Fortnite took a long time to deal with the controller aim assist, a feature that has been causing a lot of controversy in the competitive community for months. While the aim assist in question had been buffed at long range via patch 12.61, now Epic Games is backing off. Last night, the aim assist has been nerfed for PC gamers using controllers.
Famous dataminer Hypex managed to extract the lines of code related to this nerf:
In other words, these figures correspond to a decrease in the target's attraction force, on which the concept of aim assist is entirely based. The nerf is rather consequent since the attraction factor of the target is decreased everywhere by about 25%. It should be noted that this nerf only applies on PC.
Revived by the long-range buff of patch 12.61, the controversy over the aim assist has ignited the professional and competitive Fortnite scene. Keyboard/mouse players are clamoring for a radical nerf of functionality that is deemed unfair. On the other hand, controllers need compensation for the inherent precision of the mouse device, not to mention the fact that the majority of Fortnite players around the world use the controller rather than the keyboard and mouse.
As long as Epic Games retains the choice of crossplatform, especially in competitive games, it will be difficult for the publisher to provide the right balance for everyone. It remains to be seen how the pros will feel about this change, and whether it will be enough to please players.
Original content by Romain "Zorg" Becquelin.
Epic Games has announced that it will postpone the beginning of Fortnite Chapter 2 Season 3 to June 11. It will be necessary to wait another week to finally discover the next season of the battle royale.
