Removing Rail Gun & Recon Scanner is bad for the comp meta

Fortnite Season 7 is only a week old at this point, but Epic have already made some massive changes to the competitive side of the game.

Instead of an immediate comp reset, Epic have begun delaying the Arena reset a few weeks into each season. This is a fantastic change on the whole, as it allows the team to analyze weapons and items that may not be suitable for a competitive Battle Royale.

In Season 7, Epic added several otherworldly weapons to Fortnite – namely the Rail Gun and Recon Scanner. Both weapons are quite powerful, and the bulk of the Fortnite community is picking them up when they see them.

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This was a problem for the competitive team, however, as both weapons seemed too powerful for ranked and tournament play. They decided to remove them as a result. In my opinion, these changes make the competitive meta stale and uninteresting.

Part of the allure of Fortnite esports is watching these pros play with the weapons and items we all use in public matches. Some of these weapons might be a touch overpowered – sure – but everyone has access to them.

The problem is not splitting the loot pools from comp to pubs – I’ve been advocating for that for a long time. The problem is that, without these two new weapons, Season 7 of Fortnite feels like an old, tired meta that we’ve already seen before.

When you remove the Rail Gun and Recon Scanner, Fortnite Season 7 becomes remarkably similar to Fortnite Season 3. We have a very similar map and the same Pump-AR-Heals-Sniper-flex loadout meta. The game has hardly changed.

The rail gun removal and other adjustments made today are personally going to make this a pretty straight forward season.

BUT at least we have launch pads for crazy plays to look forward to

— MonsterDface (@MonsterDface) June 16, 2021

The Rail Gun, specifically, is probably too powerful in its current state. The answer is probably to nerf the weapon rather than remove it from comp and keep it the same in pubs.

I just think that this season of competitive Fortnite will be far less exciting without the Season 7-specific elements added to it. Hopefully, Epic adjust these weapons rather than outright removing them from the competitive side of the game.