July 2020
Hello EA, hello respawn and hello dear community,
First of all: thank you. You really gave the gaming scene a present with your game. Apex Legends is not just a battle royale.
However, problems are piling up and your community expects changes. I represent Parts of the Community and address the following points, which are discussed online again and again, be it on Reddit, Discord, YouTube or Twitter.
There is always an upper point with various sub-points.
Events:
Apex Legends Events are always a great thing. There is always a limited time mode, tons of new cosmetics and some free cosmetics.
Basically, you can only say thank you, because cosmetics do not change the game (pay to win) and you also get free objects when completing challenges. And if you don't care about cosmetics, you can enjoy the limited time mode.
The whole thing is not that easy because after 9 events we get the feeling that it's not always about content.
LTMs:
For 17 months we've had 16 LTMs: (Apex Elite Queue / Solos / Armed and Dangerous / Shadowfall / Duos / Winter Express / Gold Rush Duos / Live Die.Live / Third-Person / Armed and Dangerous: World's Edge / Always be closing / Dummies Big Day / Kings Canyon After Dark / Déjáloot / Battle Armor / Armed and Dangerous Evolved).
I understand that Shadowfall and Winter Express can only come back on Halloween and Christmas and that the Apex Elite Queue was a predecessor of the Ranked System. But what about the remaining 12 LTMs? Except for duos, which I will talk about again, we have no alternative to the normal game.
Content creators like BackOFFmyJanKz, ITemp Plays, Staycation, SooXfar and many more have been complaining about this for months like the community. Any other Battle Royale can do it. The fact that public matches are the heart of the game is undisputed and clear. But a mode next to it would be more than just refreshing. I only notice how good the main game feels when I play a few rounds of Armed and Dangerous. How about if the above-named LTMs would alternate every week? A week of gold rush, then a week of always be closing, a week of armed and dangerous and then a week of solos? So you would also have a solution for the part of the community that cries out for solos. You would never have to permanently integrate solos into the game, which you don't want because it harms the game because it doesn't use the ping system. And if you have an event that includes a new LTM, you can switch off the LTM category for these two weeks to draw attention to the new LTM. Think about what a rotating LTM category would mean for content creators. Apex usually has around 40,000 viewers on Twitch. Compared to the battle royale scene, to put it mildly, there is room for improvement. Half-hearted gossip titles get twice as much attention on YouTube. In addition, there is no extreme vacuum from season start to event. So you win time for events.
Cosmetics: (I know you don't talk about money, but)
I understand the idea that heirlooms should make you feel exclusive. Everyone should be able to have it but you should be able to stand out and feel special with it. But it is not anti-social to deny this feeling to the general public. The 0815 Apex player has no 168 Dollar (24 items x 7 Dollar per pack) for in-game cosmetics. And for 2400 crafting metals you would have to end the Battlepass two seasons in a row in order to then acquire a legendary event object in the third season.
We usually get a collective event per season. This includes 24 cosmetic items that deal with the same topic as the Battlepass: in Season 4 we got Perfect Soldier Wraith and CyberPunk Wattson. 6 weeks later there were 24 cosmetics at the System Override Event, which dealt with the same topic. Also now at Season 5. Battlepass and Lost Treasures Event deal with the topic of treasure hunt etc.
So if we only get one event per season anyway, why shouldn't you be able to afford all the objects? YouTube Content Creater can afford that. But your community is not made up of young entrepreneurs. We are students, pupils, trainees or workers. Not everybody can spend so much on in-game cosmetics. You know that too, and you see that too. How about spending two to three dollar per apex pack? The community is full of people who are willing to spend 50-60 dollar for all event objects together. If someone bought a heirloom at today's prices, 15-20 people would buy the entire event objects at lower prices. On Reddit, your community is making fun of your prizes. There can be no reason for this Prices. I understand that you have to make profit somewhere, but flat the curve. Instead of earning money from only 2% of your community, you'd better earn with reasonable prices of 40-60% of your community. That flushes you in more money and everyone pays less. That would be win win for everyone. At the moment it feels more like you really have to be rich to decorate your game.
The YouTuber Staycation made a video of this at the Iron Crown Event last summer named: "WHY RESPAWN ...".
If you also compare the prices for legendary skins with the competition, Apex Legends deals with usury prices. For example, we pay for the Vengeance Seeker Wraith Skin 1800 AC, which is 18 dollar. At Warzone you get a legendary operator skin, two legendary weapon skins, an epic melee weapon (heirloom), an epic watch, an epic calling card, an emblem, an epic quip, an epic finishing move and a battlepass level for 24 dollar. Just so we understand what we're dealing with here: 1 skin at Apex against 10 objects at Warzone.
So the prices have to go down somehow. However, as I have explained, you do not make any losses as a result, on the contrary: you make more profit because you address and serve a larger audience.
Game quality:
I think it's great that you update the game with all the updates and mix up the meta a bit (yes, even as a Pathfinder main).
We just can't get rid of the feeling that the quality of the game suffers with every update. For example, after the Bloodhound event in April, the game crashed noticeably more often than before.
Many simply canceled their rankgrind because there was no reconnect at the time. The result was -96 points at Diamond, which for example robbed me of the opportunity to achieve the last season master.
Well, Reconnect doesn't change that much either. Because a reconnect is of no use to me if I am just frozen during it and then die at reconnect. The game just shouldn't crash as often anymore. That is the only thing that helps.
DDOS:
I don't know how many have experienced this, but DDOS attacks are increasing. SoaR Kobi has uploaded a video entitled "These Issues Are A HUGE Reason Why People Are Quitting Apex Legends". I have experienced this myself a few times on the PS4.
Weapons / balance:
You promised us at the beginning that every season a new weapon would find its way into the game. So far you have given us the Havoc, the L-Star, the Chargerifle and the Sentinel. Below I would like to explain why you shoot yourself in the leg with the statement "We don't want to flood the weapon pool and test whether a new weapon really offers added value for the game".
The L-Star was added to the game in Season 2. It was dubbed LMG, but came with a digital threat visor, which is actually only intended for smgs, pistols and shotguns. but an LMG normally serves, e.g. Spitfire or Devotion, Midrange. The L-Star was never developed for mid-range or long-range, see Titanfall. Because it was a care package weapon, however, nobody really noticed this as hardly anyone played with it. In Season 4, however, you could find them everywhere on the map. And if you land on the L-Star you can run amok without any Gunskill in the first minutes of the game. Nothing and nobody is safe from you as long as you have a right thumb. You have offspawn 35 shots until the weapon overheats, you can spam upclose as much as possible and your opponents will not see you as long as you fire in their direction, because the bullets, i mean balls! that you fire are so big that your opponents are melt down before they even know where to shoot to hit you. All in all, the L-Star is unbalanced and will remain unbalanced.
The Chargerifle was introduced in Season 3 as a sniper rifle. Initially overpowered, it became a 4-shot noobgun after countless nerfs. There is no way to get more shots because Snipermags do not fit the Chargerifle. Even a sniper stock does not bring you at all because the weapon is 100% accurate, so there is no bullet drop. At the most, you pull them out a little faster, which is basically not important for a sniper because you don't use ist under hectic like a r99 or Flatline. It has now deteriorated and is no longer played.
The Sentinel is fun, yes. But was it really necessary? It is actually an inverted longbow. It does more damage, but shoots slower. Basically the little brother of the Kraber. The charge function is cool, yes. But that's it. Why is there so much sniper traffic in a battle royale that lives from tactics and hectic. This does not go down well in the community. Snipers have never been meta in Apex Legends due to the fact that you cannot take anyone completely out of the game with a sniper shot. By the time you push, the one is on its feet again, healed and welcomes you with an autoprowler.
So those were all weapons since Season 2. According to my opinion, none of the weapons added value to the game. Instead, we have been playing with 2 SMGs for 17 months, one of them came in burst mode (the Alternator is certainly not a bad weapon, compared to the Prowler or the R99, it pulls the shorter one). Without mentioning the leaked weapons: we need more SMGs.
Duos:
First of all, thank you for duos. Even if the mode suffers extremely from game developments, I think it's good that we have an alternative to trios at all. However, duos do not bring a new gaming experience. Yes, it's easier to win a 1v2 than a 1v3, but overall, as a solo player, you have no advantage. And most of your community play solo. Rather, you only have one team mate, who leaves the game after being knocked anyway. The game does not change positively through duos. It's nice that there are duos. But it doesn't really add value to the game.
Level 500:
I would like to say in advance that this does not affect very many. However, I find it a little sad that you don't get any rewards after reaching level 500.
I haven't been very lucky with legendary skins and heirloomshards. I have been level 500 for a few months and I get nothing other than legend tokens (which are really senseless by the way and are of no use except for new legends or recolors). I think it's cool that when you reach level 500 you get at least 1200 crafting metals once. I mean, someone who reaches level 500 is probably a loyal fan and plays a lot. Accordingly, you can reward someone at least once. (This has been requested very often on Discord and Reddit, so I'll include it here)
I love Apex Legends as much as you can love a game. It's a really, really extraordinary title. However, I see the trend that Apex is no longer expanding and ist is becoming a niche thing that has its loyal fan base but can no longer convince new players. If I didn’t care about Apex, I wouldn’t have collect problems and proposed solutions from the community for several days. I hope the best for everyone: EA, Respawn and the Commuity. Certainly something has to change.
Peace out.
ps. I am not a native english speaker. I’m german. sorry for my english grammer mrs. müller (my former english teacher)