Fortnite MK7 is Back, For No Clear Reason

This week, some new Fortnite tournaments have begun, and players noticed a major change to the loot pool halfway through one. In a hotfix, the Fortnite MK7 has been unvaulted. That’s along with a ton of items getting adjusted to try and balance things back out. It’s a bit of a strange approach to the game’s loot pool right now. With even more old favorites returning.

Bringing back the Fortnite MK7 is a fun change. But it comes after a bunch of completely random items have been unvaulted in the last few weeks. It seems like everything is being thrown at the wall in the hope something sticks. It also means we now have multiple MK style ARs in Fortnite, along with a ton of other assault rifles. What else has changed and why has the loot pool gotten so crowded with this Fortnite update and changes?

Fortnite MK7 Unvaulted in Weird Hotfix

In a hotfix to the game, Epic has re-enabled a bunch of older items. The Fortnite MK7 Assault Rifle, Holo Twister Assault Rifle, and Frenzy Auto Shotgun have all been unvaulted. Some of these have popped up part way into the Solo Series Fortnite tournament, which was a weird surprise. The first two are fun to have back. They’re two of the most popular items we’ve had and the best Fortnite weapons in the AR category. But the Fortnite MK7 unvaulting is a bit strange.

The MK7 and Holo Twister and essentially the same style of weapon. Not just as ARs, but these two share similar scopes, fast fire rates, and SMG like speed. They’re basically the same weapon concept in different chapters. Although, the old MK did hit a bit harder. Having both in the loot pool makes it less exciting to have them, and more cluttered.

We’ve also got the Twinfire Shotgun vaulted. This was this season’s version of the Tactical shotgun, the faster firing and less powerful shotgun alternative. We’ve had a version since Chapter 1, but it usually refreshed every season. The Frenzy Auto Shotgun has been added instead of the current one. This is an older version, which as a bit stronger. The Mythic Frenzy specifically was quite a menace. But it’s still no much for the Pump. The Fortnite MK7 update has chosen to bloat out the loot pool for some reason, and replace weapons with older versions. But there’s been changes to the other items too.

Balancing Changes Hit Wrecker Revolver Again

This isn’t the only change in the Fortnite MK7 hotfix. We’ve also seen a decent number of changes to the Chapter 6 original weapons.

The Wrecker Revolver has had its build damage reduced and its overall damage nerfed. The Hyperburst Pistol on the other hand, has been buffed. It now has 24 bullets instead of 18. The Veiled SMG has also been buffed. It’s now faster and has more bullets in a clip too. For fast firing weapons, a bigger clip is a big way to make them more effective. These changes reduce how effective the best gun in the game is. But they will help to make an underused one a bit better.

The changes probably won’t make a massive impact on the Fortnite meta since we’ve had really strong weapons unvaulted too. With high mobility going on too, buffing a pistol in a minor way doesn’t seem like it’ll have the biggest impact.

These changes might have mixed things up, but it’s making the meta of a messy season feel even worse though out.

What’s Going on With the Loot Pool?

Lately, it feels like the Fortnite loot pool is being pulled around in random directions, without much thought put into it. We had Medallions vaulted, mobility vaulted, then a ton of overpowered items added, and the Shockwave Hammer unvaulted. It doesn’t seem like there’s a coherent idea about where the Fortnite season is heading.

What’s going on? It looks like the dropping Fortnite player count is having an effect. Unvaulting popular items like the Shockwave Hammer and Fortnite MK7 AR might get a few players back in. But they aren’t playing as well as they did in their original seasons, where the rest of the loot pool seemed to match. The current effect is that the chests are bursting with great items, but so much that it’s hard to find anything. We have far too many ARs already, and Epic’s just added two more that are very similar.

Chapter 6 Season 4’s set up for weapons does seem to have been one of the worse thought-out ones. Initially, we had ridiculous medallions that were nearly instantly removed after someone actually played them. Now, it seems the entire loop pool is being replaced since the old one wasn’t holding any interest. Hopefully future updates can start to align things a bit better. At the moment, there isn’t much cohesion to Fortnite loadouts between game to game.