Fortnite UPDATE: Servers go down as Epic Games releases new patch

UPDATE: Epic Games has now tweeted to confirm the game’s servers are offline with maintenance for the new update now underway.

The tweet from the official Twitter account reads: “Downtime for the V.3.1.0 Patch has begun. Patch notes coming soon!”

Patch Notes are yet to arrive, but equally it’s no clearer how long the game will be down.

Here’s the full patch notes:

NEW WEAPONS

Lucky Landing (Battle Royale)

Try your luck at the new Battle Royale point of interest, located on the Southern edge of the island.

Hunting Rifle (Battle Royale)

No scope… No problem! Effective at medium to long range and only holds one round in the chamber.

Dragonfire Auto-Shotgun (Save the World)

This heavy Auto-Shotgun unleashes a cone of fire and destruction, damaging all husks in its reach.

Brave Beginnings (Save the World)

Adventure alongside Val on her quest to become a defender!

GENERAL UPDATES AND FIXES

Controllers and Mice can now be used in tandem.

UI

Notification UI has updated animations and now promptly exits the screen when dismissed by an action.

Added a confirmation dialog for exiting the game using the window close button on PC.

Bug Fixes

Ping times displayed in the Net Debug Stats panel have been improved to be more accurate by removing frame times from the calculation.

Removed some heavy hitching that could occur during texture streaming.

Fixed issue that caused location text in Party Finder to clip into buttons, now marquees properly.

Fixed issue where the input icon for selecting a lobby player podium slot would disappear after switching tabs.

ORIGINAL: Fans of the Battle Royale game will not have access to servers today for a short amount of time, as Epic Games performs maintenance.

No patch notes have been released ahead of the scheduled Fortnite server down time, although we do know of one new item coming to the game.

The development team have confirmed that they will not be releasing the Jetpack today, following technical issues being found at the last minute.

Not much was known about it, apart from the design and that it would let players “take the fight to all new heights” and that it was “coming soon”.

This is being switched out for a new weapon that will add a little more variety to the loadout.

A Hunting Rifle will be released following today’s Fortnite update, which will not include a scope.

The Fortnite team said: “This week’s new item is being changed from the Jetpack to the Hunting Rifle.

“We found a last minute design issue with the Jetpack that’s going to delay its launch and we’re working on correcting it.

“The Jetpack will lift off at a later time.”

It will be interesting to see how it impacts long distance combat, or whether no-scoping will become all the rage.

When it comes to the new patch being released, Epic Games have confirmed that Fortnite servers will be going offline at around 9am, GMT.

“V.3.1.0 is about to land… and it sure feels lucky! Downtime for the V.3.1.0 patch will begin on March 1 at 4:00am ET (0900 GMT),” Epic Games message reveals.

It’s unclear if players will be kicked out of games 20 minutes ahead of time, although this is something that has happened in the past.

Epic Games will also be releasing the new patch notes following the launch of the game’s next update.

With recent updates, Fortnite servers have gone down for a few hours before the patch was released to fans on PS4, Xbox One and PCs.

The exception to this rule was Fortnite patch V.2.3.0, which saw the game taken offline for 14 hours due to an unforeseen issue.

Epic Games outlined in a Reddit post previously what Fortnite patch V.3.1.0 will bring.

Here are the brief notes:

  • Quest Map improvements
  • Spring it on event week 2
  • New event store items!
  • Inventory w/ Crafting in FE

The new update will also include new bugfixes for both Fortnite Battle Royale, and Save the World Modes.