While I agree that the live nature of Fortnite and the way Epic continually prunes and updates does make it difficult in terms of preservation, I think the main reason we’re not seeing attempts at preservation currently for the title is that not enough people want to go back to re-experience events and gameplay. That is, in part, thanks to the fact that Epic has continually mixed and remixed things to keep the game fresh while also holding replays of some of the musical events.
I missed the Stormwing for what seemed like too long and they brought it back. The planes then had the curse of needing gas since they operated on the same fuel system that cars and boats did. That was a bummer, but there were plenty of LTMs that had planes the old way, so I was happy. In fact, I even went back and suffered through using the Stormwing with gas to assert my aerial superiority and get a flying high victory royale again. I’m not the only one with stories like that either. There are plenty of players that fall in love with weapons and will keep using them despite balance changes just so they can flex. It’s a testament to solid gameplay that even during poorly received seasons like Primal (C2 S6) and Zero Point (C2 S5), there wasn’t a huge drop off in players. Which I think goes a long way to making sure there isn’t a private server version being created.
I think you’re kind of wrong about the fashion focused bit. I’ve been playing Fortnite for over 3 years now and have maxed every season of the battle pass during that time period. Despite some outliers like the Marvel focused season, a lot of regular players have main skins which they wear almost every match and often do not come from the current season’s offerings. Some like my wife never even play any of the season’s battle pass skins at all despite having and maxing the pass.
It does become a status symbol to show off your OG skins (max level Drift, Omega with all color options, the original Black Widow skin,), but these only work as a social currency so far. There’s plenty of players that prefer to flex with highly customized locker combos or stay a no skin to show they don’t have to pay for a skin to be good at a game. It’s remarkable how socially accessible the game is so many years in. You will never have a hard time finding people willing to hang with you no matter your skin.
You also missed that they do offer a discount for buying your first 25 levels of the battle pass as a way to make it a little easier to squeeze what you want out of the pass if you want to try to hurry your way to the bonus skin styles that exist past level 100. They also are having more supercharged XP weekends now where you can level up stupidly quick. Playing battle royale duos can net you between 10 and 15 levels in about 2 hours if you play during those times.
I think the biggest thing you hit on was the cash equivalent to levels. Ultimately, it’s time = money. Even if you open your wallet, Fortnite still finds ways to prey on your fomo. Do you want the Golden Lara Croft skin enough to spend 2 and a half hours trying to get that Golden gun before any other player can rob the tomb? Do you want the different styles of Singularity enough to travel the map over multiple matches collecting each different helmet?
For a lot of people, the answer was no. Not everyone has time or the skills for that grind.
I feel like my response meanders more than it should, but I wanted to say that I like what you wrote a lot and I hope that we can squad up one day if you still play.
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