I can’t quite believe the words I’m about to write, but this is entirely true. And whilst not a hard or particularly rare achievement, it is notable for me personally.
I have exceeded level 100 on the battle pass in Fortnite.
Significant in many many ways. I never expected to finish a full 100 levels on any battle pass at all. The time commitment and XP grind have always been just too much. So how the hell did I manage this?
Fortnite does it best. Simple.
Fortnite does it best
Let’s consider the target audience for Fortnite for a minute. At a guess, Epic Games cast a wide net, but the ages must range from 6 or 7 to early teens as a core audience.
Absolutely there’s more to this, and actually, I think Fortnite has started to reposition itself to align with the parents of these kids, too. And this is where I’ve been caught up.
With my nephew coming into the core age range, both I and my two brothers have been playing with him. Getting Victory Royales, smashing daily, weekly and seasonal quests and just having a blast.
The quests have been relatively easy and Fortnite has found this perfect balance of XP gains for tasks completed. You’re practically always progressing, and having shared quests with your squad really helps you bond, too.
Very quickly we were levelling up, and when we were playing together, we were on the hamster wheel. The rewards for largely just having fun we’re just too appealing!
Victories in the bag, new quests and a chance to spend time together. Fortnite is firing on all cylinders for me.
The XP gains just keep coming, and the solo play keeps happening. Got five minutes? Just a quick drop…… Oh, I have an hour, let’s do those dailies and work on some seasonal quests. Fortnite has truly fine-tuned the effort/reward balance and damn, it feels great.
Stars are the secret
XP and playing are one thing. But Fortnite added another layer to the formula and whilst I initially thought it was prohibitive, I think it’s a stroke of genius.
You’re generously given XP and levelling-up with relative speed, but it isn’t so straightforward. You unlock five stars per level increase.
Stars are a pseudo-currency that you have to save up, or tactically spend to unlock certain items on the battle pass. You’re level-locked to each page in the past, but if you spend your stars tactically you can advance through a page or two quicker.
The rewards on each page have star values, too. So you’re weighing up the purchase of as many objects as possible to unlock the next page, against specific items in the past.
Fortnite lavishes you with opportunity, but it makes you spend wisely, too!
Some rewards can’t be acquired until you buy all the items on a specific page. 5 stars per level, and you need to be getting those level increases asap!
Damn, Fortnite got me “needing” to level up, to get the skins I wanted.
All-in
I was spending good, quality time with my family. We were all levelling up, helping each other with dailies and seeing progress. So I took the decision to buy the battle pass.
Fortnite is reasonable at giving you some free currency, and over the last few seasons I had almost enough to buy it, so why not?
I said that I would buy it if I hit level 25. That seems reasonable. I will have invested time and already committed to several pages. Then I hit it and well….. Here we are.
I thought I could push to level 45, perhaps 50 before I got bored. But the Fortnite battle pass is cleverly built to make me “need” just a few more stars, so I just played a little more.
Crossplay and progression with my PC and Switch are seamless, too. So I can just casually have a bash no matter what.
Simple, fun, accessible and sneaky enough to hit all the points in my head to keep going for “just one more”.
It hasn’t ever felt like a grind, though. Nor have I felt any compulsion to overdo it. Because the levelling and XP have just been so player-friendly.
Here I am
So yeah. I have now exceeded the battle pass in Fortnite for this season. It was effortless, to be honest, and whilst I have often thought it, I think I can confidently say that I’m a fan of Fortnite battle royale.
Worth noting that I care very little for the store, but Epic has really started to hit that spot where the new skins and characters hit really cool stuff. There will be a time when I spend actual money on something, in fact, I did. A Naruto collaboration was the beginning of all of this!
Truth is, I’ve had a great time in a free game and have a wealth of customisable stuff to use. The Fortnite Christmas gifts saw me engaging every day over the festive period, and that totally helped to keep me engaged.
Above all, though. I still get to play with my brother’s, and now my nephew. We have fun and everything else is kinda secondary to that.
Fortnite is so finely-tuned to give give give, it’s rude not to take once in a while!
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