Categories: DiscussionFortnite

Ideas to improve STW

Fortnite Save the World is glitchy, repetative, and has fallen far behind it's Battle Royale counterpart.

It's obvious that it needs a big overhaul to bring it up to par.

Mechanics such as crouching, sliding, mantling, swimming, gliding, vehicles etc have NEVER made their way into STW. At this point new questlines, new heroes and new weapons just aren't enough to make this game a compelling experience.

I wanted to have an open discussion about what could possibly be done to make this game better. I truly believe that it's been teetering on the edge of being a great game and being a below average game since its launch. Let's address some of the game's core issues and see what can be done to improve them.

More BR/Creative Crossover

Recently wildlife was added into STW. I think that even though wildlife would probably be pretty low on my list of BR mechanics for them to bring over to STW.. they still have a (minor) positive impact on the game. So truly, any mechanics that get added into STW will have a positive impact, and will add up to a more enjoyable experience. BR and Creative modes have had so many tilesets added to the game, there are so many more locations that could be added to explore. Certain maps could have vehicles.. or there could be a chance to spawn a henchmen base with a vault. Maybe there could be some island maps with boats, swimming and sharks. There are so many possibilities.

Repetitive Gameplay

Most of the missions are the same. We have:

Defend the thing

Defend the thing (2 times)

Defend the things

Shoot down and Defend the thing

Defend things to power up and Defend the thing

Build tracks to a thing, defend a bomb on the tracks, then defend the thing

The missions that are different:

rescue survivors before time runs out

eliminate enemies before time runs out

collect resources before time runs out

build radar towers before time runs out

destroy encampments before time runs out (which is my favorite because the game actually ends once you destroy them all.. unlike the 20 minute survivor missions that don't even end once every survivor is rescued)

All these main quests have pretty much the same side quests. Rescue random survivors, build radar towers, destroy encampments, occasionally defend a thing, collect bluglo to buy boosts you'll hardly notice or to start the mission early.

All of this sucks. All of it. Every single side mission is boring. Most mission modifiers are just annoying and don't alter the gameplay in any interesting or meaningful way. This all got very old for me in the first few days of playing the game.

We need more variety. Now, I don't want to forget to mention.. but dungeons, venture zones, frostnite, and the gamemode where you follow a car and buy upgrades are all excellent additions to the game. But they're all post launch content and some of them (I think) are only seasonal. I don't think STW needs these to be seasonal.. I think they should be integrated into the game as regular missions, and maybe some of the missions that are very similar can be scrapped or reworked.

ALSO minor complaint, but the voicelines absolutely do not help with the sense of repetition. For the 500th time you start a mission you're gonna hear the exact same voicelines every time.

"we need to retrieve the data before we're overwhelmed by the storm"

"remember how we said it was never gonna happen? It's happening."

"praiseworthy job commander so… good…. job"

But what about the main questline?

Well I can confidently say most of the missions are to interact with x number of things, or break things to collect x number of things. Your reward for progressing through the story? Audio recordings telling you the story! Not really funny, not the most interesting.. no stakes or danger.. no cutscenes (except for the one at the beginning and the one at the end)

sorry if I've gone off on a tangent.. but there are some aspects of this game that I find truly awful. Worse than Anthem or other atrocious live service games.

The maps are randomly generated.. but they're mostly tiny islands floating in the sky. Once city might have different buildings than another city but it's all sort of thrown together haphazardly and doesn't feel like a coherent world at all. Maybe they could add more into this procedural generation. Perhaps they could try some larger maps. As it is all maps feel eerily similar. It never once feels like I'm exploring an actual world. I don't feel anything when I rescue the same few people who somehow always need to find a medkit.

Sometimes the main storyline made me build something special, or do something out of the ordinary. These missions aren't great but they do a lot to break things up. I think we need more of this. Story missions that aren't just regular missions. Story missions where we go somewhere new or do something out of the ordinary. Look at all the amazing live events that BR has had.. STW has nothing like this in the whole campaign. We've seen what's possible with this engine.. we've seen how engaging and awe inspiring the game is capable of being. Even in creative players have created far more interesting experiences and gamemodes. But all we get in STW is an endless stream of fetch quests and audio recordings.

Now to the game's credit.. the persistent storm shield bases is a great concept. Building them up and defending them from huge waves is probably the hook of the game. Undoubtedly this is one of my favorite aspects of the game. I wish that it was more integrated into the gameplay. I think it would be great if instead of a main menu we loaded right into our storm shield base. Our armory, hero management, shop etc would all be integrated into this. We would actually move around and interact with people rather than navigate through a bunch of text menus. Maybe expeditions could be more than a mobile game mechanic of waiting a certain amount of time to receive something. Imagine how much more interesting it would be if I actually could play those missions. Take off in a vehicle with one of my other heros and go collect some stuff to bring back.

Another issue is there really are no stakes. Except for losing the rewards and challenge experience (which is more annoying than anything.. I hate completing a daily or two only to lose the mission and having those dailies not count). Maybe permadeath would be interesting. It would certainly get the player to start playing different characters. Maybe you're not sure if you'll be able to handle a mission.. better not send in your favorite character. It would also emphasize making sure you're prepared for the mission you're about to go into. Currently you can't even edit your items or backpack after you've joined a lobby.

More weapons and heros will not prevent this game from being repetitive.

We need more missions/sidequests, enemy types, areas to explore, gameplay mechanics, etc.

Once again, STW is not a BAD game.. it just never reached it's full potential. It's the campaign or story mode of one of the most popular games of all time. It deserves to be great. I want it to be great. Anyone else have ideas on how STW can be improved?

Gamer

Recent Posts

Ledx have been so hard for me this wipe

Not being able to craft them sucks. Especially when everyone I talk to about it…

12 months ago

My interesting and unfortunate Gwent life

First I'd like to say I absolutely love this game it's quality. Basically I first…

12 months ago

Teacher Tuesday 12/Dec/2023 – ask your questions here!

Welcome to Teacher Tuesday, a thread where anyone can ask any type of question without…

12 months ago

This games balance is confusing

I’m kind of new/returning to gwent I played beta and obviously it’s a lot lot…

12 months ago

Summary of 10 Days of Draws from Chaffee’s Bundles

Level 1 Bag (Free with Atmosphere Level 2) 6 small consumable (First Aid, Repair, Fire…

12 months ago

Why is my crew at 135%?

Here's my crew - T34-85M - for the life of me I cant figure out…

12 months ago