Original Post — Direct link

Fight Night Collection Trailer - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H1I3VguohWM

Happy New Year, Legends! We’re starting 2021 off with a haymaker with our first Season 7 Collection Event - Fight Night! Going live at 10am PT on January 5th, today we’ll be telling you about it including: 

  • A new temporary game-type, the “Airdrop Escalation Takeover”
  • The Pathfinder Town Takeover
  • The Fight Night Collection Event, and its associated rewards track, collectible cosmetics, and the new Gibraltar heirloom.
  • Newly generous loot-granting MRVNs
  • And a whole host of balance changes and bug fixes

Read on more below for details:

Dev Stream - https://youtu.be/7TIuwXKPn_U

AIRDROP ESCALATION TAKEOVER

With this update, we’re testing a new approach to LTMs. Instead of launching as its own playlist, the Airdrop Escalation LTM will be a “takeover” of the normal “Play Apex” game mode. It’s classic Battle Royale, but with way, way more supply drops. Immediately after you leave the Jumpship, you’ll find a cluster of four supply drops across the map. During each round, more will drop—they land at the same speed as Lifeline’s Care Packages.

https://preview.redd.it/l2kyw8hksj961.jpg?width=1456&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=4f671f2b9b76971c1f8678f534e7563591caf83d

Each supply drop contains a fully-kitted weapon of different tiers, depending on the round. For example, Round one’s drops feature level two kitted weapons while Round four’s drops include red armor and crate weapons. As with regular fully-kitted weapons, you can’t break them down or swap their attachments onto other weapons. And, of course, regular weapons and weapons will still appear as ground loot.

https://preview.redd.it/ywf3jgttsj961.jpg?width=1456&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=3b65f6f777616c4e876da7e05d8851842cdbe0c4

We’re curious to see what y’all think about the “takeover” approach to LTMs, so let us know!

PATHFINDER TOWN TAKEOVER

Drop your weapons and get ready for a brawl in Pathfinder’s Town Takeover: Fight Night style.

https://preview.redd.it/aeoe004xsj961.jpg?width=1456&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=3ee41415b2b1bcb15d41359561c08fccd43f4612

Entering the ring will prevent any player from using their weapons and any of their abilities. The only way to beat someone is via a bit of fist o’ cuffs. Oh, and don’t worry about any outside ring interference—no outside projectiles, grenades, or abilities can penetrate the ring’s force field.

https://preview.redd.it/oyfk3gqysj961.jpg?width=1456&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=4bc2565334bd364bd9967f7580c4e2b5cf7fa055

Punchout the loot balls contained within the ring to scoop up some rare loot. Just remember you can’t use it until you leave!

FIGHT NIGHT COLLECTION EVENT AND REWARDS TRACK

The Fight Night Collection Event brings another set of 24 themed, limited-time cosmetics to Apex Legends.

https://preview.redd.it/d9r65af1tj961.jpg?width=1456&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=06ccbaa40b0bdd90db92d656093d147be3302381

All 24 items will be available through direct purchase (for Apex Coins or Crafting Metals) and in Event Apex Packs for the entire duration of the event. 

Each Event Pack will come with one event item and two non-event items at the following drop rates:

https://preview.redd.it/m5c1eaa3tj961.jpg?width=1120&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=e6a8f0e1f81aee95a684a1c66b89ed55985089ee

If you want to learn more about how Event-Limited Cosmetics work, visit our FAQ.

If you collect all 24 event items, you’ll get the Gibraltar Heirloom.

https://reddit.com/link/kr3jmv/video/j7l4qhb6tj961/player

After the event ends, the Gibraltar Heirloom will become available via heirloom crafting. 

As with previous events, this event brings a rewards track with all-new earnable cosmetics:

https://preview.redd.it/wyo51nd7tj961.png?width=1120&format=png&auto=webp&s=449b87c84c374ba672e530fcbad76f8216066e57

You can earn 1000 points per day and challenges refresh daily. The challenges also stack with your Battle Pass, so you can complete both at once.

https://reddit.com/link/kr3jmv/video/3uib8p99tj961/player

https://reddit.com/link/kr3jmv/video/na3syq4atj961/player

LOOT MRVNS

After having been previously decommissioned, MRVNs are now programmed to reward Legends in the arena. Only appearing in Olympus, these friendly guys will give you loot after interacting with them. They’ll produce tiered loot equal to what is shown on their screens.

  • White sad face = Common level 1 loot
  • Neutral blue face = Rare level 2 loot
  • Pleased purple face = Epic level 3 loot
  • Very Happy yellow face = Legendary Level 4 loot

Pick up your loot and thank your friendly MRVN. Or, if you’re feeling toxic, shoot them. When you do, they may drop their arm for you to store in your inventory. Taking this to another MRVN with the missing piece may get you a reward. Hi-five?

https://preview.redd.it/zxy51uvgtj961.jpg?width=1455&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=3f3dd6c850adc9288174b33b3bb469b9d97cbe64

META UPDATES

Editor note: It appears the Caustic buff was removed, Horizon got a nerf, and there are new ring updates. Relevant Caustic portions that no longer apply are in strikethrough.

Legends

There’s nothing too meta-shaking this time around; we’re giving Season 7 some extra time to shake out. Horizon released strong, but not overpowered. The below buffs are aimed at small power increases. Rampart still needs overall power, and the Caustic buff is an extra bit of compensation for the loss of vision blur from gas in Season 7. Note that looking at our data, the Season 7 change was a solid buff for Caustic, but he’s not quite where we want him to be.

Rampart:

  • Amped Cover: Decreased cooldown from 30 seconds to 20 seconds

Horizon:

  • Gravity Lift: Increased effective cooldown from 16 seconds to 21 seconds

Weapons

Hemlok:

  • Decreased damage from 22 to 20.

Mastiff:

  • Spread out 3rd/4th pellets to decrease max range of 4 pellet hits (was +/- 7.5 degrees, now +/- 10)

Prowler:

  • Reserve bullets increased from 175 to 210

Ring Update

In hopes of spreading out the chaos that can occur in final rings, we're making some tweaks to Rings 5 and 6.

  • Ring 5 is bigger (1500 unit radius to 2000 unit radius). Time to close is the same.
  • Ring 6 is the last ring. It will slowly close over 100s somewhere near the center of Ring 5.

QUALITY OF LIFE

Ultimate Accelerants can now be used without opening your inventory. If your ultimate is not currently available, just press the button (or buttons, on a controller) to activate it, and you’ll pull out any stored Accelerant in your inventory and use it automatically.

When in a lobby, if a party member leaves your lobby for any reason, all party members will be marked as “not ready.” This should stop accidental launches into a match when your buddy dipped out for a second.

  • The fabled “Mark All As Seen” button has been added. Click this to remove the pesky (I mean helpful) red dots.
  • Pinging the nearest respawn beacon (from spectate) will now always ping the nearest beacon unless you don't have enough time to use it before the ring closes over it, instead of defaulting to the nearest beacon in the next safe ring.
  • We now show you how many treasure packs are needed to acquire the next comic page. This should just make it easier to people who are chasing the new bit of lore to know how far away they are.
  • Caustic should now smash the door with his Heirloom hammer instead of his leg, if available.
  • We added a small bit of information to the Find Friends box to describe a situation where your friend might not be findable because of their EA account settings.

BUG FIXES

Bloodhound

  • Fixed an issue with Bloodhound’s UI disappearing after interacting with Horizon’s Tactical.

Wraith

  • Fixed an issue with Wraith’s Portals getting destroyed by the Trident.

Bangalore

  • Fixed an issue with Bangalore’s missile passing through hatch doors when they are closed in Worlds Edge.

Mirage

  • Fixed an issue with Mirage’s decoys not making footstep sounds.

Crypto

  • Fixed an issue with Hack consuming two Vault keys if two keys were in Crypto’s inventory.
  • Fixed an issue with Hack getting stuck within the Trident when deployed as a passenger and the trident is on a ramp.

Revenant

  • Fixed an issue causing other players to teleport with Revenant if they punch Revenant when he has very little health.
  • Fixed an issue that didn’t allow Revenant to deploy the Death Totem while on the Trident.

Loba

  • Fixed a lot of windows in World’s Edge that prevented Loba’s bracelet from passing through.

Rampart

  • Fixed an issue that allowed Rampart to place Sheila while in the Phase Runner.
  • Fix an issue where UI elements stayed on screen after using Sheila.

Horizon

  • Fixed an issue with Horizon’s abilities not affecting Lifeline’s DOC and Crypto’s drone.

That’s all for now. See you in the Arena, Legends.

External link →
almost 4 years ago - /u/RSPN_JayBiebs - Direct link

Originally posted by [deleted]

[deleted]

Sort of reposting what I put on Twitter:

As someone in the room with u/danielzklein when we initially decided to reduce Caustic's tac cooldown, I want to clear the air regarding our balancing approach and provide some context as to why we're now keeping Caustic as is. First and foremost, I look to the community and my own playing experience to gauge what I think could be on the table for balance changes. If I'm not working, I'm playing Apex, perusing Twitter/Reddit, or watching Apex. These are my most valuable resources.

Some of the stuff we measure like pick rate, win rate, and encounter win rate serve as auxiliary tools. We break these metrics down by skill brackets as well. They rarely drive balance discussions, but rather compliment intuitions we have about legend meta. Regarding Caustic: Do we want him to have as high of a pick rate as Wraith? No. I'm confident that will never happen for multiple reasons. Do we want to pull in outliers, both from the high and low ends? Yes, and that was the goal of the Caustic change.

The minor cooldown adjustment we were going to implement was made over a month ago. I had my eye on his usage in EU comp, and knew there was no way we could buff his ult given the chaotic Caustic end circles (curious to see how these ring changes spice things up). By buffing the tactical cooldown and guaranteeing barrels to combat third parties or give visual cover in open areas, this could possibly increase his utility outside of his niche and make a difference without breaking comp/high-level ranked. Forcing players to consider whether or not they should push each and every fight adds a decision-making layer that wouldn't exist without defensive legends. Few things give Caustics more joy than seeing a TTV Wraith squirm around amidst his experiments, both thirsty for the kill, but in unique ways.

With the rescinded change, if a good Caustic triggered his barrels one at a time until they're on cooldown, he would get 78s of constant gas instead of 65s with a 20s vs. 25s cooldown. I believe this would’ve made a minimal difference in-game, but it could've been enough to incentivize Caustics to be less hesitant about dropping traps when they're not in hunkered-down mode.

BUT, would this buff be worth it? It's a menial change for nearly all players and playstyles, but I understand the message that it sends. Caustic was a much less spicy topic a month or two ago, and at that point, I think it was worth a shot. I'd be lying if I said I didn't feel a lump in my throat as I realized this change would be known to the public right at the end of our team break. I saw Caustic getting used more competitively and his pick rate and win rate had climbed up a healthy amount.

So now that we're back in the office, I'm hoping to make right and reassure those who may see inconsistencies between their in-game experiences and our balancing actions. Also, u/danielzklein has essentially been a one-man legend balance army until I was hired a couple months ago, and he crushes it. Think of the viable options in early Apex compared to now. It's awesome.

As a day one player myself, I know the passion the players have for the game. Now, as a Respawn employee, I'm more reassured than ever that this game is in the collective hands of some of the best in the industry. Many of us are happy to engage with the community as long as there's a mutual respect, and I will do my part to keep that channel open.

almost 4 years ago - /u/RSPN_JayBiebs - Direct link

Originally posted by TVR_Speed_12

I really appreciate the open communication when it comes to this. I was scratching my head at the Caustic buff, thinking you might want him to be a new Wraith.

Ever worry about power creep in Apex?

Power creep is definitely on my mind. At it's core Apex is a game where gun skill should matter most. When we encounter stuff that feels bad in playtests, it's often times because legend abilities feel OP or overtuned. Abilities should generally compliment teamplay synergy, but not be the sole reason a fight is won/lost. There are niche scenarios where legends are super strong, but as long as that's mitigated it keeps the game fresh while staying true to its core

almost 4 years ago - /u/RSPN_JayBiebs - Direct link

Originally posted by sakusakus

Hi Jay,

Do you guys look at other places? Most of the caustic community is active on the CM discord. We've sent bug repros with video over the past few seasons, most have never been fixed. I'm confident in speaking for the caustic mains comm in how disappointed and ignored we feel overall when it comes to balancing (since season 5.) I'd love to chat with you guys but I am not an active reddit user (use everywhere but reddit.) I'd love to set up maybe a QA or some kind of communication for caustic mains to have our voices heard. You can find me on twitter https://twitter.com/_sakusakus I'm also in contact with a few devs however I don't want to compromise our relationship so please do reach out either by yourself or through others if you like. DMs are also welcome here.

If you want to tag me on twitter in some of those bug repros, I can make sure we're tracking them. My twitter handle is the same as my username here.

almost 4 years ago - /u/RSPN_JayBiebs - Direct link

Originally posted by whatifitried

On the Caustic change. As a player who often plays with a friend who runs caustic, my biggest complaint is never being able to tell if gas in a fight is my team's barrel or an enemy caustic's gas. I can be fighting in an area, in my teams gas, slowed but okay, then suddenly walk into a wall of sadness with no visual or other cues.

What's the reasoning behind not giving a visual indicator for friendly vs enemy gas. The enemy gas would still zone me in these situations, it just wouldn't be something I can't avoid, particularly in fights where I never got to find out the other team pushing us had a caustic at all before the fight happened.

My gun skill gets thrown out for "oops guess that's enemy gas, and I'm dead." This feels awful.

I hear you. We don't want Apex to feel too cartoony with a rainbow of colors for friendly/enemy abilities. However, something like Gib bubble and Wattson fences do appear differently, so there are some inconsistencies here. Something on my radar for sure as something we could use to help teammates feel more inclined to support their Caustic teammates.

almost 4 years ago - /u/RSPN_JayBiebs - Direct link

Originally posted by [deleted]

[deleted]

Yeah, if you're able to send a clip that's the best way for us to diagnose what's going on

almost 4 years ago - /u/RSPN_JayBiebs - Direct link

Originally posted by draak1400

Maybe you can tell me if this bug as already being investigated or fixed. Ramped amp walls cannot be placed on all-terrain anymore, it will show a "white" amp cover preview, but if you click it will start the animation only to cancel it and no amp cover shows.

It came with a patch we pushed for winter express but we’re tracking it