‘Fortnite’ Holiday Event, Hero Rarity Upgrading, And Direct Item Purchases Arrive This Week

Four new heroes and wintry weapons are coming to Fortnite in the Survive the Holidays event. Tomorrow’s patch will also introduce a few quality-of-life changes and the ability to upgrade a hero’s rarity. Major changes, like the ability to earn in-game currency to purchase heroes and weapons outside of llamas, will release on December 14 after a maintenance period.

In patch 1.11, Fortnite PvE players will be able to earn two new currencies, which they can use in the new Event Store. Players can still buy llamas with random contents; however, another option is now available. The Event Store lets players use Seasonal Gold and Daily Coins to buy items outright. Seasonal Gold comes from missions with harder missions rewarding more Seasonal Gold. Daily Coins are earned by completing daily quests, as noted in the patch notes on the Epic Games website.

Seasonal Gold can purchase select items from the current event, while Daily Coins lets players buy non-event items like heroes, survivors, and a new Account Resource called Flux. Flux is new to Fortnite and is the main component required to upgrade a hero’s rarity. For instance, a player can take their blue, rare Survivalist Jonesy and use the appropriate level of Flux to make that character a purple, epic hero. There is a limit to how much players can buy with Daily Coins, but the Event Store restocks weekly.

Patch 1.11 also makes a paramount inventory change for Fortnite players. As the Inquisitr reported, players will no longer need to be inside a mission to see their personal inventory. What is held in the player’s backpack is now accessible from the game’s main menus. Additionally, players can access their Storm Shield storage from this new screen as well. Eventually, players will even be able to craft globally without needing to be inside a mission.

A new event is about to start in Fortnite alongside these new features. The Holiday Survival Event starts on December 14 adding four new heroes and several snowy weapons to the game. The new heroes include the Constructor, Blitzen BASE Kyle: Warden, who can regain health in melee combat and use his BASE to heal allies; the Ninja, Sarah Claus: Alchemist, who can regenerate health in combat and harass foes with corrosion damage; the Outlander, Fragment Flurry Jess: Reclaimer, uses a special TEDDY and can charge her abilities through combat; and finally, the Soldier, Snow Stalker Jonesy: Demolisher, can regenerate his grenades quicker in combat.

Players can loot these new heroes from event llamas purchased with event tickets in Fortnite. Additionally, the Legendary Sarah Claus can be bought directly with Seasonal Gold in the new Event Store. Epic versions of the new Jonesy and Jess can be earned through event quests. A Legendary Blitzen BASE Kyle can be earned through quests as well.

The Holiday Survival Event also introduces new weapons, like the Ralphie’s Revenge sniper rifle. This new rifle looks a lot like a BB gun and deals massive headshot damage. Another sniper rifle, the Frostbite, is also available through quests. The Snowball Launcher is also a reward from quests in the event letting players damage and slow large areas of foes. Patch 1.11 also fixes the “Cleared!” quest causing progression issues for players. An Epic Games developer noted the mission’s status on the game’s page on Reddit.

A few changes in the upcoming patch also address performance. Players may see fewer hitches and experience less lag after the Fortnite update.