It’s that time and we all want to know.. WHAT’S RESPAWN UP TO? Season 17 is just around the corner and we’ve got you covered! So what exactly are we all diving into this upcoming season. Well, we got the chance to attend a special media event which included a Q&A session with the developers themselves.

SEASON 17: ARSENAL

Season 16: Revelry saw Respawn Entertainment celebrate their four-year anniversary since the release of Apex Legends.  They did a huge overhaul on the legend class system, did their best to rework the meta, and added the mixtape content that we’ve been asking for. Mixtape features a healthy rotation of Team Deathmatch, Gun Run, and Control. It was a great time for veterans and new players to join. Now how has that impacted the developers into making Season 17? According to them, Season 17 was all about making new content but most importantly tending to the garden. This season will introduce a lot of exciting content such as a new progression system as well as the long and awaited rank changes. They’ve spent a fair time of tuning rank play, and I’m excited to share the news with you.

So let’s talk about the ultimate competitor of the original Thunderdome Games, our new legend that has come out of retirement to teach the youngins some respect.

BALLISTIC: THE DILF LEGEND

First a bit of background about our newest gunslinger legend.

AUGUST BRINKMAN is a suave aged 63 year old man. In the 20s, he was a combat king in the arenas and the first celebrity of the Thunderdome Games. This man basically had rockstar level of fame. He was a part of a trio of fighters, with siblings, one of which he married. They were unstoppable until a tragic event where his selfish and showboat act led to his brother-in-law, Kit Young’s death. This made him become a recluse in his mansion, afraid to show his traumas of his past. That all changed with fatherhood. His son, Nate, wanted to be just like his dad, complete with the whole combat super stardom. Nate qualified for the Apex Legends and was about to be our newest legend. However August did not want his son to go in so he made a deal with the devil, Octane’s daddy. With August Brinkman’s larger than life persona, where would he fit in team? Well, the developers wanted to go for an aggressive and flashy style showcasing his demeanor but bringing in a bunch of utility to his team.

ABILITIES

PASSIVE : A SLING, which allows him to carry a 3rd weapon. The 3rd weapon cannot be kitted which means it will not take any attachments.

TACTICAL : THE WHISTLER which shoots a projectile that heats up an enemies gun as they shoot. Overheating causes damage. Hold the tactical to LOCK-ON. (Smart bullet) – it tracks the target once locked on. If it misses the target, it stays in the area, and if walked into, it still applies the debuff. (TITANFALL SMART PISTOL ENERGY)

ULTIMATE : THE TEMPEST, while activated, nearby teammates get faster reloads, faster armed movement speed, and infinite ammo. The sling weapon will also be upgraded to gold.

Now we know how incredibly stylish Ballistic looks, but here are some fun facts about his design.

His backpack, not only is it just a stylish accessory, but the developers wanted to make it easier for people to know that he is in his ultimate. His bag will open up and this shows that he is in his ult form.

Now the trenchcoat. Who doesn’t like a guy in a trenchcoat, eh? Well, this one is just for style points, but it did the artists a long time to get this one going. It was hard to get the flowiness in the trenchcoat, but they did it!

WORLD’S EDGE HEALING

Yes, that’s right. Our beautiful World’s Edge is finally healing, which means goodbye lava. Our eyes are now saved from the horrible orange tint all over the map. The map is cooling down, making it less versatile. There’s snow in Skyhook! That’s not all that’s new in Skyhook, a vault has been added in Skyhook as well. Trials was also revisioned a tad bit. All lava across the map is now traversable. So yes, there are no more deep flowy lava chasms. The map has been tweaked, tuned as well as balanced. What really got to me is the sky box and lighting, that’s been worked on to also fit the theme of the healing world.

NEW POI: STACKS

FEAR NOT WRAITH MAINS! I know we’re all worried about our favourite streamer building gone, but our favourite building has simply been relocated. Lava City has now been upgraded with the streamer building joining it. It will be now known as Stacks. And this is actually a new playground for ttv wraith mains to hang out at. The POI is a highly vertical space with interconnected rooftops. Lots of ziplines so… I know there will be some cool clips happening here.

NEW POI: MONUMENT

Fragment, our favourite drop spot has been replaced and is now Monument. Monument is here to shake up the map. It features a huge museum that celebrates Apex Legends past, present and future. It is a great POI which also shows the progress of Apex for the developers.

From a design standpoint, it’s a deep bunker. So this is also a quick access sniper nest. it’s great for long range positional control with a lot of ziplines. The best part about the museum? It has a glass ceiling so you can see everything.

Small modifications have also been made to harvester, which will include a new honeypot for the mid center. There will be crossings and ziplines to get to it.

Mirage a trois is gone from Storm Point and Broken Moon and can only be found in Worlds Edge now. 

FIRING RANGE

Movement gamers, this season brings a huge new play toy for you. If you’re one of those players who can sit in the firing range for hours practicing your movement skills, you will have to thank Respawn for this update.

The dummy behaviour is now more combat focused. Additional options have been added, including one to shoot back. With this, you can pick an easy, medium or hard difficulty.

There are also separate areas to train different things.

A TOWN IN THE BACK – to simulate real life situations.

A DUELLING PIT – to duel friends.

A MOVEMENT AREA – to practice movement techs.

The best quality of life change they added with this season, is a join in progress so you don’t need to back out from the lobby to join your friends in the firing range anymore.

A NEW PROGRESSION SYSTEM : WEAPON MASTERY

Now we’ve all been waiting for some form of progression system in Apex Legends. With this season comes the new weapon mastery progression. This is a long term progression system that all old and new players can enjoy.

At the launch of Season 17, all players will be level 1 for all weapons. To level up your weapons, you need to have them in hand, do some damage with them and kills will also grant you some XP. The best part is that your mastery can be levelled up with any game mode.

At every 20 levels, you will have to face weapon specific trials. These trials will reward you with different things.

At mastery level 100 (which is the max level), you can get trackers, badges and a legendary master weapon frame for the specific weapon you are mastering. You will also be guaranteed a legendary weapon skin.

NEW SURVIVAL ITEM

Welcome the EVAC TOWER. You can now drop a redeploy balloon anywhere. This allows you and your teammates to skydive and get you our of sticky situations.

This was added in to diversify the legend pick rate. However there are counterplays to it. The tower has a deploy time, so it’ll take some time to actually get it down. It also has a health bar and life span. Which means it won’t be up forever and enemy teams can also take them.

QOL PING CHANGES

Apex Legends have been known to have a good ping system. This season its been touched on for more quality of life changes!

For General Pings, they’ve added : Avoid this area, Enemy Audio here, Regroup

For Downed Pings, they’ve added : When to revive, Enemy Healing, Enemy Reviving

For Skydive Pings, they’ve added : Looting here

Any icons on the map, can now be pinged.

Stay tuned for more updates on the upcoming season. Rank changes will be coming soon!