Fortnite’s staple team-based mode appears to be the cause of much frustration due to a number of unannounced changes impacting the way that Team Rumble functions.
Pitting two teams of 20 against each other, Team Rumble has been a consistent playlist in Epic’s popular battle royale title since its release on November 27, 2018.
While the longstanding mode is often a popular way to experience Fortnite without having to sit through a traditional 100 player match, the playlist appears to be bogged down by a number of sudden changes that have frustrated even the most dedicated players.
In previous seasons, if a player departed from a Team Rumble match, the spot would be left vacant for the remainder of the battle. However, players have been experiencing a great deal of frustration as those empty spots are now being filled mid-way through.
Rather than dropping 40 players into a fresh lobby all at once as per usual, players looking for a match in the Team Rumble playlist now seemingly have the chance to be pushed into a game that is already in progress.
Dropping into a what they assumed would be a brand new game on March 9, Reddit user ‘TheMightyWitcher’ was instead thrown into Slurpy Swamp as they joined a match part-way through.
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Landing with no weapons or building materials, they were obviously at an extreme disadvantage from the get-go. Fortunately, they were able to secure a Supply Drop shortly after arriving but by the time they equipped a weapon, the enemy team had already secured 45 eliminations.
Experienced players may able to turn the tides despite joining into a game late, however, not everyone is going to enjoy being thrown into the midst of a heated battle without anything in their arsenal.
“Keeps happening to me,” Reddit user ‘texas__pete’ chimed in. “Four times in a row. I join a game partway through, with no materials or weapons.”
Epic Games is yet to comment on the change, therefore, there’s no indicating whether joining games midway through is an unannounced feature or an unintended bug.
Not the first major aspect of Team Rumble to be causing frustration in Season 2, player tags have also been disappearing across the board, leading players to confuse enemies for friendlies.
