Fortnite is the Best of Games, Fortnite is the Worst of Games

What is Fortnite?

Fortnite is the new building-combat craze from Epic. If we’re honest, it isn’t exactly new, per se. It’s still in Early Access, but has been for the last year or so. The thing that put it on the map was it’s free Battle Royal mode that Epic released in September of 2017 that has been competing with genre contender PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds (PUBG, or ’PUHB-GEE’, for short). Aesthetics aside, Epic elected to mix the Battle Royal formula with the building mechanic of the greater Fortnite package and set it loose upon the public.

Having finally relented and jumped on the Fortnite bandwagon, I’m here to say I’ve been having fun too – with literally everything else.

The other side (of the paywall)

My friend today told me that Fortnite was free and I nearly laughed him into oblivion. Fortnite is not free. As it stands, there is a hard paywall for Fortnite (the PVE entry fee) and that’s, arguably, where the best part of the game resides. Fortnite Battle Royal, despite its popularity and ability to stand toe to toe with PUBG is the weakest of Fortnite’s offerings. Not that it’s bad, but it isn’t nearly as fun to me as the PVE campaign.But, paradoxically, this entry point has been what has helped it garner so much acclaim.

I’m thankful for that, in a way, but don’t get me wrong. Fortnite is NOT Battle Royal. Fortnite is the whole package. And depending upon which side of the paywall you approach it from Fortnite can feel like the best of games or Fortnite can feel like the worst of games.

So what’s wrong with (free) Fortnite?

Many approach Fortnite under the assurance of its free to play nature. I’ve already laid out that, presently, that isn’t quite true. That’s something that is slated to be dealt with in the future. But there’s another monetization issue as well. Both PVE and PVP shops are revolving carousels of quickly swapped out goods. There aren’t any offerings in either storefront that have any kind of longevity. PVE is better in this regard since it’s split into event and standard items that can be purchased with two different currencies and updates each week at the earliest. No such luck for PVP which rotates out each 15 to 24 hours. Disparities aside, it creates an annoying sense of urgency that could use some toning down a bit with some permanent or semi-permanent offerings.

The PVE shop does have loot boxes (Loot Llamas, to be exact). I’m willing to shrug and move along, but I’m sure that some are going to eventually rage against it on principle. You’re likely to be given these as rewards for completing missions, which makes them essentially random loot drops. However, you also have the option to buy some of these and I’m sure that’ll be a sticking point with many considering the present Gaming Zeitgeist.

As far as PVP goes, Epic is going to need to address “trading” sometime soon. Now, that’s a bit of a misnomer, as there is no formal trading process or infrastructure in place right now. However, there is the rudimentary “functionality” for it – dropping items on the ground for other players to pick up. Sounds pretty crude – or, daresay, easily exploitable, eh? Of course it is. The global chat is saturated daily with trade requests and complaints about scammers. Apparently, it’s easy to invite someone to your base, convince them to drop some of their items to prove they have what they say they do – then kick them from the base and take the stuff.

Moving over to the PVP side, Fortnite needs some new modes. Fortnite is the whole package, not just BR, so the essence of the game won’t be diluted by adding a few new modes. For example, capture the flag, king of the hill and deathmatch modes for people to play towards objectives instead of just trying to shoot each other in face. King of the Hill and Capture the flag would offer players the chance to rely on their building skills. As for deathmatch, it would allow people to get acclimated to PVP combat by greatly reducing the turnaround time between engagements.

Speaking of acclimated, PVP needs a tutorial or training mode. If you’re on the free side of the paywall, you don’t have a way to get a feel for the mechanics without diving headfirst into engagements that you’re going to lose and learn nothing from. Epic does have a timed playground mode in the works. It will involve friendly fire and immediate respawns. If we aren’t going to get a training mode, making this mode permanent would do the trick.

In conclusion

I don’t think it’s a stretch to say Fortnite earned its acclaim through its Battle Royale mode that acted as a free alternative to PUBG. I don’t mean that as a dig against Fortnite or Epic. I have to give them props for their unconventional gameplay and monetization structure. However, I must also hit them for their shortcomings. Their most accessible entry point to the game cordons off roughly 95% of the game’s content behind some kind of paywall. That’s slated to change at some point, but we don’t know when. So for the time being, paying the $40 or $60 is the only way to enjoy the optimal Fortnite experience.

Even if PVE was free, though, there’d still be some house cleaning that needs to be done. I don’t want us to be so enamoured with Fortnite that we don’t call it out on it’s faults. PVP and PVE feel essentially like two different games, with PVP having the suboptimal progression path. I don’t want Epic to draw people in with its low entry fee and then have that neck of the woods go stale on them because there only a trickle of content for them to enjoy.