In Fortnite, the protest against the mechs was indeed too strong. A hashtag #RemoveTheMech even trended on Twitter. Twitch streamers like Tfue and eSports clans like TSM and FaZe protested publicly. Now Epic is giving in and significantly reducing the spawn rate of mechs. However, the nerf only applies to arena and tournament modes.
This is the problem: Since the start of Season 10 in Fortnite, professional players and also regular players have been complaining about the new vehicle “B.I.E.S.T.” in Fortnite.
These mechs are controlled by two players:
- One drives and can stomp structures or opponents
- The other fires a shotgun and rockets at the opponents
The mechs are powerful and have dominated Fortnite since the start of the season.
Mini-nerf made players even angrier
This was Epic’s reaction: After players demanded for days that Epic should ban the mechs from the “arena” mode and only leave them in “normal Fortnite”, the announcement from Epic came on Friday:
The mechs remain in all modes, they will just make it clearer where they are firing with a laser.
Friday night hashtagn against mechs trending on Twitter
The outrage of the players was huge: Subsequently, the Fortnite players finally stormed. The hashtag “#RemovetheMech” trended worldwide on Twitter. It lasted for about 4 hours, in our view from Friday night to Saturday.
Well-known Twitch streamers like Tfue, CouRage, or Nickmercs joined the protest. Tfue had already expressed great anger about mechs beforehand.
There were also complaints from eSports clans like TSM, FaZe, Cloud 9, or Luminosity. At least from the tournaments, mechs should disappear.
Nerf means: Much fewer mechs in “Arena-Fortnite”
This is now the nerf: As Epic announced on Saturday afternoon (via reddit), they have now significantly reduced the chance of mechs spawning at all. This only applies to the arena and tournament playlists. In normal Fortnite, nothing changes.
- Before the match, there is now a 21.5% chance that 1-3 mechs will spawn, previously there were always 2-4 mechs
- In Phase 1, there is now a 44% chance for 1-4 mechs – previously it was a 100% chance for 2 to 4 mechs in Fortnite
- Phase 2: 40% for 1-2 mechs; previously 100% for 1-3
- Phase 3: 40% for 1-2 mechs, previously: 66% for 2
- Phase 4: 10% for 1 mech, previously 50% for 1
- Phase 5: 3% for 1 mech, previously 10% for 1 mech
This is how players are reacting now: Players still do not seem very satisfied. They seem to want those things to just be removed from the game: “Vault it – put it in the vault” is the most commonly expressed demand.
Epic creates two Fortnites with the nerf
This is what it’s about: The nerf now strengthens what Epic actually doesn’t want . A markedly different “pro Fortnite” than the one regular players are playing.
While the mechs remain so frequent in the “normal mode”, they will likely still dominate in eSports Fortnite despite the nerf – there it seems that victory now relies even more on RNG: Whoever finds one of the rare mechs will have a significant advantage.
It seems questionable whether players will be pacified with this 2nd nerf.
