Reddit user claims SMGs were secretly nerfed in Fortnite on console
A Reddit user has offered an explanation to Fortnite players on console who have been questioning their ability to use Submachine Guns.
According to a post put out on the FortNiteBR Reddit page, several months ago, Epic Games had implemented an unannounced reduction to the aim assist of console players when using an SMG weapon.
The user claims that this secret nerf was administered as a way to stop the ‘spam meta’ that was dominated gameplay at the time. This has apparently worked to an extent, since a lot of console players have reverted to using shotguns as their secondary attack weapon.
No, you haven’t suddenly gotten worse at the game. A couple months ago, a significant change to aim assist was made in an attempt to fix an abuse of the mechanic. Some people would constantly re-aim or spam ADS at close ranges to become extremely accurate with sub machine guns. In order to fix this, a change was made to weaken aim assist on these weapons. It wasn’t in the patch notes but it was pretty clear when it happened
Thus, according to the post, controller players who have been struggling to use SMGs over the past weeks and months are not doing so because of a drop off in skill, but rather because of this secret reduction to aim assist.
Aim assist is one of the crucial aspects of playing Fortnite with a controller, and without it, players simply cannot reproduce the same level of accuracy in their shots.
I think a lot of console players went back to exclusively using shotguns again because of how poorly they have been performing with sub machine guns […]
Console players severely underestimate the amount that aim assist helps. Turn off aim assist and you won’t get any kills at all.
Since Epic Games never made mention of this change to aim assist at the time, there is no way of verifying whether the claims made in this Reddit post are true.
However, this would not be the first time something like this happened; the developers have been known to experiment and test out new adjustments under the radar, and there have been changes before that were not included in patch notes.
However, the Reddit user’s goal is not to have this change reversed; he is simply trying to bring this information to light for the sake of those who may have been questioning why they could no longer use SMGs the way they had been able to before.
I’m not saying to buff the sub machine guns to their former glory, I’m just explaining this to people who don’t know about it. So if you’re still using sub machine guns because you “used to be really good with them”, keep this is mind.
This was actually the biggest nerf to the spray meta on console, and no one knew about it.
Source – Reddit