Epic removes Fortnite cosmetic rarities for first time since launch and players think it’s an L

Epic has now removed cosmetic rarities for the first time since the launch of Fortnite. Following the update, players think it’s an L for the game.

Epic made several UI changes in Fortnite with the launch of Chapter 5 in December 2023. One of the most controversial changes was the new layout of the Fortnite locker, which players found extremely hard to navigate.

Despite Epic assuring players of a hotfix, the team has now made another contentious change to Fortnite’s cosmetics with the new 29.20 update in Chapter 5 Season 2. According to the Epic blog post, colors, tags, and rarities that differentiated cosmetic items will no longer be visible in the Fortnite locker and Item Shop.

The new Item Shop timer change is a very cool idea, but removing locker rarities honestly sucks

Apart from the whole locker UI just looking bad (for me), not having these different colors makes it look bland and boring

The colors gave it some sort of "personality" pic.twitter.com/C16sHmGvsr

— shiina (@RealShiina) April 9, 2024

In the same post, Epic wrote, “The Shop has evolved significantly to support multiple types of cosmetics and items across games, so we’re retiring the old Battle Royale-inspired system of colors and tags for cosmetic quality. Different Series of cosmetics — such as the Icon Series or Gaming Legends Series — will still be there to help you find your favorite stuff.”

Following the removal of cosmetic rarities for the first time since the launch of Fortnite, players slammed Epic for an “L move.” One player said, “R.I.P Rarities 2017-2024.”

Another chimed in, “Literally an iconic part of the game. They are trying to move past the old Fortnite. So cringe.”

A third player said, “It’s gonna work against them when people don’t buy their ugly no-rarity skins when at least before if it was a higher rarity, maybe people would buy it.”

Someone else wrote, “If they’re removing rarity then they need to adjust prices. Have all skins be unified in price, Make them cheaper. But going off the price of Lego builds, etc. they’ll just increase the price of everything. Uncommon-looking skins will now be 2,000 V-Bucks etc.”

While Epic’s action has sparked outrage among players, they are at least delighted with the modification to Item Shop cosmetics, which will allow them to view the availability of each specific cosmetic as well as a date specified in the Item Description as to when it will exit the shop.