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Epic Games has detailed Fortnite patch v11.40—the first update of 2020—and it brings weapon side-grading and sorts out a host of bugs in the battle royale (via Eurogamer).
Introducing Weapon Sidegrading!
Use Upgrade Stations to convert your AR to a Heavy AR. Check it out now. pic.twitter.com/v0XAzyb7Ji
— Fortnite (@FortniteGame) January 15, 2020
In casual matches, players are able to improve their weapon through side-grading in using the workbenches dotted around the island. To begin with, only the Assault Rifle is upgradeable into a Heavy Assault Rifle, but this should boost the weapon pool in the future, encouraging variance in the battles of Chapter 2. Also, the material cost for upgrading weapons has been cut back to make room for this new mechanic. Flint-Knock Pistol, Shockwave Grenade, and Impulse Grenade are now in the Battle Lab, allowing players to add a little bang for their buck in custom matches. Finally, the iOS version of the game has received new controls, and will mimic clickable thumbstick buttons on iOS controllers, and will support 120fps on the iPad Pro.
Regarding the bug fixes, there are a few. Players’ Star Wars achievements are back in the Legacy timeline, and players should no longer get stuck in Edit mode. Mobile versions of Fortnite will be freed of the looped Select Fire Mode screen, and improvements addressing FPS drops and hitching have been implemented. You can read the extent of the patch notes here.
Last year, Epic Games sought legal action against a playtester at Montreal’s Keywords Studios who allegedly leaked the new features in Chapter 2. This is the second instance of Epic Games targeting leakers, as their actions are considered to have, “‘deprived [the developer] of the element of surprise,’ tipped off its competitors to its strategy and affected its reputation among its peers.” It doesn’t seem to have hurt the developer too much, as the store raked in $608 million in 2019.
