Good and Bad Things about Fortnite Season 3

Just a week ago, Fortnite Chapter 2 Season 3 premiered and with it came many (mostly welcome) changes.  It's the most the game has changed in almost a calendar year, so many players, myself included, are still getting used to all the changes.  I'm going to go over most of the changes and whether they are good or bad. 

This time, we'll start with the good:

- Increased mobility
This is something that has plagued Chapter 2 since its release.  In season 1 of this chapter, there were literally no mobility items, the only being a trap-slot item in launch pads.  The only vehicle at the time was boats, and they didn't do well on land (especially going up hills).  In season 2, this was improved upon with the introduction of helicopters and crash pads.  But still, mobility was fairly limited.  Now with season 3, we have new zip lines, sharks that can be ridden, and whirlpools.  Two of the mythic bosses even have mythic mobility items (grappler and impulse grenade launcher).  Not to mention the game still has both boats and helicopters as well as crash pads.  Lachlan, an Australian Fortnite player on YouTube, even joked that there is too much mobility.  

- Significant map changes
I'm not going to comment specifically on the map changes themselves (that will be below), but I'm glad there were significant map changes period.  The map was starting to get stale and old.  When I first started playing in season 3, I was amazed at the amount of changes to the map.  It almost doesn't look like the same map.  

- Sticking with Mythic bosses
One of the best parts of season 2 was the mythic bosses.  Epic Games realized this and at least kept us with three mythic bosses (as opposed to 5/6 last season).  They nerfed the weapons so that none of them are too overpowered.  In season 2, in certain games if someone else got the mythic weapons, it felt vastly unfair.  Now it doesn't feel that unfair.

- Sharks
I have thalassophobia (fear of the deep sea and its creatures), so sharks at first were not a welcome addition for me.  Having gotten used to them now, I like them.  They can be used to get loot from, ride on (as mentioned earlier), and even use to attack enemies and their builds.  I hope this leads to Epic Games including other living things we can interact with.  Maybe giant birds we can ride on?  Maybe horses?  

- The right amount of new weapons/items and unvaulting
Epic Games unvaulted the hunting rifle, bolt action sniper, P90 SMG and Chug Splashes, as well as introducing the new charge shotgun and fireflies.  They also have two mythic items for bosses that were either unvaulted (Chug Jug) or new (Impulse Launcher).  This is exactly what they should do every season.  Come up with new weapons and items while unvaulting a few popular ones as well.  They obviously listened to us because many of us (myself included) wanted the hunting rifle and chug splashes brought back.  

- More healing items
One problem the early part of this chapter had was not enough healing items.  Even with the introduction of fishing, healing was a bit tough to do at times.  In season 3, we now have fruits and vegetables that 1) can be placed into the inventory instead of having to be consumed and 2) are a wider variety.  There are apples, corn, cabbages, shield and slurp mushrooms, and chili peppers (although those are for speed).  So someone in desperate need of health or shield can grab some of these.

All right, now onto the bad things.  This season is definitely an improvement, but it is not without its faults.  

- Too much water
As I mentioned earlier, I'm glad the map changed a lot, but I wish they hadn't added this much water.  A lot of old landmarks and locations are completely submerged now.  If they had added a feature which allowed us to dive underwater, I would be ok with this amount, but too much is simply "unexplorable" right now.  

- Not enough material options
With all of the water on the map, there are far less ways to get a significant amount of materials.  Weeping Woods is submerged, so forget that.  It is clearly much harder to build up materials quickly.  The new things that popped up on the map (The Fortilla and Rickety Rig) do not have enough material options. 

- Too many things vaulted, especially ones needed for challenges
The pump shotgun, heavy sniper, C4 remote explosives, and proximity mines all got vaulted.  RPG's are now only available by killing and taking them from Marauders on the map, so they are no longer available at all in Team Rumble play.  There have been these "quick challenges" which include getting explosive damage or eliminations.  The only way to do that now in Team Rumble is by using grenades.  Either Epic realized this and didn't care, or they failed to realize all the explosive weapons they vaulted while keeping explosive challenges.

- Quick challenges are more work for not much more XP
Daily challenges have been replaced by quick challenges.  There would be a new daily challenge every new day you played.  These challenges only needed one thing accomplished and gave 55,000 XP.  Now, there are five that generate each day.  They start out at 1,400 XP and after a day become 14,000 XP.  Even if you complete all 5 of those challenges, that is 70,000 XP.  Basically, it's four more challenges to complete for just a bit more XP.  They do keep regenerating after completing, but are only 1,400 XP for each challenge unless you wait a day.  It's a clever technique by Epic Games to get us to play a bit longer, but I am not a big fan of this change.

All in all, this season is definitely an upgrade from the previous season.  I do have one major recommendation if Epic Games wants.  As I said above, all of this water on the map would have been made better if there was a new mechanic to dive down underwater.  Our characters could hold their breath for 20 seconds before losing health (10 health per second after that).  There could be oxygen tanks which would allow our players to go for about a minute underwater before running out.  One problem I do see with this, however, is players trapping others underwater, but hey, if you can't shoot your way out, oh well.  That's the risk you take for going underwater.  This would be cool to see if they wanted to implement it next season.  

The Seattle Mariners are Cursed

The Seattle Mariners are cursed.  They find ways to lose games, and they find ways to miss the playoffs.  They did something to anger the baseball gods, although I do not know what that would have been.  But I have believed for a long time now that the Mariners are cursed.  They have the worst luck of any team I have seen both in games and season by season.  The Red Sox used to have a curse, the "Curse of the Bambino".  The Cubs used to have a curse, the "Curse of the Billy Goat".  I believe the Mariners were inflicted with a similar curse.

The year would've been 2001.  The baseball gods are not happy with the Seattle Mariners.  They helped assemble us some of the best talent of their generation.  Four sure fire Hall of Famers played on the Mariners in the late 90's.  And we let three of them go.  We were supposed to win a World Series with these players, but couldn't even get there.  Then we let them go.  Randy was traded.  Griffey was traded.  We let Alex test free agency and he signed with the rival Rangers.  Edgar stayed, but was older than all of them and closest to the end of his career.  The baseball gods did not like this.  We then spurned them by signing Bret Boone and Ichiro.  We won 116 games, which I'm sure made the gods angry.  How was this team, without A-Rod, Griffey, and Randy, winning 116 games?  They promptly inflicted us with fatigue and prevented us from reaching the World Series.  Not only that, but they inflicted the Mariners with bad luck in everything they do: Trades, free agency, and in games. 

When you ask a casual baseball fan about the Seattle Mariners, they might say that the Mariners don't make the playoffs much.  It's not for lack of trying.  And many teams have been very close.  Five times since 2002 the Mariners have been the best team in the American League NOT to make it to the playoffs.  That's more times than they've made the playoffs in THEIR ENTIRE HISTORY.  That's right: The Mariners have more often been a few games away from making the playoffs in the past 17 years than they have made the playoffs in all of their existence.  What kind of team has this kind of luck?  A cursed team.

Speaking of playoffs, the Mariners have made the playoffs in just four of their 43 seasons.  When there were four playoff teams, any team had a 27% chance of making the playoffs.  Now that there are five playoff teams with the addition of another wild card, the playoff chances rise to 33%.  But the Mariners have made it for just 9% of their existence.  And most notably and recently, the Mariners have the longest playoff drought in all of North American professional sports at 18 years.  That is like spinning an item, and for 18 consecutive tries never getting it to face North.  Unreal.

It's amazing to me how often Mariner's opponents get a lucky break and how often the Mariners get a bad one.  Watch pretty much any one of their games.  A ball that lands foul for the Mariners is a fair ball for their opponents.  It also seems on replay reviews that calls go against the Mariners for more often than their opponents.  I wish I had a nickel for every time I heard Mariners play-by-play man Dave Sims say, "Tough break for the Mariners." 

What shall we name this curse?  The easiest answer would be to find a player who left after 2001.  The most notable I see is Jay Buhner.  We could call it the "Curse of the Bone".  It's kind of got an eerie and dark vibe to it.  Granted, Jay Buhner only played 19 games in 2001, but he was still a clubhouse presence and leader on that team.  My other choice would be the "Curse of the Big Three."  The big three being Randy, Griffey, and A-Rod.  They were the big three that left, and aside from 2001 we haven't made the playoffs without them... at all.  Not before them, not after.  But I'll stick with the "Curse of the Bone". 

Jerry Dipoto has decided to have this team go through a rebuild process.  He acquired quite a few prospects and he'll probably acquire even more as the trade deadline draws near.  The expected run at the playoffs will happen in 2022.  All I'm going to say is this: If a lot of these prospects fail (as so many of ours have in recent years), and we fail to make the playoffs during that run, there will be no doubt whatsoever in my mind that this team is full on cursed.  And there shouldn't be any doubt in your mind, either.