The next Fortnite tournament will also be the most controversial, thanks to mech combinations

The future of competition Fortnite The Champion series will debut tomorrow with Epic Games, the most controversial developer of electronic sports contests to date. The problem is not the prize money or who is allowed to participate. Instead, the fury is about a combination of mech in the game, taken directly from the pages of the classic Japanese manga. And it is about to deteriorate as professional players compete for $ 10 million in winnings over the next 30 days.

Epic has launched its most recent Fortnite season – the tenth, dubbed Season X – a few days after the conclusion of his World Cup in New York, where a 16-year-old man was crowned solo winner and won $ 3 million prize. He also quickly made arrangements to start planning his next round of major tournaments, which is now known as the Champions Series, which offers a handful of tournaments each week that end with a three-day competition in late September. Everything was looking for competitive Fortnite.

But with the launch of Season X, it soon became apparent that something was wrong. The season, like most others during the meteoric rise of the game at the top of the gaming industry in the last two years, was marked by a giant addition that made the headlines. Previously, there were revolutionary elements such as flyable planes and sometimes radical card changes, such as a floating island or a huge volcano. This time, they were mech combinations, called BRUTEs in the game. They need two people to drive them, but they are devastating, even between a pair of moderately skilled players, offering 1,000 HP to health (or five times the maximum of a human player) and a panoply of weapons that can shred even the most talented builders in seconds.

Many players have mainly challenged the injustice with which the combination can be counter-dude, the pilot of enemies who can fire 10 missiles thermo-solicited every few seconds. Combined with the high health of the suit, its stomping ability and its quick-firing rifle, dealing with one is a death sentence, with the exception of the rare situations in which a group of players can lose enough of their health to avoid defeat.

In addition to all this, Epic was initially lucky enough to see many combinations of machinists appear at the start of the match at 100%, ensuring that each match would involve a race to see who could get the driver's seat first. The result has been an unprecedented level of community reaction to what is seen as a decisive addition and a serious headache for Epic entering its next big round of tournaments.

At first glance, the tumult is another example of the inevitable tensions between Fortnite massively successful commercial product enjoyed by millions of more casual gamers and Fortnite high-level and competitive title taken seriously by popular professional players and e-sports organizations. Epic seems to categorically refuse to split his game between a casual version and a competitive version. Thus, every element, vehicle or card present in the normal game becomes available even when millions of dollars are at stake.

We've already seen it being played with the Infinity Blade element in the winter skirmish, an anti-gravity problem during the fall skirmish finale and countless other game features that interfere with its competitive scene. . Whether it's planes where you can fly high and out of sight or mechanical bullets equipped with slings that make you hard to touch, Epic has always added, and modified, elements of its game designed to make it more fun, affordable and unpredictable this has not totally detracted from the competitive equilibrium. And these additions are usually "vaulted" – the community term for a virtual purgatory – once the current season is over, where they sit like unwanted toys waiting for their return for a time-limited event or a seasonal celebration.

But Season X has been different, in part because Epic's decisions and the perseverance with which she will stick with her arms are more inexplicable this time around. It's also partly because people are just pissed off.

Not only are the mech combinations going wild on a proven strategy, but the Fortnite The map now features a time vortex around one of its most popular drop-off points, in the center of the island, which prevents players from building any type of structure or even farm equipment. This makes particularly controversial competitive players, who fear that a final circle may inadvertently trap players inside an area that removes the most distinctly competitive aspect of the game. More recently, Mega Mall has returned to the classic Retail Row location – but this time it's infested with zombies.

The reaction to these changes – especially mechanics – has been extreme. The competitive Fortnite community almost continuously complains about the B.R.U.T.E., and #removethemech has become a hot topic on Twitter in response to Epic's lax response. Some of the biggest names in Fortnite e-sports, as top Twitch star Turner "Tfue" Tenney and Fortnite World Cup champion Kyle "Bugha" Giersdorf regularly expressed frustration with the pursuit and its unbalanced impact on the game.

the Fortnite Competitive subreddit has been inundated with daily rants and shattering comments challenging Epic's ultimate motivations, development team skills, and the overall effect of this season on the longevity and popularity of the competition. . same e-sports professional teams complain. Earlier this week, a viral clip showed Twitch's famous streamer, Timothy "TimtheTatman" Betar amassing more than a dozen victims in a mech, after which he said the situation was "so sad". have openly considered changing the game until Epic removes the feature.

"Dear Epic, how … it's been almost two weeks and the mechs are still the most broken thing. There is nothing logical about them. They are not fun to play against. They feel cheap when you use them. Embarrassing, "the famous streamer Jack" CouRage "Dunlop, who plays for the organization of e-sports 100 Thieves and officially launched the competition Fortnite tournaments like the World Cup for Epic, wrote on Twitter last week. "I played Fortnite since its release. The community has met three times to express extreme dissatisfaction about something in the game: planes, the Infinity Sword and the mechs. Until now, the community is right every time. I hope we will see the deleted mechs. »Dunlop started streaming Minecraftcommenting that this is "the most fun I've had in the game since the beginning of Fortnite. "

Epic took several steps to try to calm the community. He first patched Fortnite thus, the mech combination's homing missiles included a laser sight to give the opposing players an idea of ​​whether they were about to be covered with explosives. The players were not satisfied with what they thought was a dull response, especially after the developer stated that he "rated" the game with the mech combination. Epic came back to the table with a rare concession: he decided to reduce the fall rates of B.R.U.T.E. in its competition arena play list and for upcoming tournaments, creating the possibility that some matches may not contain any at all.

On Thursday, Epic went even further and published a blog post detailing his philosophy around objects such as the B.R.U.T.E. "The mission of Fortnite is to bring together players of all levels to experience a fun experience where everyone can win. For example, everyone has a chance during the first elimination or Victory Royale moment and the feeling of satisfaction that results. At the moment, we know that there are players who have never had this opportunity, "wrote the developer. "Another part of the mission is to provide shows and entertainment during the Fortnite. Bringing these moments to the game each week means that there is always a new way to enjoy and experience the game. "

Indeed, Epic sees additions like the Mech combination, as well as planes and the Infinity blade to precede it, as necessary to keep the game fresh and exciting so that players keep coming back. But it also helps to reduce the skills gap that can result. Fortnite frustrating hard for those who do not play constantly.

In recent seasons, Fortnite suffered from the point of view of accessibility, the skill level of the average player being so much higher than it was six months to a year ago, it is impossible for less competitive players of Even having a chance to lose an enemy player, without even winning a match. For Epic, it's a threat to the popularity and financial performance of Fortnitewhich, as a free game, depends on a healthy base of players of all levels, often coming back and spending real money. In this sense, the logic of Epic is logical. The mech combination brings in new players by giving them a new toy, an effective strategy to try to win.

Epic faces difficulties in reconciling ambitions in electronic sports Fortnite with this accessibility. These two parts of the success of the Royal Battle are, and will probably always be, at odds. But the B.R.U.T.E.E. highlighted two key elements concerning the state of FortniteHow far Epic is prepared to defend his decisions to keep his game dynamic for all players and the extent to which the competitive community will strive to maintain the integrity of the professional playing field.

With the launch of the championship series tomorrow, all eyes will be turned to all the influence of the Mech combination in the top professional game. Perhaps the concerns are exaggerated and the reduction in the spawn rate will serve its purpose in preventing mechanics from entering the final circles and out of the strategic chess board. But the minute they give a player what is perceived as an unfair advantage, it will only dig an even deeper hole for Epic. And a disastrous debut of the Champion series might well entice the developer to create a clear division between his casual and competitive play modes.