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Fortnite Season 8 Introduces Apex Legends Style Ping System

In a sign that some proper competition is going to do Fortnite a world of good, they've now taken inspiration from Apex Legends' Smart Comms system.

Fortnite Season 8

Fortnite Season 8 seems to be going down pretty well amongst players. The cannons are fun (you can even shoot yourself out of them!), launching yourself on Volcanic Vents is neat and the new areas are a welcome addition to the battle royale map. But alongside all the cool pirate-based stuff comes a whole bunch of subtler additions.

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One of these is the enhanced sound effects system (which we’ve detailed here) and the others are interesting UI tweaks – including one that takes heavy inspiration from one of Apex Legends‘ best features.

In fact, here’s the complete list of UI changes:

  • Visual improvements made to squadmate names and indicators.
  • World Marker Improvements
    • World Markers are now visible in the world when placed close to you.
    • Double-clicking the World Marker hotkey will place a “danger” version of that marker. World Markers placed while aiming with a weapon will also place the danger version.
    • Added 2D UI indicators to the World Markers, making them easier to see through objects.
    • World Markers now have an off-screen indicator and display the distance your character is from them.
    • Placing a World Marker on an item will display that item’s icon and rarity.
    • Placing World Markers remains on the same key for PC and console (KBM: Middle Mouse Button, Controller: D-Pad Left).
      • This button can be remapped to any button you want. Let us know on our social channels what works best for you!
    • Mobile also has a button that can be added to the HUD. Place this button by using the HUD Layout Tool.

Anyone that’s played Apex Legends (and judging by its instant popularity, I’m guessing that’s most of you) will have seen Respawn Entertainment’s elegant solution to intra-team communication – a marker button that allows players to ping weapons, armor, points of interest and enemies and highlight them for their teammates. Unlike Apex LegendsFortnite‘s heroes are largely mute, so Epic’s solution is to have a system of color-coded pings and sound effects to allow players to know what their teammates have seen.

It’s perhaps the clearest sign yet that Epic has extensively played Apex Legends in order to understand the competition, and that they’re treating it seriously as a competitor in the battle royale genre. It also indicates that a bit of competition for the game can only be a good thing. With PUBG having faded a bit over the last year or so, Fortnite has been left to dominate the genre, but it seems that Epic are going to have to continually find new ways to keep players engaged and happy now that they’ve got Apex Legends nipping at their heels.