Developer Respawn Entertainment has heard fans’ complaints about Season 2 of Apex Legends and it are taking action.
A new patch has dropped for the battle royale that addresses some of the issues and bugs players have experienced with the latest major update. The changes largely revolve around player interactions, with things like legend abilities and weapon attributes going untouched.
Included in those changes are some fixes to abandon penalties and loss forgiveness.
Apex Legends’ ranked mode discourages players from preemptively leaving games by issuing a matchmaking cooldown ranging from five minutes to seven days to abandoners. Those that were left shorthanded would then have their losses forgiven, ensuring that they were not heavily penalized for a teammate leaving.
The idea was well received by the game’s community but was not properly implemented, which made players being knocked down and promptly quitting a common experience. This patch will ideally fix that and make the ranked matchmaking experience of Apex Legends a more competitive environment.
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It isn’t just leavers that are under the crosshairs, though. Hackers have found an unfortunately cozy home in Apex Legends’ ranked matchmaking, with high-level play in particular being full of cheaters. Respawn knows this and is looking to tackle the issue by giving players better tools for identifying and reporting suspected cheaters.
The spectator indicator has been removed from the game, leaving players unaware of whether they are being watched by others.
After being killed in Apex Legends, players have the opportunity to watch the game through the eyes of whoever killed them. This allows players to analyze whether opponents are using third-party software like aimbots or wall hacks and to issue a report if the observed behavior is suspicious. The trouble is that players in Apex Legends were made aware of when they were being spectated, which gave cheaters the option to simply turn off their hacks when someone else was watching.
This indicator is now removed, which will make it much trickier for hackers to know when they are free to use their cheating software.
The new patch has been launched across all platforms. The patch notes can be found on the Apex Legends subreddit.
Players must be 21 years of age or older or reach the minimum age for gambling in their respective state and located in jurisdictions where online gambling is legal. Please play responsibly. Bet with your head, not over it. If you or someone you know has a gambling problem, and wants help, call or visit: (a) the Council on Compulsive Gambling of New Jersey at 1-800-Gambler or www.800gambler.org; or (b) Gamblers Anonymous at 855-2-CALL-GA or www.gamblersanonymous.org.
