Epic buffs Lego Fortnite tool durability after patching handy ‘chest repair glitch’

polygon.com:

Epic Games quietly fixed a glitch in Lego Fortnite on Tuesday, a change that players are said made the survival game “unplayable” based on how tool and weapon durability works. A day later, Epic responded to player complaints with a much-needed buff.

In Lego Fortnite, tools like pickaxes and swords will degrade as they’re used when farming for materials or in battle against enemies. Those items can be recrafted back at your base, but players found a more convenient workaround for durability: They could stash a bunch of degraded tools in a small chest, smash that chest, then reclaim their tools back at full durability. Smashing a small chest was a small price to pay; they cost just six planks, a simple recipe in Lego Fortnite.

Epic patched out that chest-repair glitch without giving players a legitimate solution for repairing their tools. Players are bemoaning the bug fix, dreading the thought of carrying multiple copies of tools that will eat up their precious inventory slots. For some of Lego Fortnite’s lengthy supply runs or underground exploring, the lack of tool repair is a real problem, some players say.

Reactions to the chest-glitch fix have varied. Some have complained that Lego Fortnite is now “basically unplayable,” or too much of a grind. Others have simply argued that glitches need to be fixed, and balance changes to the game’s economy can come later. Other players have proposed solutions, like repair kits that can be carried, or fast-travel options to make returning to base less time-consuming.

Lego Fortnite is still in its infancy, and after a massive launch that impressed players with its scope, some of the pain points are starting to become evident. Epic Games has said that what players have experienced so