When Apex Legends first launched back in February 2019, it seems safe to say that it exploded, as within hours, it had passed the 2.5 million unique player mark. Within a week, that number reached 25 million, and by the end of the first month, it reached 50 million. Many thought it would be the next big battle royale, one determined to surpass Fortnite, and while that didn’t prove to be the case, it still took home the multiplayer game of the year award at TGA this year.
One key detail about this genre is how it often grows and changes, adding variety and replayability to the typically straightforward and standard shooter genre. As such, Apex Legends itself has introduced, added, and changed some things to help make it what it is today. Here are the biggest of those changes.
New Characters
It seems Apex Legends has an established pattern of introducing one new character to the game per season, meaning that thus far there has only been 3 new characters added to the battle royale title. It’s easy enough to say that Respawn Entertainment should try to improve this aspect of the game in 2020, but at the same time, it’s an admirable enough schedule to avoid crunch time.
As such, Apex Legends 3 2019 characters are Season 1’s Octane, Season 2’s Wattson, and Season 3’s Crypto. Octane is a speedy combatant who was loved at release, for his in-game abilities and overall character design are top notch. Wattson, then, joined Caustic and Gibraltar in the Tank/trapper subclass, electrifying the battle field and adding a new level of tactical gameplay to the fold. And then Crypto joined Bloodhound as the second scout/tracker class in the game, meaning players have to keep their eyes on the sky in case of Crypto drones.
In short, each character brought something new with them, an attribute that hopefully carries over into the new year.
New Map, New Meta
There’s a good chance some characters miss the original King’s Canyon, which did undergo some slight changes in Season 2, but adding World’s Edge in Season 3 was a good choice. It changed up the entire meta, the best locations, how to acquire loot, and was almost like playing a brand new game. It’ll be nice to see if players eventually get the choice of playing on World’s Edge or King’s Canyon, but either way, this has added a lot of variability and replayability to the game.
Speaking of, the addition of a new map and the aforementioned new characters mean the overall meta of Apex Legends has changed. Octane, in conjunction with certain Apex Legends team compositions, sped up the combat, whereas Wattson’s tactical would slow it down. Before, players would need to rely on Bloodhound to track foes, but now there’s more options.
This can be taken even further with the various tweaks to how golden/legendary Apex Legends items work and how certain weaker characters like Gibraltar have received buffs. On top of that, Apex Legends also increased its level cap from 100 to 500, likely as a result of all the max level players, but the bottom line is that the game is always in flux. That’s a good thing, indeed.
New Guns
As with each season adding a new character, each season has also added a new weapon. This is another department where some may ask for more, but it has worked out so far. Each weapon category has 3-4 weapons, so while relatively small compared to other shooters, Apex Legends’ arsenal is also mostly balanced—mostly. Since launch, the Havoc AR, the L-Star EMG, and the Charge Rifle have all been added to the game, with each playing a distinct, perhaps even niche, role in the meta of its particular category.
Furthermore, while they aren’t guns, Apex Legends has added more Heirloom sets to the game. These are ultra rare melee item skins that help distinguish a player, and when the game launched in February, Wraith was the only character with one: Wraith’s Knife/Kunai. Since then and across multiple events, Bloodhound has received the Raven’s Bite, Lifeline has received the Shock Batons, and Pathfinder has received its Boxing Gloves. These are rare and pricey items, indeed, but they’re also the biggest bragging right in the game should someone get lucky enough to unlock them.
Battle Pass
The Battle Pass has remained rather constant, though many agree that the Season 2 Battle Pass was better than the first season. This was due to the innovative choices by Apex Legends, such as the Skydive emotes. However, while there is innovative designs, the overall Battle Pass is something that could be improved upon in 2020. Specifically, Apex Legends still needs better high-tier rewards, as Season 2 rewarded the final Octane skin at level 75, and Season 3 does this even sooner, giving players the final Lifeline Skin at level 53. As such, there’s little-to-no bragging rights associated with this skin.
Events
One big complaint about Apex Legends shortly after its launch was how long it took for something in-game to happen. Compared to Fortnite’s seemingly endless stream of in-game events, big and small in terms of scope, this seemed to be a lackluster detail in many eyes. Yet, as 2019 trudged on, Respawn Entertainment managed to bring this back by including Town Takeovers including Octane, Wraith, and Mirage; new collection events, not entirely unlike the controversial Iron Crown event, which it seems to have learned from; Apex Legends’ limited-time modes like singles and duos; and new seasonal events, like the Fright or Fight event and the Holo-Day Bash. Simply put, 2020 is shaping up to be a good year for the battle royale title.
Apex Legends is out now for PC, PS4, and Xbox One.
