‘Fortnite’ Just Secretly Dropped A Harpoon Gun Into The Game Without Saying Anything

Fortnite

Epic

Epic seems to be allergic to patch notes or official announcements in Fortnite Chapter 2 here, and players often just have to discover that new things have made their way into the game on their own rather than seeing it promoted on the home screen or listed in a blog post.

One such case is today where players are loading up Fortnite to find that the Harpoon Gun has now made its way into the game without any fanfare whatsoever. The Harpoon Gun, which may only appear in blue rarity, does 75 damage, and works sort of as a “get over here!” Scorpion hook where you can drag people toward you if you stick them. It does not work like a grappling hook, as it can’t pull you to different locations.

I wanted to check to make sure this was actually live, and sure enough, I found it within my first ten minutes of playing, so it doesn’t seem all that hard to find.

I don’t really understand what Epic is doing here, just dumping things into the game without any announcements or even patch notes listing what’s arrived or changed. My colleague Dave Thier believes that they’re doing this in order to keep the game “fresh” and keep people guessing because the system of just announcing X new item every week got a bit predictable and tiresome, and it’s more exciting to be playing and suddenly discover a new weapon you’ve never seen before.

Fortnite

Epic

I guess I can see that logic, but abandoning patch notes almost entirely feels weird to me, especially when it comes to balance changes or things the community actually needs to know about. I also think that it can make the game feel even more lifeless when pretty much nothing new is announced and everything is just meant to be found, as it makes the game seem like it’s not changing and growing, even if it really is, and Epic just isn’t talking about it.

I get that the community discovers these things pretty quickly for themselves, but most people aren’t following a dozen Fortnite news and leaker accounts on Twitter, so who knows when most people would figure out a new gun or item is in the game. Maybe that “surprise factor” holds some appeal, but being this quiet about pretty much everything short of new skin debuts or special events does seem kind of weird to me. Maybe Epic got tired of people complaining about changes in the patch notes so now they’re just not telling us anything and letting us “feel out” the changes instead. Still, I’m not sure I like this.

Anyway, go hook some people, the gun is fun.

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