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Apex Legends devs confirms new April Fools’ Day event is happening Respawn EntertainmentApex Legends developers Respawn Entertainment have confirmed a new April Fools’ Day event to prank players is on the way. Respawn devs love pulling pranks on Apex players for April Fools Day. The hilarious golden Mozambique pistol troll has appeared in the game on April 1 for the last two years. As we approach the day of pranks for 2022, it seems devs have some new tricks on the way. However, this year it could be bigger and better than any prior pranks they’ve pulled. Apex Legends dev confirms April Fools event In a March 20 tweet, Apex Legends content creator TiffaJessi asked Respawn Senior Producer Josh Medina if there are any April Fools’ event ideas. Medina actually replied – revealing devs had already finished their April 1 plans. “Nah, we got wrapped up already since it’s in 2 weeks.” While this confirms we’ll see a prank or two come April Fools, it doesn’t tell us anything about what to expect when the day finally arrives. In response to the dev’s tweet, one Apex Legends fan joked the prank would be the anti-cheat actually doing its job. “Yeah it’s gonna be that the anti-cheat works for a day and that’s it,” said user E_Trash_E. Yeah it’s gonna be that the anti cheat works for a day and thats it https://t.co/1SrxdI4z8f — Trash (@IamTrashIknow) March 21, 2022 Earlier in March, other players were eager to suggest some hilarious and absurd ideas for the devs to prank players on April 1. One fan proposed the idea that for just 24 hours you could put any sight in the game on any weapon. With not long left to go until April Fools, the anticipation of what devs will actually do will continue to build up.

Apex Legends devs finally ship Xbox input lag fix Respawn EntertainmentApex Legends devs have finally pushed a fix for the Xbox input lag issues that have been making the game unplayable for some console players. The Awakening Collection event arrived in Apex Legends on June 21, introducing the Lifeline Town Takeover, Control, and of course, Valkyrie’s incredible Suzaku Heirloom. While all of these features were praised by the community, the update did cause some major problems, with a lot of Xbox players suddenly experiencing huge amounts of input lag. Unfortunately, this made the game “unplayable” for a lot of Xbox users who simply couldn’t compete due to serious performance issues. Well, two weeks later, Respawn has finally confirmed that a fix is on its way — and it’s live as of July 5. Xbox input lag issues are finally getting fixed in Apex Legends As showcased by Apex Legends YouTuber The Gaming Merchant, there’s been a significant update from the devs in relation to the Xbox input lag issues. After countless complaints from the community, Respawn has finally found a solution to the performance issues on Xbox and pushed it live in a July 5 patch. “We just pushed a small update to [Apex Legends] to help address issues with input lag on Xbox Series X and S consoles,” Respawn said on Twitter. “Thank you for your patience here, legends.” We just pushed a small update to @PlayApex to help address issues with input lag on Xbox Series X and S consoles. Thank you for your patience here, legends. — Respawn (@Respawn) July 5, 2022 With the fix now live, Xbox players shouldn’t face nearly as much input lag as they were following recent updates. However, what still might be a challenge is hit reg, which players believe is at its worst in Season 13.

Apex Legends devs confirm “significant changes” to fix audio issues Respawn EntertainmentDuring an Apex Legends Devstream that confirmed a number of changes and plans in the work, the Respawn devs revealed that they will be making “significant changes” to try and fix the game’s ongoing audio issues. [jwplayer KEHOOBWR] Players have been complaining about audio issues in Apex Legends for what feels like forever, and it seems to be a problem that, no matter what changes are implemented, never leaves. The main problem, really, is the lack of audio in certain situations. You’ll often find yourself snuck on by enemies that have got there without making a noise, or nearby gunfire that you’re completely unaware of. It’s one of the most frustrating issues in the game, but the devs have given a promising update on the issue ahead of update 6.1 and the Aftermarket collection event. “We know there are issues with the audio right now,” they said. “I just felt like it was really important that we say that.” Far from just acknowledging the issues, though, the devs promised players that they were looking for a fix to improve the game’s quality of life. “Every patch we work on audio,” they continued. “It’s just a beast that we’re battling with. We wanted to give a little hope that we are doing some more significant changes to address this in the future. A lot of people are working on some big stuff to try and make this better.” Topic starts at 19:01 It can’t be particularly easy to fully balance out a game such as Apex, but quality of life change such as these will always be welcome if they can help decrease the amount of frustrating deaths you face from lack of audio. Elsewhere in the Devstream, they confirmed that Wraith would be losing her signature Naruto-style run and that Pathfinder’s grapple cooldown will be facing yet another change, now facing a variable time to cool down rather than a set 35 seconds. When these audio fixes come in remains to be seen, but it has clearly been made a point of priority for Respawn, so hopefully we see improvements sooner rather than later.

Apex Legends R-301 and Rampage set to be in Replicators in Season 13 Respawn EntertainmentNew official screenshots of the changes coming to Storm Point in Apex Legends Season 13 also give us a teaser of what weapons will be included in the upcoming Replicator rotation. Replicators are crafting stations in Apex turn materials gathered on the map into loot. These hubs have ten slots: two change daily, two change weekly, and six are permanent for the season. Along with a blog post detailing the changes coming to Storm Point for Season 13, Apex devs at Respawn have also given us a preview of what weapons will be in these permanent slots. R301 and Rampage moved to replicator in Apex Season 13 In an image of the newly revamped Storm Point map for Season 13, Respawn also included a look at the upcoming permanent crafting rotation. How do we know these will be the permanent items? Simply put, because there’s six of them, and as we mentioned before each season has six permanent items that don’t leave the Replicators. For Season 13 the Rampage and the ever-popular R301 will be available for crafting. For some players, it will definitely make looting easier, as the R301 is one of the most popular weapons in the game. The Rampage might not be as popular as the R301, but definitely provides an option for more firepower, should players choose. Not to mention, it can be charged up with Thermite grenades for an extra kick as well. If you look closely at the map image, it seems that both weapons will cost 30 crafting material to produce in the Replicators. So, if you’re a fan of either the R301 or the Rampage, there’s a little something extra you have to look forward to in Season 13.

Apex Legends devs confirm player perception is “absolutely considered” when balancing Respawn EntertainmentA recent AMA hosted by Apex Legends developers revealed that the team takes player perception into account when adjusting game balance. As a live service game, Apex Legends is subject to plenty of balance updates to adjust and refine the ongoing meta. However, fans have long questioned whether or not developer Respawn actually takes into account community opinion and perception following balance updates. Now, members of the Apex Legends development team confirmed that player perception is “absolutely considered” when adding buffs and nerfs to the battle royale. Apex Legends devs confirm balance detail The confirmation came from an AMA on the Apex Legends subreddit, where fans specifically asked the team about weapons and Legends. One fan asked if “player perception has a decent effect” on game balance and how much is it considered in the balancing process. Lead Game Designer Devan McGuire gave an in-depth and confirmed that “A community’s perception can mold trends and influence behaviours on mass.” McGuire used Seer’s addition at the start of Season 10 as a prime example of this in action. McGuire said, “We made a balance update early in Season 10 after his launch, and the community perceived him dead to rights, he fell off the map, and his power went unnoticed for three seasons.” McGuire referenced how many pro Apex Legends players have changed their opinions on Seer as of Season 13 and 14, even going as far as to call the Recon legend “game-breaking” thanks to his power. The developer goes on to explain that the team has to “weigh the impact of perception constantly against the healthy changes needed for the game formed by design insights, discussion, playtesting, and analytical data.” So while Respawn gathers and uses data from Apex Legends players across entire seasons to influence balance updates, player perception still plays a big part in what changes actually make it through to the final patch.

Apex Legends devs confirm Octane changes coming in future update Respawn Entertainment[jwplayer Fc1cVTGH]Respawn Developer Daniel Klein has revealed that major changes will soon be coming to Octane in Apex Legends, in hopes of bringing the character to a healthier state, in-game. Octane has been quite a popular pick in Apex Legends since his release all the way back in Season 1, however, many fans of the High-Speed Daredevil have called for buffs to keep him competitive with some of the other top characters, like Wraith. Respawn developers have previously decided against changes, such as movement buffs, for Octane, instead just sharing their plans to find alternative ways to rework or buff the Legend and make him more viable. Following some of the Apex Legends changes that were revealed at the EA Play event, such as a Lifeline ability rework, many Octane mains felt as if they were left out after little was shared about their favorite character. However, Respawn Entertainment designer Daniel Klein finally confirmed in a June 18 Reddit discussion post about the event, that they have some plans for the adrenaline-based Legend in one of their future updates. The Apex Legends dev explained that they have been working on changes for Octane and revealed their commitment to bringing him to a healthy state, by claiming that if the first set of buffs don’t balance the character, they will follow up with even more of a boost. “We’ve got something planned for Octane as well! We’ll have to see if it’s enough, and if it isn’t, we’ll follow up with more,” Klein revealed. Although he confirmed that a rework or buff is on the way, the designer admitted that the speedster was in “such a weird spot,” adding that while his pick rate was among the highest, his win rate was extremely low and that they were working on a solution to balance it. Comment byu/SDCored from discussion inapexlegends “I think we can only push individual encounter win rate (“selfish” power) so much further before it becomes frustrating to fight him.” he explained, “We gotta figure out ways for him to help his squad win. We’ll see how this buff does.” After many fans were curious about what exact changes they can expect to see with Octane, Klein followed up by stating that he would not be revealing any specifics, and players would just have to wait a bit longer to find out.

Apex Legends devs confirm Legends up to Season 12 already being tested Respawn Entertainment[jwplayer cgdaanpd]It looks like Apex Legends isn’t going anywhere; Respawn developers Chad Grenier and Jason McCord have revealed Legends and map changes for the next seven seasons, all the way up to Season 12 in 2022, are already being tested. Respawn has never kept it much of a secret they’ve always planned for Apex Legends to go long. Back in April, design director Jason McCord revealed seasons 6, 7, and 8 were already in development, even as Season 5 and its feisty heroine Loba were just appearing on the horizon. The Apex Legends timeline has been stretched even further, however; it looks like the battle royale already has Legends and changes mapped out all the way up to Season 12, according to McCord and game director Chad Grenier. The pair, who spoke to GamesRadar soon after the release of the mega-sized Lost Treasures event patch last week, there’s already more than half a dozen new Legends that are lined up to join the roster by the time Season 12 arrives. There are also a few map changes that will come to Apex Legends in the next few years. A totally new arena could also be on the way. Grenier and McCord admitted they “can’t really talk about those details just yet” though. “We always have a ton of exciting stuff in the works,” Grenier explained. “We do internal playtests every day. We’re testing new legends, map changes, and content all the way up to and including Season 12 right now. There’s a lot of really cool stuff in the works.” One part of that is the Legend-focused storyline that continues to grow in Apex with every passing update. Respawn has already delivered a riveting narrative in the Broken Ghost quest series. They’re planning to do even more too, Grenier revealed, and are already hard at work trying to figure out “where to go next.” “For seasons one through three, we were writing new stories and content really close to the end [of the patch being shipped], right before they launched,” he said. Once the first year of Apex ended, Grenier said, the devs could flex their wings a little more when it came to telling character-driven stories. Now the writing room has even begun bringing in elements of Respawn’s old franchise, Titanfall. “In seasons four and five, players started to see that we had a little more time to plan out something. Now we’re just getting better at it,” the battle royale’s director added. He said he couldn’t reveal where the story is headed “just yet” though. Respawn’s head devs were relatively quiet on where the storyline is going, but an in-game easter egg may have already tipped us off to what’s coming next. After finishing the latest Broken Ghost quest, players were given a reward branded with a single, faded word: “Ash.” This could mean Apex Legends players are building the old Titanfall 2 villain as part of the ongoing story. We may even see her return in some capacity as soon as Season 6. Whether she’ll be playable is another question entirely. If this is the way that Respawn is weaving a story into their ever-growing battle royale world, then long may it continue. Seven more seasons of this may take Apex to new heights, both for its characters, and its expanded universe. Right now, it’s a great time to be a battle royale fan. Captain America just debuted in Fortnite, Ubisoft has burst onto the scene with Hyper Scape, and Apex looks set for updates until February 2022, at least. The BR future is bright!

Apex Legends devs confirm fix for Revenant & Pathfinder damage exploit Respawn EntertainmentRespawn Entertainment have confirmed that Revenant and Pathfinder taking reduced damage from Caustic’s ultimate ability is in fact an exploit, and that they are working towards a fix in Apex Legends. When it comes to the Ultimate Abilities featured in Apex Legends, it’s hard to find one more frustrating than Caustic’s Nox Gas Grenades. They can be detonated by Caustic with very little risk to his health, and deal significant damage to enemy players. However, recent weeks have seen players discover that certain characters – namely Revenant and Pathfinder – take reduced damage from Caustic’s Nox Gas Grenades. This fueled speculation in the Apex community that it was an intentional mechanic, perhaps because of Pathfinder and Revenant being less human than some of their fellow legends. However, Respawn have now confirmed via their Apex Legends Trello board that the reduced damage taken by Revenant and Pathfinder is an exploit, and is not an intentional game mechanic. The exploit has been listed as being investigated, simply described as: “Both Pathfinder and Revy take less damage when in Caustic’s Nox gas.” It seems then, that the issues do not just affect Caustic’s Ultimate, but also his Tactical Gas Traps. With Respawn now investigating the issue, Apex Legends players can expect a patch in the coming weeks. There is no confirmed date for the fix, but it seems to be a fairly minor bug so it shouldn’t take the experienced developers too long to find a patch. Other issues Respawn are investigating surround Loba’s Tactical and Wraith’s portal. It goes to show the extent to which they want to minimize bugs in Season 5, and keep Apex Legends as smooth as possible.

Apex Legends devs confirm fix coming for server-crash exploit in Arenas Respawn EntertainmentJust like every FPS shooter, Apex Legends is home to strange bugs and glitches. However, the latest Arenas bug has been causing a lot of trouble for players. Apex Legends’ Genesis update brought with it plenty of new exciting features, one of those being the ability to ping your own ultimate. Not only does this enable players to instantly notify their squad when their ultimate is ready, but it also shares the exact percentage of the ability’s charge. This is obviously extremely useful when communication via voice chat isn’t possible or if there is a language barrier. Unfortunately, this eagerly anticipated feature has proven game-breaking in the game’s Arenas modes. While bugs are common in new updates, this latest ping-based problem has been proven extremely frustrating to those that enjoy Arenas matches. Apex Legends Arenas server-crash exploit Apex Legends’ Arenas mode has proven extremely popular amongst the community, with many enjoying the small, intense 3v3 brawls. However, a new exploit has been discovered that enables any player to instantly crash the game. Read More: Apex Legends Thrillseekers Event revealed – The Arenas bug happens whenever a player goes into their inventory and pings their ultimate. Reddit user -Alfa- posted a clip demonstrating just how broken this exploit is. After pulling up their inventory, the player goes to ping Octane’s ultimate and is instantly met with an internal server error. This bug completely shuts the Arenas session down and forces all players back to the home menu, forcing all involved to search for another game entirely. This is obviously a huge problem, but Respawn has been quick to respond to the issue. “So…. firstly, we are currently deploying the hotfix for this as we type. Thank you for bringing this to our attention,” says rspn_exgeniar. We’ve been trying to be downlow and intentionally not responding to this issue, because acknowledging this is going to put eyes on this exploit.” However, Respawn had no choice but to respond to the thread after hundreds of players began to encounter the game-breaking Arenas bug. Fortunately, a fix will only “take a few days to test on all platforms,” so a fix should be just around the corner. For now, though, it is best to avoid playing the game mode altogether.

Apex Legends devs respond to broken Knockdown Shields in Season 6 EARespawn have confirmed that there’s a fix in the works for the bug which rendered Apex Legends’ Knockdown Shields “useless” following a recent Season 6 patch. Knockdon Shields are often the difference between life and death in Apex Legends. That is, if they’re actually working. Following the August 20 patch, the majority of Knockdown Shields have been rendered useless. The top and tail of the issue is that none of the Knockdown Shields are deflecting incoming projectiles, which, in turn, leaves the user exposed after being downed. The only Shield that still holds some use is the gold variant, since this can still be used to self-revive from a downed position. But fundamentally, the Shields have been broken since the aforementioned patch went live. Respawn confirm fix for Knockdown Shields Of course, players have been incredibly frustrated at the prospect of being shot through their Knockdown Shields — and it appears that Respawn have a fix in the pipeline, albeit two weeks after the bug appeared in-game. One of the developers recently updated their Trello board to reflect the fact that they’re “investigating” the ongoing bug. While this doesn’t provide players with a definitive timeline on when the bug will be fixed, it does mean that the hotfix will likely be shipped out in due course. Unless Respawn ships out an individual hotfix just for the Knockdown Shield bug, it is likely that the issue will be resolved as part of the upcoming Aftermarket Collection Event. Per a recent leak, the Collection Event is scheduled to go live on September 15/16 (depending on your region). If this is the case, players will have to sit tight for another 10 days until the notorious Knockdown Shield bug is rectified.

Apex Legends devs confirm Crypto changes in the works but not ready yet Respawn/EARespawn Entertainment have revealed that they’re working on changes for Crypto but nothing is set in stone just yet as Apex Legends Season 10 is about to get underway. With Apex Legends having a hugely diverse cast of characters, fans of Respawn’s battle royale have their favorites, and as a result, they want their choice to stand out above the rest. With each new season, pretty much every legend gets a tweak in some way, and Season 10 is bringing some big changes to the likes of Horizon, Revenant, and Fuse. One legend that won’t be changing, though, is Crypto. The security expert can be pretty useful in certain situations, especially in the late game, but for a few seasons now, fans have demanded a buff. Some fans have suggested their own ideas for changes too, including copying Call of Duty’s Cold-Blooded perk and being able to scan banners without being up in his drone. Respawn have, on occasions, responded to these calls and admitted that they want to make the recon legend more popular. As a result, they’re working on future changes. Following the launch of the Season 10: Emergence patch notes, Jason McCord, Design Director on Apex Legends, fielded a question about possible Crypto tweaks but kept his cards close to his chest. “We are trying some stuff internally. Not ready yet,” he said. We are trying some stuff internally. Not ready yet. — Jason McCord (@MonsterclipRSPN) August 2, 2021 Given that McCord says the changes aren’t ready yet, who knows as to when they’ll drop in-game. Respawn have confirmed that there are changes coming for Rampart at some point during Season 10, so maybe Crypto might join her in that? Though, a future season seems more likely at this point.

Apex Legends devs are confident Seer won’t overshadow Bloodhound, Crypto Respawn EntertainmentSeer is here in Apex Legends Season 10, and the Recon Legend has a lot of overlap with some of the existing picks like Bloodhound or Crypto. However, Respawn has assured players the three Agents have enough differences between them. Seer’s introduction in Apex Legends Season 10 brings a whole new level of intel gathering. Some players have likened him to being a Crypto drone, without the droning, or a Bloodhound with a more permanent scan. Respawn has assured players that while Seer is similar in principle, in practice, he won’t overshadow the two Recon specialists. Seer gameplay lead Travis Nordin confirmed as much in an interview on his release. “The comparisons are always going to be there — he’s a recon legend like them. There’s similarities, but in practice, he definitely plays a bit differently,” Nordin said. “I think both Crypto and Bloodhound can guide you towards players, either Crypto scouting with the drone or Bloodhound following those breadcrumbs to find out where they go. Whereas Seer is a much more kind of close-quarters Recon information character.” Seer’s heartbeat sensor might be able to track enemies up close like a Crypto drone — even through walls — but you don’t get direct information on their location. Plus, his scan is more of a beam compared to Bloodhound’s cone which makes it “harder to hit,” Nordin said. However, the effects “are a bit more potent” to counterbalance that difficulty. “The second scan reveals health bars, which will be useful if your team is calling out ‘they’re one shot,’ you can actually know if it’s a one shot or not,” he said. Read More: A guide to mastering Seer in Apex Legends – “It also does the interrupt too, so that’s another mechanic which is probably pretty spicy. And that’ll interrupt any shield batteries or rezzing or basically any long press activities that the players are doing.” There’s also some counterplay to Seer that exists that doesn’t really affect Bloodhound or Crypto. Seer’s ultimate can be destroyed by an EMP, limiting his effectiveness in late-games against the Recon Legend. Even Mirage can bamboozle the ultimate with his own. Plus, the best trick of them all: If you don’t want to be scanned by Seer, just stop moving or shooting. Sure, you become a sitting duck, but ultimately you don’t get spotted. “You just kind of get these footstep VFX and a diamond lock on, so there’s some counterplay there as the enemy: if you stop moving or if you are healing you’re not going to be revealed.” All these little measures of counterplay make sure that Seer is different enough from all the other Recon Legends, while still filling his own niche in the game. While there’s concerns his kit will be totally broken, ultimately only time will tell about Seer’s place in the tier list.

Apex Legends devs called out for “false advertising” with skin bundle in store RespawnApex Legends developer Respawn Entertainment has come under scrutiny from fans, accusing the devs of advertising a false discount on the Silverback skin bundle, claiming it’s discounted more than it truly is. Skins and cosmetics are a huge revenue stream for numerous games, especially free-to-play titles like Apex Legends. In turn, Respawn consistently releases unique cosmetics, which usually become unavailable after a limited period of time. For the festive season, Apex Legend’s Holo-day event sale was followed by the new year sale, with lots of cosmetics on offer. However, one skin bundle in the store has sparked controversy. Apex Legends player HardVegtable highlighted the issue with the Silverback skin bundle discount in a Reddit thread on December 30. The Silverback bundle originally served as a fundraiser for the ALGS Championship prize pool, and sold for 2500 Apex Coins, in May 2021. All the bundles were sold at this fixed price of 2500 coins. However, the game is now showing that the bundle has been discounted to 2150 from 3300 Apex Coins – despite it never being that price. “That’s false advertisement essentially,” said one player. Another likened it to the tactics used in brick & mortar stores: “This is actually pretty common, you see it often in retail stores.” “I feel like they think a customer is an idiot and it irritates me the most,” said another player. The Apex Legends store is often the focus of players’ ire, but is the game’s primary revenue stream, given that it is totally free to play. Owners of rare skins also bemoan the developers for adding these cosmetics back to the store, thereby diminishing their rarity. It’s unclear whether the inflated discount value was an intentional move by Respawn or an honest mistake. However, players are still getting a discount on the original value of 2500 – even if it’s not as big a discount as advertised.

Apex Legends devs break silence after devastating ALGS hack Respawn EntertainmentRespawn has announced a new suite of security updates for Apex Legends after a series of devastating hacks derailed an ALGS tournament. On March 17, Apex Legends was hit with a series of hacks when two players in a private pro ALGS lobby were given cheats against their will, resulting in utter chaos. The debacle that ensued led to a debate on whether Apex Legends’ third-party anti-cheat, East Anti-Cheat, was the problem, or if it was anything more nefarious. Now, two days after the hacks went down, Respawn has issued a full response to the hacks, announcing a new suite of security updates coming to the game. “On Sunday, a few professional Apex Legends player accounts were hacked during an ALGS event,” Respawn addressed on its official Twitter page. “Game and player security are our highest priorities, which is why we paused the competition to address the issue immediately.” Respawn then revealed new updates seeking to remedy the issue, explaining how “Our teams have deployed the first of a layered series of updates to protect the Apex Legends player community and create a secure experience for everyone.” Respawn did not reveal any specifics about how the hacker exploited the game, however, assured that they are working on the problems around the clock. The Apex Legends Esports account further updated players on the postponed matches. While tournament operators are still working on a resolution, they reminded fans that “security and competitive integrity” are paramount. Thus far, they announced no changes will be made to the Split 1 Playoffs in May, and more information will be shared on the directly impacted NA Pro League Finals in the near future. The new security updates come as Easy Anti-Cheat, Apex’s third-party anti-cheat they use, shut down any rumors of vulnerabilities in their system, with other Epic Games’ titles (who also regularly utilize the anti-cheat) corroborating.

Apex Legends devs backtrack some Battle Pass changes after backlash Respawn EntertainmentAfter Apex Legends players complained about a change that no longer allowed them to buy the Battle Pass with Apex Coins, Respawn Entertainment reversed the decision. Along with the decision to remove the Apex Coins purchase option, the Apex Legends Battle Pass overhaul on July 8 changed the pass to correspond with splits instead of seasons and a new Premium Battle Pass tier was introduced. Players slammed the decision and called EA “money hungry” for adding more transactions and removing an option for players to earn the Battle Pass without spending money. On July 24, Respawn Entertainment apologized and announced a series of changes to address player concerns. For Season 22 Split 1, which starts on Aug. 6, players can get the Premium Battle Pass by completing simple challenges. Then, in Split 2, beginning on Sept. 17, players will be able to buy the Battle Pass for 950 Apex Coins, and you will be able to earn enough coins in that Battle Pass for future passes. Apex Legends pro ImperialHal responded “nice” to the changes, and other community members echoed a similar sentiment of praise. 100 Thieves Apex content creator NiceWigg added, “W change and W acknowledgment.” Despite the positive feedback, some concerns about the Battle Pass changes remain. Even though the Battle Pass tiers decreased from 110 to 60, some players argue that completing every tier in a Split will be more challenging than having an entire season to complete 110 levels. Stricter timelines put more pressure on players to complete challenges faster than they would have liked, but it’s at least a possibility now to earn every Battle Pass by earning Apex Coins each Split. For more on the upcoming update, check out our guide on what to expect in Season 22.

Apex Legends devs are removing a single tree because everyone hates it Jake Virginia / Respawn EntertainmentRespawn developers have confirmed that they will be removing a single tree from Kings Canyon in-game, after it has left countless Apex Legends players frustrated over its position. Kings Canyon was the first map available for Apex Legends players to try, but as the seasons have unfolded, the OG map has seen some major changes, such as the removal of Skulltown and the addition of different vault. However, one bizarre change that Apex players have been calling for Respawn to make on the classic map is the removal of a single tree, that has indirectly caused plenty of deaths because of its awkward position. The tree, which is near the new “Salvage” point-of-interest in the southwest corner of the map, has been frustrating for quite a while, and Respawn has now finally revealed that they would be getting rid of it in a future update. Respawn’s decision to remove the frustrating tree was shared after Apex player u/kolkoin highlighted just how devastating it can be in-game, running away from a fight before getting hilariously stuck between the tree and the wall. “Respawn devs please remove this tree,” kolkoin pleaded, claiming it has affected plenty of Apex fans since it was added, “this tree has caused so many tragedies it’s not even funny.” Apex Legends dev Absurdist responded to the post noting that “it will be done,” although it may take a short while before it is removed in-game. “It might be a little bit before this gets in to live,” they explained, thanking the player for pointing out “pain points” like this on the map and added that it could help guide their future map changes. Apex Producer Josh Medina seemingly also commented on the tree being removed, suggesting that a ‘fix’ for it has already been prepared ahead of the next update. This was after he fixed the tree cause he broke it lol pic.twitter.com/N06ypUdzmK — Josh Medina (@lowkeydbjosh) September 12, 2020 While it is still unclear just when the tree will be removed from the live version of the game, Apex players can rest assured knowing that it won’t be much longer until the map is clear of this hazard.

Apex Legends devs are planning L-STAR changes in future update Respawn EntertainmentBoth the Spitfire and Devotion LMGs were changed in the Aftermarket Event update, but, missing from the patch notes was the L-Star. However, Respawn have confirmed changes are planned for the unique weapon. The Devotion has been tearing up lobbies in Season 6 of Apex Legends, so although everyone might not be happy about it, a nerf was probably needed. Both it and the Spitfire have had their hipfire spread increased, to keep it consistent across the LMG class. For a full breakdown of the changes to the Devotion and Spitfire, check out the Aftermarket patch notes. However, the L-Star was conspicuously missing from this hipfire adjustment, despite also being classed as an LMG. Although, it doesn’t necessarily fit into the category all that well. Despite this, Respawn do have some adjustments in the works. Aftermarket LMG updates The exact same hipfire spread nerf applied to the Devotion has also been applied to the Spitfire. However, to compensate for this, the Spitfire’s horizontal recoil has been reduced. While you can still reliably hipfire in close-quarters scenarios with these weapons, you’ll need to ADS if you wish to avoid missing your shots in mid-range firefights. Those of you who have used the Devotion and Spitfire will know just how potent the hipfire can be, so it was only a matter of time before they received a nerf to their hipfire accuracy. What does the LMG hipfire nerf mean for the L-STAR? Many fans have been wondering whether the added hipfire spread will be added to the L-STAR as the current patch notes have mysteriously left this out. “We try to keep hipfire numbers consistent with similar weapons of the same class,” states Respawn. “So, the hipfire spread increase on the Devotion is also being applied to the Spitfire.” However, when asked whether this hipfire update would be coming to the L-STAR Respawn Designer, David Bocek stated “The L-Star is sorta a weird gun. It’s in the LMG category but it isn’t really a full LMG in terms of the stats, it’s kinda “LMG-lite”. We have future plans for the LSTAR, just nothing this patch.” The L-STAR performs very differently to the majority of weapons in Apex Legends due to its overheat mechanic, which allows players to continuously fire until the gun overheats. This means you can maintain pressure if you simply fire in short bursts and have the necessary ammo. To compensate for this, the L-STAR has very high recoil and slow projectile speed which can make hitting targets at range fairly difficult. Because of this, Respawn have yet to apply the same hipfire nerf to the L-STAR. “The issue with the L-STAR’s recoil pattern is that it’s this squiggly S shape. That means it has constant horizontal recoil one way or another. If you are close enough, that doesn’t matter, but if you’re farther away it feels like you can’t hit anything,” says David. “Just tuning the multipliers on the recoil won’t solve this, so it probably needs a new pattern.” When is the L-STAR update? Respawn have yet to make a statement on the upcoming L-STAR changes, but we will likely hear more from the dev team in the coming months. For now, it looks like energy-based LMG is safe from the current hipfire nerfs. Make sure you follow @TitanfallBlog for all the latest Apex Legends news and updates.

Apex Legends devs apologize for “embarrassing” error following UI update Respawn EntertainmentRespawn Entertainment, developers of Apex Legends, have issued an apology on Twitter for shipping a UI update early and “incomplete”, misspelling a content creator’s name who helped create a skin for their battle royale. This is a recent development in a story that started all the way back in February of 2022, when Respawn launched a new line of skins meant to celebrate Apex Legends’ artists and content creators. Popular streamer LuluLuvely has since claimed Apex Legends content creators were not paid royalties for their work on these collaborative skins. Furthermore, she was disappointed to hear that creators who inspired certain skins will not be mentioned in the game, only in a blog post on EA’s website. Respawn have since decided to reverse their decision after nearly a year, dropping a UI update that will name the content creators behind the skins. KralRindo, an Apex Legends leaker, quickly pointed out that after a recent patch Lulu’s name has finally been added to the game, except that it was misspelled. Respawn apologizes for releasing an “incomplete” update Respawn apologized for releasing the update in an “incomplete” manner in a January 14 tweet. They said: “Well, this is embarrassing. Recently, we had a new UI update in Apex Legends meant to highlight the talented artists and creators we work with for in-game items ship early and incomplete. We will be officially launching this update at a future date, correct spellings and all.” The community’s response was mixed. One fan commented: “Cool Cool…Why didn’t that just launch though with the skins in the first place in February?” “What an awful attempt and an apology tweet. Imagine taking what will probably be over a year to promote creators and artists that you worked with,” commented another. Regardless, it’s a definite step in the right direction from the game’s developers.

Apex Legends devs are already planning more Rampart buffs in Season 8 Respawn EntertainmentRampart was buffed in Apex Legends Season 8, and it’s already having a good effect on the Legend’s pick rate. However, Respawn isn’t satisfied yet, and are looking at more buffs for the turret-toting gal. [jwplayer VEi3mnK7] Rampart has always been at the bottom of the Apex Legends tier list. Ever since her release in Season 6, the turret-toting Legend hasn’t had much of an impact on the meta. Most of that comes down to her stationary playstyle, which is unfit for a battle royale. As the battle moves on from her hold, she has no impact. She is also just strictly worse at holding down areas compared to other ‘bunker-down’ Legends like Caustic and Wattson. Buffs in Season 8 have given her some relevance in the meta. With an increased range of motion on Sheila, and more health on her Amped Cover, Respawn believes Rampart has landed “surprisingly well.” However, they are still looking at more buffs for later in Season 8, or even Season 9. Read More: How to master Rampart in Apex Legends – “She’s not quite in the healthy range yet (especially not in pick rate, and history has taught us that when pick rate goes up, win rate does down) and we’re talking about more stuff to do for her,” developer Daniel Klein told players on Reddit. They’re happy where the buffs with her kit, as well as changes to the Spitfire and the addition of gold mags, have helped her. The latter changes gave her passive a bit more power with even more rounds in a magazine, as well as faster reloads while holstered. What those buffs could entail isn’t exactly clear. Respawn is hesitant to add more power to her Amped Cover as that would make her too strong as a “reactive” Legend. Until then, Rampart players can hold out hope their main might be relevant in the Apex Legends meta for once.

Apex Legends devs already considering reworks for Octane and Lifeline RespawnRespawn Entertainment have revealed that they’re eyeing up potential reworks for Octane and Lifeline now that Mirage has been buffed following the launch of Apex Legends Season 5. The one thing that sets Apex Legends apart from its fellow battle royale titles is that players use different ‘Legends’ that each have their own unique abilities. You can spy with Crypto, disappear with Wraith, or trip people up with Wattson – there are a ton of possibilities. Fans, obviously, have their favorite characters that they use, but that doesn’t stop them from wishing that their main legend had a bit more going for it. Players will regularly put forward their own ideas for buffs – be it a complete ability rework or slight tweak – and Respawn does take notice of their calls. The developers recently gave Mirage a long-awaited rework after months and months of requests. Now, a large part of the community has switched its focus to seeing changes for both Octane and Lifeline – and Respawn are exploring the possibility of making it a reality. Apex Legends game director Chad Greiner told Gamespot that the success of the Mirage rework has made them assess things. “Now that Mirage is sort of off the table and on the bottom for feedback, we’re hearing comments about Octane and about Lifeline.” “I don’t think there’s anything substantial right now but there are definitely some options that you can look forward to and things that we’re looking into,” he said, adding that the developers are “trying things.” However, just when Octane and Lifeline mains can expect to see a change is a different story. Grenier noted in his interview that the Mirage rework was “tricky” and that the developers do have data that shows them which legends are severely underpowered. At first, they were unsure if players would be happy with a Legend receiving a whole new set of abilities, rather than just small buffs and nerfs. But, since feedback to the Mirage changes has been so positive, Lifeline and Octane could be next. Pineda previously said on Twitter that Lifeline is still a top tier character, but “everyone wants her to be unique and I agree she’s lost some of her shine due to the other Legend buffs.” Just when these changes come could into the fold, though, remains to be seen as the developers are seemingly just in the beginning stages of figuring things out for the two characters.

Apex Legends devs admit adding Titans is “against the rules” for now Respawn EntertainmentApex Legends won’t be getting Titanfall 2’s lumbering war machines in Season 5, or any time soon, Respawn game director Chad Grenier has confirmed. In fact, he admitted adding Titans is “against the rules” for the battle royale developers. Titans — and their absence in Kings Canyon — have been a hot topic surrounding Respawn’s battle royale since it first debuted in early 2019. Apex was born out of the Titanfall 3 development cycle. The iconic war machines were only hooked from the title fairly late in the process as Respawn pivoted to the title we see today. With much of the cult Titanfall fanbase following Respawn to their next FPS game, it makes sense fans are eager to see major elements from the series added. Apex is, after all, set in the same universe — it makes sense we’d see Titans eventually. Unfortunately, it looks like that may still remain just a pipe dream. Despite the fact the whole dev team would “love” to find a way to add Titans to the game, it’s “against the rules” when it comes to the game’s development, Grenier has revealed. The issue, Respawn’s game director said in an interview with vg247, is there are only two choices when it comes to adding Titans: make them so powerful they take over the game, or have them “lose their fun” in a weakened state. “We all love Titans, just from a fantasy-fulfilment perspective. It’s always been a huge challenge to balance them in a game that has pilots and Titans,” Grenier admitted. He added Respawn would likely never add the machines to Apex. “We actually had a version of Apex early on that had Titans. It had pilots with wall-running, and all that in there. We faced the same challenges we tried to solve with Titanfall too,” the Respawn development guru continued. “How do you design a map that supports both big and small? Can you balance a game where you have Titans and squishy pilots in the same game together? How do you have a competitive, predictable game?” That’s not to say Grenier didn’t completely pen a huge red line through the Titans. They may eventually arrive in Apex in a form outside of the “destructive machines” from the Titanfall series. It might just not be “soon.” “Once we did some playtests slowing the game down a bit by taking out wall-running, taking out Titans, we all realized that we had a much more competitive, fun game that you could invest a lot of time in and get really good at.” “We love Titans. They’re in the universe, the Apex arena is in the Outlands, separate from Titans,” the Apex game director continued. “They’re just against the rules at this point in time. It’s an interesting thing to think about, but with those thoughts come flashbacks to all the Titanfall challenges too.” This stance all lines up with now-departed Respawn producer Drew McCoy’s comment on Titans when the game was first released too: “For now, Titans are just not a thing [in Apex]. We are no longer considering it”. It looks like, behind the scenes, nothing has changed on that front in the past year either. The closest players might come to experiencing a rampaging Titan across Kings Canyon in Season 5 could come in the newly-leaked player vs environment (PvE) event — discovered by returning data miner That1MiningGuy — that could see Titans, Spectres, Stalkers, Frag Drones, and more debut in the battle royale.

Apex Legends devs address Wraith’s “super broken” Lost Treasures skin Respawn EntertainmentRespawn has responded to Apex Legends player reports that the new Wraith Lost Treasures skin, released as part of the battle royale’s latest collection event, has a “super broken” hitbox, and seems to be immune to headshots. The Apex Legends Season 5 Lost Treasures event premiered on June 23, and it was chock full of goodies. Crypto got his own Town Takeover, Lifeline got a pretty major healing rework, and a bundle of new skins arrived too. Players may want to steer clear of one in particular, however: Wraith’s new “Marble Goddess” skin is riddled with bugs. In particular, the Lost Treasures model seems to be “headless” — headshots don’t register. Its hitbox is also outrageously large. Many have already dubbed it “super broken” and sworn off it, for now. Luckily, Respawn is already on the case. The devs confirmed on Twitter on June 23 there was already a hotfix on the way to “bring her hitbox back to its regular state”. There will also be a client-side patch pushed in the coming days. “We are aware of a bug affecting Wraith’s hitbox when the Marble Goddess skin is applied. We have deployed a hotfix… but a client patch is required to resolve the false-positive blood splatter. More details to come,” the devs said. We are aware of a bug affecting Wraith’s hitbox when the Marble Goddess skin is applied. We have deployed a hotfix to bring her hitbox back to its regular state, but a client patch is required to resolve the false-positive blood splatter. More details to come as we have them. — Apex Legends (@PlayApex) June 24, 2020 The Marble Goddess issues were first flagged by a number of Apex Legends players on June 23, soon after the Lost Treasures patch went live. Twitch streamer Asta ‘BushTV’ Bush even showed off the glitch error in the training yard. “Was complaining that I was getting downed so easily today after the update. Turns out the new wraith skin has A HUGE hitbox,” she posted on Twitter alongside a clip of her dealing a huge chunk of damage to a Wraith wearing the skin. Was complaining that I was getting downed so easily today after the update. Turns out the new wraith skin has A HUGE hit box wow. @Respawn @PlayApex pic.twitter.com/KQOs3Xemmd — Liquid Ambush (@AmbushAB) June 23, 2020 Popular Apex data miner also shared the information. He warned his followers the new Wraith skin was “focked up” until Respawn released the Lost Treasures hotfix. “You can’t headshot it [the skin] and its body hitbox is huge,” he said. “Just be aware of that while playing. If you think you’re taking advantage of the fact it’s headless, just know the body hitbox sort of cancels that advantage out.” So a heads up about the new wraith skin, its focked up. You cant headshot it and you its body hitbox is huge lol. Just be aware of that while playing. If you think you’re taking advantage of the fact its headless, just know the body hitbox sort of cancels that advantage out. — iLootGames – ApexRanked.com (@iLootGames) June 23, 2020 For now, maybe hold off playing Wraith in Apex ranked. The hotfix should go a ways to making sure the Interdimensional Skirmisher’s Lost Treasures skin is fixed. There’s no reason to risk it until the client-side patch, however. Looking for a new Legend to play in the meantime? Get caught up with all the buffs, nerfs, and reworks that dropped in the latest collection event patch — including the huge Lifeline healing update — right here.

Apex Legends devs address Ranked duos queue potential RespawnApex Legends does have a ranked queue, but it only serves those wanting to play in a trio. While there is a normal game mode for duos, Respawn has stated a ranked queue for twos will be unlikely. When Respawn added ranked to Apex Legends in Season 2, there was only the one squad size — trios. It’s the way Respawn intended Apex Legends to be played. However, after adding Duos to the game in April 2020, there was hope Respawn may give the smaller squads their own ranked queue. However, almost a year on, and there’s nothing of the sort in the pipeline. Despite some soft cries from the community, Respawn haven’t even hinted at Ranked duos queue’s potential. Apex Legends players shouldn’t hold their breath either. With Season 8 now underway, Respawn’s stance on Ranked duos isn’t changing. They have no intention of adding the queue. When it comes down to it, it’s purely because Apex isn’t designed for duos. It’s designed for trios, and Respawn doesn’t want to have to balance two different games in one. “When it comes to the competitive nature of Apex we are first and foremost a three legend squad game. The bulk of balancing is and will always be done with this game mode in mind,” developer Eric Canavese told players on Reddit. “To have a true and competitive duos mode that is missing a third of a squad that the game is designed and balanced around can lead to an ultimately unstable experience at various levels of play, and making those concessions…isn’t something we’re willing to do.” Card Features like “No Fill,” which is being added later in Season 8, can give players the same sort of feel. However, a pure Ranked duos queue isn’t even on Respawn’s horizon. Things may change over time, but much like their adamant stance against solos, it looks like Ranked duos may never eventuate.

Apex Legends devs address new engine & audio upgrade rumors ahead of Season 20 Respawn/EARespawn Entertainment have responded to a rumor that they could move Apex Legends onto a new engine, complete with audio upgrades in the near future. However, it’s not great news. As the battle royale market has grown into a genuine behemoth in the gaming world, games have taken different strides to try and stay ahead of their rivals. Not only have Fortnite and Warzone both gone deep with popular culture crossovers, but they’ve also updated themselves with no engines and mechanics. Epic Games’ battle royale recently threw things back to how it felt in the first place with Season OG, but it still incorporated some of the fresher changes that have helped propel it to new heights. In the case of Apex Legends, it hasn’t swapped over to a new engine and still runs off the original one that it launched with back in 2019. Apex Legends devs shut down talk of new engine being in the works Now that things like cross-progression are finally being added, there have been whispers in the community that Respawn may forego a new map in a future season so that they can focus on a health update, which would include a new engine. However, the developers aren’t quite sure where that rumor has come from. “We have no plans to move to a new engine at this time,” one of the battle royale devs said in a recent AMA over on the competitive Apex subreddit. “Changing to a new engine is a massive undertaking that would ultimately pull critical resources from supporting the live game.” While many were disappointed with the answer, many said they would still “hold on hope” for changes given that they didn’t shut down the idea of the current engine being upgraded. It remains to be seen if anything like that would happen in the near future, but we wouldn’t put money on it either way.

Apex Legends devs address missing packs from leveling up in Season 14 Respawn/EARespawn have provided an update on the broken rewards in Apex Legends Season 14, but some fans aren’t too pleased by it. The start of Apex Legends Season 14: Hunted has brought about some of the biggest changes that the battle royale has seen in a while. A new legend, in the form of Vantage, has added some new teamplay elements thanks to her Spotter’s Lens ability, Kings Canyon has been given a pretty big makeover, and there are now Laser Sight attachments that give a buff to weapons when hip firing. Though, the start of the new season has also come with a few bumps in the road as players have been unable to claim some rewards – mostly Apex Packs – due to the tracking on leveling up being a little bugged. However, Respawn are working on it. Apex Legends broken rewards being fixed soon On August 18, the battle royale devs provided a little bit of an update about the bugged leveling up rewards, noting that they may have just figured things out. “Quick update for you, legends: We’re still working on this one but were able to identify the cause and are aiming to roll out a fix next week,” they tweeted. “We’ll keep you updated when we have an exact day for the patch and thanks again for being patient with us here.” While some players were understandably happy to get an update on when they might receive their rewards, not everyone is pleased by it given it’ll be over two weeks between the bug appearing and a fix being rolled out. “How on earth can this be so much more difficult than fixing tap strafing when it bugged out for like 3 hours?” asked one fan. “Will I get packs and tokens to compensate for what I’ve lost?” quizzed another. We’ll just have to wait and see if there will be any additional compensation, but it wouldn’t be surprising to see Respawn try and go the extra mile.

Apex Legends devs address frustrating weapon auto-switch issues Respawn EntertainmentRespawn Entertainment have finally responded to criticisms of the auto-switch weapon feature in Apex Legends, hinting that further customizable options will be coming soon. As the name of the option suggests, auto-switch automatically changes the weapon that the player has in their hand for another that they have stored, and can often be sparked by either picking up a new gun or even when your rounds are low. While this might sound like something that would be a useful option to have, it’s actually compulsory at the time of writing and many Apex Legends players would like to have the opportunity to disable it. A frustrated player took to the Apex Legends subreddit on August 25 to voice their concerns over the feature, where they stated that it was pretty much useless to include – in their opinion. Reddit user EightNation posted: “Probably the only game that has this unnecessary mechanic that gets me killed too many times to count. I’m capable of switching weapons myself thank you,” which was quickly met by a response from a member of the development team. Their answers will definitely be encouraging for frustrated players, too. “Soon,” RaymeCV responded, before pointing out a number of changes that are coming soon to Apex Legends, all of which have been posted to the game’s online Trello board for the community to look at. These new features include not just optional auto-switch for weapons, but also auto-sprint, ADS sensitivity per optic zoom level, and an option to “show XP and star challenge progress in post-game summary”. All three of these changes are marked as green on the board, which suggests that they’re being added in a future patch, which will be a big boost for the game’s online community.

Apex Legends devs address ALGS server crashes amid backlash from pro players Joe Brady/ ALGSThe developers of Apex Legends have addressed the server issues that have been plaguing the ALGS this month as pro matches have crashed or been laggy. Apex Legends pros have been having to deal with server issues and laggy gameplay during their ALGS matches in the month of March. The competitors have gone as far as calling the esport a “circus” as opposed to a competitive endeavor as they said the crashes have compromised the integrity of the competition. All ALGS regular season matches are played online and pros are at the mercy of internet stability and Apex Legends servers. Professional leagues in other esports like League of Legends, Valorant, CS:GO and Overwatch have their leagues compete in a LAN setting. Days after the criticism, the official Apex Legends Esports Twitter account put out a statement about the issues and said they have “pinpointed the issues” causing the server crashes. “As a countermeasure, we’ve deployed minor tweaks to the server, along with the decision to disable Multiview until we can assure the issues impacting server stability have been completely resolved,” the statement said. ALGS server issues have been addressed by the developer The developer went on to say that it is working towards a solution for bringing Multiview back for the ALGS experience. Multiview allows spectators on Twitch to view multiple perspectives, a major innovation for battle royale esports, but it appears to be the root of the issue. The pro response has been overwhelmingly positive as some are just happy to hear from the developer as Apex Legends is notoriously quiet, or slow to respond, to issues in its game and pro scene. Before the statement was released, some pros called for a delay in pro matches so that the issues could be resolved, while prominent pro player Philip ‘ImperialHal’ Dosen said they should play through it. He said that the potential monetary loss for the league in delaying games outweighs the competitive integrity concerns. Now, neither side of the debate will have to play out a match-delay scenario as games are still scheduled to continue because of the fix by the developers.

Apex Legends devs add secret Octane Launch Pad change to Season 10 update Respawn EntertainmentApex Legends’ Season 10 Emergence patch is around the corner, but a developer revealed a secret Octane Launch Pad change they forgot to add in the patch notes, and it’s a welcome one. Apex Legends Season 10 launches on August 3, and the developers already revealed all the information they have in the patch notes. Well, almost. They forgot to add one additional change that some players have been asking for. It’s relatively monitor compared to things like the new Legend, Seer, and the new weapon, Rampage. However, it’s a pretty big deal to Octane players and just about anyone who is sick and tired of getting surprised by Launch Pad assaults due to the soft landing sound. Ryan Rigney, the Director of Communications at Respawn Entertainment, spilled the news in a post on Twitter. “Just heard from a dev about an Emergence update change that didn’t get tracked in the patch notes,” he said. “The audio triggered by players’ landing impacts should be louder when they’re coming in from a jump pad.” In other words, people using Launch Pads won’t land as soft as a feather from now on. You’ll be able to hear them more clearly if you’re paying attention. Change not mentioned in patch notes: Sound of players landing after using a jump pad will be louder in Season 10. (via @RKRigney) pic.twitter.com/9OER2HFiCk — Apex Legends News (@alphaINTEL) August 2, 2021 It’s something Apex Legends players have wanted for quite some time. So, even though it’s only a minor change in the grand scheme of things, they’re thrilled with the news. Read More: Apex Legends Season 10 weapon changes – The louder Launch Pad landing sound will be in effect once the Season 10 update goes live on August 3 at 10 AM PT / 1 PM ET / 6 PM BST.

Apex Legends devs add Assassin’s Creed Easter Egg into the firing range Respawn EntertainementThe devs for Apex Legends have added a cheeky Assassins Creed Easter Egg into the firing range, allowing you to Synchronize in the range. In most FPS games, the firing range is a pretty good place for devs to insert a cheeky Easter Egg, or even a reference to further along the game’s lore. Valorant has long been doing it, using as a place for Easter eggs and new character teasers. Apex Legends is no stranger to that. The Firing Range in Apex has been home to a few Easter Eggs. From goading training dummies into a fight, a hidden third-person mode, to the current obsessive hunt of the Nessie plushies which has taken over the community. However, there is another Easter Egg which players may have missed in their hunt: a cheeky reference to Assasins Creed which allows you to sync in the Firing Range. First found Twitter user evefps, if you go up to the hill on the north-east of the map, sit on top of the red flag, and wait for a few seconds, it will do a “synchronization” of the range, akin to synchronization mechanic in the Assasin Creed games. Assassins Creed Easter Egg found in Apex Legends The Easter Egg to Unisoft’s open world game was confirmed by Senior Community Manager for Apex, Karen Lee. Saying, “two games dear to my heart, Assassins – please find some time to sync at our viewpoint. Particularly thanking a certain dev for adding it. Gameplay programmer for Apex, Ian Holstead, was the person who made the Easter Egg a reality. In fact, it seems Holstead is in charge of the Easter Egg hunts in the range, as he has been giving subtle hints as to where to find the missing Nessies all over his Twitter. For all we know, there may be more Easter Eggs we are yet to find. If any new ones do pop up however, we’ll be sure to let you know.

Apex Legends dev responds to accusation of removing paid cosmetics in Season 15 RespawnApex Legends’ producer has responded, after players complained about the removal of a previously paid-for cosmetic items, set to be re-released as Twitch rewards in Season 15. The developer has said that it is simply a bug. Apex Legends’ cosmetic items have become increasingly popular among the player base since its 2019 release, with fans clamoring for items of all rarities, from weapon charms and skins all the way through the elusive and sought-after heirlooms. There has been some controversy over the price of in-game cosmetics but Respawn have consistently defended them, arguing of the need to pay artists for their work and ensure they remain valuable. However, a new controversy has arisen in Season 15, with Respawn now accused of removing paid cosmetics from players’ accounts before setting them for re-release as Twitch drop rewards. Respawn accused of re-releasing paid Apex skins for free Leaks, shared on November 18 by reputable data miner HYPERMYST, revealed the cosmetics that will feature in Season 15’s Twitch drop rewards; given to players who have tuned into Apex Legends streams with affiliated creators. They will include the ‘Iced Out’ charm, ‘Cult Classic’ Devotion weapon skin, ‘Tribal Glyph’ RE45 weapon skin, ‘Giggle Guard’ charm and ‘Packaged’ charm. However, fans quickly realized that some of the included cosmetics, such as the Tribal Glyph and Cult Classic weapon skins, have been previously released as paid items. Both were previously sold in the Apex Store for 500 Apex Coins, roughly $5 / £4 each. To make matters worse, some players who previously purchased the items reported that they had been removed from their Apex accounts when Season 15 began. One player claimed: “I bought Iced Out in Season 11 and it was removed from my account on launch this season. Now i know why lmao.” Another said: “I never used that Devotion skin but I had it, I was curious and just checked to see if it was still there and it’s gone.” Respawn confirms it is a bug To calm things, a producer at Respawn, Josh Medina confirmed that the removal of these items from players’ inventories is in fact a bug. It is likely that the items were accidentally removed when Respawn also attempted to add them as Twitch drop rewards. However, it will still remain a point of contention that previously paid-for cosmetics are now set to be released for free, with those who already bought them surely feeling short-changed.

Apex Legends devs accidentally leak Season 17 character & possible Smart Pistol Titanfall 2/RespawnKey art for Apex Legends Season 17 was accidentally posted by EA in their article covering the Veiled collection event. It shows not only the new Legend, but also what appears to be a Smart Pistol. The Veiled collection event is something players were certainly excited for, especially fans of Caustic. His new Prestige skin and finisher animation is something to get hyped for when it comes to longtime mains of the Legend, and there are a ton of other skins in there to get excited about along with a modified version of Team Deathmatch. However, the collection event wasn’t the thing Apex Legends players were most excited about when visiting the landing page. The header image appeared to be depicting the upcoming character being added to Apex Legends that has, as of yet, been unannounced. The image was very quickly swapped out, only adding to speculation that EA in no way intended for players to get a look at him this early on. Also, he appears to be holding a smart pistol, a longtime favorite weapon from the Titanfall series. Apex Legends Season 17 new character accidentally leaked The key art for the newest Legend was very quickly pulled, but some hawk-eyed Twitter users managed to grab screenshots of the key art at the top of the page. From the URL of the image when pulled into another tab, known dataminer KralRindo has deduced that the new season will likely be called Arsenal. Either that, or it could be the name of the new Legend. It’s hard to say at this point, but images of him have piqued the interest of players speculating about his possible abilities. The newest legend appears to be a bit older than most of the cast with noticeably grey hair and a duster coat that gives him the vibe of a true gunslinger. People have also noticed that his weapon has a striking resemblance to Titanfall’s Smart Pistol, something that has players speculating as to whether or not the iconic weapon will be making its debut in Apex Legends. It’s as of yet unclear whether or not this Smart Pistol could be unique to the new hero’s kit, ground loot, or a care package weapon. XSET’s FunFPS didn’t exactly seem happy about its possible addition to the game. Even with how little information we have about the new legend so far, fans seem divided.

Apex Legends devs accidentally leak new Legend & Season 14 details early Respawn/EAAhead of Apex Legends Season 14, Respawn Entertainment appear to have jumped the gun by revealing the newest legend and season name earlier than planned. Whenever we get close to the start of a new Apex Legends season, leakers and dataminers battle to be first to reveal some of the key details – including the newest legend, season name, and whether or not we may get a new weapon and map. Ahead of Season 14, which is set to introduce Vantage to the Apex Games as the newest Legend, leakers have made some big claims about events and NPCs that players can expect to find once Respawn sets everything live. However, it appears that the developers have managed to scoop the leakers and revealed a few details early, including our first proper in-game look at Vantage, as well as the name of the new season. Apex Legends devs leak first in-game look at Vantage That’s right, it looks like Respawn have slipped up and revealed a few things a little earlier than planned, as players noticed that something was off in the pre-game lobby. Some players who booted up the battle royale on July 23 were greeted with an in-game message prompting a yet-to-be-published trailer for the new season, with an image showing how Vantage will look in-game being used as well. “There’s a new installment of the Stories from the Outlands!” the message reads. “Watch Survive and meet the new Legend joining the Apex Games in Apex Legends: Hunted, coming August 9!” Seeing as some players have been unable to open the message, and others have had it tossed right in their face, it is clearly a mistake from Respawn in setting the advertisement live. Don’t expect them to move the start of the new season forward – that’s pretty set in stone – but we might get a few details sooner than they may have planned to tell us. We’ll just have to wait and see.

Apex Legends developers reveal upcoming Mirage, Wraith and Lifeline changes A Respawn Entertainment developer has hinted at a number of character balancing changes that could be coming to Apex Legends, affecting Mirage, Wraith and Lifeline. Apex Legends is one of the most popular battle royale games in the world, with millions of players dropping into Kings Canyon since its release in search of victories. One of the things that sets Apex Legends apart from other battle royale titles is its use of characters, with players able to select a Legend to use in combat that has their own special powers and abilities. Respawn developer teases Mirage buff With each Legend bringing a number of abilities to the game, balancing them so that each one is effective in combat can be tricky, and it appears that Respawn have set their sights on Mirage as a Legend who requires a buff to make them more competitive in the game. One Legend has come under fire being weak, with some fans of the game labelling Mirage as “useless,” and while Respawn originally said that they had no plans to adjust him, it appears that the developers have taken the criticism to heart, stating that they plan to make adjustments to the character to try and give him “a little nudge upwards.” “When I said ‘no planned changes’ I was referring to major reworks such as a new ultimate,” wrote Respawn Developer /u/Leeeeeee-RSPN on Reddit. “That type of change competes directly with our ability to create new characters. The being said, in the short term, we are definitely open to tuning value level changes. “Things like invisibility opaqueness, invisibility length, ability cool downs, decoy health etc. He could definitely use a little nudge upwards.” Nerfs for Wraith and Lifeline While Mirage will receive tuning buffs in the near future, two of the game’s most popular characters are set to go in the opposite direction, with Wraith and Lifeline both set to get “gentle nerfs” in an attempt to level the playing field in Apex Legends. What form these nerfs will take is currently unknown, but with Wraith far-and-away the most popular Legend in the game, it comes as little surprise that Respawn would want to lessen her power in the hopes that players will be convinced to try out other Legends. There’s currently no official release date for any of these nerfs, but we’ll be sure to keep you updated as more information becomes available.

Apex Legends developers respond to claims of burnout at Respawn Respawn EntertainmentChad Grenier, Apex Legends game director, and other devs at Respawn, have defended working conditions at the studio, after a negative review of the EA-owned company garnered a lot of attention. The ongoing global health crisis has caused unprecedented issues in a host of occupations, including video game design. A host of companies have delayed content releases and made adjustments to their game’s scheduling in order to cope. One Respawn employee, however, has hit out at their employers in an overwhelmingly negative review on Glassdoor. The employee’s review is from April 2020, and criticizes Respawn for a number of things. While positive comments center on office improvements and knowing how to make an engaging game, there are far more negative observations. The post details “burnout, stress and heavy anxiety” experienced at Respawn, while working on Apex Legends. The employee states that they are working 12 or 13 hours a day, and do not feel deadlines have been flexible enough to accommodate the difficult working conditions. It also states that there has been “no attention” paid to employee health. The review was posted to the Apex Legends subreddit, where it quickly garnered attention. A number of Respawn devs on Reddit joined the conversation, with many defending the company. Chad Grenier, game director at Respawn Entertainment, was one of these who spoke out. In a lengthy response, he stated: “I truly believe Respawn has it’s employee’s best interest and health in mind, and always has… As the Apex team leader I was vocal every day telling people to only work as much as they can. This was reiterated by Studio leadership, and EA leadership as well.” “Regarding deadlines and delays, I was very vocal to the team about their deadlines,” Grenier continued. “Like a broken record I continuously asked that people speak up to their managers or producers if they will not be able to get their work done on time without crunching. Delays would be ok, we just need to know one is needed.” On the topic of the anonymous staff member behind the review, Grenier clarified that he does not believe them to be “wrong”, but that many of their staff do not want to let each other, or the game’s fan base down. He summarised: “Are we perfect? No, of course not. Does Respawn and EA 100% care more about the health of the team than the game and its profits? Absolutely, even in non-pandemic times. As one of the original Respawners I can honestly tell you that Respawn (and EA) has been a great place to be over the past 10 years and is a place that puts the people first.” Other developers at the studio also commented. “I can honestly say that I personally feel very supported by my teammates and my leaders,” said Moy Parra, an animator on Apex Legends. “Respawn is not a perfect place but damn do they put the well-being of their developers as a really high priority.” It’s fair to assume that the ongoing world health situation has created more issues for video game developers than it initially seemed, which may go some way to explain the difficult conditions some staff are experiencing. Respawn and EA are yet to make an official statement as a company.

Apex Legends developers reveal fascinating new look at World’s Edge Respawn Entertainment recently shed some light on the development of World’s Edge, giving the Apex Legends community a fascinating first-look into early iterations of the Season 3 map. Throughout a November 27 ‘devstream,’ numerous Apex Legends developers joined Respawn Community Manager Jay Frechette to engage with dedicated fans and breakdown a number of exciting features set to be implemented in a major December update. Additionally, the host of the varying conversations was joined by Senior Level Designer Rodney Reece and Lead Environment Artist Jose Zavala. Together the developers divulged a wide array of exclusive information surrounding the design and implementation of the World’s Edge map in Season 3. “Most people probably think that [development on] World’s Edge started after Apex shipped which is not true at all,” they asserted. “World’s Edge actually started maybe only a few weeks after King’s Canyon.” Indicating that the map was in design as far as years before the game was shockingly released in February of 2019, they joked that the first playable versions of World’s Edge came at a time when the title was completely different. “This was at a stage when wall-running was still in the game,” the developers highlighted. A long-requested feature from the Titanfall franchise, Respawn recently outlined exactly why the ability will never be implemented in the battle royale title. Arguing that “combat just goes to zero” when players are able to move with such freedom. Development of the second map started with Capital City as the team wanted to design something that was “as different to King’s Canyon as possible.” From the rocky terrain of the very first map to a sprawling city with skyscrapers aplenty, the designers wanted to stand out from the other battleground in the pipeline in terms of both gameplay and visual appeal. One instance of this variation is none other than the train that passes through the map. Indicating that the train was always going to be a feature in the design, Respawn highlighted earlier versions of the locomotive itself. Drawing attention to the “classic steam train” model that can be seen in the top right corner of the image below. Detailing some of the hardships faced when creating World’s Edge, the developers mentioned how the teams initially “butted heads” over whether they could actually bring a volcano to life in the playable space on World’s Edge. Weighing up “how much work it would take for such little reward.” “Instead of having a volcano in the center of the island,” the map designers decided to instead focus on smaller volcanic pits scattered across the locale. A great deal of greenery was involved in the first few iterations of the space however the team at Respawn wanted to visually differentiate the volcanic region from every other section on the new map. Thus, by the time a final artistic overhaul was set in stone, essentially all foliage had been removed. Looking at a top-down overview of the very first World’s Edge layout, they expressed how “this always puts into perspective how much iteration and design goes into these.” “If you look closely, there’s a lot of stuff that’s not there” in the finalized version of the map that players have grown accustomed to since the introduction of World’s Edge in the Season 3 update. For instance, the Forest area has been entirely removed in favor of Lava City. The enormous research facility shrunk into what players know today as the refinery. And Capital City has shifted locations completely. There’s certainly a great deal that changed over the course of development. “Beginning to end, the map was probably like 14 months [in the making], and then art was probably eight or nine months,” they elaborated. Underscoring just how lengthy the process can be when looking to introduce a new playing field in such a unique battle royale title. There’s no telling quite when the Apex Legends community might be treated to yet another new map, however there’s always plenty of fresh content rolling out to keep dedicated players coming back.

Apex Legends developers finally address infuriating Octane “no weapon” glitch Respawn EntertainmentThe developers of Apex Legends have acknowledged one of the game’s most frustrating bugs, which sees character Octane become basically useless when using his Stim ability. Apex Legends had a relatively stable launch back in February, but since then bugs and glitches have continued to plague the popular battle royale title. One of the most annoying issues players have found concerns the game’s newest Legend Octane, leaving players unable to perform any actions while using his Stim ability, although it’s likely that a fix is on the way. What is the Octane bug? The bug that has been severely affecting Octane players dates back a full month, and leaves players who use the Legend in an extremely vulnerable position. If players using Octane attempt to use their Stim ability – which makes players move 30% faster for six seconds – while mantling, they become stuck in the animation for the entirety of the ability, unable to use any weapons, loot or even pull up your inventory. This glitch is obviously extremely unfortunate for the player, who is essentially unable to play the game for six seconds. If a player attempts to use Stim to gain an advantage in a gunfight and end up facing this glitch, they are unable to fire back at their opponent, giving an easy kill to the enemy with no hope of retaliation or defending themselves. Respawn Entertainment aware of Octane glitch While players continue to express their frustrations with the issue, there is hope that a fix is on the horizon, as the developers of Apex Legends have confirmed that they are aware of the issue. When the glitch first reared its head back in April, a member of the game’s development team named /u/Scriptacus on Reddit confirmed that he had passed information on the bug along to the team to be fixed. This should mean that Apex Legends players who mainly use Octane should find the issues cleared up in the game’s next major update, although an official release date for the patch and the fix for Octane has yet to be revealed.

Apex Legends developers explain why they removed Extended Energy Mags Respawn EntertainmentRespawn Entertainment, developers of Apex Legends, made a number of balancing changes in the Grand Soirée Arcade Event update. But, one change in particular may surprise frequent players, so the devs have provided an explanation. This change was of course, the removal of extended energy magazines — which bumped up the ammo count of guns like the Devotion, Havoc and Triple Take. By default, these weapons only have 36, 24 and 5 rounds in their magazine, respectively. The extended energy mags were added to the game mid-way through 2019 to give these weapons somewhat of a buff. But, in a surprise move, Respawn removed the attachment in the Grand Soirée Arcade update, and adjusted the base mag size of the Devotion and Havoc. Their base magazines have been increased to offset the removal of extended mags, to 44 and 32 respectively. In the patch notes, Respawn acknowledged that it may seem odd to remove them, but that it would make more sense “with the release of Season 4.” They also explain that they “made a mistake and shipped a change that wasn’t intended to go live until Season 4.” Volt SMG coming in Season 4? Of course, this immediately sparked speculation among fans on Reddit about what this means for Season 4. The most obvious answer is a new energy-based weapon. The Volt SMG has previously been leaked by data miners, so that is one potential option. However, why Respawn have removed extended energy mags in anticipation for this gun remains unclear. So far, the R-99 SMG has reigned supreme in Apex Legends. Possibly, Respawn are aiming to shake this meta up with the Volt,but if it’s already very powerful with no attachments, extended mags might push it over the edge into being ‘overpowered’. It must be noted that this is far from confirmed. Currently, we know almost nothing about what will be included in Season 4. Leakers previously suggested the new Legend would be Rosie or Revenant, but a new model for ‘Forge’ was found in the post-update game files. We know that there will be at least one new character added to the already diverse roster, alongside one new weapon… but exactly what they will be is unknown.

Will “underpowered” Mozambique be adjusted in Apex Legends? Respawn gives their verdict Respawn Entertainment have revealed that they currently have no plans to adjust the much-maligned Mozambique in Apex Legends. The Mozambique is a shotgun pistol designed for fights at very close range, but with only three shots in the chamber and a spread that makes landing shots often feel quite awkward, it’s been highlighted by many players as the weakest gun in the game. An underpowered weapon may be on the less problematic end of the balance issue spectrum, as an overpowered weapon is more likely to impact players’ enjoyment of the game, but there have nevertheless been calls for it to be improved for those instances where players are forced to use it for lack of an alternative. Right now, however, it seems Respawn aren’t too worried about the state of the Mozambique. When asked about the weapon, primary weapons designer Sean Slayback stated that the team’s current intention was simply to “enjoy the memes”, and advised players using it that aiming down the sights reduces the spread, making it easier to land a big hit. Slayback also addressed the broader question of weapon balance, stating that Respawn has been paying attention to player feedback but currently feel happy with the balance in the live game right now. “we are watching and listening and collecting a ton of data! And we are actively fixing bugs that we see here and sent to us on Twitter. (Thanks everyone for those vids btw.) In general we feel like weapon balance is in pretty good shape on the live game. We’re not going to be pushing new balance changes very often, but when we do, our goal is that you feel it in a cool, meta-shuffling way.” Though Apex Legends has been out for less than three weeks, Respawn have already added the first new weapon to the game, and another has been leaked. It seems unlikely, therefore, that players will have to worry too much about the game becoming stale. In addition to new weapons, Respawn are expected to add new Legends and new loot to the game with each season, the first of which will kick off in March.

Apex Legends developers address Iron Crown skin loot box controversy Respawn/EAApex Legends developers finally responded on Friday to a player base that was mostly outraged by the way microtransactions were used to unlock content in the new Iron Crown event. After doing some quick math, players soon figured out it would cost upwards of $200 to unlock to all of the items for the event, including the Heirloom. It didn’t take long for the memes, videos and posts all ripping EA and Respawn for the way event worked to find their way to the top of Reddit either. https://www.reddit.com/r/apexlegends/comments/cq14gz/what_the_shop_really_looks_like/Respawn responds After a long week, Respawn finally put out a statement to players on Friday, August 16, that promised to make changes to the availability of Legendary Iron Crown items and how players can acquire them. “Starting on 8/20, we’ll be adding and rotating all twelve of the event-exclusive Legendary items into the store over the course of the final week of the event for the regular Legendary skin cost of 1,800 Apex Coins. You will still be able to purchase Iron Crown Apex Packs for 700 Apex Coins if you choose. The store schedule for the week will be as follows:” Respawn also said that they would “provide more ways to obtain items than just buying Apex Packs” for future events. Whether that means unlocking them through challenges or an updated shop schedule like we see here remains to be seen. The Iron Crown event may have turned into a bit of a black eye for Apex Legends, but at least developers appear to be listening to the community, and making it so players can get the items they want, without buying a ton of loot boxes. Why were players so upset? Apex Legends was hugely popular at launch and has retained a loyal fan base ever since – but the Iron Crown controversy soon seemed to be the only thing Apex people were talking about after it launched, not the new skins. Some players will definitely still be upset, but at least now one of the biggest issues of players not being able to just get the skin they want, has apparently been addressed. It will take some time for Respawn to regain the goodwill of the community, but at least the latest update shows that they’re listening to what people are talking about.

Apex Legends developer responds to strange Arc Star glitch RespawnA perplexing ARC star Apex Legends glitch that seemingly bounced off an enemy’s Voidwalker skin was addressed by a Respawn Entertainment developer. The Apex Legends Voidwalker event is currently in full swing and players are grinding out the challenges and earning rewards as they go. While there’s undoubtedly a lot of excitement surrounding it, there are still some nagging issues impacting the game that have been around since the launch back in February. In fact, one fan even jokingly accused the new Wraith Voidwalker skin of being pay-to-win after an Arc star appeared to deflect off the model. Reddit user OneWingedHawk_ uploaded a clip of the incident in question and in the slow-motion version, you can clearly see the grenade come into contact with the enemy to no effect. As it turns out, it sounds like the glitch might have to do with the server issues than it does with the skin itself. Redditor bobotraite explained what the player sees in-game may not always be what the servers see. When the server updated, it saw the grenade hit the box, causing the Arc star to look like it deflected off the skin. “On the client it hits wraith but on the server it misses and hits the bin,” he wrote. “The weird path it makes is the client interpolating between where it thinks the arc star is, and where the server says it actually is.” Respawn dev RaymeCV agreed with the explanation, saying that while he’s not one of the experts, he believes bobotraite is “completely correct.” Apex Legends has had minor problems like this since launch. While the majority of them won’t have an extreme impact on whether you win or lose, they are still annoying to run into. The developers have a Trello page set up where players are able to report bugs like this. So if you come across any of them, be sure to let Respawn know so they can add it to the list.

Apex Legends developer responds to Ranked demotion requests Respawn EntertainmentAn Apex Legends dev has responded to players asking for demotion to be added to Ranked and even explained the negative effects it could have on the mode. A lot of pros and the community alike are not satisfied with the current state of Ranked in Apex Legends and are calling on Respawn to make some hefty changes to the mode. The main suggestions from players have been the inclusion of an in-game leaderboard so it’s easy to track the top players, as well as more unique Ranked rewards. However, the most requested feature by far has been the addition of demotion, forcing competitors to maintain their rank throughout a season. Well, a dev has finally responded to the idea of demotion and is concerned it won’t be as impactful on the matchmaking as the community believes. Apex Legends players call for demotion to be added to Ranked Taking to Twitter on December 31, Ranked Game Designer Exgenier started a thread by pointing out that people “hate losing things about twice as much as gaining things.” TIL about the actual term for this; Loss Aversion; People hate losing thing about twice as much as gaining things. Fun fact- People will behave irrationally, and to great lengths to prevent that loss… — Aaron L (@Exgeniar) December 31, 2021 This sparked a lot of responses from Apex players who want demotion to be added to Ranked, arguing that competitors would try harder in their games if they were at risk of losing their position on the ladder. Exgenier disagreed with this argument, tweeting that they think players would simply not play the mode if they were at risk of losing their rank. Not only that, they argue that demotion wouldn’t improve the quality of players or behavior within Ranked games even if incentivized rewards were added to the mode. This is because demoted players wouldn’t “really have to care about their rank because their primary goal of ‘get reward from Diamond/Masters’ would have already been achieved”. In a world with Demotions, demoted players don’t really have to care about their “”rank”” because their primary goal of “”Get reward from Diamond/Masters”” would have already been achieved. This means demotion will still be ineffective. (2/x) — Aaron L (@Exgeniar) January 2, 2022 It’s difficult to predict whether Respawn will add demotion to Ranked in the near future. Exgeniar certainly didn’t rule out implementing it into the game, they only argued that it wouldn’t improve player behavior in the mode and the quality of matches. Either way, with so many pros calling for the feature to be added, we’ll have to wait and see what the devs have in store for the community in future updates.

Apex Legends developer responds to complaints that Mirage is “useless” Many Apex Legends players were hoping to see Respawn Entertainment add improvements to Mirage, particularly his ultimate, but were left disappointed when the v1.1.1 update went live. Now, a developer has revealed why he wasn’t buffed. Respawn were eager to balance the legends in the latest patch with changes being implemented to the tank-like Caustic and Gibraltar – the update added to a fortified perk which enables them to take 10% less damage than other legends. Apex players were pleased to see a number of weapon changes as well as bug fixes added but highlighted that Mirage may have been overlooked in the update with his ultimate ability, which deploys a team of decoys to distract the enemy, considered extremely underpowered. Why wasn’t Mirage buffed? An Apex Legends developer responded to calls to buff Mirage on Reddit, and explained why the development team felt that the legend was fine in his current state. They revealed that the win rate for players using Mirage remained high compared to Caustic and Gibraltar, hence why the “thicc-boi” legends were buffed and confirmed that there would are no planned changes in the near future. 700How could Mirage be improved? Despite the dev confirming that no changes are forthcoming, that could all change if the data reveals a low win rate ahead of the new update. Reddit users have been suggesting ways to improve the legend including a massive rework of his ultimate ability which would allow the decoys to randomly select a behaviour from a set of patterns, such as crouching aiming down the sight or rushing the opponent, to bamboozle the enemy. Nevertheless, it seems Respawn Entertainment won’t be taking their feedback on board for the time being. It seems like if Mirage players want him to receive a buff – they will have to start losing more.

Apex Legends developer hints at solo queuing changes Respawn EntertainmentEric Hewitt, Senior Systems Designer at Respawn Entertainment, has responded to a fan’s concern about solo queuing in Apex Legends, hinting at possible adjustments coming in the future. Since its February 2019 release, developers Respawn Entertainment have worked hard to shake up the battle royale formula in order to keep their game fresh. This has involved the regular addition of limited-time modes, as well as adding a brand new map for Season 3. Despite this, one main complaint has been the limitation of trios as the game’s default mode. We have seen Solos added, but only as limited-time events. Respawn recently confirmed that Duos will be added permanently as part of Bloodhound’s Town Takeover. The issue of ‘solo queuing’ became so great for one Apex Legends fan that they decided to message a developer about their concerns. They then shared the exchange on Reddit on April 2. “I messaged an Apex developer,” the individual said, “about solo queuing being one of the biggest issues in Apex and he replied almost instantly. Don’t ever tell me the devs don’t care about this game.” The player messaged Eric Hewitt, stating that solo queuing is “the only issue” left in Apex, explaining that it’s “very hard for the above-average player”. In response, Hewitt said that Respawn “have some ideas” on how they’re going to tackle the user’s concerns. He also expressed his gratitude for the user’s kind words. As the game’s default mode is trios, those searching for matches as solos are often partnered with random players, with whom they may not be able to communicate. Similarly, above-average players may struggle to find teammates who are of a similar skill level and become frustrated with teammates dying or failing to support them sufficiently. It’s either that, or spawn in by yourself and try and take down trios. Hewitt’s prompt response was praised, with many taking it as reflective of the wider hard work Respawn have put into maintaining their battle royale. Read More: Random box teaser appears in Apex Legends – While the quick response was welcome, only time will tell what in-game changes, if any, Respawn makes to try and allay the player’s frustrations.

Apex Legends developer hints at long-term plan for new content Respawn EntertainmentApex Legends content, according to reports, with the developer preparing for the future of the project already. Ever since the game was first released like a bolt out of the blue on February 4, the overwhelming majority of its criticisms have been related to either slow support – in terms of updates and fixes – as well as the lack of consistent new content. The popular battle royale title is not alone in the BR market, of course, and to rival the likes of Fortnite Battle Royale, Call of Duty: Blackout, and even PUBG, there’s no doubt that the game needs to be constantly reinventing itself in order to have its audience stick around. For those who doubt its longevity, however, Hollywood Reporter’s Patrick Shanley has revealed on Twitter that Respawn are expecting to be in it for the long haul with this project. “Drew McCoy, project lead at Respawn, tells me the team has a “fuzzy” 3-4 year long-term plan for Apex Legends’ future content rollout,” he tweeted on June 8. What that will mean in terms of specific additions is unclear. The developers might well have revealed their first-year road map within a week of its initial launch, but anything beyond that point is very much unknown. Drew McCoy, project lead @Respawn, tells me the team has a “”fuzzy”” 3-4 year longterm plan for #ApexLegends future content rollout — Patrick Shanley (@pshanley88) June 8, 2019 When does Apex Legends season 2 start? The fact that a plan is reportedly in place, however, could serve as an encouraging sign for the game’s online community, irrespective of details. With Season 2 very much on the horizon for players, as a July 2 start date is already in place, fans can look forward to yet another legend being added to the game and a new weapon. Respawn have lined up both the long-awaited arrival of the ‘Wattson’ legend, as well as Titanfall 2’s L-Star light machine gun to kick off proceedings. With Fortnite, a major rival, clearly not slowing down any time soon, some Apex fans would have been hoping to see signs of a future strategy and now they might just have exactly that.

Apex Legends dev confirms Wraith’s confusing Voidwalker fan theory Respawn EntertainmentApex Legends loremaster ‘FrozenFroh’ put together a handy guide to clear up possible confusion on the Wraith situation that was shown in the September 2 Stories of the Outlands video. Respawn Entertainment rolled out their second Town Takeover with their event on September 5, this time inspired by the twisted and traumatic backstory of the Interdimensional Skirmisher, Wraith. So far the event has proven to be extremely popular among new and longtime players, but the introduction of the alternate timeline heroine has been throwing some fans through a loop as to which Wraith is from what dimension. But the Reddit user FrozenFroh created an easy-to-follow guide that shows the timeline of the two stars from the lore entry, which a dev was all but happy to confirm by saying: “you nailed it – skins and all :)” As the graph shows, there were two main versions of Wraith that the video follows: the Apex Games Timeline (Ghostwraith), as well as the timeline where the IMC is still up and running performing bizarre experiments (our Wraith). But it’s the Ghostwraith who is seen attempting to take down the IMC facility that originates from the timeline where players have been dropping into the Apex Games. In her timeline, she found herself in the same predicament as IMC-timeline Wraith, but the Apex Games-version of her (the Ghostwraith) decided to fight back against her oppressors and bring them down. While escaping the alternate reality’s facility, Ghostwraith saves the IMC-Wraith. While Ghostwraith’s new plan was to save her alternate version and then escape, she saw head scientist Amer Singh and tunneled in on her revenge. As the battle was getting out of hand, Ghostwraith gave her interdimensional device to IMC-facility Wraith so that she could escape. It should be noted that as much of a bad-ass that IMC-Wraith is in the game, she actually seems like the more non-violent of the two, which might be why the IMC wasn’t taken down in her reality. The Wraith that players have been using in Apex Legends is not the one from that timeline, but instead from an alternate reality; which is why she joined the Apex Games to learn more of who she really is.

Apex Legends dev wants Animal Crossing crossover skins following Switch announcement EA/NintendoWith Apex Legends coming to Nintendo Switch on March 9, there could be all sorts of crossover potential. When it comes to Animal Crossing, one developer already has some ideas lined up. EA revealed that Apex Legends would finally be coming to Nintendo Switch back on June 18, 2020. Now, after a lot of delays, the game finally has a release in sight, much to the delight of fans worldwide. Of course, a Switch release could lead to some unique opportunities for both companies to cross-promote their individual franchises. For developer Josh Medina, this could mean Animal Crossing skins. Shortly after the Switch release date reveal, Medina jokingly tweeted: “Tom Nook Gibby Skin WHEN?” https://twitter.com/RastaDonut/status/1356730177502371843 It’s unclear if he meant a Gibraltar skin for Tom Nook or a Tom Nook skin for Gibraltar, but the way we see it, why not both? Seeing Gibraltar run around the map while dressed as a giant raccoon could be downright amazing. Likewise, having Gibraltar run the Resident Services building would be a funny sight to behold. Amusingly, pro football player Kieren Duncan even chimed in with his own suggestions of Mario Caustic, Yoshi Octane, and Zelda Wattson. It’s important to note that Switch ports of popular games have had their own exclusive cosmetics in the past. When Rocket League came to the Nintendo platform, special Mario, Luigi and Samus cars were automatically unlocked for Switch users. For, with that history in mind, having a Tom Nook version of Gibraltar doesn’t sound too ridiculous. While the focus may be on Animal Crossing at the moment, we shouldn’t rule out the possibility of other Switch titles crossing over with Apex Legends. One such game is the ever-popular Super Smash Bros Ultimate. Series creator Masahiro Sakurai has even said he “enjoys playing Apex Legends” in a March 2020 Famitsu column. Even if this doesn’t lead to an Apex fighter, there is still the possibility of some sort of in-game event to celebrate the two games. It’s going to be interesting to see what the future holds for Apex and Nintendo as we inch closer towards its long-anticipated release on March 9.

Apex Legends dev gives update on the future of cross-platform play Sony / Respawn Entertainment / MicrosoftEver since Apex Legends’ incredible February 4 release the community has been asking for cross-platform play to be integrated in the exciting battle royale. Although the developers at Respawn Entertainment have been tight-lipped about upcoming elements they plan on introducing to their game, one dev offered an update to the highly requested feature. Apex Legends’ Project Lead Drew McCoy sat down with WIRED to answer some of the game community’s most burning questions, including the status of cross-play among the different consoles. Apex Legends Cross-Platform Play Even though McCoy admitted that he couldn’t comment on the specifics for “future features or content,” he did relieve some players by saying the company is aware of the growing demand for cross-play. “Cross-play is something we really care about and are looking into,” McCoy said. “We know that people have friends on all sorts of platforms and that you really want to go to the arena and get some wins together, so stay tuned.” Read more: Everything we know about leaked Apex Legends character Wattson – release date rumors, abilities and more – Some fans will be disappointed by the response, but hearing an Apex developer speak on the topic in any capacity will be a godsend to most fans seeing how Respawn has offered little insight on where they stood since the game’s release. (Timestamp at 6:12 for mobile viewers) Best character in Apex Legends? McCoy initially approached this fan question with a typical “there is no such thing as best character” line but gave into his personal favorite. “Honestly, Lifeline is my favorite and my best,” McCoy said. “She has what I consider to be the most power ability with the care package, because I love loot.” Lifeline has easily made her way at the top of numerous tier lists because of her Care Package. Her ability can dish out high tier loot at any part of a match and provide added bonuses with some clever tricks. Boodhound’s pet bird has a name! The interview was a treasure trove of newly confirmed information, such as the name reveal for Bloodhound’s trusty avian companion. Previously, the only thing that alluded Apex fans more than Bloodhound’s origins has been the name of the bird routinely seen with them. “This might be a world’s first,” McCoy ramped up. “I have been informed that Bloodhound’s bird has a proper name of Arthur.” The Respawn developer revealed plenty of interesting tidbits for the game, making the video well worth a watch for any Apex Legends fan.

Apex Legends dev teases return of fan-favorite Skulltown location Respawn EntertainmentRespawn Entertainment teased the return of fan-favorite Apex Legends POI, Skulltown, which could be coming back to the battle royale as soon as Season 13. The Kings Canyon locale last appeared in its full form before Season 5 and was blown to smithereens ahead of Loba’s introduction to the Apex Games. Though Skulltown made brief appearances in the Genesis Collection event, it’s never really been brought back in full. But that might change in the next major update for Apex Legends. While there’s still plenty of time in Season 12, Respawn are already dropping big hints that the KC POI could be coming back to the battle royale mode. Respawn Senior Producer Josh Medina is keen on what the studio has planned for next season and gave the Apex community a major hint as to where they might be taking things. Apex Legends’ Skulltown returns As this new split begins on our beloved KC.. Lets make it a good split and await next season 😎 pic.twitter.com/V66kxC1Id9 — Josh Medina (@lowkeydbjosh) April 5, 2022 Skulltown appears to be on its way back to Apex Legends according to the longtime Respawn dev, and could hit the live servers after Season 12. “As this new split begins on our beloved [Kings Canyon]… Let’s make it a good split and await next season,” he said. Medina accompanied the message with a clear view of Skulltown from its glory days in the form of the internet-famous Grand Theft Auto San Andreas meme. CJ can be seen walking back to the POI and it’s a good bet Apex Legends players will soon join him. The Respawn dev’s tweet didn’t mention if this would mean a full reintegration of the locale instead of an LTM, or somewhere in between. But previous leaks have given hope of seeing the beloved POI as a part of the larger KC map once again. On March 22, YouTuber ‘ThordanSmash’ tweeted what looks to be a work in progress shot of Skulltown with barriers completely surrounding it. Whether or not we’ll see the Apex Legends POI in that form remains to be seen, but all signs point to seeing Skulltown back in some form during Season 13.

Apex Legends dev teases plans for new LTM rotation “every two weeks” Respawn EntertainmentAn Apex Legends developer has renewed hope for a Limited Time Mode (LTM) rotation that would change up alternate playlists every two weeks, a wishlist feature for many. A staple in the battle royale genres, LTMs give players a completely fresh take to gameplay and is typically a more lighter experience than the base king-of-the-hill mode. It’s a bittersweet feature in Apex, since community members tend to really love Respawn’s LTMs. Since new ones generally come out at the start of a new season or mid-chapter events, it could be a while before players get to try out a different flavor of action in the Arena. While this isn’t a major point of contention with Apex fans, there are some people that have hoped for a more active approach to diversifying the LTMs in the game. Apex Legends Game Director Chad ‘hkysk8r187’ Grenier rekindled the fires of hope to those who’ve been waiting for more ways to experience LTMs. Redditor ‘aletz_dav’ posed the “possibility that (Apex Legends) could have an LTM every two weeks, they could be the same modes that you already showed.” Grenier responded: “Yes, it’s a possibility!” An LTM rotation would dip into Respawn’s impressive catalogue that includes past favorites like Armed and Dangerous, Winter Express, Gold Rush Duos, and more. There’s over a dozen of different game types that could one day be repped in a rotating playlist. Though the Season 6 update brought in a ton of content for players to dive into, some feel that a rotating playlist would be a great way to re-engage groups of the community that might have taken a break from Apex. As for newer Apex players, this would be a great way to experience some of the first LTM releases they might have missed out on. Of course, anything can change in the development cycle, but there could be enough interest for rotating modes in Apex Legends to be a popular feature on release. While expectations for LTM rotations should be tempered for the moment, the Apex Legends community now knows the highly-requested feature is on the dev’s radar.

Apex Legends dev teases major ‘unexpected’ features in Season 9 Respawn EntertainmentApex Legends game director Chad Grenier has teased content due to release in future seasons, including as far as Season 11, but highlighted Season 9 as a time when players will be getting some unexpected content. Apex is currently in Season 7, which launched on November 4, and brought with it a new map, the game’s third. Season 8 is up next of course, but the team at Respawn are always working many seasons in advance, and Season 9 seems to be a high point. Speaking to IGN about their workflow while the entire team has been moved to working from home, and yet have still managed to successfully launch two full seasons and work on at least four more. But, at the end of the discussion, Grenier gave some mouth-watering teasers about what players can expect in Season 8 and 9 in particular, with a few surprises planned. “I would love to just talk about all of it, because I’m so excited. Season 8 is shaping up to be amazing, it’s just great, and almost entirely done working from home.” But when talking about Season 9, Grenier sounded even more enthusiastic. “Season 9 is also going to be great, really looking forward to it. In Season 9, you’re going to see some major things that you did not expect. So it’s just a really exciting time right now. “Despite all the working from home challenges, we’ve hit a stride, and we’ve figured a lot of the things out about how to work together and how to build great content. And there’s no shortage of great ideas in our studio.” Topic starts at 18:45 What could these unexpected features be? There are a few possibilities. Top of the list for many players would be more non-Battle Royale style modes. The success of LTMs like Winter Express will certainly give Respawn confidence that these kinds of modes can work in Apex. They’ve already said this is something they want to work on. Other possible avenues are more PVE style modes, or perhaps a more fleshed out story mode. The Season 5 quest was a small hint at what could come there, but Respawn has dialed this back in Season 6 and 7, opting for weekly comics to tell the game’s story instead. There’s also the possibility of another map, but given we’ve just had Olympus added, this seems less likely, as another new map within six months is probably excessive – for both players and developers. Season 10 and 11 are also in the works, Grenier confirms, and no doubt plans are also being formed for many seasons beyond that. As always, we’ll keep you up to date on everything you need to know about the present and future of Apex Legends.

Apex Legends dev teases Fragment changes coming to World’s Edge Respawn EntertainmentAn Apex Legends dev has hinted that changes will be coming to Fragment on World’s Edge, one of the most popular POIs in the entire game. While there are countless POIs on Olympus, World’s Edge, Storm Point, and King’s Canyon, there’s one location that’s garnered a polarizing reputation in the Apex Legends community, and that’s Fragment. This urban area on World’s Edge is arguably the most popular hot-drop location in the game, with the majority of the lobby dropping there every single match. Of course, this means most of the action occurs here in the early stages of the match with a limited amount of loot on the ground. While a lot of players love the chaos of Fragment, others think it ruins the match for competitors who prefer to land at other POIs. Well, a hint from a dev has indicated that Fragment may be receiving some changes in the future, potentially reworking the fan-favorite POI completely. Apex Legends dev hints Fragment changes are coming Seemingly out of the blue on June 29, Lead Level Designer at Respawn Jeff Shaw posted the word “Fragment” to Twitter with no context. Following this, various other Respawn employees replied, including Game Designer Rodney Reece simply posted a zipped face emoji, hinting that something big was planned for the POI. While no details were shared on the specific changes, the news that the iconic POI may be getting reworked will no doubt cause a huge divide in the community. However, with so many players landing there every single match, it’s clear Respawn is keen to spread out squads and create more competitive lobbies. As expected, the reception to this tweet was mixed with some players encouraging the destruction of the entire POI: “Destroy it please.” Others were less enthusiastic, threatening to quit the game if the devs decide to rework Fragment: “Do it and you don’t even have to add cross-progression anymore cause then I’ll quit along with my 2k+$ account anyway.” Either way, with no official announcement or date set for the changes, it’s hard to know whether Fragment will be altered in Season 14 or longer down the line. We’ll just have to wait patiently and hope the devs drop a few more hints on Twitter before the plans go ahead.

Apex Legends dev teases another Season 4 trailer and “hyped” content RespawnAn Apex Legends developer has given fans a few more hints about Season 4, hinting that there could be another trailer in the works. With Apex Legends approaching its first year anniversary, the popular battle royale title is gearing up for its fourth installment of seasonal content. Season four, which is going by the name Assimilation, is set to shake up Respawn Entertainment’s game yet again. It has already been confirmed that players will finally be able to use Revenant as a brand-new legend, and that they’ll also be whisked back to King’s Canyon – the battle royale’s original map – in the second split. Yet, it appears as if there are plenty of more details that are being kept under wraps that the game’s developers are pretty psyched to finally reveal. The biggest piece of new information appears to be that players will get another trailer on top of the action-packed videos that have already leaked and been subsequently released by Respawn. Responding to a jokey post about another ‘leaked’ trailer on the game’s subreddit, Apex developer lowkeydbjosh said: “I was like noooooooooooooo not again lol. See y’all soon for the real one though. Fingers crossed, no spoilers.” Presumably, this will be a gameplay trailer, as so far we’ve only had cinematics. Typically, gameplay trailers are the last videos posted before the season starts. Comment by from discussion inapexlegends Season 4 bringing “things the community will be hyped about” Of course, seemingly confirming another trailer sent some Apex Legends fans into incredible levels of excitement, with the developer being asked to rate the excitement levels that fans can expect. “I’m pretty hyped for the entirety of season 4,” the developer posted. “I think we are doing things the community will be hyped about during this season so I’m hyped for you guys to digg in sooon.” With the developer being pretty teasing about things and not revealing any additional details, it’s hard to say what they’re so excited about – but fans will be hoping that lingering annoyances with things like bugs and skill-based matchmaking are addressed. They don’t have long to wait, however, with Apex Legends Season 4 being released on Tuesday, February 4.

Apex Legends dev suggests EVA-8 nerf coming in the future Respawn/EAApex Legends devs have hinted at changes being made to the EVA-8 in the future to bring it down a touch as some players believe it is far too strong. With how big Apex Legends has gotten with both casual and competitive players, Respawn Entertainment has the unenviable job of keeping everybody as happy as can be. Sometimes, they’ll change a legend or a weapon just a little bit and the whole meta receives a shake-up, which can delight one side but completely infuriate the other. One thing both sides can agree on, however, is that the EVA-8 has become a nasty weapon to use and being on the wrong side of its power will leave you heading back to the lobby without a win. Players have called for the shotgun to be nerfed for quite some time now, and well, those calls have been heard by Respawn, but nothing is changing overnight. Speaking on the Apex Uncut podcast, Associate Live Balance Designer John ‘JayBiebs’ Larson agreed that the weapon is “strong” and on course for a change. “We buffed it, and we’re saying ‘hey, use the freaking EVA-8 guys, try out something other than a Mastiff’ and see how it goes,” the dev said, noting that initial buff was to try and shift the meta. “But yeah, I wouldn’t be surprised to see something for that in the future.” Timestamp of 1:08:00 JayBiebs didn’t touch on specific changes, but it seems like a nerf of some sort will come in a future update. He also touched on potential changes coming to Ranked play and how Respawn has explored adding different highly-requested ideas from players. Though, they too are a ways away.

Apex Legends dev shuts down viral Valkyrie nerf “leak” ahead of Season 14 Respawn/EAAn Apex Legends developer has shut down claims about Valkyrie receiving a pretty big nerf in Season 14 after ‘fake’ details surfaced on TikTok. With Apex Legends Season 14: Hunted on the horizon, fans of Respawn Entertainment’s popular battle royale have started to try and get an idea of what might be coming as a part of the update. We know that Vantage will arrive as the new legend, there will also be some changes to King’s Canyon, and the level cap will finally be raised, but beyond that, it’s slim pickings for confirmed details. Like every new season, we can expect the current crop of legends to be tweaked in different ways – with some receiving buffs and others being ever so slightly nerfed. On the latter, many fans have urged Respawn to bring Valkyrie down a few notches, seeing as she’s become a powerful pick in both competitive and casual play. Respawn dev shuts down viral Valkyrie nerf details Ahead of the new update, a TikTok caught the eye of some Apex Legends fans as it claimed to have the inside scoop on Valkyrie’s changes for the upcoming season. According to the viral post, the Winged Avenger would lose the ability to scan enemies during a skydive and have the fuel capacity on her VTOL Jets reduced by around 25%. However, Respawn’s Live Technical Designer Aaron ‘Exgeniar’ L, those claims aren’t true at all. “F12, inspect, edit,” the dev said on Reddit, confirming that the massive nerf claim is fake and not to be taken seriously. While some fans were disappointed to learn that the patch notes turned out to be fake, others were glad to hear that Respawn hadn’t let any details slip out early. That’s not to say that Valkyrie won’t receive a nerf in Season 14, it seems more likely than not that she will. However, we’ll have to wait until Respawn drop the confirmed details when the new patch goes live.

Apex Legends dev shuts down rumors of beloved Titanfall 2 SMG being added Respawn EntertainmentWhile discussing Respawn’s plans for new Apex Legends content, Titanfall 2 fans’ hopes that the C.A.R. SMG would make a return have been crushed, but devs also hinted at good news about weapons coming in future seasons. Obviously, Apex Legends has many ties to the Titanfall universe. With two previous games set in the same shared timeline, there is plenty of source material for their team to draw from. One thing that both games share is the arsenal of weapons available to players. Many new spins on fan-favorite weapons from Titanfall 1 and 2 — like the R301 assault rifle, Mastiff shotgun, and Devotion LMG — have all made their way into Respawn’s battle royale. In a discussion with fans on Twitter, one of the lead designers on Apex Legends broke some hearts when he confirmed the classic C.A.R. SMG from Titanfall 2 would not be coming to Apex (despite previous rumors it would see a return). But, also hinted at what their team has planned for future weapons. On February 18, the dev tweeted out “You know it’s a good sign when the playtest is over and you wished it wasn’t. We’ve got some amazing stuff cooking.” One player asked, “Any chance my beloved C.A.R. SMG makes it into the Apex games soon?” Unfortunately for that particular fan, the team at Respawn has no plans to add the popular Titanfall 2 weapon into Apex any time soon. “Nothing planned in the immediate future,” Klein responded, but also shared that “There sure are some C.A.R. fans here at Respawn.” Keeping it cryptic, Respawn are clearly not ruling anything out. https://twitter.com/danielzklein/status/1362625229676109824 While the devs have squashed any hopes of the powerful Titanfall SMG making an appearance in Apex, he did tease fans with a hint of what Respawn has planned for new weapons in the future: “I think you’ll like what the weapons team is making. Some very cool stuff.” In Season 8, Respawn introduced the 30-30 Repeater, one of several guns that isn’t a carry-over from Titanfall. With other weapons like the Sentinel and Havoc designed specifically for Apex, Respawn has shown they can create fun weapons without drawing on the legacy of Titanfall. Obviously, Respawn has been perfecting their craft when it comes to creating unique and interesting weapons within the world of Apex, but there are still plenty of weapons from Titanfall 1 and 2 that could see a return at some point in the future — including the C.A.R. SMG.

Apex Legends dev shuts down requests for Loba bracelet buffs Respawn EntertainmentAn Apex Legends dev has shut down calls for a buff to Loba’s bracelet, claiming they don’t want the “loot specialist to also be a top-tier skirmisher.” Always on the hunt for the next upgrade in Apex Legends, Loba’s kit is centered around securing the best loot for her and her squad. While this playstyle is popular with a lot of players, her Tactical has been a serious issue for Loba mains over the years. For a long time, the bracelet simply didn’t work in certain locations and now, the ability has an extremely long cooldown of 30 seconds. To resolve this issue, fans have called for a buff to the Tactical by reducing its cooldown. In response, an Apex dev has shut down the idea as they’re worried giving her more mobility will transform the loot specialist into a “top-tier skirmisher”. Respawn doesn’t want to buff Loba Tactical in Apex Legends On October 6, Live Balance Designer John Larson decided to engage in a discussion with a fan on Twitter criticizing Respawn for not buffing Loba’s Tactical, claiming it’s the “worst movement ability in the game right now”. In response to calls for the bracelet cooldown to be reduced, Larson revealed that he doesn’t believe shaving off five seconds will have any “meaningful” effect on her kit. In his opinion, the root of the issue cannot be solved by simply allowing players to use the ability more. For him, a better solution would be addressing the “travel/animation times and visual/audio cues” that make the ability feel extremely punishing to use. This suggests Respawn is open to reworking the ability at some point in the future and acknowledges that it’s not in a good spot at the moment. Despite this, Larson made it very clear that while the bracelet may need major changes, it doesn’t need to be buffed. In Respawn’s eyes, Loba’s kit is centered around her ability to find and collect loot, and fans of the Translocating Thief see plenty of success adopting this playstyle. In their opinion, by directly buffing the bracelet, they risk transforming Loba into a “top-tier skirmisher” when they’re keen to maintain her role as a “loot specialist”. Finally, Larson rounded off the discussion by arguing that “fun doesn’t have a 1:1 correlation with power”, so a direct buff in his opinion isn’t the correct way to solve the problem. Instead, it’s clear he wants to delve deeper into the issues with the ability and potentially overhaul it completely. So, it’s safe to say Loba mains shouldn’t be expecting any cooldown changes to her Tactical in the near future. However, it’s clear that Respawn knows Loba’s bracelet doesn’t feel fun to use and is in dire need of changes. Of course, when these alterations will be implemented is impossible to know, and with characters like Gibralter still waiting for their rework, it could be a long wait for Loba.

Apex Legends dev shuts down Ranked change ideas to improve solo queue Respawn EntertainmentApex Legends’ new ranked designer has shut down suggestions for changes to the ranked system that would benefit solo queue players, fearing it would “punish” players who play with friends. The Apex Legends community has been waiting for an overhaul to the ranked system for some time. Recently, players have requested an in-game leaderboard to help track the best in the world, as well as calling for ranked demotion to be implemented. Furthermore, some ranked players are now requesting changes that would make solo queue more bearable, however, the suggestions have been dismissed by the devs as it would “punish” playing with friends. In their January 2 Reddit thread, Apex Legends player juicedrool suggested changes that would make solo queue more tolerable. The player proposed that RP entry costs to play should be higher for a full party, and lower for solo queueing. “I believe a big part that makes Apex ranked feel unfair is that solo players are lumped together against three stacks,” the player said. “My solution is to have decreased entry costs for solo and duo players. Entry costs could be -60 for a full party, -55 for duo queue, and -50 for solo queue.” While some were onboard with the idea, Respawn’s ranked designer Aaron L shut down the suggestion. “I actually had this discussion a while back, among the many other reasons, I didn’t want to punish players for playing with friends,” said the dev. The ranked designer explained how it would be a punishment to players that want to play with friends: “When you play with friends, your climb will be harder because the entry cost will be higher. Why play with friends when I could play solo instead?” One Apex Legends player questioned if the Loss Aversion mentality – where players prefer to avoid losing by not playing – would convince more people to solo queue so they have a lower RP entry cost. “I think most people will read the change as ‘it is better to play solo’,” Exgenier explained. The dev continued by assuring players that the proposed changes to RP entry costs aren’t a solution: “I pitched this internally and was convinced pretty quickly this isn’t the right solution after I deep dove into the problem. I convinced myself out of my own idea.” “If a game is matched fully with 3 stacks, everyone would be on equal footing, and it invalidates the need to increase the entry cost – and we already try to do this matching first,” Aaron revealed. “I’m fairly certain there is no easy solution for this by adjusting RP.” While devs have confirmed this suggestion won’t be implemented, Apex Legends players will still be anticipating some long overdue ranked changes despite claims that there’s no easy solution.

Apex Legends dev shuts down calls for Wattson buffs: “She’s very powerful” Respawn EntertainmentAn Apex Legends developer has responded to players calling for a buff to Wattson, claiming the Legend is already “very powerful” and doesn’t need any changes at the moment. Season 9 of Apex Legends introduced a series of buffs and nerfs to a number of characters on the game’s roster. Whether it was the fix to Loba’s tactical or the hard hitting nerfs to Horizon’s Gravity Lift, Legacy certainly had a huge impact on the meta. Despite this, one Legend that didn’t receive any changes in the major update was Wattson, the Static Defender. Although she remains one of the least popular Legends in the game, Respawn didn’t feel she needed any more buffs heading into Season 9. Of course, this has sparked questions from the community over why Wattson isn’t getting any attention from the developers. Well, an Apex Legends dev has responded to calls for a Wattson buff, claiming she’s already “very powerful”. Wattson is “very powerful” During an official AMA on the Apex Legends subreddit, a player claimed that Wattson’s shield regen was too slow and implied the Static Defender needs to be buffed. In response, lead game designer Daniel Klien voiced his opinion on the current power level of Wattson, claiming she’s incredibly strong and that they were reluctant to buff her. It’s clear that despite Wattson’s extremely low play rate. Respawn believe that she’s a strong Legend in the right player’s hands. “It’s a lot of power, and she’s very powerful… I’d rather not keep pushing more power into her until she becomes overbearing.” Although the devs are confident that Wattson is a powerful pick in the current meta, not every player in the thread seems to agree with them. The main point of contention appears to be her shield regen, which players claim is simply too slow. One player wrote, “bruh it takes 4 minutes and 10 seconds to fully charge a red shield with it,” with another claiming that the community is in agreement on the issue: “The vast majority of us think otherwise so please buff it.” It’s difficult to know Respawn’s plans for Wattson in future updates, but considering she’s one of the least popular Legends in the game, there certainly need to be some changes to her kit. A rework is always an option for the developers but that will doubt upset players who have dedicated themselves to maining Wattson since her release back in Season 2.

Apex Legends dev shut downs concerns over Storm Point loot pool Respawn/EAAhead of Apex Legends Season 11 and the launch of Storm Point, Respawn Entertainment have responded to concerns about the new map’s loot pool. Back in 2019, Apex Legends launched with just the one map, Kings Canyon, but Respawn have kept things fresh by adding new maps in the form of World’s Edge and Olympus. Each time one of the existing maps is updated, players have to switch up their usual drop locations and loot rotations, but a brand-new map is a blank canvas. You’ve just got to dive in and find a spot that works. Though, that presents plenty of headaches as well. Pick a few spots that are short on loot and it might sour your experience of the map as a whole. Though, Respawn aren’t too worried about the loot pool they’re bringing to Storm Point. The new map, which had previously been named as Tropics and Tropic Island in leaks, comes from the same Respawn developer who led the work on World’s Edge – Rodney Reece. Upon its arrival, World’s Edge suffered a few complaints in regards to the loot pool lacking depth when compared to that of Kings Canyon. Reece headed off any similar complaints shortly after Storm Point’s reveal. “When World’s Edge launched, people thought there wasn’t enough loot, when in fact, there were 1k more than KC. The loot didn’t adjust until Harvester,” the map designer said. “I expect same earlier feedback for Storm Point at launch. Trust me, there is plenty of loot on SP.” That’s precisely why. When World’s Edge launched, people thought there wasn’t enough loot, when in fact, there were 1k more than KC. The loot didn’t adjust until Harvester. I expect the same earlier feedback for Storm Point at launch. Trust me, there is plenty of loot on SP. — Rodney Reece (@RodneyReece7) October 26, 2021 As shown in the map’s reveal, alongside the usual floor loot spots, players will be able to get new items from taking down the Prowlers and Spiders that also inhabit Storm Point. Like the battle royale’s other maps, Storm Point will likely undergo changes over time which means loot will probably get shifted around anyway.

Apex Legends dev shows Lifeline was originally a man with scrapped design Respawn EntertainmentAn Apex Legends character developer has revealed one of the earliest designs for Lifeline and it turns out… she wasn’t always a woman. As fans will know, Lifeline is part of an exclusive club in the Apex Games. The Combat Medic was one of the original eight Legends when the battle royale title first launched in February 2019 and has become a fan-favorite. However, a piece of old artwork surfaced some three years after the game burst onto the scene – sketched with pencil and watercolor paints – showing that Lifeline was originally a bearded man. Old Lifeline artwork revealed by Apex Legends dev One of the original designs for Lifeline, of which there must have been many more while the game was in development, was revealed to the public on February 10. Respawn Entertainment’s lead animator, Moy Parra, tweeted the image out to their 63,000 followers. Read More: How to use the Flatline in Apex Legends – It shows a hooded Legend, holding a small whiskey flask in one hand, and a giant beard – similar to some of the Fuse skins that have been released in recent seasons. ⏪ at some point this was a version of Lifeline! 😅 I LOVE GAME DEVELOPMENT 💗🎮 pic.twitter.com/xvmxqBTaBX — Moy Parra 🎮 (@_moyparra) February 10, 2022 Talking through the development of what are now iconic characters from the Apex Legends world, the developer continued: “Character creation is one of the most fulfilling aspects of my career and what an opportunity I’ve had to help develop some that have really resonated with the community. You want to know the secret? Find the fun first. Read More: Apex Legends 2022 Anniversary event details – “Characters can go in any direction. BUT if your character is not 𝙛𝙪𝙣… you could be in trouble.” Now that we know how Lifeline could have looked, which design do you prefer? The final, published version… Or this fella, with his Mozambique and a beverage for the road. Let us know on Twitter @alphaintel – the home of Apex Legends news.

Apex Legends dev shares touching Storm Point tribute to late grandmother Respawn EntertainmentThere’s a hidden detail on Storm Point that serves as a touching tribute to the late grandmother of one member of the Apex Legends development team. Respawn Environment Artist Eugene Kim, also known as antimatik, shared an in-depth look at a secret memorial for his late grandmother that has been hiding in plain sight on Apex’s newest map. While it’s easy to miss if you don’t know what you’re looking for, this minute detail carries a fistful of meaning behind it and once you’ve seen it, it’s impossible to forget just how thoughtful the gesture really is. Apex Legends dev leaves secret tribute to his late grandmother The hidden sign is in the biggest building at the Storm Catcher POI and is inscribed on the upper portion of a wall. Just to the right of a storage box, the characters “K종순” are set into the brown background of the interior wall. Those are the initials of Kim’s grandmother, Kim Joung-Soon, who passed away in May of 2021. Before the last stretch of 2021 wraps up, I wanted to share an anecdote behind an easter egg I put into Apex’s latest map, Storm Point. pic.twitter.com/SQ6oM2cDDj — Eugene Kim (@antimatik) December 29, 2021 The mapmaker shared that placing his tribute to her in a busy part of the map was key because of her long history of being surrounded conflict: “She outlived two major wars and another country’s occupation in her lifetime only to pass peacefully in bed; it doesn’t get more gangster than that.” He concluded his thoughts on the subject by reminding players that they’re doing more than just battling it out for placement points when they fight at Storm Catcher: “To any and all Apex Legends players, just know when you fight in this building, you not only fight for the win, but also for her amusement. Love you and miss you, Grandma.” Apex Legends players pay tribute Though a simple gesture, Kim’s tribute touched Apex players who are already looking forward to honoring the developer’s grandma. “Mate that is so bloody heartwarming,” one person wrote. “You can take solace in that we renamed Storm Catcher to ‘Party Palace’ with my community cause it’s always going off and we be the life of the party. “Everytime we leave there as the last ones standing it’s a testament to her.” Absolutely love easter eggs/hidden messages like this And knowing it’s in honor of your Grandma makes it that much better Will remember to drop a Nessie for her when I play later today >— Jack ‖ ◬ (@Aetheon_) December 29, 2021 Another reason to why Storm Catcher is my favorite POI, will always think about her now when dropping/fighting there 💜 — Sanjin (@sanjin_lol) December 30, 2021 Mate that is so bloody heartwarming! You can take solace in that we renamed storm catcher to Party Palace with my community cos its always going off and we be the life of the party, Everytime we leave there as the last ones standing it’s a testament to her ♥️ — Frosty (@StayFrosty_TTV) December 29, 2021 The Apex Legends community already loved Storm Catcher and the Respawn artist just inspired many more to dive into the POI to give his grandma something fun to see.

Apex Legends dev shares bad news for Mirage Voyage ship POI fans Respawn EntertainmentA Respawn dev confirmed that the fan-favorite point of interest (POI) in Apex Legends, Mirage Voyage, most likely won’t be coming back to the game–much to the dismay of players. Ever since Mirage’s Voyage ship was introduced to the battle royale during the 2019 Holo-Day Bash in Season 3, people have had a soft-spot for the unique POI that has had recurring appearances in Apex. With the next Ranked split bringing players back to Olympus, some players were looking forward to the possibility of the Voyage filling in some empty space on the map. The idea actually got a ton of traction for people who wanted Mirage’s ship as a recurring location throughout Apex’s maps. Unfortunately, they had another thing coming. Respawn Lead Designer Daniel Klein confirmed that the Mirage Voyage had seen it’s last flight after the last time we got to see it. “Oh the Voyage is CRASHED crashed,” he said. “I think it’s down for good.” Bits of more Apex lore hints at the possibility of a similar ship one day making an appearance, but it seems like the ship player’s got to know and love won’t be flying high any time soon. Read more: How Apex Legends is doing diversity right – That would be another fan-favorite POI that the Respawn devs retire, alongside Kings Canyon’s Skull Town which was blown up at the turn of Season 5. The Mirage Voyage also made a special appearance as an Arena’s map called Party Crasher, after it’s accident in Kómma. There was hope that the map-traversing Voyage would someday touchdown on Olympus, but that doesn’t seem to be the case anymore, according to Klein. It’s unknown if Respawn have something similar planned to fill in the void of the fallen ship, but we’ll just have to wait and see if future Apex Legends seasons will have anything like it.

Apex Legends dev shares 4 top tips to instantly improve Respawn EntertainmentMike Cook, a Senior Technical Artist at Respawn Entertainment, has shared his top four tips to improve at Apex Legends, as new players are joining the Titanfall-inspired BR in Season 7. As more and more content is added to Apex Legends, the game’s learning curve for new players steepens. While skill-based matchmaking will go some way to protect newer players from domination, it can still be a difficult acclimation period. One Apex Legends player shared their experience of the first 60 hours on the battle royale, summarising that they “just don’t think it’s working for me.” “I don’t know how everyone is so good at shooting in just silver. Every game I either lose or get carried with lowest damage/kills,” the Redditor said. “I’ve practiced in the firing range and no change. The recoils are brutal, I’m moving to make it harder to hit me, the enemy is doing the same, and I hit maybe 2 shots before I go down… I’m thinking that shooting games are just not for me.” The player in question finished by asking if there was a guide to help them. As it turned out Mike Cook, a Senior Technical Artist at Respawn, chimed in with his view, offering four major tips to improve at Apex. Cook stated that it will just take practice, and said good aim comes down to four major points. The first and second relate to understanding a weapon’s recoil and range, for which he recommended the game’s Firing Range. The last two tips were to predict enemy movements and target your shots into an enemy’s upper body when in a close-range engagement. Apex Legends dev tips Understanding the recoil pattern of the weapon. Firing range helps a lot with this. Once you understand the recoil you can counter it while you fire to keep the bullets going as straight as possible. – Understanding your engagement distance and bullet drop off. Firing range helps with this as well. Knowing how far your enemies are and aiming higher to counteract the drop off so they land where you want. – Predicting player movements. If someone is running to your left and they jump, you can guesstimate where they will land and aim there instead of aiming directly on them. This gives you a split second to predict, aim, and shoot. – Where to aim: If you’re up close, aim right below peoples necks, recoil makes your weapon kick upwards and you can get some headshots in. – But, the dev admits that even with practice, some of it comes down to natural skill, and even those with great aim can still do poorly due to their position. He reiterated how important both positioning and cover are in any gunfight. “You can have potato aim like me, and still pull off good plays based solely on your positioning,” he continued. “Having plenty of cover to mask most of your body is key. Don’t be afraid to peek out, shoot, then take cover. The harder you are to hit, the less damage you take.” The player responded to thank Cook for his detailed response, and took it as encouragement to stick with Apex for some time longer. Whether they experience a turnaround in fortunes remains to be seen but, if you’re also struggling in Apex, check out the Respawn developer’s full advice.

Apex Legends dev says Loba is “crazy strong” and doesn’t need more buffs Respawn EntertainmentAn Apex Legends developer has responded to a player’s buff concept for Loba, claiming that she’s already “crazy strong” and doesn’t need any changes. Season 9 of Apex Legends implemented a range of buffs and nerfs to Legends across the game’s roster. Whether it was the significant changes to Lifeline’s kit or the heavy nerfs to Horizon’s Gravity Lift, Legacy certainly had a huge impact on the overall meta. Despite this, it was the improvements to Loba’s Tactical that received the most attention and excitement from the community. Respawn finally decided to fix the issues with her bracelet, as well as giving the High Society Thief an extra level of mobility while deploying her teleport ability. Now, an Apex dev has voiced their opinion on the power level of Loba, describing her as “crazy strong”. Loba is “crazy strong” A thread posted to the Apex Legends subreddit proposed a buff to Loba’s passive, allowing her to see more clearly the items of loot through walls. Respomding, lead game designer Daniel Klien voiced his opinion on Loba’s current power level, describing her as incredibly strong and questioning why players were asking for her to get buffed. It’s obvious Respawn believes that following her recent string of buffs and fixes in the Season 9 update, and that the she is now in a good spot in the meta. “Why do you wanna buff Loba? Loba’s CRAZY strong now.” But, many Apex players disagreed with the response and heavily downvoted the comment. They argue that although Loba’s Tactical is now fixed, she’s still not a frequent pick, especially in Ranked, and her passive needs some quality of life changes. One user wrote, “0 Loba play in competitive and next to none in high level ranked, she can’t be that strong”, with another voicing their concerns about an incoming nerf: “don’t tell me that means a nerf is inbound.” While Respawn’s plans surrounding changes to Loba’s kit remain unclear at the moment, it’s obvious the developers believe she’s a strong pick in the current meta. Whether that means nerfs are on the way is anyone’s guess, but the community has certainly made their stance clear on the debate over Loba’s power level.

Apex Legends dev says Lifeline is a “little” too strong after Season 9 changes Respawn EntertainmentLifeline has been a staple for Apex Legends players since day one, but she received a total rework going into Season 9, Legacy. Respawn are keeping an eye on her dominance though. Lifeline has always been one of the safer picks in Apex Legends. Perfect for new and experienced players alike, the combat medic always places high on the Legend tier list. Turns out it’s not only on the open fields of Olympus or World’s Edge that she performs well. Apex’s 3v3 mode, Arenas, seems to be the perfect place for her, with the Legend deemed an S-Tier pick at the moment. Respawn have noticed her rise in prominence, and are weighing up possible tweaks, but at the moment, have no plans to implement changes. Lifeline meta in Apex Legends? Lifeline received some pretty hefty changes with the debut of Season 9, and while the devs are happy with her overall performance, there are concerns over how dominant she’s become. Lead Game Designer for Apex, Daniel Klein, has responded to fan questions about Lifeline’s current status. The TLDR is, that she’s performing “a little too well.” “Numerically, she’s too strong. She wins too often, both across the game as a whole and in every single skill bucket we look at, and she’s picked very often (particularly in Arenas)” Klein writes, but highlights that this doesn’t “mean [Respawn] must nerf her right away.” In terms of the main body of the rework, though, it seems like she’s performing exactly as the devs wanted. “Experientially, she’s so much better. No longer having the res shield means it’s feasible to thirst a downed enemy being revived; but that also gives Lifeline an option to engage you while you’re otherwise occupied or when your gun’s running dry. Good play on both sides” It leaves Respawn in a bit of a sticky situation. “Not sure what, if anything, we’ll do to her, but I think the changes landed very well,” Klein notes. “Maybe we need to nerf her numerically a little bit (like drone heal speed / ult cooldown), maybe we can look at her hitboxes and see where they’re too small, but right now? No plans to speak of.” So, love her or hate her, we best get used to this current iteration of Lifeline. We’ll need to wait and see if there are any future changes as the season continues to progress.

Apex Legends dev says “good” Rampart changes coming in Season 10 Respawn/EAAn Apex Legends dev has teased a “good” change coming to Rampart in Season 10, however, it’ll come in a mid-season update, not right at launch. When Rampart was added to Apex Legends back in Season 6, there was plenty of intrigue surrounding her character, especially how her Sheila minigun ultimate would fit in with the other abilities. After a brief period, players quickly figured that Rampart wouldn’t play a major role in the battle royale’s meta, and she pretty much stopped appearing in games for a while. She isn’t a completely useless legend, and skilled Rampart mains will regularly win games with her, but even they will tell you that she’s in need of buffing at some point – even after being changed not too long ago. Well, when Season 10 comes around, Rampart should be getting a nice little buff according to Respawn’s Jason McCord. The Apex design director responded to a comment on social media that detailed a few ideas for Rampart changes, including giving her minigun more room to move, buffing her passive to work with all weapon types, as well as making it so enemies can’t climb over her walls. “Good suggestions here, thanks for writing it up,” McCord responded to the suggestions. “We have some good Rampart updates coming mid-season 10. You’ll know it when you see it. :)” Comment byu/TheLemonsDidIt from discussion inapexlegends With each new season bringing different legend changes, a much-needed buff for Rampart isn’t too shocking, but the timing is interesting. Typically, these buffs are made at the start of the season, but if a change is currently penciled in for a mid-season update, it could be pretty big. Some fans might even make the elink between a mid-season change and a Rampart-themed collection event or Town Takeover, but we’ll have to wait and see.

Apex Legends dev reveals why Wattson holds weapons “awkwardly” Respawn EntertainmentApex Legends’ principal animator Moy Parra has revealed why Static Defender Wattson carries her weapons “awkwardly” – without the military smoothness of the battle royale’s other legends. Apex Legends’ diverse and colorful character base is one of the reasons so many players have fallen in love with the game and its legends. Each has their own catchphrases, personality and lore to set them apart. However, Respawn’s attention to detail in crafting individuality goes even further than that, as principal animator Moy Parra revealed in a series of tweets. “If you ever wondered why Wattson holds her weapons a bit awkwardly compared to say, Bangalore,” she said. “That’s because my niece who provided the MoCap for her had never held a gun before in her life and we wanted to capture this natural innocence in all of Wattson’s move sets.” Despite her credentials as a lethal legend, Wattson retains an innocence that few if any of the other characters possess. Her lore states that she is the daughter of the Apex Games’ Lead Engineer, and his death catalyzed her involvement in the games, where she now fights alongside her friends. ⏪ if you ever wondered why Wattson holds her weapons a bit awkwardly compared to say, Bangalore. That’s because my niece who provided the MoCap for her had never held a gun before in her life and we wanted to capture this natural innocence in all of Wattson’s move sets ⚡️❤️ pic.twitter.com/HZyfYW73LE — Moy Parra 🎮 (@_moyparra) July 1, 2021 Wattson’s weapon carrying may not have even been noticeable to some players, but it certainly becomes clearer when the Static Defender is sprinting and cradling her gun somewhat unnaturally. Parra elaborated: “This was one of my favorite shoots ever. There was so much emotion happening that day. Apex had just released 3 days before and I was literally working with my family!” ✅ this was one of my favorite shoots ever. There was so much emotion happening that day. Apex had just released 3 days before and I was literally working with my family! Huge shout-out to Shawn @jitterbot who directed Thalia on bringing out the Wattson that we all love!❤️ pic.twitter.com/5XYuRSKXXe — Moy Parra 🎮 (@_moyparra) July 1, 2021 It goes to show the level of detail and thought that Respawn put into crafting legends, and goes some way to explain how Wattson is able to maintain an innocence in spite of her lethal talents and abilities. We’re sure there will be more of the same attention to detail when Season 10 drops in August.

Apex Legends dev reveals why Forge was created & if he will ever return Respawn EntertainmentMany Apex Legends players are still confused about the Forge Legend that was initially announced then later killed prior to the start of Season 4, and now a developer from Respawn has finally shed more light on the character. There was a lot of hype in the weeks leading up to the launch of Apex Legends Season 4: Assimilation, further fueled by the last-second switch of characters that Respawn pulled off. Initially, Forge was the new Legend announced for the fourth chapter of the battle royale, but a few days after his unveiling, he was suddenly killed by Revenant, who took his place as the latest addition to the cast of characters. This sudden change of plans prompted a lot of questions that players are still asking to this day – what happened to Forge? Is he alive or dead? Will he ever return to the Apex Games? Design Director Jason McCord, speaking with Dot, finally put those questions to bed by revealing that the muscular character was indeed no longer alive: “Forge is super dead.” Read More: Best landing spots in Apex’s Deja Loot mode – This, of course, puts to bed all of those theories, most of them hopeful, that he would make a grand return at some point to try and get revenge on Revenant for killing him right before he could make his glorious Apex Games debut. Why did Respawn make Forge then? While McCord’s comments put some of the questions about Forge to bed, they also bring up a new one entirely – why did Respawn go through the trouble of making and announcing the character if he was never really in their plans? Turns out, it was actually an ingenious method of misdirection aimed at the data miners and leakers who constantly go through the game’s back-end files and leak unannounced information. “Honestly, it started as a fun way to misdirect data miners who, at the time, felt like they had solved our next legend and had ruined our surprise,” McCord said. Read More: Apex leak reveals new emotes coming soon – “We actually purposefully leaked fake concept art and details of Forge’s kit in patches, so there would be a bread crumb trail by the time we announced him. It’s pretty insane. I can’t think of any other game that has gone through such hijinks.” It’s understandable the devs constantly feel slighted by the massive Apex datamining community, who almost never let anything slip through the cracks in terms of what’s coming soon to the game. Often times, those details come out well before Respawn are ready to announce them, which McCord made it clear can be frustrating for those who put their “hearts and souls” into creating the battle royale. However, seeing as how the fake introduction of Forge really threw off almost the entire player-base, including most, if not all leakers, it seems like Respawn have the blueprint in place if they need to pull something like that again. Heck, even McCord saying that the unreleased Legend is dead could be some misdirection of its own, so in reality, we’re right back where we started.

Apex Legends dev reveals which region is the most competitive Respawn EntertainmentA Respawn dev has finally settled the score revealing which region is the most competitive in Apex Legends. There’s a sense of pride knowing that your region is better than another, so the question of which part of the world is the best has always been debated in the esports universe. This, of course, includes Apex Legends. The only true way to determine which nation sits on top of the global throne is through international tournaments at the highest level. However, with the world being practically shut down for the last few years, international competitions have been on a hiatus. Regardless, a Respawn dev has now revealed which region is the most competitive in Apex Legends. Apex Legends dev reveals which region is the best In a Reddit post on December 24, Apex Legends player Gunnarglad asked the million-dollar question, which is the best region in the world right now? While players were quick to defend their region, others tried to rationalize the answer. One player’s response highlighted that it’s likely EU who’s the best at Apex Legends as “they practice the most and consistently are ahead of the meta in regards to other regions.” The comment got a response from Apex Legends dev Samy Duc, the Lead Software Engineer for Respawn who agreed with a short and simple “pretty much.” Nonetheless, the argument of which region is the best at Apex Legends will always be contentious, but with the return of the ALGS in 2022, perhaps we’ll see one region dominate the rest.

Apex Legends dev reveals what should change in new respawn-enabled LTM EAApex Legends’ Grand Soiree Arcade Event has brought several brand new limited-time modes into the game, but players are finding issues with ‘Live. Die. Live’ in particular. The “Live. Die. Live.” LTM is respawn-enabled, giving players who get eliminated the opportunity to spawn back in without needing assistance from their team. Instead of having to haul a teammate’s banner to a respawn beacon, dead players will instead automatically be revived once the circle moves if at least one member of the squad is still alive. While that does sound good on paper, some players have their share of criticisms with how the mode works as a whole. One complaint that was brought up is that players, when knocked, remain downed instead of being eliminated right away. Reddit user K3rm1tTh3Fr0g explains that since players are still knocked, that lessens the chances of players dying, which makes them spawning back in even rarer. If you’re ever caught in a firefight with another squad, it’s likely one member of your squad will fall, but since you can just pick them up after the fight, it does take away a lot of the impact of this LTM. The Redditor also said the devs should looking into adding special respawn beacons that would revive a teammate fully decked out with legendary gear, which is only being suggested because many feel the LTM is too dull. The criticisms caught the eye of Respawn developer Rayme Vinson, who followed up by saying he feels the team should look into implementing instant death if they ever brought it back. “[In my opinion], instant death and shorter round timers are both especially worth seriously considering if we bring the mode around again,” said Vinson, agreeing with some of the points made in the Reddit post. Comment byu/K3rm1tTh3Fr0g from discussion inapexlegends The beauty of this event is a different LTM is being featured every couple of days, so if you find yourself not liking what’s featured, you can simply wait for the next mode in the rotation. This event runs until January 28, so make sure you don’t miss out on the plethora of LTMs, including the return of Kings Canyon at night.

Apex Legends dev reveals “unfair” Revenant abilities they didn’t release Respawn EntertainmentRevenant has already proven he’s a deadly threat in Apex Legends after his bait-and-switch arrival in Season 4, but according to Respawn director Jason McCord, the simulacrum could have been even more “overpowered.” The arrival of Apex’s new simulacrum — a lot more sinister than the cheerful robot Pathfinder — was one of the biggest moments in the battle royale’s history. After teasing the arrival of the undefeated five-time hyper-fighting champ James ‘The Forge’ McCormick, Respawn had him unceremoniously murdered by the lethal assassin Revenant. The robot took his place in the Apex Games. Once Revenant arrived in the battle royale proper, players soon realized he was an interesting addition, but wasn’t too special. His much-hyped lifesaving ultimate had little impact, and Rev got shunted out of the meta pool. According to Respawn’s McCord, however, the simulacrum may have been “unfair” if he had arrived in World’s Edge armed with his original abilities. The Season 4 arrival may have even been the most “overpowered” legend to grace the game. Respawn wanted to find the right balance between the new terror Revenant would bring to the table, and still have him release with the “right gameplay kit” to make sure he didn’t just overshadow other legends. Foremost among the binned abilities deemed too strong to launch in the game’s live version was an old tactical power dubbed “Marked for Death,” McCord told Dot as he broke down key features about the newest legend. Hunting seems to be a major forte for Revenant, and so the “Marked for Death” tactical does make sense for his lore — the simulacrum did get his mark in his release video, after all, and killed Forge live on Outlands Television too. The ability, which marked enemies with a skillshot, would allow Revenant and his teammates to “see [the marked opponent] at all times.” Basically, it granted an icon that worked similarly to a wallhack “for the rest of the match.” Eventually, it was deemed both “very overpowered” and “unfair” for the players who then had an angry robot and his squad breathing down their necks for the rest of the match — which sometimes last up to 20 minutes — and it was hooked. That wasn’t the only part of Revenant’s eventual live kit which looked different behind the scenes either. According to McCord, the Season 4 legend originally had a “scurrying spider” animation whenever he crouched. “When he crouched, he dislocated his shoulders and walked on all fours,” McCord said. “It was very disturbing and so amazingly creepy.” While this would have added to the horror of seeing Revenant approaching, and may have been pretty cool, apparently having to run through the graphic animation every single time the player wanted to crouch didn’t work. In particular, his Stalker Passive suffered. It’s supposed to be seamless between his walk and crouch speeds, but Revenant testers were finding themselves slowed down by having to become a spider-like machine for a moment. Respawn also battled with ways to make Revenant’s crouched hitbox work. While crouched he was near impossible to hit, which compounded issues the devs were already having with the royale’s hitboxes. They binned the animation. Considering the fact Revenant has struggled to find his place in Apex’s all-powerful roster of legends in Season 4, maybe Respawn should consider dipping back into the bin to give the simulacrum a power boost. Until the devs decide to push the panic button, however, players may just have to imagine the robot assassin speeding across World’s Edge or King’s Canyon like Star Wars’ asthmatic bad guy General Grievous — at least for now.

Apex Legends dev reveals top 5 most played legends in Season 7 Respawn/EAApex Legends developer Daniel Klein has revealed the five most popular legends from Season 7 – and it should come as no surprise that Horizon is right up there already. [jwplayer VEi3mnK7] As the Apex Legends seasons have unfolded, it’s been easy for players to chop and change the legends they use seeing as a new character is introduced which each major, season starting update. The new character always receives huge attention as players want to test out the new content, but sometimes, they don’t stick around and can immediately fall to the bottom of the pile once fans are seemingly bored with them. In the case of Horizon and Apex Legends Season 7, she has been able to stick around as one of the most played legends – even cementing her spot amongst some of the battle royale’s long-term favorites. Speaking on The Third Party: An Apex Legends podcast, Respawn Senior Game Designer Daniel Klein revealed how the list of most played legends in the new season had started to shape up. “Wraith, Bloodhound, Horizon, Octane, and then Lifeline, that’s the pick order right now,” Klein told the podcast hosts in relation to the top five, noting that Horizon had started to settle in the top five after her initial explosion in use. Octane being so high might surprise a few players, and as Klein points out, he doesn’t “win a lot of games,” but he’s so fun to play because of his speedy abilities. Klein also noted that there is an “interesting situation” with Bloodhound because they have a high pick rate, but they don’t win a lot of games. Timestamp of 46:00 Additionally, the Apex developer revealed that Loba has also seen a rise in her trios win rate after her Ultimate received a bit of a shake up at the start of Season 7. Though, he didn’t note just how popular and used that she has become. As the season unfolds, some currently lesser-played legends might see a boost in usage after Respawn rolls out patches, so, we’ll have to wait and see as to whether or not the top five is shaken up or if it stays the same moving forward.

Apex Legends dev reveals surprising statistic about the ‘best’ SMG Respawn EntertainmentPicking what weapons to use in Apex Legends is always a tricky task, especially with the meta changing frequently. In the SMG category, the R-99 is often seen as the top dog – but Respawn stats have thrown a spanner in the works. You can always use our own tier list for Apex Legends weapons to determine what weapons you want to pick up. We’ve listed the R-99 as an ‘S tier’ weapon, and comfortably the best SMG. The R-99’s fast fire rate and good accuracy (especially with a few attachments equipped) is perfect for any player, at any level. But, interestingly, the data doesn’t actually back up this claim. Rather, the Alternator, often snubbed for its slower fire rate, may actually be a better pick – at least according to the ‘win rate’ statistic. R-99 vs Alternator in Apex Legends Despite the R-99’s favoritism, Apex Legends developer Daniel Klein revealed that it actually has a lower win rate than the Alternator. In this case, win rate can be thought of as the ‘encounter win rate’: “the number of times you get a knock down with the weapon vs number of times you get knocked down while using the weapon.” https://twitter.com/danielzklein/status/1379582168339410944 However, this statistic doesn’t tell the whole story. As Klein continues, the developers also track the ‘downs per pickup’ – and in this case, the R-99 scores way higher. As the developer explains, it’s likely that players more often use the Alternator in the early game, before dropping it later for a weapon they prefer. That means Alternators may come up against opponents with less shield, healing and generally better loot, thus boasting a higher win rate than the R-99. https://twitter.com/danielzklein/status/1379618758021369859 So, ultimately, the higher win rate stat doesn’t mean for certain that the Alternator is a better weapon than the R-99. But, it does perhaps tell us that people are sleeping on it, and it might be a better weapon in the late game than you expect. Read More: Where to get Apex Legends Nessie Plush toy – But, this will likely all be subject to change when the next major update rolls around, and everything changes once again in the weapon meta. Season 9 of Apex Legends is due to drop on May 4, 2021.

Apex Legends dev reveals scrapped Valkyrie changes as players demand nerf Respawn/EAAn Apex Legends dev has revealed that Respawn planned a nerf for Valkyrie but decided to scrap it given how it would shake up the meta. Ever since Valkyrie was first introduced to Apex Legends back in Season 9, the Winged Avenger has proven to be a popular choice with fans of the battle royale. However, she’s completely taken over the top level meta recently. It is now difficult to drop into a game of Apex and not see at least a few teams running a Valkyrie in their composition, mostly because of her Skyward Dive Ultimate and how she’s able to get a free reposition after taking flight. There have been plenty of calls for her to receive a nerf, given how she’s taken over the meta, but Respawn have been hesitant to do so. Though, they had planned a change that would have knocked her down a peg or two. Valkyrie nerf scrapped by Apex Legends devs After shutting down the idea of an “anti-scan” character, Respawn’s John ‘JayBiebs‘ Larson was quizzed on the idea of a nerf for Valk as she has become a “compulsory” pick in-game. “So funnily enough, we were close to pulling the trigger on removing beacon scan from her,” Larson replied. “At least remove that so she’s not an auto pick in comp, right? But on second thought, we realized it may be counter productive.” The Apex dev noted that players would simply get around that nerf by combining Valk, Gibraltar, and any of the scan legends in a trio. “So we figured we could go back to the drawing board while we let this comp split play out with more legend diversity,” he added. While players would, no doubt, prefer to see Valkyrie nerfed sooner rather than later, the fact that Respawn have been toying with changes should be good news. It remains to be seen as to how, and when, she’ll eventually be nerfed but it feels safe to say that it it is coming before long.

Apex Legends dev reveals scrapped plans for Olympus map Respawn/EAAn Apex Legends dev has revealed that they had slightly different plans for Olympus before it was actually released at the start of Season 7. [jwplayer A8oCoIXs] After months of speculation about where Respawn Entertainment would be taking Apex Legends players next for the game’s third map, fans of the battle royale were sent to Olympus at the start of Season 7. The brand-new map has quickly become popular with players – even if some would still prefer to have the original Kings Canyon map in the rotation. Like World’s Edge and the new Kings Canyon, it offers players plenty of different ways to play as it has long sightlines for snipers, plenty of close-quarters areas, and plenty of verticality to boot as well with spots like Oasis. But, the way it is in-game now wasn’t always how it was going to look. Jason McCord, the game director at Respawn, revealed some early images of the map, noting that it was in development all the way back in early 2019 – just after the game initially launched. The early image resembles part of the map that in-game now – with the volcano-like Central Turbine, Phaserunner portals, and Riftall taking pride of place. However, take a glance into the distance and you’ll see cities instead of clouds. It actually looks similar to the images used in one of Loba’s teasers. In response to one fan, McCord noted that the external cities were just skybox art that the artists were trying out as a background rather than an extension of the map. “Artists wanted to try showing lots of floating cities around in the distance, but it was too confusing so we just used clouds,” he said. That’s just early skybox art explorations. It’s flat and painted in, not gameplay space. Artists wanted to try showing lots of floating cities around in the distance, but it was too confusing so we just used clouds.— Jason McCord (@Monsterclip_JM) November 23, 2020 Had the artists gotten their way, and the cities were used as backgrounds instead, you can only imagine that some poor soul would have attempted to drop there – only to discover that they’d be rapidly approaching elimination through falling off the map. It also shows that, even though rumors about Olympus didn’t startt for months after, the devs were already hard at work on it, so who knows what they’ve got lined up next.

Apex Legends dev reveals Respawn are working on “drastic” meta change Respawn EntertainmentAn Apex Legends dev has confirmed that the team are working on “drastic” meta changes, potentially involving Valkyrie and Gibraltar. As with any competitive multiplayer game, Apex Legends cycles through a variety of metas where a set of characters will establish themselves as the top-tier picks. This is certainly no different in Season 13, with Valkyrie, Seer, and Gibraltar standing out as the most powerful characters on the roster, especially in pro play. Back in May, Respawn revealed that they were holding off on major buffs & nerfs until after the ALGS Championships. Now, the event is over, a dev has confirmed that “drastic” meta are being worked on by the team. Apex Legends dev confirms huge meta changes are coming During a Twitter discussion on July 11, a TSM employee asked the devs for “drastic” meta changes, specifically calling for less Valkyrie and Gibraltar in competitive play. Not only that, the user called for another “competitive map” to spice up the rotation and change up the landscape for those diving into the Outlands. Surprisingly, Senior Producer at Respawn Josh Medina replied to the tweet confirming that the devs are “working on it”. While Medina didn’t go into any detail on their plans, it is exciting to know that major balance changes are on the cards heading into Season 14. This will be welcome news to a lot of the community who have been complaining about the power of the Winged Avenger recently. Now we have confirmation of the changes, it’ll be interesting to see how Respawn adjust Gibraltar and Valkyrie without compromising their kit. As for the new map, we can still assume that the devs are working on the Moon map that was leaked back in Season 12. Hopefully, all of these exciting features and changes will arrive in Season 14, but for now, we’ll just have to wait and see.

Apex Legends dev reveals rare Mirage Heirloom easter egg was never added Respawn/EAAn Apex Legends dev has revealed what happened to the Easter Egg that Mirage’s Heirloom was supposed to have, as players have been unable to uncover it. Every since Apex Legends first launched, players, have been ripping open Apex Packs in the hopes of getting the incredibly rare Heirloom melee weapons that Respawn Entertainment adds each season. These Heirlooms, while not offering any additional damage in-game, are not only incredibly cool, but also play into the backstory of the Apex Legends characters with their rare animations and easter eggs. While there are 12 heirlooms currently in the battle royale, Mirage’s ‘Too Much Witt’ trophy has a handful of rare animations and secrets – with one, in particular, being ultra-difficult to find. Well, it turns out there’s a good reason for that. The one rare animation that players have been trying to uncover for over a year involves Mirage equipping his Heirloom and also taking a glimpse of a family photo.The photo, which has been seen before in the Pathfinder’s Quest lore book, was a part of the files that leakers uncovered prior to the Heirloom’s launch. A handful of Respawn developers noted it was a part of the Heirloom’s easter eggs, but it would take some going to find it. Well, as it turns out, nobody has been able to see it in-game because it was actually never added. “It was actually supposed to be this picture or the picture of Mirage and his family as a kid (the one in the lore book) but it apparently never made it in the game for some reason,” said Manny Hagopian, the lead writer on Apex Legends, much to the dismay of Mirage mains. It was actually supposed to be this picture or the picture of Mirage and his family as a kid (the one in the lore book) but it apparently never made it in the game for some reason. The plan was to have it hidden on the trophy that you see randomly during rare inspections. — Manny “No Fart Jokes Plez” Hagopian (@MannyHagopian) January 10, 2022 A handful of players suggested that Respawn should, at some point, reveal the rare animation so that they can finally get some closure on what it is they’d been looking for. That could happen as a part of a social media post, but as for actually finding it in-game, that’ll probably never be changed.

Apex Legends dev reveals potential Ranked changes coming in the future Respawn/EAAn Apex Legends dev has lifted the lid on some potential changes that could be coming to Ranked play, as well as touching on just how they’re trying to keep hackers away from genuine matches. While most Apex Legends players stick to normal battle royale mode, there are plenty of others who want to test their skills against the best and rise up the ranks of the different in-game leaderboards. That’s where Ranked mode comes into play. Players can put their Ranked Points on the line in a bid to move up the ranks, with the hopes of one day becoming an Apex Predator. However, the mode isn’t entirely perfect. Players have called for different changes to Ranked Points, legend balancing, and even potentially paying cash to keep hackers out of the mode. Well, Respawn’s John ‘JayBiebs’ Larson has lifted the lid on a few potential changes that could be made to the mode, touching on how they’ve listened to fan suggestions for certain things, but aren’t quite sure of them. Speaking on the Apex Uncut podcast, the Apex dev suggested that increasing the level requirement for Ranked is one of the more “feasible” options out there, but there is a flip side, given that you might lock people out who’ve only just hit the current level requirement. On the topic of adding two-factor authentication to keep hackers out, JayBiebs was a bit dismissive of that being the solution. “From what I’ve heard, I don’t think two-factor authentication works quite as well as some may believe it to, because you can always spoof,” he said, but noted there is action being taken on cleaning up ranked. Another highly-requested addition surrounds decay on RP for inactive players, so they can’t shoot to the top and then hog the spots while not playing. “Can’t make any promises, but it is something we’re aware of and looking into,” the dev said. On top of that, players have also asked for a map rotation that mimics that of the normal mode. Larson noted that it is something that Respawn has considered but it has its drawbacks too, especially surrounding RP farming. Changes could be in the offing for the Ranked mode in the future, but we’ll just have to wait and see.

Apex Legends dev reveals plans to nerf Horizon in Season 8 Respawn EntertainmentA developer from Respawn Entertainment has revealed more about the ways Horizon could get nerfed in Season 8 or beyond, as the newest Apex Legends coharacter has already overtaken all others in the win-rate category. Horizon has been a delight to have in Apex Legends since her launch in Season 7. She’s had a strong presence in the battle royale that’s earned her a win rate that matches Wraith, but Respawn are going to be cautious with how they inevitably nerf the Gravitational Manipulator. Admittedly, there is a multitude of ‘dials’ that Respawn can tweak with Horizon’s ability kit, but the studio is going to be careful not to ‘gut’ what makes her strong, according to Associate Live Balance Designer John ‘JayBiebs’ Larson. “It’s safe to say (Horizon will) be getting nerfed,” JayBiebs said. “But how we do that is important… Looking at her tactical alone there are all sorts of dials we can turn including vertical lift speed, horizontal speed/acceleration, ejection speed/time, cool down, weapon accuracy, and the list goes on.” Comment byu/unkindmillie from discussion inapexlegends While the devs can just turn the knob down on any of those factors, meaningful nerfs to Horizon will take testing and smart tinkering so that Respawn can stay “true to her design intent and how it feels to play as her.” The idea is to bring down the outliers of her power while still letting players who have been experimenting or having fun with the Legend to retain playstyles they’ve discovered and had success with, JayBiebs said. Respawn thinks that Horizon matching Wraith’s win-rate is a great thing for diversity among high-priority pick characters, but they have to keep her in check lest she becomes OP. Apex players have been loving how much flexibility Horizon provides in the way of mobility, crowd control, and maneuverability, especially in tight engagements. Her kit is really fun in terms of how you navigate full-on team skirmishers or 1v1 duels, but Respawn don’t want Horizon players to get carried away with power. JayBiebs hasn’t said when the Apex Legends community can expect her nerfs to come through, but they’re sure to be meticulously tested before hitting the live servers. Horizon is just one of several Legends that Respawn are planning on tweaking for Season 8; for a full breakdown of all the changes that have been discussed so far by any of the developers, make sure to check out our Apex Legends Season 8 buffs and nerfs page here.

Apex Legends dev reveals original weapon concepts for R-301, R-99, more Respawn EntertainmentRyan Lastimosa, 3D Art Director at Respawn Entertainment, has revealed concept designs for a handful of fan-favorite Apex Legends/Titanfall weapons, including the R-301, R-99, Longbow and Peacekeeper. Fans have been captivated with the incredible creativity and world-building demonstrated in Apex Legends. This includes the unique design and lore given to all legends, as well as the creatively crafted weapons. While weapon design does not tend to be given as much attention as other aspects, Lastimosa has shared some incredible concepts for a host of Apex’s most popular guns. The concepts offer an insight into the incredible detail artists must consider when crafting new weapons. On April 24, Lastimosa shared a host of concept images relating to the R-101, R-201, R-301 and Longbow DMR. The images give fans an insight into the weapon design process, showing how artists take simple silhouettes to fully-fledged weapons. Similarly, the concepts even provide background and lore to certain weapons. For example, the R-301 AR from Apex Legends came about as a result of the IMC – the Interstellar Manufacturing Corporation from Titanfall – wanting to improve the rifle’s external structure and protect it from overheating. Here’s a series of concepts of the R101, R201, R301 rifles and the DMR from Titanfall and Apex Legends. This weapon has evolved a great deal from 2010 to now. The R101 platform was to originally be a modular system that allowed rapid field customization. The user could switch pic.twitter.com/xyt5CWu7nf — Ryan Lastimosa (@brockhaurd) April 25, 2020 Fans have been consistently impressed with the attention to detail and dedication to narrative shown by Respawn’s art designers. Lastimosa also shared concept designs for other weapons, including the R-99 SMG and fan-favorite shotgun, the Peacekeeper. Concept drawings and early images show how involved artists are in the weapon development process, even drawing how the weapon’s reload animation will look. Art and concept of the R97, R97-CN, and R99 from Titanfall 1, 2, and Apex Legends. The first concept for the R97 was completed around 2012 and the concept of the current version of the R99 was completed in 2017. The R97 was heavily inspired by the legendary Heckler and Koch MP5 pic.twitter.com/bOJIQ2OXmb — Ryan Lastimosa (@brockhaurd) April 20, 2020 Concept art for the Peacekeeper, a lever action, energy actuated shotgun in Apex Legends. New weapons start with silhouettes to define the shape and working parts to indicate a weapon’s “snap read”. Players can adjust their strategy once a visual indication is made at distance. pic.twitter.com/8LMt8nzjvP — Ryan Lastimosa (@brockhaurd) April 20, 2020 The concept designs reinforce how Apex Legends was inspired by Titanfall, and expanded upon the already rigorous weapon design process demonstrated in the Respawn developed series. It’s no surprise that Apex Legends has become as popular as it is when considering the lengths Respawn have gone to in order to create an immersive world.

Apex Legends dev reveals Mirage buffs are finally on the way Respawn EntertainmentMirage mains can finally breathe a sigh of relief — for the first time since Season 2, Apex Legends’ smooth-talking trickster is finally set to be buffed, according to Respawn game designer Carlos Pineda. The Holographic Trickster has had a rough ride in Respawn’s battle royale since landing in the title’s original launch. Gated by a 12,000 token price tag at launch, Mirage struggled to find his place in the Season 1 meta. Fast-forward to Season 4, and his situation hasn’t improved much. Three bug fixes, as well as a small tweak to his ultimate in the Legendary Hunt update were the best changes he’s seen for his under-powered abilities. All this has left Mirage floating near the bottom of the heap. In fact, he’s dead last with a measly 2.40% win rate, according to Dreamteam.gg. Only Season 4 debutant Revenant — who just got buffed — comes close with 2.96%. Luckily, Elliott Witt’s time in Apex’s meta cellar may finally be coming to an end. Demands for buffs or changes have reached fever-pitch across the internet, and it looks like Respawn has taken notice; buffs are now on their way. Funnily enough, the news came after Mirage was slapped with an accidental buff in the last patch. His Psyche Out ability was set to a 25-second cooldown. Pineda confirmed it was a mistake, and they’re actually planning to buff him. “Okay guys, I’m only gonna say this once: I feel you people out there talking about Mirage buffs, and the one thing I’ll say is… it’s coming,” Pineda said. He also added the devs were preparing a fix for the Psyche Out bug. It was shipped soon after. He also jokingly agreed the best buff was “a swarm of bees with little Mirage faces,” which would “sting you and make your hitbox bigger.” While that would be fairly hilarious to see in action on Kings Canyon, that won’t be the buff. Ok guys, I’m only gonna say this once – I feel you people out there talking about Mirage buffs, and the one thing I’ll say is… it’s coming… pic.twitter.com/Ac1XkiNjMG — Carlos Pineda 🇵🇭 (@pinedsman) April 7, 2020 What buffs could Mirage be getting? While Pineda confirmed the Holographic Trickster is slated for buffs in a future patch, the Respawn designer didn’t share many details on what they may involve. That doesn’t mean we don’t have a good idea, though. One ideal buff would be making Mirage’s ultimate more useful. At the moment, activating it simply fires six stationary copies of himself out, but if Vanishing Act’s clones continued to move they could actually bamboozle players. Another option is a similar change to his tactical Psyche Out ability. A fan concept revealed on February 29 suggested turning it into “Smart Decoy 2.0,” which would be able to use all the terrain on the map, like ziplines, to look more lifelike. The concept could be easily introduced to Apex too. After the Dummie’s Big Day event, and the Firing Range easter egg, Respawn has proven they can implement combat-ready AI. Now it’s just a matter of letting Mirage control them. Mirage isn’t the only legend fans have been begging Respawn to take a look at after the Old Ways patch either. Fan-favorite Lifeline may have finally been given access to the mysterious blue bins, but she got nerfed at the same time. Low Profile heroes, including Lifeline, now take “as much damage as body shots” when hit in the limbs. Needless to say, players aren’t happy, and they’re already demanding the changes be reverted. Maybe they will, once Mirage gets his buff.

Apex Legends dev reveals major SBMM change coming this season Respawn EntertainmentRespawn Entertainment’s Technical Director working on Apex Legends has confirmed that the development team is in the process of making changes to the SBMM system, with the changes rolling out within the next months. As with most multiplayer games, Apex Legends uses SBMM (skill-based matchmaking) to match teammates and opponents in matches. Apex has a particularly challenging task with this though, like other battle royale games, because it’s not one team vs another, but 20 teams all at once. Balancing these matches is always going to be difficult. That doesn’t stop players from making their voices heard though, and they have complained about various aspects of SBMM over the years. To start 2023, Respawn is hoping to address some of these complaints. SBMM change coming to Apex Legends Responding to an issue on Twitter from Apex pro player Snip3down, explaining that the matchmaking made playing with his wife very unenjoyable, Respawn Technical Director Samy Duc explained: “SBMM will change, for the moment it is based on the highest player in the group and it will most likely mutate to something else (surprise surprise) mid-December / new year. We will communicate more in the new year about this.” Currently, the ‘most skilled’ player in the party, defined by the hidden MMR system, will determine the level of opposition that the party will come up against. While this is not ideal, and is set to be changed, Duc also explains that just using the average or lowest-rated player is not a solution either. The change itself, in whatever form it might be, is not expected to be implemented until at least December, or early 2023. We can also expect a blog post or other communication from Respawn to elaborate on the changes. Unlike other gaming studios, such as Activision with the CoD franchise, the Apex team have been willing to be transparent about SBMM in the past too.

Apex Legends dev reveals how many players reached Apex Predator EAApex Legends Series 1, the new ranked format introduced in Season 2, is winding down and Respawn revealed where everyone who participated ended up finishing. The ranked season of Apex Legends is coming to a close as we approach Season 3 of Respawn’s battle royale. This gave players to test out how good they really were against the large playerbase, and even gave them a chance to earn some exclusive rewards along the way depending on how high they climbed. When pulling back the curtain on what to expect with Series 2, they showed us where players ended up finishing. There were six different rankings players could reach, but the overwhelming majority didn’t come anywhere close to sniffing the top. In fact, just 0.2% of players reached the top rank of Apex Predator in Series 1. The majority of players fell into Silver and Gold, which isn’t too much of a surprise, especially if that’s just players who play in their free time. The complete breakdown is as follows: 5.1% Bronze – 40.0% Silver – 35.7% Gold – 16.8% Platinum – 2.1% Diamond – 0.2% Apex Predator – Apex Legends doesn’t have any way for players to demote into lower tiers like Gold to Silver, and they plan on using that format going forward. If you’re more of a visual learner, Reddit user Alt_Mayday created a graph for players that breaks it down. As with many games with a similar ranking system, Platinum is where players start to get really good so it’s easy to become stuck there, or even in the spot right below, in this case, Gold. The ranking Respawn released is as accurate as of September 10, so it’s possible there could be a little bit of shifting before the season truly wraps up. Respawn says they are pleased with the results they’ve seen with the ranked system and want to keep it the same going forward. It’s an easy format to understand so we’re sure fans will appreciate this decision as well. It’ll be interesting to see if more than 0.2% of players are able to reach the peak next season. Apex Legends Ranked League Series 2 kicks of October 1.

Apex Legends dev reveals Fuse’s OP ultimate that was eventually scrapped Respawn EntertainmentRespawn Entertainment’s lead game designer, Daniel Klein, has revealed a ridiculously overpowered Ultimate for Fuse, that was eventually scrapped before his introduction in Season 8 of Apex Legends. Season 8 of Apex Legends has dropped Fuse into the mix, a larger-than-life Aussie who has a penchant for pyrotechnics, explosions, and pretty much anything chaotic and loud. The update dropped on February 2, bringing a host of changes to Respawn’s battle royale. The biggest of these changes was Fuse, but he was accompanied by balancing changes, bug fixes and much more. Players are just about getting to grips with the Explosives Enthusiast, and his selection of abilities. Currently, they are the Knuckle Cluster, Grenadier and The Motherlode. However, Respawn have revealed that his abilities, particularly his Ultimate, could have looked massively different if original ideas had come to fruition. During an AMA on Reddit, Respawn were asked about “tried and cancelled” Ultimates for some of the game’s characters. Lead game designer Daniel Klein responded, explaining that one of the original ideas for Fuse’s Ultimate was a “straight up giant bomb”. “You’d shoot it like a mortar,” he explained, “Similar to what his current ult looks like, but when it came down, after a short warning, it would just fucking kill you. That was fun! Not for the other people tho. So we didn’t ship it.” Many Redditors loved the idea, although accepted that Respawn had probably done the right thing by letting it die on the cutting room floor. Some even compared it to Call of Duty’s infamous tactical nuke. The Ultimate Fuse dropped with – The Motherlode – drops a circle of flame, meaning enemy players caught unawares can be trapped by a wall of fire. 30-30 Repeater guide | All legend buffs and nerfs | All weapon buffs and nerfs | Fuse guide | What is in the Season 8 battle pass? | Season 8 Patch notes | How to open explosive holds | Spitfire guide | R99 guide | Mastiff guide | When is Apex for Switch out? It’s a cool ultimate, but only time will tell how impactful it can be in the long run in a game as varied as Apex Legends. We also wouldn’t be surprised to see some balancing to Fuse in the future, especially if he ends up being as strong on release as Horizon was. Respawn have said they are going to try releasing new characters stronger, and work on balancing them back if needed, rather than releasing them weak – like Rampart.

Apex Legends dev reveals cross-progression still coming despite missing 2022 goal Respawn/EAApex Legends developer Josh Medina has given an update on the long-awaited cross-progression system by confirming it is still in the works. It’s been over three years since Respawn Entertainment first released Apex Legends to the world, with their unique take on the battle royale genre cementing itself as one of the top games around ever since. While the developers have constantly added new content to the Apex Games, there are still some features that players are waiting on. Two of the biggest being, of course, cross-progression between accounts on multiple platforms and next-gen updates with support for PS5 and Xbox Series X/S. Over the last few years, Respawn have confirmed that they’ve still been working on the two features and trying to get them out to players. While some fans hoped they would have already been here, that’s not been the case, even though the devs had seemingly aimed to have them out in 2022. Apex Legends dev offers update on cross-progression for 2023 Well, Josh Medina – Respawn’s senior producer on Apex Legends – confirmed that they are still in the works, but there is no release date to announce yet still. “Spinzone: I don’t see where it says it was coming in the next calendar year lol”, Medina tweeted on December 17. “Update: Still in progress on those 2 features.” The Respawn dev said he’d “messed up” by tweeting about working on the features throughout 2022, given some players took it as a notice that the feature would be coming when they ultimately didn’t arrive. “I look forward to the announcement of these things when they are done and ready until then y’all can keep clowning me and me only,” he added. The dev hasn’t offered a timeline for when we can expect to see either update in Apex, but players are especially still hungry for cross-progression. Respawn have noted previously that it is an especially tricky thing to figure out, but hopefully, they’ll have things sorted at some point in 2023. Players have waited long enough.

Apex Legends dev reveals changes to Loba’s abilities in next update Respawn EntertainmentReplying to a few player-suggested updates for Loba, an Apex Legends dev may have just given us a sneak preview at what updates could be coming for the character in a future patch. Ever since the Translocating Thief was introduced at the start of Season 5, she’s been one of the battle royale’s most troublesome legends. She was crashing the game, hacking into new areas, dodging bullets, and plenty more soon after release – but players have also encountered chronic issues with her abilities, as a whole. In a post on Reddit, one user suggested several “quality of life” changes that might benefit Loba, such as allowing her to cancel and recall her bracelet mid-flight. There seem to be some solid ideas here – solid enough at lest to get a response from Apex dev ‘DanielZKlein,’ who also revealed what the Respawn team has been looking into for future Loba updates. “For next patch, I’m trying to tackle the problem that usually by the time you get your first use of her ultimate, your team has already looted their first PoI and doesn’t really need the ult anymore,” Klein revealed, addressing one of the most common complaints surrounding Loba. Black Market Boutique, her ultimate, gets used a lot less in the later rounds and possibly even sooner on during a match, really whenever your teammates manage to put together a decent loadout and looting becomes less of a priority. So, it would be very interesting to see what devs are planning to do to make it more viable. Comment byu/TeeJayKnightly from discussion inapexlegends “I am really cautious to touch her tactical (Burglar’s Best Friend), even though I understand we’ll likely need to do it eventually,” he continued. “I remember what it was like in earlier testing when it was faster and less well telegraphed.” Loba’s tactical is her bracelet, which allows her to teleport to it after she sets it down, similar to Sombra’s Translocator in Overwatch. It might be the most problematic of the legend’s abilities because we’ve seen issues with it from day one. Whatever Respawn has in store for Loba, the developer didn’t provide any kind of date or time for when we could expect to see an update arrive, but we could likely see something by the time of the next major patch. Stick with Dexerto on Twitter @TitanfallBlog for all the latest Apex Legends news and updates.

Apex Legends dev confirms Mirage buff coming in Season 5 EAA Respawn Entertainment developer has hinted that everyone’s favorite Holographic Trickster will be getting a buff in Season 5, leaving Mirage mains eagerly anticipating what changes might come to their beloved Legend. As Apex Legends moves into its fifth season, Loba is primed to shake up the meta with her translocating abilities and hunger for loot. But while an entirely new Legend might be the focus of attention, it appears that Respawn aren’t planning on leaving existing ones behind in the dust. Mirage is the Apex Games resident trickster — with an array of holographic abilities under his belt, he provides an easy means of escape from the tightest of situations. Yet despite being one of the stronger Legends on paper, Mirage has always struggled to make an impact against top-tier characters like Wraith, Pathfinder and Gibraltar. So with that in mind, it looks like Respawn could be tweaking Mirage’s abilities as they strive to find the perfect balance between all characters heading into Season 5. When prompted as to whether Mirage would be receiving a buff in the forthcoming Season 5 patch, Jason McCord (Design Director at Respawn) suggested that “Mirage fans should be happy” — hinting that a buff is in the pipeline. Patch notes coming on Tuesday! (Mirage fans should be happy) — Jason McCord (@Monsterclip_JM) May 8, 2020 What will the Mirage buff be? While a buff has been rumored to be in the works for sometime, this all but confirms that Mirage mains can now get excited for Season 5. In terms of what could be buffed, it would be logical to add the Fortified Passive Perk to Mirage’s utility, meaning that any incoming damage would be reduced by 15% when attempting to evade tetchy situations. Combining this with his Vanishing Act Ultimate would make it much more difficult for enemies to track down Mirage when attempting to bamboozle his foes. Leaker ‘iLootGames’ previously claimed that: “Mirage is going to get the ability of the Emergency Dance Party. Whether that’s a Tactical ability or a replacement for his Ultimate, I don’t know, but that’s what I’ve been told will be part of his rework. It’s not just going to be a buff, it’s going to be a rework. We’ll find out in Season 5 is my hope.” Fans were quick to plead for other Legends to be buffed on social media, with Octane, in particular, being mentioned on a few occasions. Regardless, neither Mirage or Octane ability tweaks are set in stone as of yet, meaning that anything is up in there… Who knows, perhaps Gibraltar could be receiving yet another buff after all?

Apex Legends dev reveals brutal finisher they scrapped from the game Respawn/EAApex Legends dev Moy Parra has revealed a finisher for Bloodhound that was scrapped before the launch of the battle royale – and it might be the most gruesome one we’ve seen. [jwplayer Do3m9qnp] With each new season in Apex Legends, Respawn Entertainment releases a new legend, tonnes of skins and cosmetics in the battle pass, and as we’ve seen more recently, quest lines to further the story of the Apex Games. These new legends, skins, and items, as we’ve seen before, are typically in development way before they are released and end up finding their way onto the internet either through leaks or official reveals from Respawn themselves. However, there’s also a lot that gets left on the cutting room floor. Ideas for the legends that don’t quite fit, or skins that maybe don’t quite match some of the extravagant looks that already in-game. The same goes for animations surrounding things like finishing moves. Typically, this can be because they cause bugs and other issues, but sometimes it can be because a move is way too over the top. Apex Legends dev Moy Parra, who has revealed some scrapped content before, showed off one of the scrapped finishers for Bloodhound that went a bit over the top. The dev showed that one of the initial ideas for Bloodhound would have the legend finish enemies off by sticking a pole into their head. If you think that sounds bad, it gets worse. The technological tracker would also pull on the pole, seemingly beheading their downed opponent. ⏪ Coming from TITANFALL 2 (an M rated game) some of the initial finishers for Apex were a lot more… explicit! 😬 Here’s a very early concept I did where we would see our dear Gibby literally getting his head ripped off. Ouch! 😵 btw, you guys still like these throwbacks?🤔 pic.twitter.com/PugPv6rQYq — Moy Parra 🎮 (@_moyparra) October 29, 2020 As Parra notes, that type of execution might have stuck around if Apex received a similar mature rating as Titanfall, but instead, the battle royale is only a Teen rated title. There might be some scope to add more finishers for each legend in the future, but they certainly won’t be as explicit as some of the first ideas that Respawn had.

Apex Legends dev reveals biggest benefit to new Lifeline rework Respawn Entertainment[jwplayer UQowmNq2]Apex Legends developer Jason McCord has confirmed that Lifeline will be able to revive two players at once after her rework goes live in-game. At the recent EA Play event, Respawn Entertainment dropped a slew of Apex Legends news – including the long-awaited announcement of crossplay, the all-new Lost Treasures event, the arrival of Apex on Steam, and a rework to Lifeline’s abilities. The Combat Medic has been a Legend that players have been begging to see improved, and in the new teaser, it showed that her D.O.C. Heal Drone was reviving a teammate while she continued fighting with a gang of enemies. That sent some fans’ imaginations running wild, dreaming of pulling off two separate revives at once. Plenty of fans put the question to McCord to Twitter, simply by asking something along the lines of, ‘will Lifeline be able to revive two players at once?’ One with the D.O.C. Heal Drone and one by her going over and reviving them as normal? Well, the Design Director of Apex Legends, confirmed that would, indeed, be the case following Lifeline’s update. He responded to one fan with a simple “Yup!” Though, he didn’t confirm anything else about her changes from the follow-up questions. With the support Legend being able to revive two teammates at once, it’s not out of the question that one could take a little bit longer than the other – or, even, one wouldn’t have her protective shield as normal. But, Lifeline is meant to be a support Legend after all – the only of her kind – and so it wouldn’t be surprising if the revives are just as fast and backed up by the shield. Whichever way Respawn decides to balance it, we’ll find out when they reveal their full patch notes for the Lost Treasures event, which is set to launch on Tuesday, June 23 and run through July 7. There are also changes in the offing for Octane, so there could also be a few slight buffs and nerfs for a wider selection of Legends.

Apex Legends dev reveals audio changes coming for “players traveling through the air” Respawn Entertainment/EAAfter a Reddit user asked if the Respawn team was considering making Octane’s jump pad more noticeable in Apex Legends, a developer responded saying that they were working on making audio overhauls to all Legends while they’re flying through the air. Apex Legends is known as one of the more fast-paced battle royale games on the market right now. Between its quick-sliding features and characters with versatile abilities, players are constantly flying through each match, both figuratively and literally in some cases, due to abilities like Octane’s launchpad. As the name suggests, that ultimate in particular gives the players the ability to throw down pads that would send them flying in the direction they are running. Now, after a discussion on Reddit about the aforementioned ability, it seems like Respawn is working on a way to balance the ability, and make it easier to know when players are traveling through the air in general. After being asked if the developers had considered giving Octane’s launchpad ability a “visual or audio cue”, Apex’s Lead Game Designer Daniel Z Klein confirmed that the team is working on improving “player traveling through the air” sounds in general across the board. Comment byu/Sven_Yosef from discussion inapexlegends Of course, the developer didn’t go into exact details about what these changes would be, as it was just a quick mention on Reddit. Still, it’s worth thinking about the possibilities, especially considering players are basically ninja’s while airborne right now. Having the ability to hear players traveling through the air better would make for an interesting gameplay mechanic, as it would ideally give you some kind of warning when a legend is screaming towards you through the air. There’s also no telling how far into development these plans are, meaning we also have no idea when the changes could be coming. Devs could decide it doesn’t work as they hoped, which could mean an even longer wait as well. Still, if Respawn is already openly talking about it, that could mean Apex players won’t have to wait too long for this update to finally arrive.

Apex Legends dev reveals 1v1 is coming back to Firing Range Respawn/EAGold Knockdown Shields being removed from Apex made it impossible for players to face each other in the firing range, but developers confirmed that 1v1s are returning. Gold Knockdown Shields are a hot-button issue in the Apex community. Respawn removed the controversial item in Season 14 after players labeled it overpowered. The item blocked 750 damage for downed players and had a passive self-revive ability, making it tedious to eliminate enemies entirely. However, removing the item made it impossible for players to face each other in the Firing Range. without the ability to self-res, players return to the spawn at the top of the Firing Range, which became an inconvenient practice experience. Apex developers are not bringing back self-res but will make it possible to host one versus matches again. Apex Legends devs confirm 1v1 returning to Firing Range Pro Apex player Resulltuh asked for Gold Knockdown Shields back in the firing range, so one versus ones would be possible again. Hosting Firing Range matches was an excellent way for players to warm up, improve their skill with specific guns, or learn the game’s movement mechanics. Apex Legends Senior Producer Josh Medina responded, “Nah, but we are fixing it so you can 1v1 again in FR.” Popular streamer Aceu jokingly said he would come out of retirement if it meant bringing self-res back. The former Apex pro criticized the developers for removing Gold Knockdown Shields to appease pro players. Apex players can’t agree on whether or not Gold Knockdown Shields belong in the base game, but an overwhelming majority want Firing Range matches back.

Apex Legends dev reveal plans to “break stalemate” with toxic players Respawn Entertainment via FrozenFrohRespawn Entertainment developers are at an impasse with their Apex Legends community, and are planning on ways to “break the stalemate” with some of the more toxic people in their fanbase. It’s tough to be a developer nowadays. Since Apex launched, Respawn has been constantly under fire for the state of their game, the monetization practices within it, and off-hand comments that then get picked up by reactionary sentiments from social media. Negativity has reached a point to where Senior Game Designer Daniel Z. Klein has hit back against “the constant barrage of negativity and people telling you you suck at your job, asking for you to be fired, calling you names, etc.” by a portion of the Apex community. To be clear, the Apex Legends community is filled with people who are respectful, patient, and generally a positive force for everyone else. But to take meaningful steps in preventing toxic back-and-forths from some Apex Legends players to devs in the future, Director of Communications Ryan Rigney wants to try out new things – some of which are already underway. Rigney is going to open the pipeline of direct communication between the developers and Apex players even more. With everything from Ask Me Anything (AMA) forums to produced content in Respawn’s official channels, people can expect more pointed messages from the studio. “We’re hoping to help break the stalemate with things like seasonal AMAs, more regular messaging on our owned channels (like new content types on Respawn.com), and with more direct support for brave soldiers like Daniel Z. Klein who likes to wade out amongst the people. That stuff matters, and it’ll be worth doing,” Rigney said. The comms director recognizes how some topics, like monetization, need their own space to be talked about in Respawn’s more official channels. But it sounds like the exec is planning to tackle these issues head-on to mitigate player-speculation that can later escalate to hate and vitriol. “It feels like there’s a stalemate between devs and the people that play their games,” he said. “I don’t just mean here (on Reddit), but everywhere. The same patterns play out in cycles, and it has all become very predictable… But man. I sure wish the overall relationship between devs and players online felt different.” At the start of Season 7, Rigney, Klein, and nine other high ranking developers held an AMA to talk about all the changes in the game as well as the ever-controversial Battle Pass. In that thread, Respawn directly responded with over 50 comments directly addressing concerns, questions, and speculation of all things Apex Legends. According to Rigney, we can expect a lot more of these interactions and more content on their official YouTuber and Twitter accounts to satisfy players. The studio is making this adaptation in hopes to smooth over relations with their Apex Legends community, and hopefully quell the more volatile members online.

Apex Legends dev responds to Winter Express ‘crush’ bug Respawn/EAAn Apex Legends developer has responded to a frustrating bug that is crushing players in corners in the Winter Express LTM. With the holiday season fast approaching, game developers across the globe are racing to get their updates in so that players can celebrate while also playing their favorite games. In the case of Respawn, the Apex Legends dev have brought back the Holo-Day Bash event as well as the Winter Express LTM. The popular limited-time mode is pretty simple, with players battling in tight spaces, and with random loadouts, to take control of the train that used to chug around World’s Edge. While it is incredibly fun, there are a few issues cropping up – with the biggest one, this time around, seeing players being crushed when they go near certain corners or interact with a teammate. Anyone who likes to get their teammates a friendly punch will have noticed the issue, but Apex Legends player blinnddd was confused at first – asking if it was a bug or an intended consequence of getting their teammate a tap. Plenty of players quickly responded to say it was an issue before Daniel Klein – a Senior Game Designer at Respawn – chimed in to confirm it’s a problem, but it’s not exactly a simple one to get ironed out. “F**king moving geo 🙁 Yeah, it’s a bug, but not an easy one to fix, he commented shortly after the post went up on the Apex Legends subreddit. “Hope that was in the grace period!” Comment byu/blinnddd from discussion inapexlegends Additionally, the problem has been flagged on Respawn’s public Trello board of Apex Legends issues, but it’s purely in the investigating phase for now. The Holo-Day bash event, and the Winter Express LTM, are set to run until January 4, so there is plenty of time to get it straightened out, but as Klein notes, its not an easy one. So, we’ll just have to wait and see.

Apex Legends dev responds to weird Heirloom damage bug in Season 6 Respawn EntertainmentRespawn developers have responded to a strange glitch with Heirloom melee weapons in Apex Legends, which makes it much more difficult to destroy Rampart’s Amped Cover ability. [jwplayer Fc1cVTGH] Following the addition of Rampart in Season 6, Apex Legends now has 14 unique characters, each with their own abilities and playstyles for players to choose between. However, some Apex fans have noticed a strange glitch with the new Legend’s Amped Cover ability, making it take up to seven times longer to destroy the barrier with Heirloom melee weapons equipped. Rampart’s Amped Cover ability provides her and her teammates with a barrier, that blocks incoming shots and amps outgoing bullets, but this tactical ability has also been used to help block off certain passageways around the map. For opposing players, destroying this cover usually only takes a few hits but, for some reason, players with Heirlooms have noticed a dramatic increase in the time it takes to melee this crouch-cover wall. One Apex player, u/MoodyAbbacchio, revealed that they had to melee the Amped Cover 14 times with Octane’s Heirloom before it was finally destroyed, however, after switching to a character without an Heirloom, the barrier would fall after only two punches. The post received plenty of support with some fans even calling it a “pay-to-lose” bug, claiming that it can slow you down and make you an easy target when you need to destroy Rampart’s barrier in Apex Legends. Respawn Game Director Chad Greiner responded to this bizarre Heirloom bug, revealing that, although the battle royale’s developers are taking a week off, a fix would be coming soon: “The Apex team is enjoying a much needed week off right now,” Greiner explained, “but we have a fix for this that hopefully goes out next week.” Although the patch is expected to roll out next week, the release date for this update has yet to be confirmed but we’ll be sure to update you once more is revealed.

Apex Legends dev responds to very broken Valkyrie Ultimate bug Respawn EntertainmentAn Apex Legends developer has responded to the Valkyrie Ultimate bug causing players to be pushed underneath the map. Apex Legends Season 9 has arrived and the major update has introduced a range of new and exciting additions to the title. From the brand new permanent mode in the form of Arenas to the deadly accurate Bocek Bow, there’s no denying that Respawn has really knocked it out of the park with Legacy. However, despite all these incredible features, the new Legend Valkyrie has become the highlight of the update for the majority of Apex players. Her ability to soar through the sky and scout foes from above offers a playstyle unlike any other Legend in-game. Unfortunately, not every aspect of her kit is working as it is supposed to, with her Ultimate dragging players under the map to their demise. Luckily, a Respawn developer has responded to the issue on Reddit and given players some hope that the bug will be resolved very soon. Respawn dev responds to Valkyrie Ultimate bug A thread posted to the Apex Legends subreddit showing off the bug currently affecting Valkyrie’s Ultimate has garnered over 14,000 upvotes at the time of writing. The frustrating glitch stops the upward thrust of Valkyrie’s Ultimate and holds a player in mid-air. At that point, a player is forced downwards and forced underneath the game’s map where they inevitably fall to their death. The issue appears to be particularly common when a Legend gets caught on a piece of terrain while traveling up into the air. Shortly after this thread was posted by CurleyBruh, an Apex Legends developer responded to the issue with a quick comment. Although the dev doesn’t explain why the glitch is occurring, they do confirm that they’re working on a solution. “Look, computers are hard (Thank you for the video! That’ll make us fix it more quickly.)” While there’s no confirmed time of when this issue will be fixed, it’s obvious Respawn is doing everything they can to get the bug sorted out as quickly as possible. In the meantime, make sure you only use Valkyrie’s Ultimate in wide-open spaces, it may just prevent you from falling under the map.

Apex Legends dev responds to “unplayable” console lag and freezing Respawn/UnsplashApex Legends fans on consoles have been complaining of constant lagging and freezing during recent matches, prompting a response from developers at Respawn. The launch of Apex Legends Season 4: Assimilation gave the popular battle royale a fresh coat of paint in the form of a new legend, new weapons, and changes to the World’s Edge map. Respawn Entertainment also managed to address a number of big issues – with the level 500 crashing bug being rooted out, as well as the floating in mid-air error if a jumpmaster disconnects. Yet, despite that, it hasn’t been smooth sailing for console players, as many have been voicing their displeasure at how the game currently runs. The problems were summed up by a post to the game’s subreddit by user tlawless001. Claiming that the battle royale had become “unplayable” on console, the Redditor showcased a number of clips from matches where they would find themself freezing, lagging, and stuttering around the map. These issues can be pretty problematic, especially when diving into gunfights or trying to outrun a fast-paced zone. While issues with lagging and freezing may stem from internet connection issues, many players have reported that their connection isn’t a part of the issue. Some players who have suffered through problems on console pointed out similar issues, while also noting what else they’ve run into. “One game my whole squad died due to the game freezing for a bit then we died shortly after. A lot of frame loss too,” commented sourcreambeam. A fix is coming for Apex Legends on console Others pointed out that the developers have been taking feedback on board about the issues, with developer Josh Medina tweeting that a possible fix for the stuttering is in the works and could be released on Monday, February 10. I think something to address that should be going out Monday 🤔 — Josh Medina (@lowkeydbjosh) February 8, 2020 Whether or not the planned Apex update will finally fix the issues that console players have been suffering though still remains to be seen. Undoubtedly, fans will be hopeful that they can finally play games without worrying about constant stoppages sometime soon.

Apex Legends dev responds to theory that Wattson is actually a robot Respawn EntertainmentTheories were sparked in Apex Legends after a new Wattson skin hinted that the character was actually not fully human after all, but a developer has now weighed in to clarify. Wattson was released back with the launch of Season 2 and was instantly a fan-favorite, not just for her abilities but even more so for her personality. A sweet and innocent character, Wattson’s father designed the Apex Games, and so she grew up in the arena she now dominates. But, some fan theories have speculated that, in a Pinnochio-like twist, she isn’t a real girl at all. These rumors started all the way back when the character was first released, as fans wondered: “could it be that her ‘father’ built her as his ‘daughter’ to help him put together the Arena/finish his work as he died?” It was certainly a plausible theory, and one that got the lore fanatics very intrigued. Other hints such as always wearing a hood also sparked speculation, and one player noticed a Hammond logo on her neck thanks to a 3rd person glitch. This appears only when wearing the Cybernetic Security skin. However, these are just skins, and could be totally unrelated to Wattson’s backstory. Despite this, her new Season 4 skin, ‘Cyberpunked’, instantly sparked the rumors again. Cyberpunk as a genre is known for these kinds of robotic body mods. Still, it was inevitable that some players would take this as further proof that Wattson is actually a synthetic of some kind. Respawn developer shuts down rumor However, killing any speculation before it got started, Respawn artist Jeremy Jodoin clarified that the new skin for Wattson was just that; a skin. After a player asked “do you think Wattson’s robotic legs are purely for the theme of the skin or telling us more about what she really is?”, Jodoin responded, “yeah it’s just a skin my dude.” So, for anyone hoping Wattson was actually a man-made creation, it looks like disappointing news. Though for everyone else, who likes to think of her as a sweet and innocent (and deadly) character, there’s nothing to worry about. We already have both Pathfinder and Revenant to battle it out for king of the robots, and the possibilities for more in the future are endless.

Apex Legends dev responds to smurfing request after SBMM overhaul Respawn EntertainmentApex Legends’ Technical Director has responded to a player inquiry about smurfing in the aftermath of the battle royale’s new skill-based matchmaking (SBMM) system being revealed. Skill-based matchmaking has long been a tense and fraught subject. While it has long since been established as part of Apex Legends, the devs have faced criticism for unbalanced matches across the duration of Season 15. As a result, they promised improvements and, on January 17, unveiled in detail their new SBMM system, designed to “rapidly improve” the quality of multiplayer matches. Because of the way the two issues are semi-interlinked, some players wondered whether the new SBMM system would have an impact on ‘smurfing‘, which has also been a major problem in Apex Legends. Responding to the inquiry, Respawn confirmed that it likely won’t have an impact and the two are “separate” issues the devs have to overcome. Apex Legends smurfing update after SBMM update Asked by one player whether it would “solve [or] help” the smurfing problems in Apex Legends, Samy Duc, the game’s Technical Director, said: “not really, it is a separate endeavour.” Although he did not delve into details, we do expect further improvements to Apex’s anti-smurf systems across 2023. In a second tweet though, Duc did hint that it may help them identify “outliers” faster. In other words, players who are being placed into the wrong skill brackets may be identified and corrected faster than under the previous SBMM system. He also highlighted one of the major issues with solving smurfing – that it’s naturally difficult to distinguish between those simply performing well and those deliberately using new or low-ranked accounts to ensure they are placed into rookie lobbies. Regardless, many praised the dev’s commitment to communication, as well as Respawn’s wider efforts to make Apex Legends Season 16 the most enjoyable and balanced yet.

Apex Legends dev responds to Season 6 weapon TTK concerns Respawn EntertainmentA Respawn Entertainment developer has addressed some of the concerns pertaining to the new Apex Legends weapon meta in Season 6, after players expressed frustration with the fast time to kill (TTK) of newly updated guns. A curious member of the Apex community drafted an entire data chart comparing and explaining TTK comparisons for the Volt SMG, the old R-99, the Devotion with and without Turbocharger hop-up, and Rampart’s Sheila. While the sheet was meticulously done, Respawn Game Designer David ‘AmusedApricot’ Bocek chimed in to say that the numbers on display weren’t actually accurate and offered a more revised version of the broader point. AmusedApricot works on the weapons of Apex Legends and could clarify some of the confusion that was present among players in regards to the Volt SMG. “[The Volt SMG is] slower than the R99 and the Prowler, and on par with the Flatline/R301 for [TKK against someone with] 200 total health,” AmusedApricot said in response to a since-deleted comment calling the new Season 6 weapon insanely strong. The dev said Respawn are still examining early feedback for potential balance changes, but AmusedApricot called the Volt’s 1.0 second TTK on 200 health opponents “moderate for an SMG.” Although the Volt’s prowess might seem overdone at times, since “the Volt kills > For players confused on the clarifications, AmusedApricot said he was going to look into more information that Respawn is willing to share to the public on the topic. Comment by from discussion inapexlegends Hard numbers on various weapons’ damage, efficiencies, or any other minutiae straight from the developers would go far to quell any concerns that people might have of the new season. There’s already been considerable outcry from prominent members of the community about Apex’s weapon damage in Season 6. Immediate backlash to the actual weapon stats is very possible, but could be a great way for the studio to get meaningful feedback out of the chaos. The new Apex Legends season is still really young, and Respawn will be looking to make improvements as they see the need arise.

Apex Legends dev responds to requests for Replay Mode with bad news Respawn EntertainmentOne of the most commonly requested features for Apex Legends is replay mode, allowing players to watch back their matches. Unfortunately, Respawn have no plans to add the mode, citing the difficulty vs payoff of such an undertaking. Unlike some of its battle royale contemporaries like PUBG and Fortnite, Apex Legends does not feature a replay mode. This would allow players to rewatch their matches in full, useful for both spotting mistakes as well as content creation. However, despite frequent requests, it’s unlikely a replay mode will ever be added, at least according to balance designer John Larson. No replay mode coming to Apex Larson appeared on the Apex Uncut podcast, alongside pro player Zach Mazer and content creator The_FortniteGuy, to discuss balancing, upcoming changes, and what it’s like working at Respawn. During the discussion, the hosts put questions to the developer from the community, one of which simply asked about the possibility of a replay mode. “That would be quite an undertaking from a dev side of things, and I’m not sure the warrants it, at least at this point in time. So, I would not promise anything on that front.” Cloud9’s Zach Mazer understood Larson’s argument, but did say that he thought it would be a good addition, if possible. “I think it’s a great idea, if it was easy to make. I think it would be a wonderful idea.” Players have also asked about the possibility of killcams in the future, which Respawn have been similarly reluctant to add. Partly because of increased stress on the server and the potential gameplay advantage that could arise from teammates seeing where they were killed and informing their squad. Unfortunately, because the game wasn’t created with these features in mind, it becomes more difficult for them to be added retroactively. The same can be said for cross-progression, which is still being worked on but is taking a long time, as Apex simply wasn’t built with it in mind.