The Fortnite 3.2 Patch is Prompting a Mass Revolt by Players

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It seems Fortnite Save the World players have finally had enough after the recent 3.2 patch re-rolled the stats of the game's rare "Dragon Weapons." The Fortnite subreddit is currently awash with players, or perhaps soon-to-be ex-players, demanding refunds and vowing to stop playing Save the World, maybe for good.

As a community, Fortnite Save the World players have often complained about getting the short-end of the stick when it comes to updates and developments from Epic. Especially compared to the massively popular Battle Royale mode.

That anger has never really seriously translated into a major problem until the recent 3.2 patch that re-rolled the stats of the game's Dragon Weapons, a special event-only weapon for the game's Spring update. Thanks to the loot-based nature of winning powerful weapons in the game, this change could mean the loss of a lot of hours of grinding, or even real-money for some players.

Since the update went live and players discovered the re-rolls—Epic didn't tell players the re-rolls were a part of the re-balancing update—several threads have popped up from players explaining that they're seeking a refund. Those who were successful have also been telling other players how they could get refunds as well.

"So because of the changes to the perks and terrible patching and current controversy of [Save the World], I just put in a refund for multiple purchases adding up to over $600 (including limited founder packs). About 5-10 minutes later I got a bunch of emails showing that all the purchases were refunded," wrote one player in a thread about their refund.

Epic themselves seems to have acknowledged the discontent brewing in the community. In a thread dedicated to the Dragon Weapon re-rolls, an Epic spokesperson began with, "Hey Folks, We messed up, we changed the perks on the Dragon Weapons and didn't tell you we were doing it."

Epic followed up today with a post-mortem on the 3.2 patch, where another Epic spokesperson apologized to players about the way the update was handled and how the re-rolls were implemented. Epic explains that the re-rolls were necessary after a data error caused the Dragon Weapons to ignore the game's normal perk rules, but by the time the problem could be solved, massive consequences like the re-rolls became necessary.

"In this specific case, we should have waited until we shipped the perk re-roll system to touch any perks on a large scale, to allow you to adjust for when we make significant balance changes," wrote a Fortnite Save the World Systems designer. "The change should have also included a grant of evolution materials and XP to refund what players had already invested in the weapons containing Critical Chance. We've decided that is a good philosophy going forward," they added referring to the loss of time and resources some players complained about once the re-rolls took place.

We reached out to Epic for comment on how the developer will address player complaints over Patch 3.2 and will update the story when we hear back. It does sound as though Epic is working on some form of compensation for Monday however.

The anger on display in these threads have seemingly spread across the subreddit, including another recent Epic post from today detailing the St. Patick's Day themed heroes coming to the game.

"Hey instead of adding new heroes how about you get someone to work on my refund?" wrote one disgruntled player, whose sentiments are echoed all across the subreddit. "You drop a post like this? Address all your angry customers and compensate us for all the junk you put us through on a regular basis..no one cares about reskins except BR and while we know that mode is your favorite we actually paid for our game so give us some respect," wrote another player.

All-in-all it feels like this is the straw that broke the camel's back for Save the World players who have long complained about feeling like second-class citizens in the game. Of their many grievances are the fact that Save the World players feel their game mode is still incomplete, constantly saddled with unpopular updates, and that the players are suffering even though they paid for the game. That's compared to Fortnite Battle Royale which released as a free-to-play mode.

Coupled with the recent announcement that Fortnite Battle Royale is receiving a cross-platform mobile version that some players have taken as yet another Battle Royale-related project taking Epic's attention away from Save the World. While discontent has been common in the Fortnite subreddit for awhile, this genuinely feels like a turning point for the PvE mode and its community.