Fortnite Update 8.10 Adds The Baller Vehicle; Patch Notes Revealed

Fortnite‘s latest update, version 8.10, is live now on PS4, Xbox One, PC, Nintendo Switch, iOS, and Android. The patch adds a new vehicle named The Baller, overhauls Vending Machines, and makes a few other tweaks, too.

The Baller is a hamster ball-like vehicle that comes equipped with a Boost and a Grappler for rapid mobility. While inside this single-seat ball, you’re protected from damage, but the vehicle itself can see its 300 health depleted by enemy fire. Find The Baller at Expedition Outposts and around pirate camp loot stashes.

Vending Machines now work slightly differently since the 8.10 update; they no longer cost anything to activate, but they will self-destruct after one use. They are also rarer now, as common and uncommon Vending Machines have been removed from the game.

Heavy Assault Rifles have also had their rarities adjusted: they can now be found in common, uncommon, and rare varieties–the epic and legendary editions are no more. Finally, a new LTM named The Getaway is now live, and you can see all the details about that and the rest of the changes to Fortnite’s Battle Royale portion at the bottom of this story; for the full patch notes of other modes, check out the Fortnite blog.

Fortnite’s Season 8 started just recently, introducing new skins and other cosmetics. A subsequent update has also introduced buried treasure maps. The new vehicle doesn’t exactly fit in with the current season’s pirate theme, although Epic tends to release a wide variety of skins and items, regardless of the general theme.

Week 2 challenges for Fortnite Season 8 are now available. Among the trickiest of the season so far are those that task players with visiting the new Pirate Camps and finding a giant face in the desert, jungle, and snow. You can see the complete list of this season’s objectives in our full Season 8 challenges guide.

Fortnite: Battle Royale Update 8.10 Patch Notes

Weapons And Items

• Baller
  • This single seat vehicle is found at Expedition Outposts and around pirate camp loot stashes
  • Use the attached Grappler and Boost functionality to pull yourself up cliffs or swing through the trees
  • The driver is protected from damage, but The Baller is vulnerable to enemy weapon fire.
  • 300 Health
• Infantry Rifle
  • Removed Common rarity
• Heavy Assault Rifle
  • Adjusted rarity from Rare/Epic/Legendary to Common/Uncommon/Rare
  • Base damage scaling for Common/Uncommon/Rare 36/38/40
• Clingers
  • Reduced max stack size from 10 to 6.
• Vending Machines
  • Removed the material cost.
  • Each Vending Machine will be destroyed after claiming an item.
  • Common and Uncommon Vending Machines have been removed.
  • Removed Mounted Turret from Legendary Vending Machine
• Reduced availability of Treasure Maps from floor loot .53% to .27%.
• Reduced availability of Treasure Maps from chest loot 3.25% to 1.65%.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed rocket smoke trails disappearing instantly on explosion.
• Fixed an issue where the popping audio for Balloons would continue to play after using Balloons to get to max build height while using a vehicle.
• Fixed an issue where Buried Treasure would not auto pickup when the Auto Pickup Weapons setting was enabled.
• Fixed an issue where Buried Treasure chests could be placed on the Starting Island.
• Fixed an issue where using an Impulse Grenade or a Shockwave Grenade while jumping on a Hoverboard causes the player to rapidly rotate.

Gameplay

• Battle Royale Crossplay Matchmaking
  • Combined Xbox One and PS4 pools.
    • This requires you to opt-in to cross-play.
    • Players opt-ing out are restricted to Creative Mode and Playgrounds.
  • Combined Mobile and Switch pools.
    • Before, Switch players were combined with Xbox One and PS4 cross-play parties.
    • We expect an on-average better per-game experience for both Mobile and Switch players.
  • Motivating factor is unlocking optimization potential allowing us to run more playlists during more hours of the day while supporting more data center locations. Please provide us with feedback on your experience!
• Reduced infinite dab duration from 12 hours to 11 hours in the front end
• Just kidding, Increased Infinite dab duration from 12 hours to 13 hours in the front end
• Elimination credit is now awarded to last damager in cases of logging out, self-elimination, and eliminations due to Storm damage. Current threshold timer is 15 seconds.
• Added visual effects for the siphon on elimination.
• Players can now build as soon as they impact anything after being launched by a Pirate Cannon
• Players can dance while holding a balloon
• Added Pirate Cannon’s audio visualizer HUD icon to be a cannon.
• Players automatically enter the driver seat when entering an empty vehicle.
• Added custom consume animations for the following items:
  • Bandages
  • Medkit
  • Small Shield Potion
  • Shield Potion
  • Slurp Juice
  • Chug Jug

Bug Fixes

• Fixed Pirate Cannon collision that would block bullets for a passenger inside of the cannon
• Fixed Pirate Cannon not being able to shoot when moving backwards
• Fixed an issue where a player may lose functionality when shooting themselves out of a Pirate Cannon.
• Fixed Pirate Cannon player impact explosion effects sometimes being delayed
• Fixed an issue where Pirate Cannons flipped onto their side, sliding across the ground for too long
• Fixed Pirate Cannons dealing damage to itself if fired in close quarters
• Fixed an issue where players wouldn’t break through structures when fired from Pirate Cannons at close range
• Traps are no longer triggered by vehicles that are empty or carrying only friendly players.
• Fixed an issue in extreme camera flicking situations that would cause an incorrect first shot when firing weapons.
• Fixed an issue with the Conga emote not respecting environmental surfaces like Lava
• Fixed an issue where a player may briefly stop their skydiving animation unexpectedly
• Fixed an issue allowing emote-cancelling during door open/close animations.
• Fixed players holding Buried Treasure map upside down
• Fixed an issue where pressing Build and Edit buttons in quick succession would enter edit mode on the blueprint piece instead of build the structure.
• Driftboards no longer explode when exiting one near a Mounted Turret.
• Fixed PS4 players being unable to adjust mouse sensitivity.

LTM: The Getaway

Summary

Welcome to The Getaway! In this mode, players will race to find a Jewel and take it to a getaway van before everyone else to win the match!

Mode Details

• Jewels can be found in special supply drop safes, located along the edge of the first storm circle. The safes take a long time to open, so make sure the area is clear before attempting to claim a Jewel!
• Four Jewels will be in play on the map at all times. If a player escapes with a Jewel or one is lost in the Storm, a new Supply Drop will bring a replacement.
• Four total getaway vans will be on the map, three that arrive early in the match and one more that shows up near the end.
• The goal is to find or steal a Jewel and take it to one of the vans in order to secure a Victory Royale.
• Once they arrive, Safe drops and getaway vans will be visible on the map at all times.
• When a Jewel is picked up, it will be visible on the map to everyone for 30 seconds.
• Carrying a Jewel will give players health & shields over time, but also slow them down by 10%.
• Getaway vans float in mid-air, Jewel carriers must build up and then interact with them in order to complete a Getaway.
• 10 red “Pursuit” supply drops land at the very beginning of the match. These carry a variety of longer-range weapons and other items, and are the only way to obtain the new Grappler in this mode.
• Only Rare weapons or better will be found in this mode.
• Rifts, Rift-to-Go and Launchpads have been removed to reduce mobility for healthier Getaway Van engagements.
• Profile Stats (K/D & Wins) are tracked in this mode, but Umbrellas are not awarded for wins
• The ATK has been temporarily brought back in this mode as it is the only 4 person ground vehicle.

Events

• Tournament Update: Gauntlet Solo Test Event & Gauntlet Duo Test Event
  • Added another extended session, which will run 24 hours a day and concludes on March 19 at 12 AM ET.
  • Matchmaking:
    • Matchmaking will no longer wait to create a match with closest scoring players available after 8 minutes, and will now require enough players with similar scores to start.
    • Adjusted matchmaking point expansion to increase likelihood for high scoring players to be matched against other high scoring players.
    • Note: Due to the playlist featuring matchmaking based on your score, the quality or availability of matches may differ at certain times of day.
• Updated Scoring:
  • Solo
    • +2 Points will now be awarded after reaching 15th Place (previously 10th Place).
  • Duo
    • Increased Bus Fare from -2 Points to -3 Points.
      • This is a temporary solution for the Duo event granting too many points to players due to eliminations, causing an inflation of points over the course of the event.
    • +2 Points will now be awarded after reaching 7th Place (previously 5th Place).
• New Tournament: Scallywag Duos Cup (March 16th & 17th) [$100,000 in Cash Prizes!]
  • As a test of our prize payment systems leading into the Fortnite World Cup, we’ll be holding a $100,000 Duos tournament on March 16th and 17th. The prize pool will be distributed across all server regions, with official rules and details released later this week.
  • Participation in this event requires players to be in the Top 3% (global) of either the Solo or Duo Gauntlet Test Event as of 12 AM ET on March 16th.
  • Format:
    • Round One: All Eligible Players
    • Round Two: Top 3000 Players from Round One

Performance

• Fixed some instances of packet loss that could occur with certain ISPs that are prone to re-ordering UDP network packets.
  • Find more context in the Reddit Post we made last week.
• Improved file I/O performance for Xbox One. This reduces the occurrence of late streaming meshes.
• Fixed a regression in hitches on Switch due to GPU timing
• Improved performance on Switch by reducing the likelihood of particles triggering when the day changes phases
• Optimized the Ship Cannon
• Optimized UI elements for large team modes
• Improved performance for the Quick Bar
• Fixed hitches that occur on the Match Stats screen due to synchronously loading assets

Audio

• Added new audio for Balloons while in-air.
• Reduced volume of small prop destruction sounds (chairs, beds, fences, etc).
• Removed reverb from pickaxe swings.
• Removed outdoor ambient sounds when gliding.

Bug Fixes

• The Glider deploy sound no longer plays twice when using Glider Redeploy.
• Fixed Glider land/open sounds ducking the Victory Royale music.
• Improved music volume when previewing Gliders with music while in the lobby.
• Pirate Cannon movement sound no longer stops after sprinting for over 10 seconds.
• Fixed looping Balloon pop sound after going through a Rift.

UI

• Key Bindings – The keyboard bindings are now categorized to make finding actions you want to rebind a lot easier.
• Marker System:
  • Added hover details for in-world markers, actions a player may take on a marker will appear in these details. Marker details will appear when the reticule is placed over the marker.
  • You can now mark vehicles and found consumables such as apples.
  • Reworked display of Item markers to increase readability across all platforms.
  • Items will display as a large icon for a short time when first marked, and will reduce in size when a player aims near their location.
  • Markers are now sorted by distance.
  • Reduced screen size of squad waypoint markers to reduce view obstruction.
  • Minimap markers updated to match in-world markers.
  • On keyboards there is now a keybind option to specify a dedicated key for placing a danger marker.
  • Double-Clicking the ping button to place a danger marker, is no longer blocked by items on the ground.
  • You can now ping while riding in a vehicle reliably.
  • You can now Mark While Bush.
  • Please continue to let us know what improvements you would like to see for the marker system!
• Squad nameplates and team arrows now become more transparent when aiming down sights.
• Restored the ability to view all of your current Challenges while in a match.
• Wrap things up in a hurry! You can now apply a wrap to all slots by choosing “Apply To All” when picking a wrap in the Locker.
• Enabled camera control on some reward types when viewing Challenges
• Challenge Info panel in the lobby now defaults to Party Assist while you are in a Party.

Bug Fixes

• The Luxe bundle is now displayed in the Challenge Screen along with the Blackheart and Hybrid bundles.
• Wraps are now previewed on the highest resolution version of the vehicle or weapon in the lobby.
• Fixed an issue on consoles where you couldn’t select “Party Assist” for the last challenge in a bundle.
• Fixed an issue where the next Stage of a Challenge was not automatically set to “Party Assist”.
• Fixed an issue where the animation and sound effects would play twice when selecting Challenges on a controller.
• Fixed an issue where scrolling with the mouse in the Challenge Screen would sometimes jump around unexpectedly.

Replay

• Added bus paths to the minimap.

Mobile

• Introduced an Auto Fire tuning feature to allow adjustments per weapon. This was done previously for other weapons, but we’ve now added this for pistols.
• Added occlusion to footsteps on Android.
• Improve the quality of some sound effects on Mobile/Switch.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed an issue with the shoot button getting stuck in a continuous fire loop or being unable to fire without being able to reset.
• Fixed an issue that caused touch players to need a more specific crosshair location to interact with the Use button.
• Fixed turbo build not starting when going from edit to build mode with the input held.
• Fixed Left Trigger action getting stuck when using a Bluetooth controller
• Fixed weapon stats on the inventory panel for mobile
• Fixed autorun not fully sprinting if “Sprint by Default for Controller” is set to ‘OFF’ on mobile
• Fixed build mode being exited if a build piece is selected before releasing the build/combat mode button
• Fixed dragging an item off the hotbar triggering use actions on mobile.
• Fixed Throwable items’ trajectory line persisting when a player is driving different vehicles on Mobile

from GameSpot – Game News https://www.gamespot.com/articles/fortnite-update-810-adds-the-baller-vehicle-patch-/1100-6465511/