[2019] My Thoughts on the 9.0 Update for STW

Max Level Players: We want end game content

Epic: War games

Max Level Players: Surprised Pikachu face

Nobody:

Epic: Here's a new event quest line with 100% fetch quests with Canny Valley quest line RNG

All jokes aside I want to give my thoughts on the 9.0 update after about 12 hours of play time.

Positives:

• More missions added to Twine
• Twine map expanded
• More Twine mission rewards with Perk-up
• Longer alert timer (24 hours from 6)
• No daily limit on alerts
• New weekly challenges
• New game mode
• New hero perks on the new heroes
• New team perks
• Return of the military weapon set and ShadowOps heroes

Negatives:

• Less alerts overall especially in lower zones
• Frequency of XP rewards in Twine still very high
• Non-XP rewards in Twine still not scaled based on difficulty
• Weekly challenge PL restrictions
• Rare and Epic schematics from mini-bosses and cache chests/safes in Twine
• Rare and Epic schematics as mission rewards in Twine
• Fetch quests for new event (with return of very poor RNG)
• War games not challenging or end game content
• No quest to earn new Mythic or new team perks
• Dino hero team perk requires 2 dino heroes and we only got 1 so far
• Epic versions of some military weapons reduces chance of getting Legendary version

Let's start at the top and work through each topic expanding on the positives and negatives.

Twine Peaks Map/Rewards

The 8.50 update greatly reduced the options in Twine Peaks particularly for lower level players in the zone. The 9.00 update resolved that with a bigger map and more missions in each PL.

There are also more missions with Perk-up available in Twine, however the one big issue for me was proper reward scaling. That has not been addressed in this update. A 4x PL128 will reward the same non-XP reward as a 4x PL76. For example you can expect 168 Pure Drops of Rain in a 4x PL76 and a 4x PL128 and everything in between. This model provides no incentive to play the higher PL 4x missions because they cost far more resources (building mats, traps, ammo and weapon durability).

Also it was explicitly stated in the patch notes that the frequency of XP reward missions would be reduced however that is only true if you count that there are more missions. Reducing the frequency from 95% to 90% (not sure of the exact ratio) is not what anyone asked for. I got home early from work yesterday, logged into Save the World and went straight to the Twine Peaks map. There were three PL128 4x missions and two PL126 4x missions. All five were XP and there are still 4x Survivor XP missions above PL100.

Daily Alerts

Removing the daily alert limit is a very positive change. We no longer have to avoid missions to save them or check third party sites to see how many we have left. On the negative side, at least from my perception is there seems to be far less alerts available especially in Stonewood, Plankerton and Canny Valley. I admit I didn't document how many were in each zone but looking through them yesterday there appeared to be far less than prior to this update.

Weekly Challenges

I welcome the addition of weekly challenges as they can provide a reason to play more frequently. The problem is if you are max level you are greatly restricted on choices. My weekly challenge requires me to complete mission alerts in 126+ zones. There aren't many choices in those zone and as I mentioned above I have no reason to play the higher PL missions until the rewards are scaled properly. Additionally the weekly rewards also provide no reason to complete them. I understand they are in addition to the mission rewards but completing 10 missions in a 126+ zone for less than 200 tickets/500 gold/1,000 re-perk/200 epic perk-up is not worth it. I guess if I happen to accidentally complete the weekly it will be a bonus but with the requirements and lackluster rewards I will not go out of my way to do so.

Rare/Epic Rewards in Twine

This has been a meme since I started playing this game. Why are we still receiving Rare weapons as mission alerts/rewards in Twine Peaks? Why are mini-bosses and cache chests dropping Rare and Epic weapon caches? No one in the game uses Rare or Epic weapons after the first day or so of playing. It is so easy to acquire a Legendary weapon now that all other rarities are worthless other than being used for transforms.

Event Questline

I'm going to restrain myself here and keep this as concise and constructive as possible. Fetch quests do not fit in Save the World as it stands today. Completing them does not assist with the mission objective and in fact detracts from it. The Yarrr quest line had them but they could all be completed in a single mission. The new fetch quests have reverted back to the Canny Valley RNG. Those that require 5 items can be completed in one mission but those that require 30 take 2-5 missions. The one with collecting Teddy Bear parts took me 5 missions to complete. I believe this was done to artificially extend the grind and time it takes to complete the quest line.

The rewards for the quest line are lacking. There is one hero, that I'll discuss in greater detail below, and tickets and gold. Why not give us both dino heroes in the quest line or let us choose a weapon from the military set? I know there's a second part coming and I hope that the rewards are better and if they are fetch quests that they can all be completed in a single mission.

War Games

The positives regarding War Games are it's something new and it has potential to be very good in the future. Allowing us to have more modifiers or all the modifiers at once could make it more challenging immediately. The big negative is it's way too easy. It is not even close to end game content and as it was rolled out it does not give us any reason to keep playing. We completed all of the War Games boot camp missions yesterday and only failed once because it was started before everyone loaded in.

I think one way that could greatly improve the game mode is to have only the Home Base get attacked in each SSD from any direction. There could also be an option to have it get attacked from 2 or more sides during a wave as well as have more than two waves. Similar to Challenge the Horde we could have a minute between each wave to fix or repair the defenses and also be limited in the number of materials we can use before and during the run. That would be something to grind for as playing more would unlock additional resources and also could unlock higher levels of difficulty.

New Heroes/Team Perks

New heroes with new perks and new team perks is positive, I guess. At this point I don't consider new heroes or weapons new content. When you have over 160 maxed out heroes and hundreds of Legendary weapons to choose from they don't add much to the game. I guess they are good for new players but for anyone that's been around for a year or more they are not that exciting.

With that said there are some positives as both the Black Knight and Dino Ninja have new hero perks and brought new team perks. The problem is the way they were rolled out.

First I don't believe Mythics should be bought, they should be earned. Give us a two or three step quest line to unlock them and then another to unlock their team perk. For the Black Knight, since he is melee focused it could have required completing three missions as a Constructor with at least 50 melee eliminations then to unlock the team perk having to get melee eliminations with him. I also don't understand why he was released now and before a second dino hero. A knight would have fit better in the winter event since the weapon set for that event was medieval themed.

Regardless of whether he fits the event theme he should have been introduced after the dino constructor. We received the dino ninja from the event quests but she is all but relegated to the bench until we get a second dino hero because she will be best used with the new dino team perk. She looks like a very viable hero but not until we can properly build a hero loadout using that new team perk.

Return of the Military Weapon Set/ShadowOps Heroes

For many this is the highlight of the 9.0 update as this weapon set is overall the best in the game. I fall into that category as well because I had only just started playing the first time they and the ShadowOps heroes appeared. It's my chance to get everything I missed (which as of now I have almost done with the exception of one hero) but there are two glaring negatives as well. First there are now new Epic versions of some of the weapons, which reduces the chance of getting a Legendary version. Second for anyone that did get everything during the first time around there is nothing new and no reason to open the military llamas other than to add things to the Collection Book.

What Do We Do Now?

I know I probably missed a few things about this update but those were the biggest that came to mind as I played the game yesterday and if you have some positives and/or negatives to add please do so in the comments below.

I want to end this with a question for Epic: what do we do now?

When I say we I mean end game players and especially those of us that completed both the War Games boot camp missions and event fetch quests on the first day. I know the latter are in the minority but anyone can complete all of the 9.0 content in 10 hours or less. There appears to be a second part to the event quest line but that will be, even with the poor RNG fetch quests, at most another 4-6 hours of content. According to the Fortnite website the 10.0 update will come August 2nd so we have 114 days with very little to do unless there is a massive overhaul of the War Games mode, a new game mode that is end game content or a return of a previous game mode such as a Horde mode or new Frostnite variant.

Other than buying whatever new heroes/weapons come to the store there is no reason to play the game. I knew things were bad when two people I play with regularly, who never complain both said they were massively disappointed with the 9.0 update. One has always been positive, always defends the game and always is willing to give Epic time to figure things out. Last night he said we was tired of the game. If we have to wait 114 days for end game content most of us won't be around to see it. This update was designed for end game players or at least that was my perception and it has fallen short in just about every way.

I love this game, have put more time into it than any other game in the 30+ years I have been gaming and see that it has potential to be an all-time great game. I'm not quitting and I'm not complaining because in the end Epic will make the game the way they want and we will decide if we want to keep playing. What I will be doing is playing far less until there is a reason to play. Yes better rewards would be a start but I have everything I need for the next few months. We need end game content that is challenging and has unique rewards. Unique rewards being mythic weapons or heroes that can only be earned by completing it. I don't want another digital banner, fetch quest line or more weapons and heroes that everyone can buy or get by completing a few hours of fetch quests.

Please give us (me) a reason to keep playing.

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