Peter Sallale 
Two notorious items have seemingly fallen out of favour with the developers of Fortnite: Battle Royale, resulting in much rejoicing from the fan base. Several shotguns in-game have received damage nerfs across the board, which will hopefully lead to less frustrating one-hit kills. In addition, the limited-time jetpack item will be “vaulted” (no longer spawn in-game) on Monday, June 11th. A controversial item since its inception, many players criticised the jetpack for providing an easy-to-use counter against the rapid building strategy that many skilled players utilise. Both decisions have pleased fans of the game, who were growing irritated with several items that were frustrating to play against.
Two out of the game’s three shotguns have received these nerfs. The first, the pump shotgun, is probably the most loathed item in the game, given its close-range one-hit kill potential. The Pump Shotgun has had its headshot multiplier reduced as well as its base damage. In addition, the tactical shotgun, which fires faster and holds more ammo than the pump at the cost of per-shot damage, has also received a damage reduction.
The jetpack, on the other hand, is the first of the “limited-time items” that Epic Games plans to add to the game to inject new strategies into the Battle Royale experience. Instead of receiving nerfs due to the negative feedback it has gotten, Epic has instead opted to vault it. It is unknown if this decision was moved up due to the fanbase’s reaction; Epic Games says that they may improve and tune the jetpack at a later date.
One other major change is to trap damage. Last week, Epic nerfed the damage wall, and ceiling, mounted traps did to players, from 125 to only 75 damage, not enough to kill someone at full-health. After a negative reaction from players, Epic seemed to have learned their lesson, buffing the damage from 75 to 150. Now it seems, the player base thinks this is too excessive.
You can check the full patch notes here and keep on the lookout for more balance changes and patches in Fortnite: Battle Royale.
