Fortnite's Latest Dev Updates Talk Class Balance, Rare Materials & Battle Royale

Now that the hubbub has settled around the release of Fortnite’s standlone Battle Royale mode, Epic Games is ready to bring the focus back to updates for the main PvE mode. Executive Producer Zak Phelps and Creative Director Darren Sugg took the time to answer burning questions from the community, discussing balance, story and more for the early access game.

Dev Update #7 addresses questions about class balance (Epic acknowledges some are problematic, but they’re careful when making changes because of how it will affect the other aspects of the class), the speed of earning rare materials (as a future free-to-play game, they are trying to strike the right balance between being able to purchase certain things versus earn them) and the story line (the narrative will continue to be added to).

For those who are keeping an eye on the Battle Royale side of things, the first developer video has been released for the standalone mode, which just launched last week. Producer Zack Estep and Senior Systems Designer Eric Williams field questions from players about voice chat (coming soon), the addition of leaderboards and stats (they’re looking to add them “as quickly as possible”), hackers (harsh punishments ensured), weapon bloom (a high priority and they want to make sure they “get it right”) and more.

Fortnite is currently playable in a purchasable early access version, with a full, free-to-play release scheduled for next year. Its separate Battle Royale mode is available now for free download as a standalone game.

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