Respawn responds to complaints the Apex Legends battle pass is dull
Bored to tiers.
It was kind of hard to miss, but last night Apex Legends season one was officially announced, with details finally shared on how the battle pass would function and the sort of rewards it would provide.
In the hours after its unveiling, however, many on the Apex Legends subreddit have expressed disappointment in the battle pass. The main complaints seem to centre on a lack of interesting content: particularly the abundance of badge and tracker rewards and an absence of legendary skins at high tier levels.
Shortly after its initial announcement, Respawn added another blog post to clarify the "battle pass season one philosophy".
"You'll notice the first version isn't built around a complex quest system where you need to do a 720 backflip off of Watchtower Artemis and get two Wingman headshots before hitting the ground," the blog post states. "While we think there's really cool design space in quests and challenges for future battle passes, we wanted the initial version to allow our players to just play and learn the game."
It seems there will be something a little quest-like about the battle pass, however, as the battle pass will provide a progression bonus "tied to playing a variety of characters, because we believe true mastery in Apex Legends means being a badass with anyone in any situation at any time".
On the topic of the rewards and their distribution throughout the tiers, Respawn seemed to highlight the concentration of rewards at lower tiers of the battle pass was a deliberate decision.
"We've tried to create a battle pass where first-time spenders can get a strong base of weapon and character cosmetics to fill out their initial collection at a deep discount.
"In addition, we've included our first ever three-stage evolving Legendary Havoc weapon skin (for veterans who are looking for the new hotness), as well as Epic and Legendary Apex Packs. These rewards are all in addition the 1000 Apex Coins you can earn through the battle pass, which you can put towards unlocking the next battle pass."
The reference to a quest system is likely a comparison to Fortnite, which has weekly challenges for battle pass holders. It's worth remembering the very first Fortnite battle pass was pretty weak compared to what Epic is currently producing; with only 70 tiers, a couple of interesting skins and no additional challenges, it was hardly thrilling. Maybe we'll see the Apex Legends pass develop in a similar manner.
For now, season one seems focused on "exploring the new meta" - perhaps highlighting the difference in target audience between Apex Legends and Fortnite. While the latter is giving plenty of attention to cosmetics and a casual audience, Apex Legends seems busy cultivating an esports scene and creating a more competitive experience for players. For now, at least.
If the underwhelming rewards haven't put you off, you can buy the battle pass this evening when season one goes live today at 5pm GMT. Given I've had so much fun with the game so far, I'll probably still pop some money in.