Over the past few seasons, the developers of Apex Legends have worked to open the game, both with a massive new map and by adding a temporary game mode that replaces the royal battle with a more traditional team game of death. On May 10, they present another new legend in the arena with Newcastle and make changes that can help players focus on teamwork.
Season 13 of Apex Legends is titled Lifeguards, which matches Newcastle’s set of abilities that keep his teammates alive longer to help them win battles. While many leaks over the last few months have ruined some of the surprises, seeing it in action is a whole different thing. He has a passive ability that is different from any character we’ve seen before, with the ability to not only protect downed teammates while reviving them, but can also pull them to safety. The shield’s power level increases if Newcastle wears a higher-level knockdown shield, which adds another setting to an often overlooked element.
Image: Respawn Entertainment
His tactical ability, which players can use periodically between cools, is a howling energy shield. We didn’t get time to test the game to try it out, but from what the developers said during the briefing, it sounds like it will be easy to control during battle, allowing players to turn and move the shield to to advance against the enemy or to keep his back until he retreats. In a game where “third parties” attack every time they shoot, having a controllable shield to cover extra corners can change a lot.
Finally, his supreme ability sees Newcastle jump long distances, strike his shield into the ground, and quickly build a “castle wall” for protection. This was highlighted in the trailer for the new season, where it was presented, but a key element of the game in Newcastle is that you will be able to cover even greater distances by targeting your teammates before activating it, which will carry it higher and farther to them for heroic salvation.
While other legends have abilities that can help their teammates, this one actually uses them to improve it, so maybe the next random players you’re in a trio with will actually consider working together. As usual, while the game itself is free to play, unlocking the new character requires 12,000 Legend Tokens, which players can earn by playing the game or with 750 Apex coins. Coins that you can also win in the game in a variety of ways, but are mostly obtained by buying them, with prices starting at $ 9.99 per 1,000 coins.
‘The Downed Beast’ POI Image: Respawn Entertainment ‘The Downed Beast’ alternate angle Image: Respawn Entertainment
Team play is the theme of the new season, as it relates to changes in the massive map of Storm Point and an updated approach to scoring and progress for anyone who dives into the ranked gameplay. The Storm Point map seems to have solved the problem of permanent third parties, but has been criticized by some players and streamers as too big and too scattered to be fun, as some people said they could go around the map for a game and not see everyone. For the new season, “the detailed global tuning pass was crucial to improving the overall gameplay from minute to minute” on the map, based on telemetry and player data collected since its addition.
There is a new location on the map, as the huge sea creature that was killed in the trailer for season 13 is already part of the action as POI “Blown Beast”, which should give players more reasons to visit an unloved corner of the map. The other big change that players will see comes from four IMC Armories that have sprung up from the underground. With callbacks to the Titanfall games, they are an opportunity for squads to enter and fight waves of Specter robots in 60 seconds. The more robots you put in, the more equipment you get as a reward before you drop out of the armory to move on the map. The doors are locked while the players are inside, so you don’t have to worry about other teams interrupting before it’s over.
Finally, among all the other balance changes coming to Apex Legends in the new season, Respawn announced a top-down change in the way it rates player performance in ranked modes.
As we noted when it was introduced in 2019, the ranked mode invites you to accumulate points based on how many other players you kill or where your team ends up in each round. Generally speaking, the longer you last, the more points you get and the more players you kill, the more points you get. If your teammate gets killed, it doesn’t affect your score unless you’ve been able to get an assist. As you climb to a higher rank, you can earn more points, but starting each game costs you points, so if you don’t perform well, you won’t move up. The key is to keep the game fresh for experienced players and give them a goal to continue to pursue.
Apex ranked the score when it debuted in 2019. Image: Respawn Entertainment
This season, the developers changed the score to reward players more for surviving more than their opponents, but this created some problems, as players could catch up permanently, simply by hiding until the end of the game, when they were left alone. several teams. In addition, Apex Legends kept the highest-ranking players they reached, so anyone who started losing more points than they could potentially win back in a season had little incentive to maintain the same level of effort or work with teammates. .
Under the new system, trying to rise in the ranks to become an Apex Predator will have more to do with your team’s performance than ever before. Respawn broke the changes here, but just to note, now the number of points you get for killing will change depending on where you end up. If you kill a few opponents, but still be eliminated early, it is a loss in the eyes of the developers and you will probably lose points instead of winning them. On the other hand, if you stick to the last two or three teams, but fail to kill anyone, the points you get will not be nearly enough to help you make real progress.
Also, players will now receive points when one of the team gets killed. Whether you are on the whole map doing nothing, or you are a team player like me who is bravely shot so that your teammates have the opportunity to attack from the flank, you will be rewarded. Players can also drop out of the levels they are in if they lose enough points. With all the changes combined, it seems that it will be difficult to achieve the highest levels available, but in a way that more justly rewards those who play the game on purpose.
Otherwise, Respawn has confirmed that Apex Legends Mobile will launch on Android and iOS later this month, but there are not many other details yet. We also haven’t heard of any fixes or changes to the 4K console versions of the game, which debuted in late March. Apex Legends: Saviors will be available when season 13 kicks off on May 10 for Switch, PlayStation, Xbox and PC.
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