Apex Legends Dev Tracker

Thank you, I appreciate it :D I've been in games for around 15 years and slowly just engage less and less online. It's always a little scary to poke my head out of my cage but you all made me feel welcome <3

Ah that's fair. I'm guessing you've come across it but maybe didn't realize? You have your CS terrorist vs. counter-terrorist but it's pretty common to do red v blue and you're always blue as well, ie Control

Doubtful? That is 100% why it's consistent. Easier to learn when you always know what to look for.

EDIT: Except for the 1/4000 chance to be Nessie Squad ;)

It's Bilal. Surprise! He is single-handedly the root structure on which the garden of Apex is supported, the sunlight what lets the flowers of battle bloom, and the irrigation system what supplies the lifeblood of our BR.

All hail Bilal, glorious gardener of Apex Legends. Please upvote if Bilal should become a Legend in Apex.

The hardest to implement buffs/nerfs is a great question!

There are some that are just technically difficult, and involve multiple departments stepping out of their current production schedule to alter something fundamental to how the Legend was originally built. Rampart's change to mobilize Shiela was pretty challenging on this front. Turning it into a (functionally) an entirely new weapon, handling the desire to return it as a placeable or drop it were all really big challenges from an animation and engineering front that required a sizable effort from lots of teams. It also went against the fundamental initial counterplay of having an HMG in the game, and required a lot of iteration to find how to handle movement correctly.
We haven't specifically looked at Weapon-based passives as a means to reinvigorate older Legend's abilities. But as the game grows and playspaces press together, we definitely analyze older Legends for oppotunities to breath new life into, but i...

We absolutely believe it needs the laser tell to let you know you're being targeted by a Vantage Ult.

In early playtests before the laser was added Vantage players could target and oppress players for free at any point in the game.
It was very frustrating. Vantage didn't need to risk going for a care package, loot into the scope power, or even sacrifice a weapon for the long range advantage.
It only finally started to feel fair when there was a chance to know Vantage and her team were near, and it allowed us to balance the power. Like when Rampart pulls out Sheila, it was a warning that the character was using their power weapon Ultimate. This lets players anticipate the ultimate so they can look for cover, move, etc. Without it, there was no counterplay, and abilities need counterplay in Apex to feel fair.

SMG's have been quite a dominate force in Apex for some time. One of the major factors that contributes to this was their ability to use barrels to extend their range giving AR's a run for their money. When they were also the preferred CQC choice it starts to feel like they're a must-pick weapon type. This starts limiting decision making and loadout diversity so we wanted to shake it up and define our engagement ranges a little better this time around. The lasers enhance an SMG's CQC ability while simultaneously limiting their range by taking the place of barrels. Combining this addition with the AR hipfire nerfs creates a more cohesive balance between two weapon classes whose lines have begun to blur.

We're always going to be developing new ways to beam one another. But as the weapons roster continues to grow, its needs begin to change and lessen. Finding the right addition to the game that's not only fun to use but improves the weapons roster by filling in a missing design space or creating new meaningful gameplay becomes harder the more we add, balance, and refine. We're not really interested in slapping a new gun into the sandbox every season unless it's a meaningful addition. So we've slowed down our weapon releases to make sure we're growing at a sustainable pace and the sandbox is healthy and stable along the way.

The Throwing Knife was designed and built specifically for Gun Run. Everything about it from the animation timings, decisions on how ammo works, to the actual model and VFX were designed to support Gun Run and what we needed out of a final hype weapon in Apex- a very different design philosophy than creating something for the core BR. We're not currently thinking about a new class of weapons to enter the BR but as the dust settles and players get to experience and enjoy Gun Run and the Throwing Knife more opportunities might begin to present themselves.

I'm personally super happy with how the Survival Slot turned out, it's one of my favourite additions to the game and we're always prototyping and looking for more interesting ways to utilize that equipment slot. We're not ready to share anything yet but rest assured it's an area we're keen to explore.

This season we swung big at bringing some definition to the weapon classes and engagement ranges. AR's took a hit to close-quarters combat, SMG's were enhanced with Lasers, Marksmans and Snipers get some hop up love and ammo stack increases, and the list goes on. The Skullpiercer and enhancements to the long range weapons are only a part of the meta vision this season. Vantage entering the scene is absolutely something we considered and wanted to make sure players had viable tools to synergize with and combat against our exciting new legend!

These are interesting ideas!

Generally, when we consider making abilities that can be re-positioned we need to ensure they're serving to solve a problem with the kit, while still offering clear counterplay and not breaking the identity of the character.

Vantage repositioning Echo makes sense, because the ability hasn't been used yet. Newcastle walking his shield forward is a core part of his kit identity and play pattern.

Currently, there are no plans to adapt these patterns to Crypto or Lifeline.

Many of the comments in this thread do a good job outlining the differences between the two abilities that give merit to the different handling of their cooldowns.
Pathfinder's change was an answer to a problem in the game that a longer cooldown did not solve alone.

In Loba's case, the use-cases and outputs are very different. The longer cooldown makes you think about the most effective time to use it - which is often for escape or high ground repositioning.

A shorter cooldown would lead to less conservation of the ability, and more repetitive, untrackable mid-combat evasion.

At present, we're not seeing any egregious issues with her playstyle or balance that would warrant this type of change.

Gibraltar's been on our radar for a while, but has been difficult to slap an easy nerf with his low pick rate (since the bleedthrough change to his arm shield).
And the desire to make him more enjoyable to play is still the ideal to couple with a change to his bubble or any of the suggestions here.
However, In Season 14, we made changes to Newcastle to improve his viability and provide an alternative option at the competitive level to Gibraltar and we've seen some positive traction pulling weight off Gibby as the must-pick anchor/support for the team. Additionally, with the rise of Seer, Gibraltar's revives are also not quite as free anymore and aggressive teams have more opportunities to push.
Given the shake-up we've seen on the competitive scene recently, we're currently evaluating the evolving meta to see if any actual adjustments are needed for Gibraltar at this time.
The game and the meta is constantly changing, and as a goal, we try to ensure that changes...

Yeah, we've seen a lot of suggestions from the community on ideas for Lifeline.
It's awesome to see how passionate people are to show her more love and give her more power!
Lifeline is one of our most popular and approachable Legends and people gravitate to her for her style, her role and how easy it is to understand her abilities.
If we end up looking into additional Lifeline buffs or reworks, we will be considering angles that preserve her Combat Medic identity, ensure that she has her own playstyle that doesn't overlap directly with other Legends or their abilities and solves problems with her current kit to improve her competitive viability without sacrificing her ease of play.
This approach is something we like to do with all our Legends to ensure that any change we make answers the problem correctly without causing new issues in the game, or sacrificing the identity of the Legend itself.

Just because a passive has been around for a while, doesn't mean it doesn't still have value.
Generally, we prioritize changes to Legends that have problems to be solved, or have an imbalance in power that allows them to dominate unfairly or prevents them from being competitively viable.

At present, we don't feel that Wraith is victim to these concerns in a way that adjusting her passive would address.

Ditto on the Legends side.

Though we often ask the Legends themselves what ice cream flavour they prefer first.

None that we have set.
Screens can change. Impact on the game is the larger concern.
We want to release Legends that have ownable playspaces and bring value to the squad.
But as the roster grows, this task gets harder, and we also want to ensure that we're not just bringing new powerful Legends to Apex but that older Legends still have a viable place in the landscape.
It's important that we take the time to do this for the health and future of the game.