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.
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