Fortnite V13.40 – Plenty for Casual, Bugs for Esports

Fortnite
August 5, 2020
Jordan Ashley

Fortnite V13.40 has made its way to the game this morning. While Epic is still withholding patch notes, some changes are pretty obvious this time around. Cars are finally in the game, which has been a long time coming but makes a big change. On top of this, there have been some other smaller changes in the game that you might have missed. The reaction to the update has been a bit mixed. Cars are a fun addition, but a few pretty major bugs haven’t been fixed yet.

This is worrying coming into the second round of the FNCS, especially when this update has been pretty much pointless for the Esports scene. This is what you need to know about the update and what it means:

Fortnite V13.40 - Plenty for Casual, Bugs for Esports

© Fortnite

Fortnite V13.4 Patch Notes

Since Epic doesn’t do patch notes anymore, you have a bit further to see what’s going on. Thankfully, players are getting pretty good at finding all of the changes and Epic do make bug fixes public on their Trello board. This is everything major that has changed with the Fortnite V13.4 update:

Cars Added in Fortnite V13.4

Cars have been added to Fortnite with the latest update. These vehicles restore some mobility to the map and should make it considerably easier to get around. This is how they work:

  • There are four different types of vehicles. Each is a different size.
  • Once you find one, you can just hop straight in. They handle pretty much the same as cars in any other game so no special controls to learn.
  • You’re going to need to fill up the cars every now and again to keep them running. You can find gas pumps around the island and they’re marked on the map. Fortnite V13.4 has also added some stand-alone gas cans scattered around the map. You can carry these for if and when you run out of gas.
  • Fortnite cars have health, so be careful when you’re driving around. The larger cars are much harder to destroy.
  • There are a few radio stations available in the cars that play some licensed music., like Drake. Unfortunately, all of the stations essentially play the same genre, so you’re not getting the wide array of tastes being catered for like you get with games like Grand Theft Auto.
  • Not active in Arena yet.

Other Changes in Fortnite V13.40

The cars are the main event here, but what else has changed? Well, the rest of the changes are relatively minor, but one should have had a big impact on competitive play. This is everything else that’s currently been found.

  • UI Changes – The mouse cursor won’t be visible when you play with a controller now, and loading screens have been altered to sort out a full-screen bug.
  • LTMS – Loads more have been added, a few centered around fresh cars.
  • Gliders – That glider bug that caused havoc at the FCNS has been fixed in V13.40. Or at least Epic claims it has, more on this below.
  • Bottomless Chug Jug – This can now be picked back up even if recharging.
  • Challenges – A few bugged out challenges have been fixed.

What Does the Update Mean for Competitive Fortnite?

Competitive Fortnite is in the middle of its big event for the Season, and the glider bug has been causing big problems. A slight issue with the glider wreaked havoc on the first round of the FNCS.

Epic is claiming that the bug has been fixed in V13.40, but the majority of players disagree. It seems like the glider bug is still active in the game.

Epic’s attempt at a fix doesn’t seem to have worked. It is also frustrating that they claimed the problem was solved, even if this was unintentional. At the moment, some of the best Fortnite players are being held back by a bug that makes things a bit random. This is frustrating to watch, especially if you’re doing some Fortnite betting on that match.

The addition of cars has some ramifications for competitive, but not for the time being. They’re not going to be making an appearance in the Arena mode for at least a few weeks. This makes they won’t have an impact on the rest of the FNCS, and might well not appear in any Cash Cups for a while too. Essentially this means V13.40 is a little pointless for the competitive side of things, while fun for the casual and pubs players. We’ll have to wait and see how cars shake out before making judgments about where they fit into competitive. If only Epic can squash their one game-breaking bug before their next event.

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