The official account for Fortnite mentioned the new ‘Quints’ five-person squad playlist which was developed by Epic Games. The additional squad member is anticipated to introduce even more chaos and unpredictability to the gameplay. As a result, the previous player-based dynamics are replaced by a highly turbulent Battle Royale experience for the players.
So, Fortnite just tweeted this? Absolutely no major event trailer, no cinematic wonder. Simply a very basic “Extra squad member = extra chaos” with a link. And honestly, that was all they needed to communicate. Because anyone who has played in a squad fill with four members already knows that it is pure, raw madness. Adding a fifth? This is not just extra chaos. This is a recipe for absolute anarchy, and I totally support it.
The new Quints playlist is available right now, so you can grab your four best mates—or, probably, three mates and that silent random who doesn’t have a mic—and jump straight into the action. With five players, there will be more shooting, more building, more looting disputes, and an enormous amount of people talking over each other in the last circle. It’s going to be fantastic. Or a complete catastrophe. Probably, both.
But wait, let’s see the replies first, since the Fortnite community is never one to merely say “cool, thanks.” The official tweet attracts every single demand, complaint, and random request from the universe. It’s a beautiful mess.
Right from the start, the dominant theme is that no one is talking about the Quints mode. Like, not even a little bit. The most liked replies are a masterclass in ignoring the news. The user ‘AJ’ is still on “Day 1309: Asking for Michael Jackson in Fortnite!” hashtagging with a Festival vibe. That’s some real dedication right there. Another user, ‘EARTHRAlNS’, just wants to know when the bundle they are talking about is coming out. The priorities could not be any clearer.
Then, the classic collab requests start pouring in. ‘LumaAvenue’ asks for a Wicked event. ‘Nova_Force99’ is getting really impatient wondering when Star Wars skins will be available, as he/she is checking the store every night. ‘FrogForFortnite’ is still at the 509th day of requesting Tsuyu Asui from My Hero Academia. There is a dramatic saga unfolding in the comments between users ‘clairFNBR1’ and ‘Sulfur97’ who are arguing in Arabic, which further adds to the global chaos vibe. The translation is roughly “it is what it is” and “don’t curse,” which is still pretty mild for Twitter users involved in gaming, to be honest.
And, of course, there is always a load of pure, unfiltered rage every time a Fortnite tweet goes out. User ‘KeatonPlayGames’ goes all caps: “HOW ABOUT YOU FIX YOUR FUCKING LOBBY UI I CANT DO ANYTHING WITHOUT LAGGING FIX YOUR FUCKING GAME.” That’s the mood. Sometimes, the game just decides to lag, and it is the most annoying thing ever.
However, amidst the noise, the most frequent message was? It was not about the new mode. It was one cry from the players: “Bring back shockwaves.” Many users are asking for the return of the Shockwave Grenade or Shockwave Hammer. ‘hedhehrh’ says “Give us shockwaves back.” ‘SquatchRoller’ comments “Shockwaves Shockwaves Shockwaves Shockwaves… That doesn’t satisfy.” ‘lawofthesaw’ even writes a polite “Dear Fortnite, bring back the shockwave. Thank you in advance.” It’s a campaign. The people have spoken and they want their explosive mobility back.
It is comical and somewhat of a revelation. Epic Games introduces a new play style, and the majority of the community considers the announcement as a suggestion box for everything else. A few players did react to the quint idea, like ‘MFatehsammani’ who tagged around eight friends to be his squad, which is sweet. And ‘lesbianparadigm’ gave us the deep cut lyric: “push me to the edge all my friends are dead.” A mood if your new five-man squad gets wiped out in the first minute.
So what are we to make of it all? The new Quints playlist is a funny experiment. Teaming up in five will shift the meta, make the battles even more intensive, and most probably provide a lot of fun to content creators and complete squads. However, the reaction—or rather the lack of it—to the announcement is a very clear reflection of the Fortnite player base. They are passionate, they are very specific about what they want (SHOCKWAVES), and they see every communication from Epic as an opportunity to state their demands. It is the live service game environment at its most basic: the company tries something, but players are also thinking about other platforms like PlayStation and Xbox.
