Fortnite Blackout Ends As Servers Go Live for Bombastic Chapter 2
Fortnite Chapter 2 is here and everyone can breathe again. | Source: Epic Games/Fortnite
After a near two day hiatus following Sunday’s ‘The End’ event, Fortnite servers and matchmaking are now once again live, rebranded as Chapter 2 and including a bevy of changes and updates. These are quite substantial, which explains the lengthy outage. And no, Elon Musk wasn’t responsible.
Check out the launch trailer Epic Games has published for the occasion.
Fortnite’s New Chapter 2 Map
Many of the new additions correlate with what was gleaned from a leaked Fortnite Chapter 2 Season 1 Battle Pass trailer yesterday. The chief change is a brand new island map with no less than thirteen new locations, including hideouts like haystacks and dumpsters, and new explosive environmental props like gas tanks and barrels.
The new aquatic-themed game play elements have also been confirmed and include fishing, swimming, motorboats, and diving.
On a more granular level, Epic has switched up Fortnite squad play to be a more supportive affair with a new Bandage Bazooka weapon to aid injured squad mates, the ability to carry downed teammates, and a host of new celebratory group emotes.
There are also new male and female default skins, new gun wraps, gliders, axes, backpacks, character skins, and loading screens. Fortnite’s in-game HUD has a new sharper look as well.
Weapons and XP System Rejig
Epic has streamlined weapons into different variant classifications (epic, legendary, etc.) with new and old guns featuring as well. Players can now upgrade their weapons by spending gathered resources at a new in-game feature called the upgrade bench.
Chapter 2 also overhauls the XP system and Battle Pass with a focus on making it less grind-oriented and more rewarding. There’s a medal punch card that allows you to earn extra XP boosts every game through different activities such as completing challenges, eliminations, and hunting down chests.
We can expect a slew of new details to surface in the coming hours as players acquaint themselves with the update. Epic Games should release patch notes before long as well, at which point we can get a firm idea of everything the Chapter 2 refresh entails.
