Epic pledges tweaks as community continues to rally against Fortnite's overpowered mechs

Since the launch of Fortnite's 10th season last week, one topic has drowned out all others within the community: the introduction of mechs that many frustrated players consider to be massively overpowered. And while Epic has so far remained steadfast against calls to either vault or tone down the new additions, it's now announced it will be making tweaks to their functionality.

Admittedly, it's doubtful Epic's upcoming changes will do much to stem the tide of complaints levied at mechs, known as B.R.U.T.E.s in-game. Rather than reining in their destructive prowess, Epic is merely implementing visual and audio cues designed to provide clearer information about what a mech will do next, giving players a fighting chance of survival.

"In v10.10, we will add a targeting laser that will show the direction the B.R.U.T.E. is aiming its rockets while they are being charged," Epic wrote in its latest blog post, "This laser will have directional audio to help indicate when it's being pointed at you, even if you're behind a structure." Other changes should also prevent players from exploiting mech boost mechanics.

As part of its announcement, Epic confirmed that B.R.U.T.E.s will remain present across all core modes - Solo, Duos, and Squads - as well as select Limited Time Modes, quashing any dreams that they might soon go the way of Fortnite's wildly unpopular Infinity Blade, which was canned after persistent calls from players and the pro community.

Perhaps surprisingly, given Epic's historical tendency to wilt in the face of criticism from pro players, the developer says mechs will also remain in competitive Arena and Tournament.

Pro player and prominent livestreamer Turner "Tfue" Tenney recently fumed (as reported by Dexerto), "I fucking hate everything about these fucking mechs, they can go fuck themselves", before ending with a message for Epic: "Go fuck yourself until you take these out of the game because they don't fucking do anything positive - they're all negative. Fuck yourself."

Kyle "Bugha" Giersdorf, the 16-year-old winner of the recent Fortnite World Cup solo tournament, also shared a similarly frustrated - if far less expletive-laden - message to Epic during a recent stream: "I know you guys are watching my stream," he said, "Remove them!".

Whether Epic will finally bow to community pressure and make more drastic changes to mechs in the coming weeks remains to be seen. For the time being though, it's forging ahead regardless of the swelling resentment it's fostering.