Ways Season 8 Improves Fortnite
Map Changes
Map changes at the start of the season aren’t anything new to Fortnite introduced in Season 8. For a good while now, Epic Games has been throwing out old, rarely visited named locations in favor of new and exciting places to check out.
Heck, just last season the likes of Flush Factory and Greasy Grove were replaced by Happy Hamlet and Frosty Flights. It’s not the fact that we’re just getting new named locations, though, it’s the thought that’s going into Fortnite’s map.
Epic Games has made a concerted effort to focus on adding variety to Fortnite’s location, which makes Season 8 such a treat to play.
Over the past few seasons, Epic has slowly but surely been introducing the notion of various biomes across the map. We have the desert in the southeast, the iceberg in the southwest, and now we’ve got the jungle-y/ volcano/ pirate-themed area in the northeast.
This adds a ton of variation to the layout of these named locations. Rather than the likes of Greasy Grove feeling oddly similar to Tomato Town, or the way Anarchy Acres and Fatal Fields just felt a little too samey, almost every locale on the map now feels unique in its layout and your surroundings as you’re exploring it.
We’ve still got a good while before Fortnite Season 9 commences, but we’d be very surprised if the northwest corner of the map doesn’t get a ‘biome makeover’ next. And frankly, we can’t wait.
Ways Season 8 Improves Fortnite
UI Overhaul
If there’s been one aspect of Fortnite’s Battle Royale mode that’s still felt a little bit in the ‘beta’ phase, it’s been its UI. We’ve seen improvements slowly but surely since its initial release, but with Season 8, the whole things got an overhaul to give its menus and other interfaces the same level of polish that the rest of the experience has.
It’s arguably most notable when first starting up the Battle Royale mode. The lobby has been overhauled and the menus now feature more of an electric blue color scheme and clean layout.
The Challenges tab has also seen a number of changes, making it easier to quickly check your progress on a particular set of challenges or enable Party Assist (more on that later) before diving into a game, rather than having to hold down that left analog stick as you trawl to the most recent set of challenges.
Arguably the most controversial of these UI changes is the update to the markers, or ‘Ping’ system as it’s commonly referred to. Rather than having to open up your map and place a marker down that your teammates can see, it’s now possible to ‘hot ping’ a location.
All you need to do is look at a location and press left on the d-pad on consoles or the middle mouse button on PC and you’ll ping that location out to your teammates immediately. It even comes up with how far away you are from that spot in meters, too.
Yes, yes, it’s something that Apex Legends introduced to the battle royale scene when it released earlier this year, but it’s a welcome addition in Fortnite.
Not only does the distance markers make it easier to see how far you’re going to travel and whether or not you’re likely to make it out of the circle, but it also means you can communicate with your teammates non-verbally a heck of a lot easier.
Considering we’ve seen daily and even some weekly challenges require you to work or play with friends or other players, this is sure to help co-ordination, not just with challenges, but in the moment-to-moment gameplay of Fortnite when playing with others, too.
Ways Season 8 Improves Fortnite
Party Assist
We’ve all been there. A new set of weekly challenges drops and you sigh as you see another annoying “Deal damage with X weapon type” or “Search Chests in Y named location.” These aren’t always the most enjoyable to complete, and are often the most time-consuming, especially if you’re RNG luck just isn’t all that great.
That’s where the introduction of Party Assist in Fortnite Season 8 comes to save the day. Simply put, you can head into the Challenges tab from the lobby menu, select a challenge you’re struggling on, and enable this feature. In doing so, your entire squad of teammates’ can help you progress on that challenge.
Fortnite’s challenges should be fun, and for the most part, they are. Other times, you’d rather just see the back of them so you can get the secret star or secret banner, collect that chunk of XP, and boost your Battle Pass tier in the process.
The fact that Party Assist allows you to choose which challenges you use it on, and only allows you to use it on one at a time means you don’t have to use it, but it’s there for when you just have to clear that one off your ‘Suggested Challenges’ list.
Party Assist is the kind of feature that offers the best of both worlds for Fortnite players — accessibility for those that want it, and no change to those who don’t — and that can only help to retain its enormous player base moving forward in light of the competition.
Ways Season 8 Improves Fortnite
Buried Treasure
Granted, this is a bit of a specific thing to pull out, but here us out. Buried Treasure wasn’t available as soon as Fortnite’s Season 8 started, but its inclusion is one that shakes up the gameplay just the right amount.
In keeping with the pirate theme of Season 8, the Buried Treasure maps are exactly what they sound like. An item that, once picked up, brings up a marker on your screen and places an X on that spot. Go and dig it up with your pickaxe, and you’ll find a buried treasure chest teeming with legendary loot.
On the surface, this may sound a little bit broken, considering legendary weapons are the very best in the world of Fortnite. However, it’s quite a novel way of balancing out the higher rarity assault rifle drop rate nerf that hit at the beginning of the season, and makes things a little more exciting in the process.
It’s also a prime example of the kinds of unique items that Epic should focus on implementing throughout the remainder of Season 8 and in Fortnite’s future, too.
Rather than giving us more throwable explosives like Bottle Rockets and Chiller Grenades, or yet another variation on the core weapon types, bring something we’ve literally never seen before to the table. Buried Treasure is a great start to the new content coming in Fortnite Season 8, and we can only cross our fingers and hope it continues.
Bonus Entry: The Infinite Dab’s Increased Duration!
I won’t rest until the world joins me in being completely perplexed about how this improvement came about, so I added it as a bonus entry so we can talk about this. As part of the Season 8 patch notes, Epic included the following:
“Increased Infinite Dab duration from 11 hours to 12 hours in the lobby.”
We have questions.
First, has anyone actually sat there and timed it for 11 hours and then as it stopped screamed out “I need another hour dammit!”? If the answer is yes to that first question, who was so outraged they felt the need to complain? And finally, what is it about 12 hours of Infinite Dabbing that is seemingly so important?
Either way, if this is what the fans want, who are we to stand in the way of 12 hours of Infinite Dabbing happiness? And if Epic’s willing to make these bizarre tweaks, what else can we expect?
Honestly, we’re not going to rule out the possibility you’ll just be able to Infinite Dab while you’re jumping out the Battle Bus soon… we know your game Epic!
If you’re looking for some tips, tricks, and guides on the current season to help you wrap up those weekly challenges or track down a secret banner or star, check out our Season 8 wiki guide while you’re here.
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