The latest patch for Apex Legends is here, and while there aren’t a whole lot of major balance changes, the game’s latest update does usher in a new collection event, the return of the Winter Express game mode, a new custom reticle color system, and a fancy new heirloom for Wattson.
Leading the charge when it comes to balance changes is adjustments to Arc Stars. As Respawn explains in the patch notes, the throwable weapon excels in a lot of areas currently, dealing high damage as well as dishing out a significant slow to enemies caught in the blast.
Damage dealt by Arc Stars is being reduced, the shield damage multiplier done by the weapon is being increased, and sticking an enemy with the star will once again apply a slow debuff. The duration of the slow for non-sticks is now determined by distance from the center of the Arc Star’s detonation as well.
Other changes include a slight change to Seer that will decrease Focus of Attention detonation delay from 1.6 seconds to 1.4 seconds, in an effort to fix the ability’s delay feeling too sluggish.
One big new feature is the introduction of custom reticle colors, which players can customize under gameplay settings. Respawn has a list of recommended colors to choose from, but players can also manually input a color of their own, although Respawn notes that some darker colors may make reticles invisible due to how some reticles react in-game. If that’s the case, the game will set the reticle color value to a different color while still trying to stay true to the original hue.
It’s not an Apex Legends event without new cosmetics, and there are plenty for players to collect this time around as part of the pirate-themed Raiders Collection Event. Along the way, players can unlock Wattson’s first heirloom weapon–the Energy Reader–and dive into the return of the Winter Express game mode, which sees three squads attempting to wrestle control of the World’s Edge train. The event runs December 7-21. Full patch notes are below.
Apex Legends Raider Collection Event Patch Notes
LEGENDS
- Wattson: Fixed the issue with fences “sticking” when trying to place a node near a fence.
- Wattson: Fixed bug for cases where Wattson’s Fence nodes ignored player collision.
- Wattson: Fixed bug with the blueprint line not showing up to signify where the fence will be created.
- Wattson: Fixed issue where Caustic’s Ultimate isn’t zapped by the Interception Pylon.
- Wattson: Fixed bug where Arc Stars could stick to and damage the Interception Pylon
- Ash: Based on feedback we’ve increased the audio presence of Ash’s Ultimate.
- Ash will no longer “bleed” when shot and now displays sparks [like Pathfinder and Revenant].
- Ash: fixed cases where a grid pattern would show on some rare and common skins.
- Valkyrie / Revenant: Fixed a bug where using a Skydive with Death Totem at a specific time caused Valkyrie’s skydive to enter a bugged state.
- Valkyrie: Fix for Birthright Skin where Valk’s jetpack control clips into her hands in first person.
ARENAS
- Arenas: Fixed bug where Seer could continuously charge his tactical after it’s reached zero uses.
- Arenas: Reduced reconnect times since the matches are shorter than a Battle Royale match.
- Arenas: Fix for missing ammo UI on the common, rare, or epic, CAR.
- Arenas: Fix for missing horizontal black bars while spectating.
- Arenas: Fix for cases where the Death Tab is missing from the shop window.
ADDITIONAL BUG FIXES
- Fixed issue with a spot on Storm Point where players could camp in unintended areas near Command Center.
- We also addressed multiple minor bugs around the map ranging from misplaced kill triggers and holes in geo.
- Bocek Compound Fracture Legendary skin bug: Fixed an issue where players would still see iron sights when aiming even if another sight is equipped.
- R-301 Dynastic Cycle Legendary skin bug: Fixed an issue with the gun using a mix of two different skins.
- Fixed bug for cases where the Loba Edition displays “No Price Found” when viewed in the store tab.
- Based on feedback we’ve reduced the SFX on reactive skins for the Volt.
- Fixed bug where players were unable to scroll downwards when looting a death box or black market.
- Fixed bug that was preventing players from getting Rampart’s Heirloom even after buying all 24 event packs.
- Fixed bug where players could skydive faster after spamming Ping.
- Fixed issue with players seeing the 888 Elite Mode Badge constantly unlocking.
BALANCE CHANGES
Seer
- Decreased Focus of Attention detonation delay from 1.6s to 1.4s
Dev Note
Seer was dialed back to a healthier spot with the balance hotfix soon after his release. However, after four months of evaluating his use in the live game, the detonation delay seems a little too sluggish. We want to improve its feel while continuing to evaluate the reveal meta as a whole.
Arc Star
Sticks
- Base stick damage lowered from 30 -> 10
- Shield Damage Multiplier increased from x3 -> x4 (stick on shielded enemy will now max out at 40 instead of 90)
- Sticking an enemy now applies a slow debuff (reverting Legacy update change)
Non-Sticks
- Slow duration is now driven by distance to the center of Arc Star detonation
Dev Note
Arc stars excel in a lot of areas. They have high damage potential coupled with a punishing slow, and can be thrown more accurately than other ordnance types. Removing the stick slow created some degenerate play patterns and often made it hard to tell when you got stuck in the heat of battle. We’re bringing that back with a tradeoff of lower damage potential and a proximity based slow falloff in non-stick cases. These changes make stick scenarios more consistent across shield types and make arc stars less effective at area denial.
Splatter Rounds
- Removed increased magazine capacity
Dev Note
Big Maude has been an awesome drop location and a reliable source of early power for teams that win the hotdrop. However, the paintball weapons are proving to be a little too strong so we’re going to remove the increased mag size but keep the handling improvements.
Crafting
- Shotgun ammo, sniper ammo, and arrow crafting output reduced to a single stack
PRIVATE MATCH
- Observer Mode – UI and Scoring Improvements for in-game stats menu.
- Observer Mode – Reduced opacity on Loba’s Back Market for map & mini-map.
- Observer Mode – Added toggle option to show next ring location.
- Added [Team] Eliminated text in kill feed for Private Match Anonymous mode.
- Admins now have the ability to end matches in either Observer or Player positions.
- Fixed issue for real time API delay after running consecutive games.
- New real time API events including:
- Shots fired
- Kill awarded
- Line by line formatting
- Unique player IDs
QUALITY OF LIFE
New Custom Reticle Color System
Custom Reticles are here! The new UI can be opened under Gameplay Settings by selecting the Customize option under Reticle.
Once in the new Custom Reticle UI you’ll be able to:
- Select a color from some of our recommended favorites
- Use the color and brightness sliders to find that perfect color
- Manually enter an RGB color
- Toggle between 4 different hand picked environments to preview your reticle
Dev Note
You’ll be able to pick from a lot of colors in the new system, but darker colors won’t be selectable because of how some of our reticles react to the world (additive effect) which would make them invisible. If a manually entered RGB value is in that range, we will do our best to keep that hue but will bring that value closer to a safe color.
Source: Gamespot
