James Lynch 
We continue our coverage of EA Play 2019, Electronic Arts showcase of upcoming games and the future of it’s flagship franchises. We stick with Respawn Entertainment for its Battle Royale effort Apex Legends. Although it was quite late to the Battle Royale party, it has done an exceptional job of carving out its own niche, becoming one of the most popular entries into the genre in the process. Here’s what we know about the plan for the future.
The legendary hunt event was showcased, allowing players to get exclusive skins and cosmetics via the Apex elite queue. The only thing you’ll need to do to gain entry is finish in the top 5 of a normal game. Challenges can also be completed alongside this for further rewards, including a sweet bloodhound. All battle pass owners will receive the honoured prey double take and you can earn an entire battle pass level with your first top 5 of the day. Lastly get involved asap for the double xp weekend which is happening right now. All of this is available until June 18th.
Season 2 of the game has also been detailed by Drew McCoy. Known as Battle Charge, it begins on July 7th with a new champion, weapon and timed event. The new weapon is the plasma fueled LMG the L-Star from Titanfall, which basically looks like an absolute shredding monster. It’s so overpowered, in fact, that it slots straight in as a care package only weapon which can LITERALLY TEAR DOORS OFF THEIR HINGES.
Meta changes include promises of boosts to some of the weaker weapons perhaps the ability to use a “gun named after an African country”. Yeah. Levelling to the max level will also be far faster with a number of changes to the process, alongside the promise of the ability to be able to craft your own legendary at max level. There are also a ton of new, and admittedly awesome looking, skins to provide the community with further opportunities to stand out from their peers.
The tenth Legend has also arrived. Wattson is a female engineer (also French, apparently) who is absolutely created with Apex’s defensive elements in mind. Almost a support character who is designed to work with teammates and the environment, to provide a defensible position. This flies in the face of the current meta and is done by design by the team, who are looking to shift away from the super aggression play-style. Her abilities are electricity based, and involve her using a variety of kit which she has strapped to her back. An electric beam wall (with a maximum of 12 nodes) is a key part of her setup, allowing fortress like structures which are tricky to breach as an attacking force. Proximity to the wall also charges player’s shields and stops arc star spam.
The other big news is that there will now be a ranked mode, divided into six tiers which go from bronze to Apex Predator. This will work in the same way as many MOBA’s, with weaker players capping out at the limits of their skill levels (possibly causing longer queue times in the very top tiers).
So the future looks interesting for Apex Legends, as the developer and publisher look to keep the experience fresh. Time will tell if this works but make sure to stay locked in to GameRVW.com for coverage across the entirety of E3.
