Feb 9, 2021

Apex Legends Anniversary Collection Event is Now Live!

Apex Legends™ - Electronic Arts

Starting February 9th and until February 23rd, we’re celebrating with a special Anniversary Collection Event. Jump in for free rewards, a special Collection Event featuring the return of fan-favorite looks, and the return of Locked and Loaded as a playlist Takeover.

Read on more below for details.

As a thank you for dropping with us, we’re loading up the Reward Track with 22 earnable items, including two Event Packs and ten Apex Packs.

Plus, during the event, you’ll receive five awards (three matching stat trackers for Bangalore, an Apex Pack, and an event badge) just for logging in for the first time.

Locked and Loaded Takeover
Another Takeover is hitting the normal Play Apex playlist. In “Locked and Loaded”, hit the ground with a full loadout of level 1 gear. You’ll have a Mozambique, White Shotgun Bolt, HCOG Classic Scope, White Evo Shield, White Helmet, White Backpack, White Knockdown Shield, two Syringes, two Shield Cells, and one stack of shotgun ammo. What more could you possibly need, right?

All Common/White level attachments and equipment will also be removed from the loot pool (outside of Common scopes) during the takeover. Drop in and knock ’em out!

Seasonal Challenges
To continue the celebration, we’re giving you some fun challenges to go after with new badges to earn.

Get the “Daily Discovery” Nessie Badge by completing 75 Daily Challenges
“Respect your elders” and earn the Mozambique Badge by dealing 102,816 Damage (get the reference?)
Earn “Time to Win and Stay Alive” with 8 different Legends to get the Smolfinder Badge

Also, snag the “Mozambique Here” Weapon Charm by dealing 3,333 Damage with everyone’s favorite weapon to ping, the Mozambique. The Locked and Loaded takeover may help with this one.

Anniversary Collection Event
We’re bringing back 24 fan-favorite items and giving them a fresh look with crimson red and gold touches. If you’ve missed out on a skin you really wanted in the past, now’s the time to snag it, but with a new look that lets others know you were here in the early days of Apex Legends.

Normally, unlocking all the items in a Collection Event unlocks a specific heirloom. But you only turn two once, so we’re mixing it up a little bit. Unlocking all items in the Collection Event will earn you 150 heirloom shards, so you can unlock any heirloom you want. And to make it a little bit easier to get there, for this one time only, the crafting cost for all items in the Collection Event has been reduced by 50%.

For collectors looking to get the most bang for your buck, check out our Anniversary event bundles featuring the new content.

One last minor detail: If you earn Event Packs from the Reward Track after you’ve already unlocked everything in the Collection Event, those packs are still good. They’ll simply grant you 700 Apex Coins (their purchase cost).

That’s all for now. But before we go, we want to say, again, thank you. The last two years has been incredible, and it’s all thanks to the community that has formed around this game. Here’s to two years, and to the future—the best is yet to come!

See you in the Arena.

Feb 4, 2021

Looking Back on Two Years of Apex Legends

Apex Legends™ - Electronic Arts

Hey everyone, I’m Chad Grenier, the game director of Apex Legends.

I’ve been at Respawn since the studio’s formation in 2010 and have had the privilege to work on many great games, including Apex Legends from the very beginning.

In just a few days we will be celebrating our two year anniversary so we’ve been doing some reflecting and reminiscing on how we’ve gotten to where we are today. I’d like to take a brief moment to share a bit of the story.

ORIGIN STORY & LAUNCH

After shipping Titanfall 2 we were hard at work on post-release Titanfall content and naturally starting to explore ideas for another game. Apex Legends wasn’t even a thought yet. We were discussing and trying new ideas, playtesting prototype campaign ideas, playing new game modes, and two designers started a small prototype that would change the course of our game.

Almost two years before the release of Apex Legends, we had our first company-wide playtest on a new game mode called ‘Survival’ where pilots and Titans would fight it out to be the last man standing, battle royale style.

Early ‘survival’ game mode put 24 pilots into a drop ship where they would form teams of 3 by running to and entering the same droppod together

Our prototype map called ‘real big map’ was quite different than Kings Canyon in that it was more sparse and allowed for Titans to roam freely

Fast forward another month, and the team working on this new game mode had grown to over 20 people. In October of 2017 we saw the first versions of Gibraltar, Bloodhound, and Wraith in game, in November of 2017 we did our first 50 player game successfully and had just begun playtesting on a map that would eventually be called Kings Canyon.

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The earliest recognizable image of Kings Canyon. Before town names they were simply called zones

The gameplay improved over time, with Titans and wallrunning being removed to slow down the pace of the game and bring more balance to the gameplay. Of course, we tried to keep Titans in the game for many months, but once we accepted that we were making something fundamentally different from Titanfall, we entered a new phase. Company playtests were happening weekly, and often running late into the night. We couldn’t stop playing!

There was a leaderboard on the chalkboard in the kitchen showing who had the most wins. The company had become consumed with playing this new mode we were building.

A chalkboard in the studio keeps track of ‘Friday Night Fights’ playtest winners

The name of the game turned from “Survival” to “Apex Predator”. Kings Canyon became more like Kings Canyon we know today. We began prototyping new mechanics like respawning teammates and legend abilities. We would force the entire team to playtest without headsets, and with player names turned off, so we could build a best in class in-game communication system.

It became clear to us that we had something great on our hands, and our plans for the other project were scrapped. We were then all-hands on what would eventually be called “Apex Legends” and would never look back.

Of course, thinking you have a great game on your hands doesn’t mean the world will love what you’ve created so we were all very anxious to see how our game did at launch.

Knowing that many of our fans would be expecting another traditional Titanfall game, we opted to go with a secret launch so players could immediately play the game when they first heard about it. We knew players would love the game if they could just play it.

A few days before launch we held a private event in Los Angeles to show the game to top streamers, content creators, and media. After a presentation they got to play the game for two hours. Two hours turned into eight, and they didn’t want to put it down. The team was starting to become overwhelmed with excitement!

On Feb 4th, 2019 we would launch our game to the world's surprise. We hoped some players would download the game and love it, but also knew that creating a free-to-play game was more about longevity and building over time, as opposed to a blockbuster boxed game launch.

I remember one of our live ops engineers (responsible for ensuring our servers work at scale) setting expectations and telling the team “Don’t expect a million players right out of the gate, or even within the first few months!”

As the entire team stood in the kitchen staring at our projector screen we counted down together the seconds until the game launched. By the time the champagne toasts and cheers had settled down we already had tens of thousands of players in games!

Eight hours later while we’re still at work we hit a million players. We of course had to go give that live ops engineer some crap!

Three days later, we stood in the same kitchen and counted down to 10 million players, and then 24 days after launch hit 50 million players.

TOWARD AN EVEN BRIGHTER FUTURE

Since launch we’ve had eight season launches, over a dozen lore events paired with original video content and over a dozen major in-game events. We’ve added two new maps, vehicles, eight new legends, and countless other limited-time game modes and improvements to the game.

The game continues to grow. Next month, we’ll launch on Nintendo Switch. Work on a mobile version of Apex Legends is well underway. And later this year, we’ll launch new ways to play the game that take us beyond battle royale.

We’ve learned how to run a successful live service game, how important player sentiment is, and how it’s entirely possible to captivate users with storytelling in a multiplayer game.

For us, Apex Legends is more than a game. It brings people together, it unifies players, it entertains, it takes our minds off of the real world, even if just for 30 minutes a day. It’s an avenue for artists, writers, streamers, and content creators to express themselves. It’s also a game that takes a stance on the importance of diversity.

We’ve heard stories from players all over the world about how our game has kept friends and family members connected during the pandemic and how some of our innovations, such as the ping system, have made multiplayer gaming more accessible. We’ve even heard heartfelt stories from our fans about how Apex helped save their lives.

It’s you, the players, that motivate us to create games, it always has been.

Thank you for playing, Legends. Your support and love over the last two years have been an overwhelmingly positive driving force as we continue to make Apex all it can be. We hope you enjoy the launch of Season 8: Mayhem, and all the rest to come.

– Chad

Feb 1, 2021

SEASON 8: MAYHEM PATCH NOTES

Apex Legends™ - Electronic Arts

The latest season of Apex Legends introduces our most explosive Legend yet, a hard-hitting new gun, a world-shattering update to Kings Canyon, and a whole new batch of quality-of-life updates.

Season 8: Mayhem brings the boom starting February 2nd at 10am PT.

Read on for details.

DEVSTREAM
Join the designers as they break down the most explosive updates coming in Season 8.

MEET FUSE

Meet Fuse: a mercenary-turned-cage fighter who never turns down a good dust-up. His affinity for explosions allows him to carry extra grenades and to throw them faster and further. He can launch a cluster bomb with airburst explosives. And when it’s time to really bring the boom, Fuse uses “Wally” to launch a bombardment that encircles an area in a ring of flames.

Passive - Grenadier

Stack an extra grenade per inventory slot. Fire grenades farther, faster, and more accurately.

Tactical - Knuckle Cluster

Launch a cluster bomb that continuously expels airburst explosives on impact.

Ultimate - The Motherlode

Launch a bombardment that encircles a target area in a wall of flames.

NEW WEAPON: 30-30 REPEATER
This heavy ammo lever-action repeater boasts hard-hitting rounds that’ll nail a fleeing Mirage at 200 paces.

The 30-30 is the benchmark for reliability, designed to withstand whipping sandstorms and temporal instability, which made it an obvious choice for the Apex Games.

DISCIPLINED TRIGGER FINGER
The 30-30 Repeater requires the user to rechamber their rounds between shots which brings a methodic rhythm to the rifle, an analogue elegance that the modern weapons of the Outlands just can’t quite capture.

To further tempt those itchy trigger fingers, the 30-30 Repeater has a built-in charge giving players an opportunity to deal increased damage with each shot at the cost of a short build-up.

The 30-30 reloads one round at a time, which makes for some very interesting resource management you won’t find anywhere else, even on the Mastiff.

The 30-30’s engagement range allows unique opportunities to reload individual rounds between shots. This gives the Repeater the ability to lay down consistent precision ranged pressure, something weapons with full reloads can sometimes struggle with.

KINGS CANYON MAP UPDATE
Season 8 once again sees changes to Kings Canyon. The main new point of interest shows the devastation from the ship crashing into the map. Players can now explore beyond Artillery, Spotted Lakes takes over the Slums and some new observation towers for basic recon or a sniper’s nest. Read more on the map changes in the map blog here.

LEGENDARY MAGAZINES
Season 8 introduces the Gold-tier magazines. Attaching it to a weapon automatically reloads your stowed weapons after a brief delay. The Gold magazine has the same capacity as Purple mags, and is available for Light, Heavy, Snipers, and Energy Weapons.

QUALITY OF LIFE UPDATES
Damage counter

We have now added a damage counter to the HUD. This was a highly requested feature, so we’re excited to allow people easier tracking for chasing those badges and challenges!
Pinging Ammo
Pinging weapons or ammo in your inventory displays your current ammo count along with "player wants ammo" in quick chat.
Color Blind update
Healing and reviving will now follow colorblind rules when colorblind settings are enabled
Lore Blurbs on Canon Skins
Some of our skins are canon, and some are just for fun. For the skins that represent an important part of that character's backstory, we've added a small blurb to describe the significance of that skin in the Legend's life.

LEGEND META
Wraith: Hitbox adjustments.
Dev Note:
We know Wraith will always be a popular pick considering the amount of combat utility in her kit. After many tweaks to her abilities and animations, the fact remains that her win rate continues to be at the very top as it has since day one. With Season 7 hitbox adjustments to Pathfinder, we were able to control his power without nerfing his kit. We hope to do the same with Wraith.

Wraith now has a slightly larger hitbox than her fellow small legends, but the changes stay true to her model. As you can see in the before and after comparison, we’re adding some width mostly in the torso and leg areas.

Even with these changes, Wraith remains small and hard to hit. She will retain Low Profile as we monitor her usage and win rates to see if power can be given back in other ways in the future.

Rampart:

Sheila angle increase from 120° to 180°
Wall health in build phase increased from 1hp to 45hp (sniper rounds still pierce through)

Dev Note:
Rampart has remained at the bottom across our performance metrics since her release. Her kit is very much built around proactively setting up a powerful position, but in a game as fast-moving as Apex, we determined her walls should have some reactive power as well. We’re keeping a careful eye on this one.

Horizon:

Gravity Lift effective cooldown increased from 21s to 25s. The 15s cooldown timer will now start when the Gravity Lift disappears.

Dev Note:
Horizon released strong, to the point where she rivals Wraith in win rate and pick rate. For the time being, we are monitoring her usage and checking whether or not the cooldown changes have a significant effect.

Octane:

Launch Pad Remastered: Many players may have known about Octane’s “super-jump” that was possible with a well-timed jump while hitting the pad. Once the double-jump option was introduced, there was an input clash that led to unreliable usage. We decided to add some launch options that are better defined than the old super-jump.

Hitting the jump pad from a standing position will launch players along a high arc (the speed and trajectory of the old super-jump).
From a crouched position, players will launch along a low arc, meaning they’ll fly lower but farther in the horizontal direction.

Crypto:

Remove ability to stick arc stars to friendly drones.

Loba:

Loot inside unopened care packages is now visible with Eye for Quality and accessible through the Black Market Boutique.

Caustic:

All gas now dissipates as soon as Caustic’s team is eliminated.

Mirage:

Mirage decoys create footstep sounds.

Dev Note:
This change was mistakenly mentioned in the Fight Night patch notes when it was in fact coming with this patch. Mirage decoys will now have footstep audio in a limited capacity. There won’t be a footstep tornado if an enemy Mirage ults nearby, but it should be slightly harder to pick out the real Mirage from audio cues alone.

WEAPON META

Fully Kitted Rotation

Removed: Wingman, Sentinel, Havoc, G7, Alternator
Added: R-301, 30-30 Repeater, Mozambique, Longbow DMR, Spitfire

Attachments

We are removing the Gold Barrel from the loot pool

Hop Ups

The Double Tap hop up will be removed from the loot pool
The Anvil Rounds hop up will be added into the loot pool

Volt

Bullet damage decreased from 16 to 15

Alternator

Bullet damage increased from 15 to 16

Spitfire

Bullet damage increased from 18 to 19
Reload speed increased from 2.8 seconds to 3.2
Empty Reload speed increased from 3.33 seconds to 3.8

EVA 8

Fire rate increased from 2.0 to 2.1

BUG FIXES

Caustic

Sonar abilities no longer stop Caustic’s highlight vision.

Loba

Fixed a few exploitable areas on Kings Canyon that Loba was able to reach via her Bracelet.

Rampart

Jumpads in Octane’s town takeover no longer allow Rampart to place Sheila on them.
Fixed an issue with Rampart's passive persisting even after changing characters in Firing Range

Havoc

Fixed an issue causing the Havoc to have 100% accuracy when hip-fired through Rampart’s Amped Cover.

Peacekeeper

Fixed a POV issue that occurred when using Horizon’s abilities, then immediately going into ADS with a Peacekeeper.

Clubs

Re-enabled ability to invite friends to club from friends list
Fixed an issue causing some users who have opted out of "Last Squad Invites" to not appear in club event timelines when placing in the top 5 of a match
Failing to connect to the club database no longer leads to a misleading "Kicked from club" message
Players will no longer be kicked from clubs when switching to another profile on Xbox.

MISC

Fixed an issue with crowds not cheering in Pathfinder’s Town takeover.
Fixed an issue preventing some heirlooms from appearing in the heirloom shop.
Fixed an issue that allowed Thermites to deal damage through certain walls on Olympus.