{"id":9641,"date":"2024-02-05T03:35:47","date_gmt":"2024-02-05T03:35:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/topat10.com\/?p=9641"},"modified":"2024-02-05T03:35:47","modified_gmt":"2024-02-05T03:35:47","slug":"apex-legends-cover-story-living-legends","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/topat10.com\/?p=9641","title":{"rendered":"Apex Legends Cover Story – Living Legends"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n<\/p>\n

\n

Introduction<\/p>\n

A smokescreen blankets the war-torn street. Squadmates eliminated and health dangerously low, you fling your teleportation bracelet toward a distant building and slip away from the firefight. Once inside, you press your body to the front door and pop a regenerative Phoenix Kit, vitality slowly returning with each second. But the healing process is halted when Seer stuns you through the wall with his micro-drone scanner. As the enemy nears, you ready your Peacekeeper shotgun. Seer\u2019s steel boot connects with the door; it crumbles into glass-metal shards, but you don\u2019t flinch. You line up the shot, weapon hissing uncontrollably, and \u2026<\/p>\n

Bang!<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n
\"\"<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n

Clash of the Titans<\/p>\n

CLASH OF THE TITANS<\/h2>\n

The Battle Royale genre\u2019s (BR) impact on the competitive shooter scene is undeniable. Take, for example, Daybreak\u2019s H1Z1. The three-year early access marvel might be a relic by today\u2019s standards, but Brendan \u201cPlayerUnknown\u201d Greene\u2019s consultation work on it informed his later game, PlayerUnknown\u2019s Battlegrounds, which then inspired Fortnite. Treyarch followed suit with Call of Duty: Black Ops 4\u2019s Blackout mode (the first iteration of what we now know as Warzone). And then Respawn Entertainment joined the lobby.<\/p>\n

By early 2019, Respawn had flown under the radar for almost two years. Titanfall 2 dropped in 2016 and was lauded for its fluid gameplay and explosive mech battles, but sales were lower than expected. Several DLCs throughout 2017 kept dedicated fans satisfied, but 2018 was a period of radio silence \u2013 because the team\u2019s next massive project was underway. On February 4, 2019, Respawn launched Apex Legends. When we asked about the general secrecy and surprise release five years ago, former executive producer Drew McCoy emphasized transparency. This might seem contradictory, but McCoy told us the decision was a power move.<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n
\"\"<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n

\u201cWe know this game has skepticism around it,\u201d McCoy said. \u201cIt\u2019s not Titanfall 3. It\u2019s battle royale, which, for some people, is a fad right now. Instead of trying to convince a skeptical audience with marketing and interviews, why not just let the game speak for itself? The best antidote for any skepticism is to see and hopefully believe.\u201d<\/p>\n

If seeing truly is believing, Apex Legends is a prime example of the adage. Respawn\u2019s Titanfall-themed BR touted a free-to-play model, responsive gunplay\/physics due to an upgraded Source engine, and diverse playable characters that resonated with a growing audience. Revolutionary new mechanics \u2013 a non-verbal Ping System and Respawn Beacons \u2013 changed players\u2019 understanding of in-game communication while also deconstructing the one-life-per-match rule that made the genre equally exhilarating and frustrating. In eight hours, the hero shooter drew over one million unique players. And by the end of February, it surpassed 50 million (also earning a whopping $92 million through in-game purchases), at the time, eclipsing even Fortnite\u2019s impressive growth trajectory. The greatest form of flattery is imitation, so it\u2019s no surprise that Apex\u2019s various unique features made their way to other prominent BRs. And a healthy end-of-the-year awards season was just the icing on the cake.<\/p>\n

From Christmas-themed locations and ever-changing maps to overhauled legend roles and the recent Final Fantasy VII crossover, Respawn gradually redefined its approach to battle royale. And now, half a decade later, the team is gearing up for a titanic shift with Season 20: Breakout. We visited the studio\u2019s Vancouver office, played hours of new content, and spoke with leadership and numerous game, art, and narrative designers about their design pillars, the evolution of Apex, and some of the biggest updates on the horizon.<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n
\"\"<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n

Sitrep<\/p>\n

SITREP<\/h2>\n

The Vancouver office is pristine. Its expansive second floor is awash with elaborate Apex murals; a striking timberwood staircase towers over the workspace. Out beyond an endless row of window walls, a chill mist engulfs the horizon. Despite the bitter cold and somber, milky skyline, there\u2019s an air of excitement among the few devs scattered throughout the common area: Today is Season 20 playtest day.<\/p>\n

Game director Steven Ferreira and design director Evan Nikolich plop down in front of me on an L-shaped sofa. When I ask them to speak about their five-year battle royale journey, both stress the importance of community feedback and adaptability. Live service games foster rapid, sometimes brutal, workflows, but the two directors enjoy the challenges of the content-heavy format.<\/p>\n

\u201cI’ve been working on live service games for 12 years now,\u201d Nikolich starts. \u201cAnd I much prefer it in terms of having that direct connection with the player. You’re building the game alongside and for them instead of for yourself.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n
\"\"<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n

That methodology extends to Season 20, which Ferreira hopes will be a suitable answer to widespread gripes with match difficulty. There\u2019s nothing worse than getting steamrolled instantaneously by a premade squad of rare-badged Apex Predators, but, of course, backend countermeasures are in place to help remedy that issue. A lengthy Respawn blog post from January 2023 dove into the various matchmaking combinations used to categorize players, from straightforward skill comparisons to optimizing wait times. But at its core, Season 20 is all about leveling the playing field.<\/p>\n

\u201cApex is hard,\u201d Ferreira admits. \u201cI think as we look back retrospectively \u2013 as we added more features and as the community just got better and better with the game itself \u2013 the difficulty floor kept rising. There are just a lot of stone-cold killers out there in the community. So, what we\u2019re trying to do is reset the table a bit. And find ways to get new players, who just aren’t as far on the competitive spectrum, a window to engage and fall in love with Apex the way that we’ve all had that opportunity to fall in love with it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Among a bevy of incoming features, including a 120-hertz performance setting and haptics for PlayStation 5 controllers, two major updates are set to improve the experience for players of all levels: a legend-based progression system and a new limited-time mode (LTM) that accelerates the BR formula. Both directors assert this latest Season is a new arc, and in the spirit of Drew McCoy\u2019s statement in 2019, the design process continues to spotlight transparency. An overhauled Match Summary (post-game report) is a testament to this, revealing the behind-the-scenes scoring system for Ranked and informing competitors about why they won or lost their matches. Asynchronous tournaments also roll out later this year, giving players more ways to compete at all skill levels. For Respawn, transparency seems to be synonymous with approachability.<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n
\"\"<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

According to lead progression designer Chris \u201cC4\u201d Cleroux, Ranked\u2019s new \u201cChallenger\u201d and \u201cTop 5 Streak\u201d bonuses will up the stakes<\/p>\n<\/article>\n

POWER TRIP: Evolving With Legend Upgrades<\/p>\n

POWER TRIP: Evolving With Legend Upgrades<\/h2>\n

Metas across all prominent shooters are in constant flux, and they should be. Apex Legends is no stranger to the multiplayer-centric phenomenon, as surges in character, weapon, and strategy combinations are often strong indicators of mechanical depth and experimentation. As lead legend designer Devan McGuire and game designer John Larson explain the philosophies behind Apex\u2019s latest features, I immediately recall Nikolich\u2019s fascination with designing alongside players.<\/p>\n

Since launch, Respawn has played an active role in meta alterations, removing popular weapons like the R-301 carbine and Wingman revolver from the standard loot pool and placing them in rare care packages or Replicators (crafting machines) to encourage the usage of other neglected firearms. Even legends with skewed win rates got modifications, leading to more diversified and dynamic battles. Some changes, however, were more extreme than others. Revenant, a legend first introduced in 2020, was the subject of a total rework in Season 18 that saw his pick rate increase by over 90 percent. Balancing updates might not be unique to Apex Legends, but this Season is slated to shake up future patches in unconventional ways.<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n
\"\"<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Only healing items can be crafted now. Thankfully, the process is instantaneous and free of charge, but once you’ve used a Replicator, you\u2019ll need to track down another one to make more gear<\/p>\n<\/article>\n

McGuire tells me Season 16\u2019s major class updates laid the groundwork for Season 20\u2019s new progression system. Legends fall under five distinct classes\u2014Assault, Skirmisher, Recon, Controller, or Support\u2014and class-specific perks expand upon these categories with new abilities. Recons, for instance, gain access to Survey Beacons scattered around the map, revealing enemy locations for 30 seconds. Support capabilities, on the other hand, are two-fold. Legends like Gibraltar and Newcastle can open hidden shelves in blue-colored supply bins, gifting their squad extra healing items in a pinch, while their invaluable ability to craft Respawn Banners increases the chance of late-game comebacks. Season 20 will build upon this blueprint by introducing bite-sized skill trees.<\/p>\n

\u201cClass upgrades reinvigorated the meta and changed the way people thought about the game strategically,\u201d McGuire says. \u201cWe wanted to take another stab at getting more intimate with the characters themselves, diving into the types of builds that can be made.\u201d Larson doubles down on this: \u201cLegends remain relatively static amidst all the variables in a BR. You pick them at the start of the match, and that choice is constant throughout. So, we recognize that people express themselves or have playstyles with a certain legend. We wanted to explicitly lean into that a bit more in terms of allowing players to make these choices that scale across the course of a match. That felt compelling and worth exploring.\u201d<\/p>\n