Epic Games has just released a developer update in a blog post addressing issues that are a priority for the game’s competitive community.
Players were expecting news regarding a field of view slider, the possible reintroduction of siphon mechanics in default game modes, and news about special developments for the competitive community. Instead, they’ve received three huge negatives, and Epic is keeping everything as it is today.
Epic wrote that siphon mechanics in default playlists were benefitting only 10 percent of Fortnite’s player base because it helps high-skilled players, while the other 90 percent were shifting away from default game modes due to their increasing difficulty. Siphon will continue away from these modes, and Epic basically wrote that players who are unhappy with that should stick to the Arena Mode where it’s available.
Regarding field of view increase and custom resolutions, Epic wrote that Fortnite’s current 80-degree FOV will stay as the game’s standard as the company is seeking “to avoid optional settings which provide players with a significant gameplay advantage.” Since increasing field of view demands more from a player’s platform, only a handful of players would be able to get such an advantage due to hardware limitations.
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Finally, Epic wrote that updates with few to no gameplay changes, like the two most recent ones, are intended to “reasonably stabilize gameplay in advance of the Fortnite World Cup Finals.” Epic plans to do this “for some, but not all” updates.
The blog post was expected since yesterday when an Epic engineer revealed it would come to clarify issues related to field of view, siphon mechanics, and game evolution. This is the first time players have received a reply from Epic after weeks of complaints since the company locked the field of view in competitive matches to that of the 16:9 native resolution.
Apparently, though, nothing is changing—and competitive players will be forced to adapt to how Fortnite works and is developed for the general player base as well.
