Fortnite Sword and Plane Gameplay is a Problem in NA Winter Royale
By Nicholas Barth ·
The new Fortnite Infinity Blade and planes will be available for use in the NA half of the Fortnite Winter Royale event, but gameplay of the additions have resulted in doubt on if they should be allowed.
Tuesday, December 11th saw a major content update take place for Fortnite Battle Royale that added the new powerful Infinity Blade sword to Fortnite. Giving players who pick up the new sword 200 health points, 200 shield points, increased material harvesting rate and very strong melee attacks, the new Infinity Blade sword is an extremely powerful and game changing weapon that can enhance the gameplay of any player who wields it. New plane vehicles have also been added into the title with the implementation of Season 7 that have added another wrinkle to the meta of the battle royale game.
However, some members of the community are questioning the addition of the new Infinity Blade sword and planes in Fortnite before the day that the Semi-Finals for the North American half of the Fortnite Winter Royale tournament began.
During the first match of the Winter Royale tournament, one player showed gameplay of the controversial weapon that raises the question of whether or not the new sword should be allowed in the Fortnite Winter Royale tournament. Heading straight for the new Infinity Blade sword in Fortnite, Winter Royale competitor flow neace was able to secure the new sword without any trouble. With the weapon's ability to increase material harvesting rates, flow neace was able to quickly reach the max limit of brick material in his gameplay before easily eliminating an enemy player with the new Fortnite sword in the following Winter Royale gameplay footage.
Due to the players competing today for the chance to play for a share of the $500,000 prize pool that will be up for grabs for the 100 players who qualify for the Finals of the NA Winter Royale tournament on Wednesday out of the 200 playing today, the powerful abilities of the recently added weapon shown off in the gameplay above have been looked down upon as something that should not be available in a competitive setting where a great deal of money is on the line as highlighted by esports journalist and insider Rod "Slasher" Breslau.
Epic: So we're about show off one of Fortnite esports first real tournamnents to the world on how the game is played competitively, what should we do?
— Rod Breslau (@Slasher) December 11, 2018
Pros: Competitive integrity, use of peripherals
Epic: How about game-breaking planes and swords?
Pros: pic.twitter.com/kvCjTEOLrj
$1 Million competitive Fortnite presented by Epic Games. Esports ready. #WinterRoyale pic.twitter.com/sDNsshuFNR
— Rod Breslau (@Slasher) December 11, 2018
A major criticism of the esports scene for the title by players has been the constant updates to the title that often change the game in drastic ways and this was no different with the new Infinity Blade and planes for today's NA Winter Royale Semi-Finals.
planes and swords are brilliant, ruined so many people's chances at qualifying including myself. ggs was a snoozefest.
— POACH (@LiquidPoach) December 11, 2018
This leads to professional players practicing on one version of the game that may be completely different in the next week when a competition, such as the NA half of the Fortnite Winter Royale, takes place.
EPIC : *releases huge update before twitchcon*
— Myth (@TSM_Myth) December 11, 2018
PROS : *WTF WTF WTF WTF WTF WTF WTF*
EPIC : *goes agane*
PROS : *WTFWTFWTWFWTWTWTWIDOJAJFOIPWJOAINFIOWANWOIP* pic.twitter.com/mf6dIMOT2L
One of the first examples of this issue was when the Fortnitemares update that included NPC monsters was added before the Fortnite Fall Skirmish event at TwitchCon 2018.
However, the new sword, planes and all of their powerful gameplay abilities are available to use by any of the competitors in the NA Fortnite Winter Royale Semi-Finals taking place today, so players will have to adapt in order to see success.
(cover photo courtesy of Epic Games)