Fortnite could be in for some big meta changes

Fortnite has built a massive audience for itself in trying to stand out from other games in the Battle Royale space, namely PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds. One of the game's core features – building – also turned out to be its key differentiator, and now it's a widely accepted belief that if you don't know how to build quickly, you probably aren't going to survive very long. Is that a problem, though? While many players probably wouldn't think so, Epic seems to think it might be.

To be clear, Epic doesn't think that building in Fortnite is a bad thing. In a recent blog post, however, it does worry that the late game is being dominated by only a narrow range of play styles. In particular, Epic is concerned by how common shotguns, rockets, and build fights are in the final circle, and it's considering implementing some changes that will allow other play styles to become viable.

We've already seen some of these changes go into effect. Earlier in the week, Epic launched what were pretty big nerfs to rocket weapons, increasing reload times for rocket launchers and capping the max number of rocket ammo players can carry at 12. This, in turn, means there won't be as much rocket spam in the late game, which was seen as a problem by some before these changes were put in place.

What is Epic planning for the future? Nothing is final yet, but in that blog post, the developer says that it's "exploring changes to weapon balance and resource economy, like e.g. resource caps." Essentially, Epic is considering doing the same thing to resources that it did to rockets, capping the max number of resources players can carry at once (current caps are 999 of each resource) so end-game duels aren't necessarily determined by who can build quicker or who farmed more in the early game.

"You should be able to find Victory Royales through multiple strategies," Epic said. "Shotguns should be strong, but other weapons have room to grow. Not every encounter should have to end in a build-off. We want to empower you to showcase your skill, strategy, and tactics in all variety of ways."

So, Fortnite could be in for some big metagame changes in the future. Epic says that it will be exploring potential changes and listening to feedback over the next few weeks, so don't be surprised to see Epic testing out some significant tweaks in future patches. What do you think of Epic's desire to see more diverse play styles and more opportunities for counterplay within Fortnite? Head down to the comments section and let us know!