@cikame: Hey! I think the lack of responses is telling about how many people really sunk their teeth into the core game! :)
I'll try and speak from my 2-3 weeks of playing Fortnite after launch. Apart from going back to play the BR mode, I haven't touched the core game since then so my info may be a bit outdated.
I added a TL;DR at the bottom too:
Okay, so here's what I recall in no particular order and without much depth or critique or structure:
I actually really liked it. I'd imagine with a group of people playing it together, it'd be kinda neat. You do missions (with varying objectives - but mostly defensive) away from your base and your loot rewards are dictated by how well you do. If you build the right amount, defend the right amount, kill the right amount and find the right amount on your map, you get better loot at the end of the game.
But you also do missions at your base which you can fully customise to your standards. This is really fun and the building aspect is inuitive and simple. You're not going to be creating masterpieces, but you can make something that looks really good. It's pretty unique.
You do these base missions to unlock more content and field missions. You and your friends can all help each other out at your respective bases - basically trying to protect your facility's core (and, eventually, some other outer facilities). You end up consistently altering and growing your base, which is possible via resources gained in the field/surrounding your base and/or via loot boxes.
Speaking of loot... They were quite generous with all of those initial packs. I bought the standard edition and ended up with more than enough good stuff to never even think about paying for any loot. It never crossed my mind once. It didn't seem in any way egregious. However, worth noting that I've never paid real money for a loot box in any game.
But, then again, I got so many 'free' loot boxes for buying the game. It may be different if you decide to try it once it's F2P. All I can say is that I got more than enough loot to start.
I've only played up to the end of the 1st environment. I believe there are four (I think the higher level one was called 'Twine Peaks'), so I can't speak for whether or not the game gets super hard and whether or not most of that initial loot becomes invalid.
The great thing is that once you unlock a high level weapon/trap blueprint, you can just keep making them (provided you have the resources - which can be found in the field). Weapons do degrade over time, but blueprints mean that you don't have to wait to receive another legendary (or Mythic - can't remember which) weapon from a loot box.
I would note that I may have got lucky with my loot boxes and YMMV. However, you can drop weapons/resources to your friends in-game - so even if a couple of you only get good blueprints, you could work together to share the spoils.
I unlocked a top tier rifle blueprint and it's great - I tried to build multiple back-ups in advance so that if one ran out of durability, another would be in its place.
Pro Tip: If you build your replacements in the field, you will contribute to the team 'Utility' score. There are medals for utility (finding things, chopping things down, fixing defences and building new weapons/traps from blueprints), base building (self-explanatory) and kills (same) within a map. Get them all to Bronze, Silver, Gold or Platinum and you get increasingly better loot rewards upon completion.
You also unlock 'Defenders' (friendly AI that you place on the map to fight in lieu of missing friends). However, since you'd be playing with friends, that shouldn't be an issue.
And then there are 'Survivors' who are just people masquerading as stat boost cards. They aren't playable or actually rendered in the game engine, just cards with different values that give you a boost if you are able to create a team (i.e. hand) of compatible personalities and abilities (i.e class and type).
Then there is your playable character. You get four main classes (not actual class names but: constructor, assault, assassin/sniper and utility). You unlock different types of these classes via cards - so varying types of assaults, constructors and so on with different abilities and aesthetics. Just like with weapons, survivors, traps and defenders, they come in tiers of rarity.
With all of the aforementioned cards, you are able to level them up. You do this via specific XP that you gain from completing missions or from loot boxes. Cards have levels and star ratings. I can't remember what these both mean, but higher stars + higher level = better stats.
For me, as a hoarder, the amount of stuff that I had was intimidating. It wasn't that I had too little loot - I had TOO MUCH. Inventory management became a problem and I did begin to run out of space - so the larger inventory, offered by the more expensive editions, would have been very useful.
I have been meaning to get back into it, but have just been distracted by other games. I was excited for the game, and the concept, after the announcement trailer (5+ years ago?) and was shocked to find out that it still existed. So that's how I came to buy it. Worth the wait? Not really. Intriguing? Definitely. Offers something new? Yes.
I think it's hard to properly recommend it at this stage knowing that it will be going F2P soon, but no-one can tell you how it will be for someone going the F2P route as everyone playing it right now has bought in and received loot for doing so.
Worth going back and listening to some of the Bombcasts from when the game was first available to buy during, I believe, late summer? I'm sure it was mentioned in the descriptions. Jeff talked about it a fair bit and most of what he said is pretty spot on.
However, Jeff has been aware of, and was playing, this game for years without breaking the NDA - so his experience with, or somewhat muted enthusiasm for, Fortnite is likely based on him having super early access.
TL;DR: I could see this being really fun for you with a group of friends playing together. If you buy in with the Standard Edition, you'll likely end up with too much loot to the point of inventory management woes! Never felt tempted to buy a loot box, nor did I feel that the game was dependent on me doing so. However, my experience is coloured by buying in early, not playing to the higher levels and maybe getting lucky with loot. At this stage, with F2P looming, it might be worth waiting. But I, nor anyone else really, can speak for the F2P experience due to it not existing right now.
Hope some of that helped!
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