A Conversation About Fortnite Chapter 7 Season 2 – The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

Image courtesy of Epic Games

Since its inception in 2017 (Chapter 1 Season 2), I have been a dedicated Fortnite Battle Royale player. Throughout all of the game’s amazing highs and controversial lows, I stuck with the game. Fortnite’s relevance is staggering compared to other live-service competitors, especially when compared to other games from the Battle Royale genre. It could be argued that Fortnite’s success stems from its uniqueness, both in visuals, gameplay, and cosmetics/collabs. Ultimately, these factors make Fortnite a game that constantly changes and evolves. However, this constant change can sometimes be detrimental to the game’s health. With Chapter 7 Season 2 arriving in BR next week, I thought it would be interesting to highlight my thoughts on this upcoming season, both positive and negative.

The Good:

Although I have highly mixed thoughts on Chapter 5 and Chapter 6 BR as a whole, many aspects of the game were thankfully improved in Chapter 7 (seemingly due to Ted Timmins’ recent involvement as the game’s new design director). For instance, the recently released cinematic trailers for C7S2 look visually stunning and are very well-animated. In the most recent trailer, lore fans were overjoyed after seeing longstanding lore characters being fully voiced again (like the Dark Voyager and other members of the Seven).

To add on to this point, it seems like Epic is also teasing the return of The Rock’s voice acting as The Foundation. Admittedly, while I have never been the biggest fan of Battle Royale’s lore, I HAVE always appreciated what Epic creates with their established characters, whether it be using cutscenes, comic books, or Live Events (with Chapter 2’s The End being one of my favorite lore-based events). The opening cutscene of Chapter 4 Season 4’s disappointed many lore fans when three members of The Seven were abruptly killed. Additionally, the other members were canonically considered either MIA or dead. Because of this, the (well-needed) return of “big players” like The Rock and The Visitor (who is now voiced by Ben Starr!) will only increase my (and lore fans) enjoyment of the storyline.

Based on the skins that have been revealed in the cinematic trailers, it appears that the C7S2 Battle Pass will have consistent theming. The current lineup seems to be a great representation of the main storyline factions being at war. This style of theming has been sorely lacking in recent BP’s, with the last well-done example of this being (in my opinion) C5S3.

As for other positives, the small glimpses that we have received of new POIs look interesting. I especially enjoy the concept that these POIs will be taken from other “realities”, as it allows Epic to really get creative with the design of these drops. I hope we also see other references to the POIs of prior seasons, similarly to the updated Ice King throne.

Thankfully, BR is not the only mode receiving big updates in the near future. A few days ago, Epic announced that Save The World will FINALLY be going Free-To-Play in April. As a Founder of the mode myself, I believe this was a much-needed change. Although STW has a dedicated fanbase of “OG’s,” the mode never really had the chance to flourish after BR became Epic’s main focus. By making STW free (as well as porting it to other consoles, such as the Switch 2!), the mode might finally get the attention and respect it deserves.

On top of this news, Epic’s Community Manager confirmed on Reddit that Founders will continue earning V-Buck rewards (as well as other miscellaneous rewards) in April. I think most Founders would agree that this was a great decision by Epic. Although V-Bucks were not the only reason to play STW, they were certainly a big motivation for Founders to stick around and continue grinding the mode. Speaking of content, I hope this update will motivate Epic to continue updating STW in the future. The campaign’s story is undoubtedly incomplete and could be further fleshed out in future missions and Zones.

The Bad:

The factors of Fortnite that I consider “bad” are gripes I have with Chapter 7 as a whole, rather than relating to C7S2 specifically. For instance, I think most people would agree that Epic should devise stronger Seasonal roadmaps. It is very common for new seasons to have a multitude of content in the first few weeks of launch. However, this feeling of exploration and “freshness” tapers off due to a lack of content. Ultimately, this normally leads to the season becoming stale to play, bar the occasional “Story Event” or new mode. Admittedly, it appears Epic is attempting to rectify this issue with the recent return of “Wild Weeks”. Although these content drops are nothing major, they normally spice up the gameplay with new unvaults or changes to the BR meta.

Regardless of their impact, I believe a more effective (and permanent) solution would be the return of LTMs. Most fans who played BR in Chapter 1/2 would remember LTMs as fun (or addictive, in some cases) distractions from the core BR gameplay. Their absence in future chapters has been noticeable, mainly due to these “dry patches” in the latter half of new Seasons. Bringing back LTMs would almost certainly fix the periods of time with little to no change in BR by letting us experience modes that are something entirely different. Some of my personal choices would be Floor is Lava and The Getaway, which have seen only short returns in recent Chapters.

As for another minor complaint towards BR, the flow of gameplay could certainly be improved with new mid-match objectives/bosses. Despite my gripes with Chapter 6, it generally did a good job at making Mythic boss items that were fun to experience and use on enemies. In Chapter 7, although we do have playable bosses, the execution of this idea feels lackluster. The bosses are generally not too difficult to defeat, consisting of some basic gunplay. The abilities are not too interesting either, as they are mainly just basic health/damage buffs. Hopefully, this aspect of gameplay will be strengthened in C7S2 with the addition of new bosses.

The Ugly:

Now that I’ve discussed my minor nitpicks regarding Chapter 7, it’s time to discuss the elephant in the room. The recently announced revisions to V-Buck pricing and V-Buck BP rewards have been controversial at best. If you are not aware of these revisions, I have linked Epic’s polarizing tweet on the topic.

For a quick summary, V-Buck packs will now provide fewer V-Bucks while still being normally priced. Additionally, starting in C7S2, the amount of V-Bucks received in Battle Passes will practically be cut in half, going from 1,500 to 800. However, Battle Passes themselves will now also cost 800 V-Bucks. The V-Buck amount received from Fortnite Crew (and the cost of passes for other modes) will also be affected. Many angered Fortnite players have been coming together on social media to protest these changes and even organize a boycott of C7S2. While I do agree that these changes are poorly thought-out and overall bad for consumers/fans of Fortnite, I would like to provide some potential solutions to this issue.

Personally, I don’t think Epic would have received as much pushback if these changes were solely for V-Buck pricing. For instance, Epic could have simply announced that the prices for V-Bucks would be increasing in the future, without touching other modes. Although this is likely unrealistic, they could have even conducted a poll on social media platforms to gauge what changes to V-Buck pricing would be ok with the players.

The decision to halve BP rewards is one that will likely just alienate players when deciding whether to buy a new Battle Pass. More frugal players (such as myself) enjoyed using spare V-Bucks from passes to buy smaller cosmetics, such as emotes and wraps. With this new update, players will only receive the exact amount of V-Bucks they need to buy next season’s pass. As I write this article, I am considering not buying the C7S2 pass when it launches to not support these new revisions. However, I am not confident that this will actually have any impact on the season’s performance.

In conclusion, I have many thoughts (both positive and negative) about the state of Fortnite Battle Royale. I hope that Epic fixes or improves some of my criticisms with the launch of C7S2 or later in the Chapter. What are your thoughts on Chapter 7, and what would you like to be changed in Battle Royale? Let me know in the comment section below!