Fortnite Chapter 3 Season 2 is now live. The game has been topping the charts in the battle royale genre since its launch in 2017, and its latest rendition brought a lot of changes along with it. This means new maps, weapons, items, and mechanics for players to work with.
That said, there was one update that overshadowed everything else, even before the new Fortnite Season was up and running. That change would see Fortnite remove the building mechanic temporarily from the game's default mode. Fortnite without building may feel strange, but it also exposes the inherent flaws with the building mechanic as it existed in previous seasons.
Building In Fortnite
Every battle royale game has its own gimmick. For example, Apex Legends has hero characters with unique abilities. In Fortnite, that gimmick is building. Rooted in its survival game origins, Fortnite allows players to build structures, such as walls and platforms. The mechanic adds a layer of strategy to an otherwise similar battle royale, as an individual or team's ability to win not only depends on their ability to accurately shoot their opponents, but also outmaneuver them with building.
Building can be used defensively, of course, to block shots, but also offensively to quickly gain the higher ground against an enemy player, for example. On the other hand, learning how to build efficiently also adds to the game's learning curve. In any case, it goes without saying that building is the defining feature of Fortnite. Removing this mechanic completely changes the game's meta, even if building in Fortnite will eventually return on April 3.
Issues With Fortnite's Building Mechanic
If building is what makes Fortnite unique, it is not to everyone's liking. For a long time, players who wanted to play a more classic battle royale game have been calling for Fortnite to have a "No Build" mode. Building critics often argue that it incentivized camping, and the first player who is forced out of their spot by the circle would die. Essentially, the main problem for those against building altogether is that the best players are often those who excel at building, rather than shooting, when Fortnite is supposed to be a shooter game.
That said, not everyone who complains about building wants the mechanic to be removed from the game forever. Those who want buildings to remain, but be nerfed take issue with the way the building mechanic has evolved. When Fortnite first launched, building was a brand-new feature that players had to learn, which takes time. Since then, however, some players discovered increasingly faster ways to build in Fortnite. Combined with patches that made building easier, what was once a subsidiary mechanic slowly morphed into the Bob the Builder with guns that it is today.
Why Building Should Stay, But Be Nerfed
Being the defining feature of Fortnite, it would be silly to remove it from the game permanently. Fortnite may be a shooter, but dismissing players who win with superior building as "unskilled" is also unfair. No matter how good anyone is at building, they still need to finish off their opponent with ammunition; platforms, and walls won't kill anyone by themselves. Building simply adds a dimension to the game where professional players like Ninja can successfully combine their building abilities with their shooting abilities and become the best.
Be that as it may, building a tower the size of the Burj Khalifa in a split second after being spotted is also just as ridiculous. Once building returns, it should be seriously nerfed. The easiest way to fix building in Fortnite would be to remove features that allow for quick — even instantaneous — building, and adding cooldown times. Not only would that prevent players from going berserk by summoning superstructures, but it would also incentivize them to plan ahead, and think carefully before building.
Fortnite is available now on Android, PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
