Hey Hexedz, this is a good question! I would say there are multiple ways to approach it.

It can range from a small singular goal, like “BR but with X” to a grand new mode idea that takes the Legends, weapons and everything and puts them in a new format. In some ways, I’d argue that all of our LTMs use base Apex mechanics but of course there are some changes here and there that aren’t just mode rules changes. Mechanics like fast healing in Winter Express, or auto healing in Control can sometimes be surprising how drastic it actually changes up combat or the feel of the game. You’ll learn the pacing of combat, react to cues like shields cracked, get a sense of when to push and then have that intuition thrown off with something like fast healing. When trying to strike that balance and keep it feeling like Apex, we end up playtesting a lot and iterating to get it right.

Know we're coming up on time, but keep an eye out for more answers to trickle in. Try as he might to speedrun this, Rob is just one person at the end of the day! But we're going to hang around and tackle more of these great questions you all are asking over the next little bit.

There isn't necessarily a hard line here. Like you said, we have some modes that have a very different structure or rules compared to other modes, and some that are similar and just a variation off the base. For me, the difference between LTM or Takeover just comes down to if it is an additional playlist or “takes over” Trios and replaces it during it’s run.

Originally, we were thinking of ending it with melee, but even if it was lethal melee it didn’t feel right combined with Apex’s movement. We wanted something difficult but achievable, with some range but optimal at short range. Throwing knife fit the bill and was prototyped really early on in development. /u/RSPN_Jello took the arc star, removed the explosion and upped the initial hit. We loved it right away and started concepting the final visual design

When you're engaged in combat in most other modes in the game, it’s pretty common to empty your gun and swap to your secondary to finish the kill. In Gun Run, you don’t have a secondary to swap to though. With more armor, you end up in a goofy reload dance while staring into your enemy's eyes—or someone else steals your kill. With white armor, you can get into that nice flow of kill->new gun->kill->new gun etc

It can vary quite a bit. A brand new mode that doesn’t share a lot with other modes can easily be a year or more. Smaller LTMs, like say Armed and Dangerous which is mostly just changing what loot spawns and what loot is available, can be much quicker to get going. Once they're up and running, we dedicate resources as needed for liveops and maintenance purposes.

Sometimes! We’ve done this in the past with things like EVO armor and I wouldn’t be surprised if we ran more BR LTMs that influence baseline BR in the future

This is a tough one! We have many things in the works at different stages of development that I get excited about. It’s hard to talk about any specifics though, because even if it’s a mode that’s not in active development, it might be something we decide to release later.

No plans currently. The throwing knife was designed as the final weapon in Gun Run and is tuned to be quite lethal! Even if we make it an air drop weapon, it would probably need some changes when considering battle royale.

We usually have lots of ideas floating around, whether it’s twists on BR or new modes. We’ll write up design specs and pitch ideas to each other, before building prototypes and playtesting. There is always inspiration coming from all over, whether it’s some random “what if” idea that pops up while playing Apex or inspiration from other games and media

We initially prototyped a few different versions to try out - from FFA to only 2 teams. But during playtesting, we found the most fun was with the squad based version, so we really focused on that route early on.

The team is always exploring ways to improve how we approach LTMs. We've seen the playlist feedback and it's definitely something we'll consider as well. There's a lot of cool stuff happening with LTMs so keep an eye out because we'll be sharing more in future seasons!

Why is Josh Medina your favorite person to have in your meetings?

Can you also confirm if we might see more new LTMs in the coming months

Hello r/ApexLegends! With the release of our Beast of Prey update, we’re excited to do TWO Apex AMAs with you all on September 20th and 21st respectively!

Make sure you login to your game to check out the latest event, rewards, and of course, the new LTM: Gun Run.

https://preview.redd.it/xoy7t6t...

Hey everyone! Our dev blog on the Iron Sight changes for the Heat Sink skin went out earlier today.

Below you'll find more context on the decisions behind that change. It’s a delicate case, and we’d love to offer even more of a peek behind the curtain!

Changes to Heat Sink Iron Sights

Upon analyzing our options and finally making the decision to adjust the Heat Sink reactive skin for the Flatline, we knew this would be a contentious change. We hope to provide a little more insight to that thought process. This decision was actually more difficult compared to the seemingly obvious "make em all better" one.

If you haven’t already, please read ...