January 2020 - last edited January 2020
@chiefthunderball When low profile and fortified were first announced I did the math to see the changes in damage taken, and they were all pretty negligible until fortified got bumped up to 15%. Low profile was, and still is, a nerf in name only to "encourage" players to play other characters. Instead of buffing other characters to make their kits more viable (Mirage), to make them work properly (Bloodhound), to have increased utility (Lifeline, Bangalore, Octane, Caustic), they put in a 5% damage taken debuff. Granted, there was a LOT of whining when that came out. But when everyone figured out there was no discernible difference from the before and after, people jumped right back into playing Wraith. I think Fortified was a good change, big characters wearing lots of armor should take less damage, that's the point of armor. But since Low Profile was definitely unnecessary simply because it doesn't do anything. You either nerf parts of their kit to make them less generally useful, or you go all in with the Low Profile and actually make it do something. You could even make it give 10% movement, 15% damage taken for all characters with Low Profile. It's terrible and definitely not my preferred way to nerf characters, but I don't design the game, so I wouldn't know what's going on.
Here's the thing with the characters of Apex legends, everyone has some sort of penalty that they innately run into just by being alive. Pathfinder can be played extremely aggressively, but the long cooldown oh his hook makes it difficult for him to escape if he messes up and his ulti can't really be used in a situation where he needs to escape quickly. Bloodhound looks cool but suffers from having a kit that doesn't work. Mirage can escape fairly easily, but players who pay attention to detail / have good aim can easily shoot him out of his ult and his Q doesn't fool people often. Octane has great mobility but suffers from using health to cast Q and his ulti makes his movement extremely linear and easy to snipe out of the sky. Bangalore's great mobility is proced by getting shot at (which is hazardous) and her Q is easily negated with a digital threat. Wattson offers great area denial but needs time to set up to be effective. Caustic has the same problem, and also comes with a much larger hitbox. Gibralter offered nothing until he started receiving buffs, and even then he's just a glorified meatshield at this point. Lifeline's greatest strength is her passive, but her drone (her utility) requires someone to be down in order to take advantage of shield, no longer works in the ring, heals slowly, and has a long cooldown. Not to mention her ulti is easily tracked and can put your team in a bad spot for often mediocre loot.
But what's Wraith's innate penalty? What parts of her kit innately punish her for just existing? As far as I can tell, there's nothing really punishing her. Her passive is very strong and possessing the best utility of all (knowledge), her Q may have a long cooldown and no instant cast, but you're supposed to press Q preemptively, and good communication with teammates will cover her retreat to disengage and heal up. The only downside is how the player plays the Q. Her ulti may not allow her to use anything whilst cast, but her small hitbox combined with a 25% bonus movement speed allows great Wraiths to easily dodge any oncoming fire so her team can relocate safely. With all the other legends, there are workarounds to their innate penalties. But Wraith has no such workaround, because there's nothing to work around. She functions offensively and defensively, can easily capitalize off her quick movement speed, hitbox, and abilities. That's why I lowered Q cooldown, gave it instant cast, and had it last for four seconds instead of three. That gives Wraith players a way to escape that's more reliable than the current Q (yes no instant cast cooldown is terrible and I agree whole heartedly), while 15% damage taken gives the enemy a better chance to retaliate on Wraith's who don't fully capitalize on her small hit-box with great movement.
January 2020
January 2020
Yeah it has completely lost its fun factor for me. I have almost 1300 hours of gameplay on apex and I used to be able to play it for like 6 hrs straight, now I cant play it for more than an hour at a time. In its current state it doesnt even feel like apex anymore.
January 2020
I love Apex. It’s a great game that I still play a lot. But after a year, the one mode format is beginning to wear. I know it’s a BR but it needs some other modes. And I’m not just talking about solos and duos.
January 2020
January 2020
The only thing I really have a problem with is the SBMM in (CASUAL PLAY!!!!). SBMM in the regular mode makes this game so much worse for me. If I want to play this game competativly we have a ranked play mode. I dont see the reason why it should apply to (Play apex). There should be a total randomness to who you get matched with in regular play like the good old days. SBMM killed the game for me sadly.