How Fortnite Cosmetic Rarity Works

Fortnite cosmetic rarity is a feature that tries to rank the thousands of skins we’ve got in Fortnite! Tough task. It attempts to give them a rating for rarity. From common, up to higher rarities. However, over time the Fortnite skin rarity skin became a bit redundant. Now, Epic’s removed it. Yet, players still clamber for its return.

Why do players want it back? It’s not like the old open Fortnite tournaments where players are losing out on an opportunity with it gone. Or their favorite gun that’s not been back lately. The Fortnite cosmetic rarity is a feature that’s entirely locked in the item shop and locker, with no effect on gameplay.

It has been gone for more than a Chapter now. A part of Fortnite’s move from being a Battle Royale primarily, over to being more of a platform. So, what is it and why do players want it back?

What is Fortnite Cosmetic Rarity?

Fortnite Cosmetic rarity was the old system of classifying skins, matching rarity in Battle Royale. In BR games, you can find the best Fortnite weapons in rarities from grey (common), up to Gold (Legendary). Skins used to come in a lot of these rarities too. They would have a color attached to their locker slots which let you know which was which.

The thing was, it didn’t correspond to anything. At least after a few seasons it didn’t.

At one point, Epic used it as a way of indicating price. Rare skins were cheaper than Epic skins. However, this got muddled at a certain point. Epic started using novelty rarities for collabs, like Marvel level rarity. Which was pretty much meaningless.

Increasingly, Fortnite skin rarity didn’t even match up with the skin’s design elements. At one-point, plain skins would be lower ranked, with higher rarities reserved for more elaborate ones. As Fortnite’s designs got more refined though, this aspect was dropped too.

Now, Epic’s done away with it entirely. The line up between cosmetic rarity and price had been largely abandoned by the time it went. Calling it a “rarity” was always a little off too.

Does it Reflect Actual Rarity?

The Fortnite cosmetic rarity is largely called that to match Battle Royale item rarity. However, it gets a bit confusing since players discuss skin rarity so much. There’s a big difference between the Fortnite Cosmetic rarity, and how rare a Fortnite skin is.

A skin that hasn’t been back in years but was only blue in rarity could be much rarer in actuality than a purple for sale that day. It didn’t align with Fortnite cosmetic rarity at all. Skins called Rare in game were usually anything but rare. Which might be part of why it was removed.

Why Was it Removed?

In more recent Chapters, Fortnite has ditched quite a few of the older mechanics, including Fortnite skin rarity. Why take away a feature like this?

In short, it wasn’t really adding anything. It was adding extra confusion. Introducing ranking systems to the item shop that said things were rare that weren’t. It was also leading to backlash if Epic didn’t use the right novelty rarity for collabs. Or introduce new ones.

The official reason was that Fortnite was becoming a platform. Tons of modes and gameplay options. However, the item shop was still stuck in Battle Royale alone. So, rarity was removed since it reflected Battle Royale instead of the random tycoon maps you play to grind XP in Fortnite now.

Plus, players were unhappy when a skin cost more than its rarity should. Which is strange considering the rarity was just as much of an invented metric as the price, they could have set them to align. The Fortnite cosmetic rarity had stopped being a measure of anything, so it was removed. Which made some players unhappy.

Why Do Players Want Fortnite Skin Rarity Back?

Fortnite cosmetic rarity got removed, but a lot of players would prefer it came back. Outside of just preferring that Fortnite not change, the biggest complaint is about V-Bucks.

They see the old Fortnite skin rarity as a system which meant skins had to be priced in a certain window, to match their rarity. This is a fair complaint, but the rarity isn’t anything tangible.

Essentially, if Rarity did always align with V-Buck price, skins wouldn’t get cheaper, we’d just get more skins in higher cosmetic rarities. Removing the system likely had no effect on the pricing of skins, even if it gave some players a reason to complain about it.

It doesn’t look like we’re going to get Fortnite skin rarity back any time, especially with the game becoming more of a platform. It probably won’t be missed for too long though, now players are used to Fortnite skin rarity being less of a feature.