for serious play, allow the
standard gamemode to be evolved gradually as it is and let the casual players run free in that.

Instead of pulling a paragon and literally ruining your own game till it shuts down, place some
pro players on to your competitive development scene, and make sure that they have the final
say on an idea going through. I think that someone like myth would be perfect. He has a good
understanding of the game, knows where paragon went wrong, and listens to his
community.The problem right now is that the community feels themself unheard, and that is a
big big no no to keep your game alive. If you look realistically Fortnite leverage over other
games is the building aspect, is they keep screwing the game up with these updates people will
be looking to switch to other games.

EVENTS
We all know that point per kill causes unhealthy aggression.
Kids w-key to get the precious points to remove bus fare deductible.
WHY IT NEEDS TO BE CHANGED: Currently the point system rewards kills wayyy more than
placement. Placement is how you win a BR and imo should be worth more
How it should be changed : Every Kill no matter when and where should be worth half a point.
Rewards any kills early or late equally and isn't decided by an arbitrary number. e.g. 4 or 3
Endgame Playstyles should also be rewarded and I think this should be done by more
placement brackets that are smaller and incremental.
More placement points to incentivise endgame play.
In Solos
Top, 25(3pts), 15(3pts), 10(3pts), 5(3pts) 3(4pts), 1st is worth 5 points
For Duos the Placement is :
Top, 20(2pts), 12,(2pts) 10(2pts) 5(3pts, 3(5pts), 1ST WORTH 8 POINTS

Maximum kills that would be rewarded would be 5.

With this system every single person or duo you outlive endgame you are ​directly rewarded
with and you are ​directly rewarded​ for kills at any point. ​No bullshit​ arbitrary numbers deciding
points.

PUBLIC GAMES
TLDR: Siphon / mat change is all about INCENTIVES; while the revert is directly less
enjoyable for the majority of players (competitive, pub stomper, even casuals), it is how
Epic is manipulating player incentives to make the game as addicting as possible to as
many people as possible

Casuals
I imagine for the casuals, the health on kill reverting is probably a good idea. I can't really
understand the harvesting and mat cap going back and how that will impact them positively, but
the health on kill nerf possibly isn't the worst idea (for casuals). So yes, the upside of the update
is that more of the skilled players will move to the arena mode, and the competitive games will
be more competitive (I hope). I have 2 main issues with this however.

Forced into Arena

I love the popup cups, gauntlets etc, but I don't want to play them 24/7. After many hours of
competitive playing my brain is fried, and just want to relax and play some pubs. Now, that
option is basically gone as these public matches will be so dull. I play a lot of creative at the
moment (Turtle wars and moving zones mainly) and I see my time in these increasing.

Console Players
I play PC, but I feel really bad for console players now. Their only option to play with essentially
fun settings, is to play the arena mode, which is obviously mixed platform. With the current state
of console performance, being forced to play against PC players is a wack. I would again say
this would be fine if they could at least figure out a way to fix console performance, but that isn't
looking likely at this stage.

COMPETITIVE INTEGRITY
This part says enough

The competitive state of the game right now is absolutely appalling.

There are a multitude of things/mechanics that are still in this game that, in all honesty, epic
should be very ashamed of.

Let's start off with stinks.

Why is this still an item, epic? I can carry up to 6 of them per stack, and each one can literally be
thrown to put someone in the storm of the final circle, 10 damage per second. There is no
counter-play whatsoever, you will be taking 5-15 damage at the minimum. What if I fight
someone with 6 of them? Every time I attempt to push or box up and heal, I will be instantly
thrown into a cloud of gas that hits for 10 hp per second. He could easily kill me with just his
stinks alone, regardless of his skill. Let me say it again, absolutely no counter-play at all.
Nothing that can be done to avoid the 5-15 damage (at least) every time a stink is thrown at me.
That is an absolutely disgusting aspect of the game that really makes me lose faith in epic.

Next, snipers.

Sure they are fun for clips and stuff in casual play, but what am I supposed to do when I'm
rotating mid game (in a scrim or a gauntlet) and I get sniped in the body or head EDIT: i am
saying, why should i take 150 body dmg and die bc i don't have shield?? Just build? Sorry I
don't have a reaction time of .01 seconds. Again, literally no counter-play. The anger any
competitive player feels when the have a good loadout and a good position only to get
head-sniped is very strong. I know recently a reddit post/comment was made from an epic
employee talking about how they have no plans to remove/nerf the heavy sniper, let me ask,
why?? Does it not appall you that there's a gun that can do at least ½ of your health from any
distance, one shot you to the head from any distance, and break literally any wall?
Let's put this into a scenario.

I'm set up in my turtle right before endgame and I'm edit-peeking out of my cone to stay aware
of my surroundings. Little to my knowledge, there is a player holding his heavy sniper and
crouch-walking up to my base from behind, using the foliage/bushes for cover. Suddenly, he
presses left-click and is in my box. This happens in an instant, with no time for me to react. This
surprise factor gives him a free pump shot to my head, killing me instantly. What am I supposed
to do to counter that?? It is in no way a skilled play by him, just him abusing a weapon to kill me.
Fun competitive experience.

Mobility.

Lets say im at 400 points in arena and the zone is moving up viking. I have no rift-to-go's or
launch pads. What do I do? 1500 mats is simply not enough to rotate up viking against enemy
fire while the 10-tick zone is right behind me. Just because I'm simply not lucky enough to find a
rift out of a chest (unlike my competitors) I can't successfully rotate up one of the largest
mountains in the game, causing me to die? How is that in any way competitive? A man named
DonnySC said that you (epic) should make the final zones stay more or less on the same
horizontal plane, meaning the elevation of the ground level in zone won't change too much. This
is an incredible idea.

Good ol' 'splodes.

I've seen PLENTY of twitter clips of people getting spammed by huge amounts of clingers,
dynamite, rockets, and grenades. It is almost impossible to counter, as some nades will just slip
through and hit you. Furthermore, if one person is sending loads of clingers your way, other
people will begin to do the same, seeing as though you are in a very, very unfortunate situation,
and they are hoping to pick up a quick and not very skillful kill. This kind of thing can absolutely
ruin your game. I strongly think that 'splodes as a whole should be removed from the
competitive side of the game.
Finally, I'm gonna squeeze hamster balls and the point system into the same quick paragraph.

The location of these hamster balls made me switch up my landing spot because of how
necessary they are to place well endgame. That alone is bad for the competitive state of a
game. Endgame without balls is very difficult for two reasons. One, rotating on foot without any
source of consistent mobility is hard enough, but when you take into account the mats you use,
the damage you might take, and the mountains you seemingly have to scale every circle, its
almost impossible. Two, everyone that has a ball tends to stay alive for a very long time, making
it harder to get placements points when you don't have a ball. Regarding the point system, 1
point for one kill compared to 10 points for a win incentivizes w keying way too much. The
amount of 'braindead' players I had to fight in the blackheart cup was disgusting, and placement
should be incentivized in a heavier manner for open tournaments.

ALONG WITH THIS IMPORTANT STATEMENT

We value the ability of players to adapt to the game
changing over time. We also believe these changes
keep Fortnite fresh for everyone including players,
competitors and spectators. However, we want to
provide reasonable time for you to adjust strategies
following large gameplay impacting changes, for
example prior to official Fortnite competitions. This
time window could range from a FEW DAYS TO A
WEEK OF RELEASE.