Fortnite’s 1st Birthday

Quite a few new additions have made their way into Fortnite today, with several changes to various gameplay components. Aside from the addition of the Fortnite’s 1st birthday challenges and cakes, there are few more interesting additions added in. The birthday cakes around the map will have slices of cake nearby which grant +5 health and +5 shields when consumed. Furthermore, the battle bus and supply drops have both been redecorated to celebrate Fortnite’s 1st birthday.

Playground Mode Returns!

Considerably one of the best limited time modes that Fortnite has offered makes its return tomorrow, July 25th, 2018. With the return of playground mode, Epic Games brings with it a substantial amount of changes to the mode. The biggest addition is the introduction of teams. Players will now have the ability to choose a team they would like to play on. If they’re on the same team, they can work together to build structures. If on opposite teams, they have become sworn enemies with the sole purpose of killing each other. There are a few considerable buffs and nerfs to different items. Golf carts are now added into the mode and will spawn 100% of the time, so there’s always a guarantee that you will find one. Ammo boxes spawn 10x the amount of ammo that they usually would which will help keep epic battles thriving. Grey vending machines have been removed from the mode altogether, and the chances of a higher rarity machine spawning have been increased. Floor loot now spawns three items, and the spawns of both bounce pads and launch pads have been increased. This will help with traveling large distances around the map. One interesting change is to the amount of rocket ammo. The max rocket cap has been changed to 60 for this mode (from the default 13), and the rocket ammo drop rates were also increased. There are a few increased changes to how often chug jugs and slurp juices spawn, which also decreased the chances of bandages spawning. Finally, the respawn timer has been changed from its original 10 seconds, down to only 3.

New compact Submachine Gun

Another new weapon makes its way into the fray today. This time it’s a legendary and epic submachine gun styled after the P90. This beauty replaces the tactical SMG that was recently vaulted justice by delivering a punch with little to no recoil. Using light ammo, it does around 23-24 damage (compared to the Tactical SMGs original 20 damage). The gun holds 50 rounds in a clip and can be found as floor loot, inside chests, supply drops and even in vending machines. This is definitely a weapon you want in your inventory. Combined with the SCAR assault rifle, you’ll find yourself deadly from both close and long ranges.

Battle Royale Changes

Possibly one of the more interesting changes this patch comes to the slurp juice. The slurp juice will now heal a player for 1 health every 0.5 seconds up to a total of 75 health. If health is full, shields will then be granted instead. This gives the player an alternative way of healing back to 100 hp if their hp is higher than 25 and the player does not hold a medkit. On the same note, it also gives you an alternative method of getting shields if mini shields or half pots are not accessible.

There are a variety of different changes to the loot drops that come from supply drops. The percentage that a specific weapon type may drop (Assault rifle, SMG, etc.) has been lowered across the board. The hand cannon, dual pistols, and silenced pistol were removed from the drops entirely. In regards to the different “trap” items, there were considerable increases to the launchpad, cozy campfire, and bounce pads. The spike damage trap has been removed entirely from supply drops. Almost all consumable items have had their drop rates increased, whereas various grenades, such as the explosive grenade or the gas bomb have been removed. Other items that can assist the player such as bushes and port-a-forts have also been removed. Finally, material drop rates have been changed. The percentage of both wood and brick materials have been decreased, while the percentage of metal has been increased.

A few other changes and additions have also been added. Both wood and stone walls now have considerable changes to their health. Both materials walls have been deducted 10 points in starting health (when the structure is first built), and wood walls max health have been reduced by 50 points. Metal walls receive an increase of 100 maximum health but also take five more seconds to completely build. There are also some interesting changes to the storm wait times between safe zones. Starting out, the wait time before the storm starts moving in has been increased by 30 seconds The time it takes for the storm to push in fully has also been increased by 30 seconds. From the 4th storm movement and onward, the wait time is decreased by 15 – 30 seconds giving players even less time to prepare. Furthermore, the 6th storm is now a moving circle which means players will need to remain on their guard in the event the storm moves against them.

One of the newest additions to the game (and most interesting) is the “Sprint by default,” that when enabled makes sprinting the default form of movement. This will no longer require you to click in the stick when moving to initiate a sprint. Clicking-in the stick while sprint by default is enabled will transition your character into their normal walk. Pickaxe damage to allied and enemy structures has been increased to 75 for a base hit, and 150 for a critical. This should help in bringing down your opponent’s structures quicker.

There are a few other changes to the performance of the game, audio fixes and even the user interface in-game. It will be interesting to see how the new changes to the storm and even the supply drops impact the more late game fights. With the nerf to the wooden structures it will also be interesting to see how players come to handle the inability to cover in forts as effectively. The sprint by default feature will also make travel a lot more leisurely. The v.5.10 patch for Fortnite is live as of today. Jump in and try out the new compact SMG.