There's then a whisper that leads into a song. "Jekyll-and-Hyde-ing me," the raspy voice says as the trailer continues before the beat picks up. The song itself is a metaphor for a number of things in the trailer, not least of which is Revenant hims

The following is full of assumptions and made-up but easy-to-understand numbers. The goal is to illustrate the math driving the SMBB argument as there’s no accurate game data publicly available for these calculati

Of course, that number is somewhat inflated, and mainly refers to the total cost of trying to acquire every single cosmetic item in the event. Rather than attempt to have a civilized discussion with its player base, Drew McCoy, the Executive Producer for the game, decided to go on a childish tirade against their players, calling them "dicks", "ass-hats", and "freeloade

Some have suggested that instead of matchmaking based on skill, lower-skilled players should grind harder and play better in order to compete with top players. First of all, not everyone has 3,000 hours a year to put into a video game. But more importantly, I'm not really sure how a person can improve when they're getting clobbered every game. After a certain point, it probably wouldn't matter anyway because the player would eventually find a different game that's more fun for t

Just after the trailer introduces the totem, Revenant shoots some kind of grenade out of his arm. From the gameplay video alone, it’s hard to tell how, exactly, this will work. However, it appears his grenade tactical ability may have some kind of arc or stun charge, which manifests as the orange glowing ball in the image be

It's reasonable to imagine those 10 players spend much more time playing Apex Legends than others. To give you an idea of how this might shape out, it's worth noting that out of my 100 Xbox friends who play Apex Legends the most, one has played more than 3,050 hours. He's the game's overall 20th ranked player based on player level ( as calculated prior to the changes made in the game's most recent update ), according to TRN's Apex Legends Tracker . The friend with the second-most time in the game is also a strong player but has logged only 1700 ho

Top apex Legends Missions Legends players are making impassioned pleas for game developer Respawn to do away will skill-based matchmaking (SBMM). From their perspectives, it’s not fair that public matches feel as competitive — if not more competitive — than ranked games . This is indeed problematic, as ranked exists specifically so top players can compete at a top-tier level. Players who play public matches shouldn’t be subject to the same level of competitive p

To celebrate Valentine’s Day, players were thrilled to learn Apex Legends would be bringing back its Duos Mode for a short time. This is the second time the game has implemented an event featuring teams of two, and many players are interested in Duos Mode becoming permanent m

Force enemies into gunfights: Since Revenant’s toolkit is built precisely to destabilize enemy forces through skill silences and revives, well-timed attacks can force enemies into extremely disadvantageous gunfights. This is especially useful in small spaces, as Revenant’s Silence (Tactical) can render mobility Legends (Wraith, Ash, etc.) or even trackers (Bloodhound, Seer, etc.) useless and unable to get the jump on Rev’s t

Smaller Indie game developers meanwhile have a harder choice to make. For instance, the developer of DARQ turned down an exclusivity agreement with Epic Games because of his principles. He was aware of the free advertising his game had received in the years leading up to the release of the game on Steam, and he had reaffirmed his release on that platform days before being approached by Epic Games. To go back on his word so soon would make it difficult for consumers to trust him in the fut

The reality is that current SBMM format affects only negatively impacts a minority of players, even if they’re the most active ones. Unfortunately, unbalanced matchmaking will cause less-skilled players to complain the game is "too hard" and play something e

But back then, your duo partner was limited to whoever was around. You might play with your siblings because you'd get grounded if you didn't let them join you. Or, you could find yourself playing with the smelly kid from school only because his button smashing tactics got you further than you could ever get on your

SBMM needs to exist because if the top one percent of players spend more than 300 times as much time in the game than any player in the bottom 10 percent, then in a true random system, the low-tier players will consistently be matched in lobbies with these top one percent players who play the game 300 times as much as the no

The examples listed above are but a few of the scandals from 2019, and in each case, it was always a lack of communication or of intention that sparked trouble. The issue with the reaction from a player base is that it is most often a small minority of highly-vocal users, and there is little to be done about that, but it remains true that they will bang the drums the loudest if not content with how developers treat their games. With careful planning in how news is announced, developers can avoid almost all controversy, or like Respawn, they can choose to insult their players, resulting in the CEO needing to make a public, and embarrassing apol