Just 10 days away from the start of Fortnite's World Cup Online Opens, Epic Games announced some competitive changes to the game. You can read about all of the changes here, which includes a new feature while you wait to actually enter a match, but the most notable difference is the stretched resolution section. Most computer screens start with a native 1920x1080 resolution, or 16:9, which looks best for streaming purposes. But some gamers like to alter the look for gameplay reasons. (itsJerian / YouTube) https://images.daznservices.com/di/library/sporting_news/10/6e/fortnite-stretched-resolution-ftr_167tf60qg74oj10kz54bsm6ek3.png?t=-457719871&w=500&quality=80 Most of the time, streamers will make the gameplay wider. This makes the game look worse, but offers some competitive advantages like making characters wider so they're easier to hit, and sometimes even improving the FPS (frames per second). FORTNITE WORLD CUP: Everything you need to know about qualifying But gamers will no longer be able to alter their screens in "Fortnite." At least not when there's money involved like for the World Cup event. Via Epic Games: In the near future, we will be updating how we handle custom resolutions on PC. When using a custom resolution, vertical FOV will be locked. Horizontal FOV will be unlocked in all modes, but in competitive playlists (e.g. Arena and in-game tournaments) we will be locking the aspect ratio to 16:9. Given the potential competitive advantages a stretched resolution brings, it's not surprising why Epic Games decided to ban its use. While there's not a reason given in the description, it seems obvious Epic Games wants an even playing field considering there's $40 million at stake throughout the World Cup. Still, some of the game's top streamers weren't too happy with the announcement. Ninja The revert back to season 1 settings, adding arena increasing que times in the later sections, and now... Removing stretch res from Competitions. All of this somehow better be paying off because if this is somehow not benefiting epic idk what they are doing. — Ninja (@Ninja) April 3, 2019 TimTheTatman Svennoss Nice april fools Didn't expect ya'll could come up with even more dumb stuff. You change this for viewers experience, Yet the game runs like ass (optimization, multiple bugs displayed on stream during tournaments EVERY match which make them not even watch in the first place. 🙄 pic.twitter.com/SYobjLue5w — Code: Svennoss (@Svenosss) April 3, 2019 Nickmercs I understand everybody playing on the same resolution... but why right now? Such a monumental change 10 days before the qualifier. @FortniteGame confuses me maaan. pic.twitter.com/ILJ0jRcV3O — Nickmercs (@NICKMERCS) April 3, 2019 TSM_Myth I just thought it was funny how we all switched to stretched and now were all gonna go back running to 1920, even pros that make fun of content creators have to play on native now and I just think its comedic. — Myth (@TSM_Myth) April 3, 2019 72hrs dude what are you doing lmao — Tom 72hrs (@72hrs) April 3, 2019<doc-sep>Epic Games will award $40 million in prizes for the 2019 Fortnite World Cup starting on April 13. The Fortnite World Cup will open with a series of online qualifiers; Epic will distribute $1 million in prize money each week from April 13 to June 16. Winners will qualify for the Fortnite World Cup Finals happening later this summer in New York City. Epic Games is promising a $30 million prize pool for the final event. Epic Games is offering $40 million in prizes for the first-ever Fortnite World Cup, which is open to all players age 13 and up. The competition will begin on April 13 with online qualifiers for six regions: Europe, Asia, Brazil, Oceana, and the East and West coasts of North America. Online qualifiers will be held for 10 weeks, and each week, Epic will split a $1 million prize pool between the top players in each region. First place winners will earn a maximum of $5,000, but players coming in 1,000th place or better can still earn $100 or more from the weekly event. The top-placing players each week will also qualify for the Fortnite World Cup Finals, a three-day event coming to New York City from July 26 to 28 with a $30 million prize pool. Epic Games has promised a total prize pool of $100 million for competitive "Fortnite" events during 2019. Read more: 'Fortnite' is getting a $100 million prize pool — the biggest ever in eSports, and twice what was paid out in 2016. Online qualifiers will alternate between Solo and Duos matches each week, so the style of competition and number of winners will change from week to week, too. Players don't need to sign up in advance, they just need to join the online qualifiers from the "Fortnite" menu. Qualifiers are scored based on a points system, which awards players for eliminating enemies and surviving as long as they can. The first round of online qualifiers will be available during the week; semi-finals and finals for the weekly events are held on Saturday and Sunday for qualifying players. Specific times are based on region, but the finals usually fall between 4 p.m. and 7 p.m. Be sure to check the official "Fortnite" website for scheduling information and all of the rules for the Fortnite World Cup.<doc-sep>Fortnite community coordinator Sean “MrPopoTFS” Hamilton announced that The Baller nerfs have been put back from the v8.30 update, which means they won’t arrive in time for this weekend’s first round of the Fortnite World Cup Open Qualifiers. Epic Games had announced in the v8.20 update patch notes that the changes will come for this update, but now there’s no new estimate date of deployment. The Baller would be changed in the v8.30 update to allow players on the ground to shoot the driver through the vehicle’s glass, dealing damage to them directly instead. Today players first have to destroy The Baller to then make the driver vulnerable to damage. MrPopo wrote that the team is still “polishing this change and will get it to you as soon as it’s ready.” Related: Why Epic is nerfing The Baller to the ground in Fortnite. Considering the message, it’s likely that The Baller will continue as it is in its current iteration for this weekend’s first stage of the Fortnite World Cup Open Qualifiers. The qualifiers will award the best Solo players with a share of the $1 million weekly prize pool, and these players will likely be the ones who use The Baller most effectively. The Baller provides a great advantage to its user. It allows for fast movement with its built-in Grappler, it denies up to 300 damage before being destroyed, and lets the user destroy structures with easy by bouncing on them. A player who’s in The Baller in the late game has a huge advantage over others due to its shielding and mobility. Fortnite players who are eager to get a spot in the World Cup will either have to play around The Baller this weekend or play in one to get an edge over their opponents. It seems unlikely that Epic will deploy this changes before the update next week.<doc-sep>
The World Cup is going to be the biggest Fortnite tournament of the year, and Epic has announced how players can compete for their spots. The tournament will be open to any Fortnite player. The only caveat is that you have to make it through the rigorous qualifying process. The World Cup qualifiers start on April 13 and will continue for 10 weeks. The first week will focus on Solo competition and the second week will be Duos, with the two modes alternating after that. The qualifying process starts with Arena Mode, a new queue that goes live with patch v8.20. There’s no set schedule for the mode so players can earn points whenever they want. When players reach the top of Arena Mode, they’ll qualify for World Cup Online Open tournaments, which will happen every weekend. Each weekend will kick off with the Online Open Semi-Finals on Saturday. These will happen over the course of three-hour windows that shift with each server region. Players will have all three hours to play 10 matches and attempt to earn as many points as possible. The top 3,000 players in each region will then advance to the Online Open Finals which happen on Sunday. During the Open Finals every players’ score will reset and they’ll once again have three hours to play 10 matches. The top finishers will receive a portion of the $1 million prize pool and a few select players will earn a qualification spot for the World Cup in New York City on July 26-28. Epic also offered a breakdown of how many players from each week of the competition will get to advance to the World Cup from each region: The scoring system for each of the tournaments will be similar to the recent test events with points going out for placement as well as eliminations. Solo points Victory Royale: 10 Points 2nd - 5th: 7 Points 6th - 15th: 5 Points 16th - 25th: 3 Points Each Elimination: 1 Point Duo points Victory Royale: 10 Points 2nd - 3rd: 7 Points 4th - 7th: 5 Points 8th - 12th: 3 Points Each Elimination: 1 Point