After a brief hiatus, Fortnite is back with a new map, revamped UI, new default skins, and a new take on how players level up and experience their Battle Pass. Epic Games has made sure to make the start of the new season feel like a brand new adventure, showing off its new season trailer and then throwing players into the thick of things through a seamless transition between FMV and gameplay, as Jonesy jumps from the party bus into a live match where players can get their first taste of things to come.
As many had speculated, the old map has been retired and a brand-new map is out for players to explore, with thirteen main locations to visit and many smaller ones littered throughout the new world. The season is live from now until December 12, and in the two months to follow players will have plenty of options to level up the revamped Battle Pass system.
The Battle Pass remains similar at its core, meaning that players still have a free and premium set of rewards to acquire, consisting of skins, emotes, gliders, harvesting tools, wraps, loading screens, music, sprays, and V-Bucks. Now however players will have more ways to advance through each level. Epic states that, “Battle Pass progression has been updated to give you more ways to level up. Earn xp and medals from a variety of in-game activities like searching chests, eliminating opponents, completing challenges, and more!”
Players will be able to see their progression in real time during a match. As seen below, there is now an xp bar that progresses with actions made in a match. If the rewards are comparable for similar actions, this might lead to casual players experimenting with a more exploratory playstyle such as hunting down chests instead of diving right into the action.
In addition, players will no longer be limited to level 100 in the Battle Pass. Instead, they will have the ability to continue leveling up for additional rewards, although details have not yet been released on exactly what lies beyond the first 100 levels in terms of rewards. The two most logical answers are that experience will at least in part carry over to the next season, or cosmetics from the previous ten seasons may become available, which would be an excellent way to allow players to earn some of the rarer items not seen in over a year.
The new Battle Pass UI does away with the previous premium and free track and has now blended both into a single list with “Free” above those items that are available to everyone. There is now more space dedicated to previewing the reward, along with a rotating view of different styles available to a player.
Finally, the new default skin has been released and looks fantastic. Will the old default become an obtainable skin in the future as a result?
There are also various little updates to the UI prior to a match, and everything looks crisp and polished in this new season. As usual, the premium pass can be purchased for 950 V-Bucks, and also gifted to another player with real money. The new season is off to a great start, and Epic Games has showed everyone that it isn’t afraid to switch things up!
Source: Epicgames.com, dexerto.com