Epic have previously stated that their goals with Fortnite Battle Royale is to improve combat and weapon accuracy. The first Shooting Test Mode was launched on February 5th as a Limited Time Mode for players to opt-in to test the new Shooting Model.
Here are the changes that were made to create Shooting Model #1, which can also be found on Epic’s blog here:
- Weapons now have first-shot accuracy, indicated by a red glow on the reticle. This is applied when:
- Standing still
- Aiming (not hip-firing)
- Aim spread is at peak accuracy (Basically, if you haven’t fired recently. It is different per weapon)
- Headshot critical hits have been reduced
- Shotguns are now 150% damage (was 250%).
- All other weapons with headshot crits are now 200% damage (was 250%).
- Damage fall-off has been introduced for some weapons
- Damage applies at 100% to a fixed range.
- Fall-off begins at different ranges (depending on the weapon), and decreases to 70% damage.
- Sniper Rifles, Rocket/Grenade Launchers, and Shotguns are unaffected.
- Other balance adjustments
- Semi-Auto Sniper has had its damage increased to 75/78 (from 63/66).
- Scoped Assault Rifle has had its damage increased to 25/26 (from 23/24).
- +2 Base damage to all SMGs.
This Shooting Model has had mixed views from the community, but it seems as though Epic were moving in the right direction. You can read some of the streamers views on Shooting Model #1 here.
There had not been any talk of when Shooting Model #2 would be coming to Fortnite and we have a little update on this as many members of the community have been asking when this will be released since the first Shooting Model finished.
Epic employee arctyczyn has responded to one of the Reddit posts asking for the next Shooting Model:
So Epic are definitely working on the next Shooting Model, with the main focus being on first shot accuracy. We are still not sure when it will be released, but we will be sure to keep you posted.