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.  

I'm Sorry, but Fortnite Failed with Chapter 2

I have previously shared my love of the game "Fortnite", which I play on the Xbox One.  It's a game I have played off and on for the past year and a half now.  Back in October, Epic Games decided after Season 10... no, sorry... Season "X", that they were going to go to Chapter 2, Season 1, instead of a Season 11.  I guess this kinda makes sense...?  ... if they don't want to have Season numbers get too high.

But it's how they've handled this "Chapter 2" that is alienating a ton of Fortnite players, myself included.  They have delayed Season 2 of Chapter 2 twice now, their updates have been few and far between, it's way too hard to move around the map, and Fortnite streamers/YouTubers are struggling to find ways to make new and exciting content.

When Chapter 2, Season 1 was first released, it was supposed to end at the end of December.  Then, it was pushed to February 6.  And just recently, Epic Games pushed it yet again to February 20.  I understand they want to make sure Season 2 is polished and ready (and they're switching game engines apparently), but I think in the end this may do more harm than good.  I am not the only Fortnite player who long ago lost interest in the current season.  What was the theme, anyway?  In recent seasons, we had a futuristic theme, we had a time travel theme, we had a lava/volcano theme, and we had a snow/airplane theme.  This season has been rather theme-less and boring.  And this boring season keeps getting prolonged.  The new map definitely took a while to get used to, but at this point, it's already lost interest and made a lot of players yearn for the old map.  Boy, if Epic Games loses a huge chunk of Fortnite players between October and February, they should know why.

Perhaps worse than not having a clear theme to the current season is not having many updates.  What new items/weapons were introduced?  Bandage bazookas... um... harpoon guns... fishing rods... and those were all introduced at the beginning of the season.  There was Winterfest and the Star Wars event, which were nice.  Lightsabers were in the game, which was cool, but of course only for a limited time.  People really wanted a lightsaber pickaxe, yet Epic Games did not listen to their players.  Ever since, Fortnite has just been adding challenges, but not introducing anything new into the game.  It's getting to the point where these challenges feel like work instead of fun.  Most of the updates, while being few and far between, were just minor tweaks to the game and didn't really add new content. 

The thing I personally hate most about the current season is the lack of mobility items.  Mobility items are any items you can store in your inventory and that can help you move faster across the map, or you can use them to get away from an enemy you know you can't beat.  Past mobility items included balloons, impulse grenades, rift-to-go's, shadow bombs, and bounce pads.  There is not a single mobility item in the game at the moment (Harpoon guns do not count).  To top it off, there are no land vehicles, and the only vehicles are boats.  I'm glad they introduced boats, but I did not want that to be at the expense of every land vehicle.  Where are ATK's?  How about drift boards?  Anything?  Getting around the map has never been harder, and to make matters worse the zones that spawn on the map have often been towards the edges of the map, so if you landed on the opposite end, unless you spend little to no time looking for loot, you're screwed.  Yes, players can swim as well, but unless you're swimming with a current, you're not going much faster than sprinting.

Content creators that play Fortnite are struggling, big time.  Muselk has admitted to struggling to come up with ideas for videos.  Lazarbeam barely plays Fortnite anymore, and in a recent video of his, he pleaded to Epic Games to give us updates and new things.  Lachy has resorted to doing "Fashion Shows", which is critiquing people's outfits and emotes.  These three guys I follow are struggling to come up with content because Fortnite is not introducing new guns, game modes, or changes to the map.  These YouTubers/streamers rely upon the game for updates so they can make videos that they can then make money off of.  This is their livelihoods, and I think Epic Games has sacrificed too much to try to make a great Season 2.  I guess the silver lining is that it forced content creators to get creative, but they are fully capable of doing so with routine updates.

All I can say is this next season better be worth the wait.  I played a lot during the Star Wars and Winterfest events, but I have played only a little since.  It's just the same thing over and over.  Epic Games has delayed Season 2 of Chapter 2 by almost two months.  There is going to be a lot riding on how well the next season is received and how well it performs.  If there are bugs or if the changes aren't received well, we may look back on the introduction of Chapter 2 being the start of the end of Fortnite.  I hate to say it, but the next season may make or break the future of this game.  Some streamers and YouTubers have already speculated that the game is dying or dead, and if Chapter 2 doesn't live up to expectations, there won't be any speculation anymore.  Epic Games won't completely stop adding to Fortnite, but a lack of players could result in even fewer updates and events.