The recent updates to Fortnite Crew have brought about some controversial changes to XP gains in Chapter 6 Season 1, causing a noticeable slowdown in progress compared to previous seasons. This shift is particularly striking after the overly generous XP distribution in the just-concluded Remix season. As is customary with each new Fortnite season, players eagerly delved into the fresh battle royale map on launch day, experimenting with new weapons and items. However, many noticed an unusual phenomenon—despite extensive play, they were not advancing as rapidly through the battle pass as they had anticipated.
Traditionally, dedicated players could amass 20 to 30 levels on the first day alone, but this season, many, including myself, found their XP gains stalling before reaching double digits. This is reportedly due to significant alterations in how XP is primarily earned in Fortnite. Season-long milestones for battle royale have been scrapped, replaced by a single set of three daily quests across all modes. Additionally, XP in other modes like Lego, Reload, OG, Festival, Save the World, and Creative is now predominantly time-based and subject to weekly caps—it takes only a few hours to reach the limit, after which gains diminish significantly.
Dataminers reveal that Lego, Reload, and OG modes share a single pool of weekly playtime XP, capped at 21 levels. Creative modes cap out at around 11 levels per week, Save the World at nine levels, and Festival has a daily cap of just over one level. These caps apply only to passive, playtime-based XP, with quests offering additional boosts. Conversely, battle royale and Zero Build have had their passive XP entirely removed, explaining the sharp decline in gains once weekly and kickstart quests are completed.
These changes likely stem from the new structure of Fortnite Crew. With the new chapter, a Fortnite Crew subscription now includes the Lego Pass, the Music Pass, and upcoming monthly OG Passes, but subscribers no longer receive the battle pass for the entire season. Given that the monthly price of Crew remains unchanged, some compromises were inevitable. Epic Games' decision to ration XP on a weekly basis, ensuring a steadier progression rate, thus makes sense in this context.
Unsurprisingly, these changes have sparked backlash on social media and Reddit. However, Epic Games is likely to observe player sentiment over the next few weeks before making any adjustments. The company previously attempted to ration XP during the launch of Chapter 4, with weekly quests that expired instead of lasting the entire season. It took nearly two months for Epic to revert that change, despite similar fan outcry. This time, Epic has the flexibility to hotfix the issue without a major update, so the current state could change at any moment.
Source link: https://www.gamespot.com
