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Polygon: Apex Legends has lost its huge momentum
- Thread starter Saucycarpdog
- Start date
Not for my enemies since it's the last thing they'll see. đź‘ą
You get to see them a few times during a game. At the start, during the initial drop and other instances of flying around during a match, finishers have 3rd person animations, there are some skins that alter the look even in first person (your hands basically), and during the end tally screen. Of course your opponents also get to see it, and if you are the current kill leader or are part of the leader team there are banners all around the field that show your character.
If we're talking worldwide: PUBG is still the biggest BR in the biggest markets.
Also a bunch of games were killed in service of the entirety of Epic to work on Fortnite, while Respawn is split between whatever they're currently working on and Apex.
Also a bunch of games were killed in service of the entirety of Epic to work on Fortnite, while Respawn is split between whatever they're currently working on and Apex.
Can't help but feel like if they had hired some artists and had awesome skins right out of the gate, and awesome skins in the 1st battle pass (and a better battle pass altogether) this game would have been killing it still. The rewards in this game are fucking awful, i want none of them.
Respawn is awful at either filling their game with content or handing content post launch. Often both.
Titanfall 1 - Great game, not enough progression or content at launch
Titanfall 2 - Some people didn't like it, I did. Awful post launch map roll out.
Apex - Good amount of skins and such at launch. Late battle pass. Weak season 1.
Titanfall 1 - Great game, not enough progression or content at launch
Titanfall 2 - Some people didn't like it, I did. Awful post launch map roll out.
Apex - Good amount of skins and such at launch. Late battle pass. Weak season 1.
Well I still play daily, actually I haven't played any other game since it launched. But I agree the BP is trash, currently close to level 50 and after prowler skin nothing of value till 100+ and even that is 2 different skins for the same damn gun I dont even like much. With all that said i dont want a lot of changes to the core gameplay anyway so it's still an awesome game.
What on Earth made them think this was a good idea? The game isn't deep enough to worry about changing the meta.
Also "better tested"? The game crashes and gets disconnects regularly. It's in desperate need of fixing.
It's because they're updating slow af. Haven't they only done 1 balance update so far in terms of weapon balance? Plus the battle pass was ass so there's that.
That battle pass will go down in gaming history as one of the most hype deflating, train stopping things they could have ever done. So many people were on the hook for it and then it just dropped like a wet fart. Many people I know just stopped playing when it was clear it wasn't going to be worth it and the game was itself getting stale already.
This game was never going to dethrone Fortnite. Not only does it not have the wide appeal but it's gameplay just doesn't lead to it being a fun stream game like Fortnite is. There isn't enough crazy stuff and new additions to keep people watching as well as depth to show off crazy pro plays. Every fight looks the same.
This game was never going to dethrone Fortnite. Not only does it not have the wide appeal but it's gameplay just doesn't lead to it being a fun stream game like Fortnite is. There isn't enough crazy stuff and new additions to keep people watching as well as depth to show off crazy pro plays. Every fight looks the same.
Ironically, even the Quake Champions battle pass is better than this one.
League of Legends and Dota 2 are still quite alive and well.
I think Heroes of the Storm is dying, and most other games of the genre are dead/shambling corpses, but Dota 2 and LoL still remain supreme.
I think you're quite wrong with your analysis.
If anything the combat loop in Fortnite has a higher skill ceiling and depth than Apex (which is why it's able to retain "hardcore" players), it's just that Fortnite also manages to have the second paragraph too.
The content so far has definitely been disappointing, but the game is fun and addictive so I got my money's worth.
Judging by Apex and Fortnite subreddits, Apex still is as popular as it was before. Same amount of people browsing as Fortnite, plus posts on Apex subreddit have more likes and often reach /all
Pretty sure Respawn know what they are doing and see how many people actually left the game.
Pretty sure Respawn know what they are doing and see how many people actually left the game.
The game at its core is great but they've well and truly bodged the momentum so far. Things have barely changed since launch at this point, the meta is the same, the battle pass is terribly unrewarding and uninspired, and overall communication has been poor. At each chance to get the momentum back on track it seems they kick things further down. The game needs to iterate and stay fresh much much faster than it is right now.
I love Respawn's games, and Apex is awesome (still playing it most days) but I can't help but feel they weren't prepared for the game's success and "live service" element of things.
I love Respawn's games, and Apex is awesome (still playing it most days) but I can't help but feel they weren't prepared for the game's success and "live service" element of things.
Seems like they really missed the mark with the first battle pass. Was always going to be their biggest challenge in a first person F2P game but they did not even bring much to bear there.
If i had to guess its because its not a good battle pass unlike Rocket League? I dont play Apex.
If your battle pass has underwhelming rewards or no incentives then theres no drive to play. Especially when its 1 map and no changes to gameplay according to others.
I was playing this game regularly and had been so excited for the Battle Pass. Not only to have some extra motivation and sense of progression from playing the game but also to simply support Respawn for having built perhaps the best feeling FPS multiplayer shooter in the last decade or so. Despite all of that hype, it was entirely washed away when they announced that Battle Pass. I honestly had no problems with the skins but the progression method was so horrible for a casual player that I not only didn't buy the Battle Pass, I completely stopped playing the game. Literally the day the Battle Pass launched and it was immediately apparent that leveling up the Battle Pass was entirely based on time played, I was out entirely.
What the fuck were they thinking with the time = Battle Pass XP scheme? I get that you want players to continue to play your game but to reward players for sitting idly in a corner somewhere and not actually fight is just such an enormous mistake. I casually played Fortnite when their Battle Pass launched and I was easily able to make meaningful progress playing like 2-4 hours per week. Enough to afford the next Battle Pass and enough to earn some fun skins. If I played 2-4 hours per week of Apex, I would get nothing but a bunch of shitty skins and I would still have to buy the next Battle Pass with real money. It's just not a way to build good will with customers. Hell, I even bought the Fortnite Battle Pass more than once with real money because it was such a good value and I appreciated Epic's relative generosity compared to literally every other F2P or DLC based game out there (except maybe Warframe).
And this is all just from the launch of the Battle Pass. I'm not even going to spend the time discussing the lack of other playlists. The basic framework and gunplay in Apex is begging for more game modes and yet Respawn has been totally silent on that front.
I'm more than willing to jump back in when they turn this game around, let's hope they can do it.
What the fuck were they thinking with the time = Battle Pass XP scheme? I get that you want players to continue to play your game but to reward players for sitting idly in a corner somewhere and not actually fight is just such an enormous mistake. I casually played Fortnite when their Battle Pass launched and I was easily able to make meaningful progress playing like 2-4 hours per week. Enough to afford the next Battle Pass and enough to earn some fun skins. If I played 2-4 hours per week of Apex, I would get nothing but a bunch of shitty skins and I would still have to buy the next Battle Pass with real money. It's just not a way to build good will with customers. Hell, I even bought the Fortnite Battle Pass more than once with real money because it was such a good value and I appreciated Epic's relative generosity compared to literally every other F2P or DLC based game out there (except maybe Warframe).
And this is all just from the launch of the Battle Pass. I'm not even going to spend the time discussing the lack of other playlists. The basic framework and gunplay in Apex is begging for more game modes and yet Respawn has been totally silent on that front.
I'm more than willing to jump back in when they turn this game around, let's hope they can do it.
They fucked up with their slow update philosophy. Nobody wants that. They wanted a game that could be Apex, while experimenting and staying fresh for them just like Epic keeps Fortnite fresh for their players.
Realistically? They never could put the money, engineering effort, and manpower required to get Apex to compete, so they did the next best thing and released a solid game and milked that for all it was worth in the first month. The only people not in the loop on that? The players who were sinking money into it expecting the battle pass and update schedule to actually be good.
Realistically? They never could put the money, engineering effort, and manpower required to get Apex to compete, so they did the next best thing and released a solid game and milked that for all it was worth in the first month. The only people not in the loop on that? The players who were sinking money into it expecting the battle pass and update schedule to actually be good.
It's crazy to think about how slow they are about adding new stuff/making changes.
All they've added is a mediocre battle pass, a couple of balance changes that didnt really shake anything up, 1 new gun and 1 new character.
I guess Fortnite's fast updates spoiled me since it's only been 2 months but still they've lost so much momentum because of this slowness.
I still play it over any other BR tho, usually do some 5+ hour sessions during the weekend with the squad.
All they've added is a mediocre battle pass, a couple of balance changes that didnt really shake anything up, 1 new gun and 1 new character.
I guess Fortnite's fast updates spoiled me since it's only been 2 months but still they've lost so much momentum because of this slowness.
I still play it over any other BR tho, usually do some 5+ hour sessions during the weekend with the squad.
People expect a lot out of a game like Apex Legends. At launch, the game was lacking a lot of basic features, like the ability to report players who killed you for suspect plays. It still doesn't have a means to view your stats, such as eliminations, squad wipes, accuracy, and wins. This is a battle royale game that offers you zero means to see how often and how many wins you've accrued. That's utter nonsense, and the fact that I had to use what amounted to tally marks in a Discord server to keep track of my overall win count is just plain sad.
There's also the matter of balancing. Straight-up, Respawn saying they wanted to keep weapons like the Mozambique and Alternator in a borderline-useless state to create a clear power dynamic between weaponry was one of the dumbest things I've ever read in regards to game balancing. They're making a game that needs to sell cosmetics, and they made explicitly clear they have no intention of buffing weapons players have vocally acknowledged to be terrible, while at the same time offering "Legendary" skins of those weapons for upwards of twenty dollars in the in-game shop.
I'm not even going to get into the shop, aside from the fact that the first battle pass was awful enough that I straight-up stopped playing, and selling "Legendary" for a single weapon for twenty dollars makes Call of Duty's microtransactions seem comparatively fair.
There's also the matter of balancing. Straight-up, Respawn saying they wanted to keep weapons like the Mozambique and Alternator in a borderline-useless state to create a clear power dynamic between weaponry was one of the dumbest things I've ever read in regards to game balancing. They're making a game that needs to sell cosmetics, and they made explicitly clear they have no intention of buffing weapons players have vocally acknowledged to be terrible, while at the same time offering "Legendary" skins of those weapons for upwards of twenty dollars in the in-game shop.
I'm not even going to get into the shop, aside from the fact that the first battle pass was awful enough that I straight-up stopped playing, and selling "Legendary" for a single weapon for twenty dollars makes Call of Duty's microtransactions seem comparatively fair.
I think, for me, I'd played so much of the game prior to the Battle Pass/first season launching and I was approaching burn out but was really excited to see what the Pass would bring. They normally inject a good carrot-on-a-stick challenge and they often come with new additions to the game (guns/game modes/map changes in the case of things like COD, Fortnite, PUBG etc). When the Pass dropped with almost entirely terrible rewards and an incredibly slow progression (like, I played for a couple of hours on day one and didn't even complete one level of it. So no unlocks at all) I looked at it day one, realised I'd never finish it, and bounced totally off of it. Additionally, 'Season One' added virtually no changes to the game apart from one new character that you had to buy. It was solely based around a disappointing premium Battle Pass.
I don't suddenly hate the game or anything. I played it a hell of a lot and loved it. But I think I'm done? My enthusiasm has certainly disappeared.
Why do people keep saying stuff like this? This and "Lol relying on Twitch for popularity". Wait, is it bad to use as a check of popularity? Do people think that Twitch is the genesis of popularity for a game, instead of the game being popular by itself which then flows down to viewers? Is there some trend of games having few players but a major Twitch presence? I can *guarantee* that market research people crosscheck Twitch to guess how big a game is outside of just pure viewership.
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Eh, it's not that weird. FN does a similar thing with the weapon rarities, and I wouldn't be surprised if there were a bunch of guns in PUBG which were objectively worse than others. The Mozambique was a little too far yeah, but the theory makes sense; if every gun was equally viable, people would likely not switch them around as much, and there would be less of a progression in the match.
"the streaming community" was a mistake. these days games are counted on views than on quality it seems.
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The thing is, even a grey pistol in Fortnite has its use in the early game. In Apex, you're genuinely better off just punching someone instead of using the Mozambique. Its projectile speed, effective range, damage, fire rate, and magazine capacity all ensure it's a worse option than just using your fists. Even the pretty garbage P2020 is a better choice.
Yeah, the Mozam went too far, but the idea makes sense - too late on my editing :/
I'm still playing every day because the game is fantastic, but yeah the updates are way too slow and the battle pass was disappointing. I had better see some batshit insane cosmetics for season 2.
I will also add that Twitch numbers are a terrible metric of a game's actual popularity. Just because people aren't streaming doesn't mean they aren't playing.
I will also add that Twitch numbers are a terrible metric of a game's actual popularity. Just because people aren't streaming doesn't mean they aren't playing.
This is hyperbole.
I check twitch often, and while fortnite has regained the BR crown, it's not that far ahead. Like right now Apex is on top, 75k to 68k. Sure, that's just -now- but I would say Apex tops it consistently every so often when I check. Maybe 1 out of 4 times.
Fortnite dropped a huge enticing update right when Apex hype was peak to counter it. And added a bunch of shit that ripped off what makes Apex different/better.
Let's not forget how poorly Fortnite did before before they pivoted to copy PUBGs exact game mode, and their first season pass wasn't that interesting either.
I think cheaters and maybe a lack of ranking system is, or was Apexs problem, experienced players and cheaters alike just crush new/middling players and it's not fun.
Cheating problem seems to be mitigated recently, and of course it was never a problem on console. Maybe they added more ranked matchmaking too, I haven't kept up.
Also, people in here with axes to grind because of the season pass quality or because they dont like the Mozambique... please, you stopped playing the game in general because you didn't like the season pass? Even if you did, I don't think you can apply that logic to many. And the Moz is underrated, and a decent starting gun... fists are better?? gtfooh!
I check twitch often, and while fortnite has regained the BR crown, it's not that far ahead. Like right now Apex is on top, 75k to 68k. Sure, that's just -now- but I would say Apex tops it consistently every so often when I check. Maybe 1 out of 4 times.
Fortnite dropped a huge enticing update right when Apex hype was peak to counter it. And added a bunch of shit that ripped off what makes Apex different/better.
Let's not forget how poorly Fortnite did before before they pivoted to copy PUBGs exact game mode, and their first season pass wasn't that interesting either.
I think cheaters and maybe a lack of ranking system is, or was Apexs problem, experienced players and cheaters alike just crush new/middling players and it's not fun.
Cheating problem seems to be mitigated recently, and of course it was never a problem on console. Maybe they added more ranked matchmaking too, I haven't kept up.
Also, people in here with axes to grind because of the season pass quality or because they dont like the Mozambique... please, you stopped playing the game in general because you didn't like the season pass? Even if you did, I don't think you can apply that logic to many. And the Moz is underrated, and a decent starting gun... fists are better?? gtfooh!
I play CS:GO frequently with some friends. We like Apex as well, but it is pretty jarring going from a game that is relatively good at matching skill levels between teams to going to a game without any skill-based matchmaking at all. We get a win usually once every two or three sessions (PC), but sometimes it's pretty rough playing against people who clearly have Apex as their "main game". I wonder if introducing some kind of Elo system could mitigate this problem, and perhaps even make it more exciting for the skilled players to compete against eachother. They wouldn't even have to make a huge ranking system like CS, just have like five different divisions or something to begin with and see where it takes them.
Not gonna buy their next bp even if they finally improved it to how it should've been in the first bp
Requires too much time commitment to where it feels like a must chore and feels like they want you to buy the tiers that button main focus in the BP page. The coins I earned in this bp just using it purchase tiers then done with
Requires too much time commitment to where it feels like a must chore and feels like they want you to buy the tiers that button main focus in the BP page. The coins I earned in this bp just using it purchase tiers then done with
