Epic Games has made a statement that the Ranked mode of Fortnite is back on the cards. This announcement has turned out to be a notable event in the gaming community. The official competitive account represented by the @FNCompetitive handle expressed it succinctly with the words, “RANKED IS BACK🚀,” as if to say that the Road to Unreal is ON. Everyone is equally reminded to express their gratitude to the bus driver once again. Nevertheless, the reception of the announcement by the community is not exactly what the developers had in mind; it is rather like a hype train that has already gone off track and is in flames because of certain problems they are not aware of.
To elucidate, in the case of Fortnite’s Ranked mode, the competitive ladder, that is, the ranks ranging from Bronze to the exclusive Unreal rank, was interrupted for a period of time. Most probably, it was the case of maintenance work being done, or setting things up for the new season, or whatever. The mode is now live again. This should be good news and a welcome change, right? Not exactly. Gamers have been vocal about their displeasure by replying to the announcement, and thus the whole issue has become quite a mood.
The first and greatest issue of concern? A lot of gamers are logging into the game only to find out that they are in Bronze 1. What is worse is that these are not even novice players; rather, they are the ones who had just touched the highest rank of Unreal before the season’s end. It sounds almost like giving gamers “more time to condition” when they have put in much time, if not days, just to reach the top. A player by the name of @baylac_mateo openly asked, “Why am I Bronze 1? I finished the last season in Unreal.” And that is not all. Another player, @albionderalbo, was the one who bluntly asked, “Why am I in Bronze 1?” So decisively the whole rank reset seems… aggressive or maybe mistakenly done. Most likely erroneously done.
Adding to the confusion is the whole issue of rewards in ranked. It is said that Epic has actually changed the method of giving out rewards to the players, which consists of umbrellas and styles along with the like. The previous system was that players only had to get to a certain rank in one mode to be eligible for the rewards. The new system, however, is like that players have to play ranked in all modes to receive the same rewards according to players such as @johndabot. His comment was quite blunt: “Okay, but go back to what you were doing with the ranked rewards. We shouldn’t have to play ranked in every mode to get the same rewards as before.” Another player, @antosik767, even resorted to using the Russian language, which translates to: “The new system of ranked rewards is altogether rubbish. If you go on like this, you’ll lose all the players who have been collecting these rewards.” Ouch!
Not to mention that the grind is real. One of the players, @yeet_nation00, expressed the feeling through the words, “Welp, it’s time to get wrecked in every game just to reach the Unreal rank in three game modes and then get the reward.” The whole situation is one of exhaustion even before the climb has begun. Some, like @nightfv, are still very enthusiastic and have even said things like, “I have totally devoted my life to the ranked grind today,” but these people appear to be a minority at the moment.
Not to mention the confusion. People are already questioning the disappearance of “Ranked 2.0.” That was the major overhaul that the community had been clamoring for, which would have included a proper point system similar to the old Arena mode. @Exemtc was exceptionally active when he posed the question, “Is it ranked 2.0 already? Bc why is there not one single change yet this is so annoying as hell make it like arena.” So, this return looks nothing but the old system, complete with all its flaws, and therefore, it is disappointing for many competitive players who were expecting an upgrade.
Amid all the chaos, there are some funny moments. A player, @Riox_Yaren, complained about the score of Bronze 1 after getting only five elims in three games. The answer from the community was… just not very sympathetic. @1MIXLEMINER replied, “5 kills in 3 matches… sounds to me like bronze is where you belong.” Another one, @pr6ve, said simply, “yeah i don’t think fortnite is the right game for you.” Harsh, but somewhat funny.
There are others who are going around making absurd requests. @Themanbeastis9 is the one-man crusade to “Bring back Kr
The battle royale community is clearly divided on these changes. This situation highlights the ongoing tension between developers and players on PlayStation, Xbox, and other platforms.
