I’m a founding member of the Fortnite Crew. Not because I’m a hardcore player who logs in each and every day to earn a victory royale. No, it’s because I’m terrible with finances and keep on forgetting to cancel the subscription. I jumped onto the optional service the second Epic put it out into the world, believing that paying $10 a month for the battle pass alongside a couple of unique skins and other cosmetics was worth the asking price.
After a while, we even got 1000 additional V-Bucks to help sweeten the pot, but I’d only end up wasting them on random emotes I’d forget to use, or have to purchase extra currency so I’d have enough to buy the skin I wanted in the first place.For a long time now Fortnite Crew has sat in this awkward limbowhere this additional subscription just wasn’t offering the right things for average players to jump aboard, just fools like myself who keep on paying for it.
How Is Epic Changing Fortnite Crew?
Fortnitehas grown exponentially in complexity over the past couple of years thanks to a slew of new battle passes for Lego, Festival, and Rocket Racing. You are now earning experience for two or more passes at any given time, each of which offers its own distinct rewards. It’sa lotand is hard for a veteran player like me to follow, let alone a newcomer. I found it irritating that, as a Fortnite Crew member, I had to spend extra money to gain access to every single pass, like I was paying for an extra privilege and not getting the things it promised.
Now, that is changing.Epic has announced that all battle passes will soon progress together, but as a consequence, it will be raising the base price of the battle pass by 50 V-Bucks for the first time in the game’s history. It’s striking a balance that will hopefully have people willing to engage in other modes outside of Battle Royale and Zero Build with smaller audiences.
One of my favourite things about Fortnite Crew is how it marked my continued status as a member by offering evolving cosmetic items and skins that changed or were added to each and every month. I want more of this, and ways to show off I’m part of the crew.
If you’re a Fortnite Crew member, all of these passes will be folded into your subscription alongside existing benefits, so you’ll still be getting regular V-Bucks and cosmetics which can’t be earned anywhere else. Judging by the attitude taken by Epic here, I wouldn’t be surprised if the subscription is shaken up even more so in the months to come.
And Why Is This A Good Thing?
The intention of Lego Fortnite and Fortnite Festival was toexpand the metaversewith new ways to play, but the past several years have proven that the faithful remain committed to the battle bus, and weren’t willing to spend extra to engage in other modes because they just weren’t that interested in playing them. Epic addressing that is a clever move, while the price increase is miniscule enough, it’ll soon feel like it never happened at all.
For a long time, it felt like I was falling out of love with Fortnite because it expected so much from me through its myriad modes, like it was the only game I could play if I wanted to earn or see everything it had to offer. Live service games are designed to take over your life, so it’s nice to see Epic realise it was asking too much of its audience and choosing to adjust a few things so the experience is not only more rewarding, but more inviting in the first place.
That can only be a good thing, and for the first time in ages, I’m not ashamed to be an OG member of the Fortnite Crew.
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Starting life as a tower defense game, Fortnite has become one of the biggest video games out there. Its battle royale mode dominates popular culture, featuring concerts by megastar musicians and crossovers with just about every brand imaginable, from Marvel to the NFL.
