Fortnite Update Adds New Vehicles, Matchmaking Changes, Consumable Animations, and More

A new update for Epic Games’ Fortnite is now live and in addition to the weirdly random (but somehow really awesome) Baller vehicle and key vending machine changes, the team also added a few new improvements to the game that players will enjoy. From matchmaking alterations, to nifty new animations, here’s what’s new in the world of Fortnite:

Battle Royale

• Battle Royale Crossplay Matchmaking
  • Combined Xbox One and PS4 pools.
    • This requires you to opt-in to cross-play.
    • Players opt-ing out are restricted to Creative Mode and Playgrounds.
  • Combined Mobile and Switch pools.
    • Before, Switch players were combined with Xbox One and PS4 cross-play parties.
    • We expect an on-average better per-game experience for both Mobile and Switch players.
  • Motivating factor is unlocking optimization potential allowing us to run more playlists during more hours of the day while supporting more data center locations. Please provide us with feedback on your experience!
• Reduced infinite dab duration from 12 hours to 11 hours in the front end
• Just kidding, Increased Infinite dab duration from 12 hours to 13 hours in the front end
• Elimination credit is now awarded to last damager in cases of logging out, self-elimination, and eliminations due to Storm damage. Current threshold timer is 15 seconds.
• Added visual effects for the siphon on elimination.
• Players can now build as soon as they impact anything after being launched by a Pirate Cannon
• Players can dance while holding a balloon
• Added Pirate Cannon’s audio visualizer HUD icon to be a cannon.
• Players automatically enter the driver seat when entering an empty vehicle.
• Added custom consume animations for the following items:
  • Bandages
  • Medkit
  • Small Shield Potion
  • Shield Potion
  • Slurp Juice
  • Chug Jug

Bug Fixes

• Fixed Pirate Cannon collision that would block bullets for a passenger inside of the cannon
• Fixed Pirate Cannon not being able to shoot when moving backwards
• Fixed an issue where a player may lose functionality when shooting themselves out of a Pirate Cannon.
• Fixed Pirate Cannon player impact explosion effects sometimes being delayed
• Fixed an issue where Pirate Cannons flipped onto their side, sliding across the ground for too long
• Fixed Pirate Cannons dealing damage to itself if fired in close quarters
• Fixed an issue where players wouldn’t break through structures when fired from Pirate Cannons at close range
• Traps are no longer triggered by vehicles that are empty or carrying only friendly players.
• Fixed an issue in extreme camera flicking situations that would cause an incorrect first shot when firing weapons.
• Fixed an issue with the Conga emote not respecting environmental surfaces like Lava
• Fixed an issue where a player may briefly stop their skydiving animation unexpectedly
• Fixed an issue allowing emote-cancelling during door open/close animations.
• Fixed players holding Buried Treasure map upside down
• Fixed an issue where pressing Build and Edit buttons in quick succession would enter edit mode on the blueprint piece instead of build the structure.
• Driftboards no longer explode when exiting one near a Mounted Turret.
• Fixed PS4 players being unable to adjust mouse sensitivity.

Events

• Tournament Update: Gauntlet Solo Test Event & Gauntlet Duo Test Event
  • Added another extended session, which will run 24 hours a day and concludes on March 19th at 12 AM ET.
  • Matchmaking:
    • Matchmaking will no longer wait to create a match with closest scoring players available after 8 minutes, and will now require enough players with similar scores to start.
    • Adjusted matchmaking point expansion to increase likelihood for high scoring players to be matched against other high scoring players.
    • Note: Due to the playlist featuring matchmaking based on your score, the quality or availability of matches may differ at certain times of day.
• Updated Scoring:
  • Solo
    • +2 Points will now be awarded after reaching 15th Place (previously 10th Place).
  • Duo
    • Increased Bus Fare from -2 Points to -3 Points.
      • This is a temporary solution for the Duo event granting too many points to players due to eliminations, causing an inflation of points over the course of the event.
    • +2 Points will now be awarded after reaching 7th Place (previously 5th Place).
• New Tournament: Scallywag Duos Cup (March 16th & 17th) [$100,000 in Cash Prizes!]
  • As a test of our prize payment systems leading into the Fortnite World Cup, we’ll be holding a $100,000 Duos tournament on March 16th and 17th. The prize pool will be distributed across all server regions, with official rules and details released later this week.
  • Participation in this event requires players to be in the Top 3% (global) of either the Solo or Duo Gauntlet Test Event as of 12 AM ET on March 16th.
  • Format:
    • Round One: All Eligible Players
    • Round Two: Top 3000 Players from Round One

Performance

• Fixed some instances of packet loss that could occur with certain ISPs that are prone to re-ordering UDP network packets.
  • Find more context in the Reddit Post we made last week.
• Improved file I/O performance for Xbox One. This reduces the occurrence of late streaming meshes.
• Fixed a regression in hitches on Switch due to GPU timing
• Improved performance on Switch by reducing the likelihood of particles triggering when the day changes phases
• Optimized the Ship Cannon
• Optimized UI elements for large team modes
• Improved performance for the Quick Bar
• Fixed hitches that occur on the Match Stats screen due to synchronously loading assets

• Added new audio for Balloons while in-air.
• Reduced volume of small prop destruction sounds (chairs, beds, fences, etc).
• Removed reverb from pickaxe swings.
• Removed outdoor ambient sounds when gliding.

Bug Fixes

• The Glider deploy sound no longer plays twice when using Glider Redeploy.
• Fixed Glider land/open sounds ducking the Victory Royale music.
• Improved music volume when previewing Gliders with music while in the lobby.
• Pirate Cannon movement sound no longer stops after sprinting for over 10 seconds.
• Fixed looping Balloon pop sound after going through a Rift.

• Key Bindings – The keyboard bindings are now categorized to make finding actions you want to rebind a lot easier.
• Marker System:
  • Added hover details for in-world markers, actions a player may take on a marker will appear in these details.  Marker details will appear when the reticule is placed over the marker.
  • You can now mark vehicles and found consumables such as apples.
  • Reworked display of Item markers to increase readability across all platforms.
  • Items will display as a large icon for a short time when first marked, and will reduce in size when a player aims near their location.
  • Markers are now sorted by distance.
  • Reduced screen size of squad waypoint markers to reduce view obstruction.
  • Minimap markers updated to match in-world markers.
  • On keyboards there is now a keybind option to specify a dedicated key for placing a danger marker.
  • Double-Clicking the ping button to place a danger marker, is no longer blocked by items on the ground.
  • You can now ping while riding in a vehicle reliably.
  • You can now Mark While Bush.
  • Please continue to let us know what improvements you would like to see for the marker system!
• Squad nameplates and team arrows now become more transparent when aiming down sights.
• Restored the ability to view all of your current Challenges while in a match.
• Wrap things up in a hurry! You can now apply a wrap to all slots by choosing “Apply To All” when picking a wrap in the Locker.
• Enabled camera control on some reward types when viewing Challenges
• Challenge Info panel in the lobby now defaults to Party Assist while you are in a Party.

Bug Fixes

• The Luxe bundle is now displayed in the Challenge Screen along with the Blackheart and Hybrid bundles.
• Wraps are now previewed on the highest resolution version of the vehicle or weapon in the lobby.
• Fixed an issue on consoles where you couldn’t select “Party Assist” for the last challenge in a bundle.
• Fixed an issue where the next Stage of a Challenge was not automatically set to “Party Assist”.
• Fixed an issue where the animation and sound effects would play twice when selecting Challenges on a controller.
• Fixed an issue where scrolling with the mouse in the Challenge Screen would sometimes jump around unexpectedly.

Save the World

• Fixed an issue that caused players to crash while in the Collection Book.
• Fixed an issue that could cause the Winter Llama to pull from the wrong item set.
  • This issue only impacted Winter Llamas that were converted from Snowflake tickets with the launch of v8.0
  • All players have been granted a 2018 Winter Llama to compensate for this. Additionally, all players who received the incorrect Winter Llamas as part of the 8.0 conversion will be granted the same amount of the correct 2018 Winter Llamas in a future gift box.
  Fixed an issue that caused players to continue earning Snowflake Tickets
  • All remaining Snowflake tickets will be converted to 2018 Winter Llamas
• Fixed an issue with a wall being placed when picking a trap from the trap picker via mouse.
• Fixed an issue with destroying/consuming the last item in the equipped weapon/trap stack, forcing a switch to an item in the next focusable quick bar slot, even if the item is replaced by a new weapon/trap.
• Fixed an issue with the building outline appearing red after placing a trap on an existing structure.
• Beta Storms
  • The return of Retrieve the Data Beta Storm
  • We listened to your feedback and this time around players can vote to shoot down the balloon early!  No more waiting for it to land.
    • Shooting down the balloon early causes the storm to rush in faster.
  • The landing zone is now a 1 by 1 build area
  • The storm wall is easier to see through.
• New Beta Storm mission Test the Limits.
  • Test the Limits is a mission about racing around through a series of checkpoints to see how many laps you can complete, the more laps the better the badge reward.  There will be a preparation time to help you optimize the path from point to point then a timed race. Great way to test different hero loadouts.
• Beta Storm: Eliminate and Collect will be rotating out.
  • We appreciate everyone who participated and provided feedback on this Beta Storm variant.

• The previous “Abilities” tab has been replaced with a “Loadout” tab, where players can view information about their active hero loadout while playing a mission.
• Changed the controller input so that accessing Mission Details now requires you to hold the associated button down.
  • Edit option for Hero Loadouts now requires only a tap of the associated button.
• Reduced the wordiness of tooltips for gadgets.
• Respawn At Start now properly shows its associated keybind when in the Down But Not Out state.
• Evolution and Rarity increases can now be done when inspecting an item that was received from a Transform Schematic.
• Changed the “clear all” button in the Hero Loadout screen to also clear gadgets and team perks.
• Added Toggle Descriptions button to Team Perk and Gadget selection panels in Hero Loadout.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed a bug where players using the Old School or Quick Builder Controller configurations would be unable to throw grenades slotted in the third ability slot.
• Fixed issues with warnings about having another hero with the same perk in the loadout showing up in some cases when they should not.
  • When a hero was being chosen for a slot that had the same perk, it will no longer erroneously warn that the perk is already in the loadout.  This will make it easier to replace a hero with a higher rarity or higher Power Level hero with the same perk, since they will sort to the upper part of the list rather than sorting with the “warning” displays in the lower part of the list.
• Fixed the Hero picker details panel for Expeditions to show the correct Hero Loadout abilities.
• Changed padding on Zone name header to fix Korean language text getting cut off at the bottom.
• Fixed the ramp structure so that the trap picker UI works correctly.
• Fixed an issue that caused the Voice Chat icon to not properly update when kicking a muted player
• Fixed an issue that caused slottable item counts for Collection Book categories to not update after evolving slotted schematics.
• Fixed an issue that caused loss of gamepad control in the Transform slot picker after opening and closing the friends list.
• Fixed an issue with Hero name plate text scrolling with Hero names in all languages.
• Fixed defender trap UI issues related to selecting a defender from a different pad.
• Fixed an issue that caused players to partially lose navigation functionality when returned to the Quest Tab from the quest log.
• Fixed a matchmaking error that would prevent players from matchmaking into zones properly if they tried to start a quest from the quest log while already in a lobby.
• Fixed an issue with hero ability icons appearing grayed out in the quick bar when casting a hero ability right as another ability comes off cooldown.
• Fixed expedition timer text overlapping with completion percentage.
• Fixed an issue where the matching filter would only show the heroes that matched the team perk when the team perk was already active. It now shows all heroes since the team perk has been activated by other support heroes slotted.

• Staredown Southie (Returning)
  • Standard Perk: Bear Stare
    • T.E.D.D.Y fires lasers every 2 seconds, dealing 26 base Energy Damage
  • Commander Perk: Bear Stare+:
    • T.E.D.D.Y fires lasers every 1.5 seconds, dealing 51 base Energy Damage
  • Available in the Weekly Store on March 13 at 8 PM Eastern Time until March 20 at 8 PM Eastern Time.
• Four Leaf Wildcat (Returning)
  • Standard Perk: Grenade Generation
    • Every 45 eliminations, gain 1 Frag Grenade charge.
  • Commander Perk: Grenade Generation+
    • Every 20 eliminations, gain 1 Frag Grenade charge.
  • Available in the Weekly Store on March 13 at 8 PM Eastern Time until March 20 at 8 PM Eastern Time.
• Constructor B.A.S.E can now be auto placed, just like traps.
• Increased the base damage of Tail of the Dragon
  • Standard Perk: Increased from 18 to 26
  • Commander Perk: Increased from 45 to 64
• All Heroes in inventory and Collection Book will be marked eligible for Item Reset.
  • Items eligible for a free unslot from the Collection Book will also be eligible for an Item Reset after they are unslotted.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed an issue which could cause Ninjas to have invisible collision with enemy Husks.
• Fixed an issue where Bass Solo didn’t enforce its maximum elimination limit.
• Fixed an issue where Make It Count+ displayed an incorrect tooltip value.
• Fixed an issue where Tail of the Dragon was dealing more damage than intended
  • Was previously dealing the damage of Dragon Slash in addition to the base damage with every tick.
  • We’ve increased the damage value on Tail of the Dragon (noted above)
  • We’ve marked Snuggle Specialist Sarah as eligible for reset due to this change
• Bass Solo now correctly shows a warning if used in a support slot for a Commander without Warcry
• Fixed an issue where hotfixer was granting the incorrect amount of repair speed
• Fixed an issue where Skull Ranger Ramirez and Fallen Love Ranger Jonesy played the wrong animation in the Hero Loadout screen
• Fixed an issue where One-Two Punch never ended with some melee weapons
• Fixed an issue where Impossibility Matrix would override the default Charge Fragment bonus
• Fixed Bear Stare tooltips to display correct damage values.
  • Bear Stare still deals the same amount of damage, but the tooltip value is now accurate.
• Fixed an issue where Seismic Smash was doing less damage than intended.
  • This resulted in an increase of 11 base damage.
• Fixed an issue where Present…Arms! wasn’t granting the correct movement speed bonus as a Commander Perk
• Parting Gift fireworks now have sound
• Fixed an issue which could cause Keen Eyes to never turn off.
• Fixed an issue which could cause Keen Eyes visual effects to double up
• Fixed an issue where In The Zone hit counter never reset
• Updated Assault Ammo Recovery’s tooltip to accurately reflect its functionality.
• Fixed an issue which was incorrectly capping the number of targets that could be hit by Frag Grenade to 8 or 12.
  • This should make “Bigger is Better” feel much more effective.
• Updated the tooltip for Doppler Effect to indicate that it reduces the cooldown, and not the energy cost, of Shockwave.
• Fixed an issue with Phase Shift that was causing the speed bonus to not apply consistently or correctly at times.
  • Phase Forward and Phase Shift run speed bonus should now stack with In the Zone properly
  • Phase Forward+ now correctly applies the bonus 10% run speed as intended.
• Fixed an issue where Anti-Material Charge with Strike Cost couldn’t be activated with less energy than the standard pickaxe heavy attack requires.
• Fixed an issue where sometimes Anti-Material Charge wouldn’t hit enemies who were too close.
• Fixed an issue where Outlanders could interrupt Anti-Material Charge and end up in a broken state.
• Fixed an issue where T.E.D.D.Y. couldn’t spawn if any player was nearby.
• Fixed an issue where BOOM B.A.S.E. buff was not being removed after B.A.S.E was destroyed.
• Fixed an issue where Electrified floors was doing the same damage at commander and hero level
• Fixed an issue where Endless Smoke was bigger than intended at commander and hero level
  • Was previously making the radius of Smoke Bomb 380% bigger at hero and commander level instead of 186%
  • We’ve marked Infiltrator Ken as eligible for reset due to this change

Fortnite

The latest update is now live on Xbox One, PlayStation 4, PC, Nintendo Switch, iOS, and Android devices. Thoughts on the latest changes made to the battle royale title? Sound off in the comment section below, or hit me up over on Twitter @DirtyEffinHippy!

—–

Have you subscribed to ComicBook Nation, the official Podcast of ComicBook.com yet? Check it out by clicking here or listen below.

In this latest episode, we talk Arrow coming to an end, new Avengers: Endgame footage shown, a HUGE Captain Marvel discussion & so much more! Make sure to subscribe now and never miss an episode!