Sabotage in Cloud City

Defiance will be a major map update at the floating battlefield Olympus. The developers explain that this location almost fell from the sky after an act of sabotage, which is the reason why players will notice numerous changes in the upcoming – Season . The city now hovers much lower above the Earth’s surface, which can be noticed in the changed skybox. The southern part of Olympus has been expanded by the developers to draw players’ interest to this area with two new locations.

The first area is a large construction called “Phase Driver”. The “Phase Driver” is the one responsible for the accident that almost reduced the city to rubble. There you will find high quality loot, but you will only get it if you reveal your position. You’ll have to use a teleporter that will make a loud bang, alerting all nearby teams to your presence. The second new location is called “Terminal” and it is located very close to the phase runner. In addition, there will be a new terrain zone that will have some malfunctions, making it different from other regions of the map. All these innovations should encourage players to explore the southern part of the map a bit more than they have so far.

In addition to these changes, next week’s Defiance update introduces new routes for players to traverse the central Mount Olympus. The placement of surveillance transmitters and jump towers have also been revised to encourage players to take other routes. Last but not least, fully packed loot chests will be placed in several locations to allow players to start their match in a less crowded main location. By the way, in addition to Olympus, – Season 12: Defiance will rotate the Stormpoint and King’s Canyon maps.

Control

This new game mode pits two teams of nine players against each other. Respawn recommends that the team split into three core teams of three Legends each, so that the basic Apex Legends experience is preserved, at least to some degree. Gameplay changes immediately with the larger teams in practice, however, of course, as Battle Royale influences have been largely removed to create a more streamlined experience. For example, players die immediately after being shot down, shields regenerate faster, and players carry infinite ammo.

In this mode, loot collection has been reduced as much as possible, as players start with basic equipment. Better items are obtained either from eliminated enemies or through a new scoring system. Respawn has come up with a system that rates a player’s impact during a match. Those who diligently take objectives on the map and eliminate enemies in the process will have a higher rating than those players who prefer to stay out of harm’s way and thus die less often. Those who increase their rating and achieve a higher rank will be rewarded with better equipment that will give you an advantage in combat.

Since the loot phase in this game mode has been cut back so much, it raises the question of how Respawn Entertainment will handle legendaries that give the team an active loot advantage. According to game designer David Swieczko, there will be no changes to the corresponding legends (Lifeline and Loba) in this game mode, as Control “is intended to help casual players learn how to play these characters.”.

It’s worth noting that Control is only a temporary game mode that will eventually leave Apex Legends. Respawn Entertainment has nevertheless gone to the trouble of taking existing battle locations from the available Battle Royale maps and making small changes to them. Control will be playable for about three weeks starting February 8, and according to game designer Mark Yampolsky, player interest will determine whether the mode will return one day. For now, he said, the fun is only intended to be a one-time in-game event.

Changes to the game balance

Specific patch notes will be released in the coming days, however we have already received some rough key points. Caustic and Crypto abilities will be slightly reworked and there will be some changes to certain weapon attachments (Kinetic Feeder, Hammerpoint Rounds, Shatter Caps). In addition, more items will be added to the crafting system and players will have to say goodbye to the Volt SMG. The weapon will be removed from the loot pool for the time being and the Alternator will return instead. In the future, the EVA-8 Auto shotgun will be revamped and the team wants to give the Legend Gibraltar a balancing patch in the future. In addition, balance designer John Larson reveals to us that they will be “Crypto with security on [ihrem] Radar” have.

Mad Maggie

When the legend Fuse was initiated, we also met Maggie and learned that the two have been friends since childhood. The two were something of partners in crime until Fuse wanted to join the Apex Games. A fight ensued, Fuse lost an arm, and the friendship broke up. Shortly after, Maggie decided to blow up King’s Canyon and since then she has been considered a felon. The woman was caught and (as in the latest “Stories from the Outlands”-Trailer shown) is doomed to die at the Apex Games. However, Maggie is a pretty tough person and she won’t surrender to her fate without a fight. This means that the popular Battle Royale tournament will soon have a fearsome new competitor.

Maggie’s accent reveals that she is from New Zealand. She is a descendant of the Maori, the indigenous people of New Zealand, and therefore she often uses terms and expressions that originate from that community. Sam Gill, “Narrative Lead” at Respawn Entertainment, explained: “The second we [uns darauf einigen konnten], that she would come from New Zealand, we knew it was an opportunity and maybe a responsibility – because she would be Maori. She speaks Maori in the game… and that’s when we knew: […] ‘There’s no way we can’t put her in the games.'”

At its core, this aggressive legend is designed to wreak havoc and chaos on the battlefield. To accommodate this, Respawn has developed skills that draw enemies out in different ways. Their passive talent is called “Warlord’s Rage” and it brings two advantages.

First, Maggie has no movement disadvantage when carrying a shotgun. Consequently, she can run across the map with a Peacekeeper in hand just as quickly as players whose weapons are holstered. Maggie is also able to mark enemies she has dealt damage to for a short period of time. This ability is specific to Maggie, so it does not help your team in the same way that a full scout could.

Maggie’s tactical ability is called “Riot Drill” and with it you break through cover and protected areas to corner barricaded enemies. This way you can penetrate a metal barrier, for example, and even the protective dome of Gibraltar is not safe from the drill.

Your ultimate ability is a wrecking ball, which is repelled in line of sight and bounces off objects until it either rams an enemy or runs out of time. Then it explodes, dealing some damage and knocking back nearby enemies. When you’re behind the sphere, you get a speed boost that lets you close the distance to enemies.

Maggie’s chaotic nature to wreak a lot of havoc, especially in enclosed spaces, is what gameplay engineer Chris Winder refers to as “one of the biggest development challenges”. This legend is thus excellent against teams that prefer a slower, more defensive style of play. Maggie’s hard counter is Wattson, as her pylon destroys both the Wrecking Ball and the Drill Head as soon as the projectiles come into range.

The third birthday and the rest of the year

Defiance overlaps with the game’s third birthday, which will lure players back into the game regularly with free gifts in the coming weeks. From February 8 to 15, users will receive Octane as well as three Lootboxes when they connect to the game. The second week, February 15-22, will see Wattson and more packs, before Valkyrie and even more lootboxes are distributed to players from February 22 to March 1.

Game director Steven Ferreira told us that there are supposedly more “surprises” for Apex Legends, though he would not tell us anything further. When the question about future Legends came up, especially in relation to supporting and healing characters, Chris Winder said: “We may have a few things in the pipeline”., which is not indicative of anything.

The development team also used their info panel to tell us what other content players can expect for the rest of the year. Design Director Evan Nikolich said: “We want to be the best competitive shooter out there. It should be fun to play by yourself and super addictive to watch. That is to say. [Battle-Royale-Modus] must evolve. We want to attract players who may have been marginal but are interested in the Apex universe.” To achieve this “we need to do a better job of teaching players how to play the game. […] We will start, [Limited Time Modes] to create that teaches you the skills of how to use the [Battle-Royale-Modus] plays and we will take lessons from old [Event-Spielmodi] pick up […], in order to make future decisions.”

Following this, a question was asked about the native versions of Apex Legends on Xbox Series and Playstation 5. Ferreira told us that there would be more details very soon and that Respawn Entertainment plans to add more features to the technically advanced platforms with each new – Season as they become available. Ferreira also briefly mentioned mobile devices, suggesting that it shouldn’t be too long before we can play Apex Legends Mobile on iOS and Android.