For a long, long time, Apex Legends was my “Live Service Game”. I only really had time in my busy life for one of these continuous, neverending games, and Apex Legends was the one for me. From season 1 to partway through 6, it become an almost daily ritual for me to login, do my daily quests, log back out. Then maybe it was life that got in the way, but partway through Season 6 (the Rampart season) I completely dropped out. Only dipping in occasionally to have a look at the new map and occasional new mode they would add. But this season it felt like the time was right to jump back in. And I’m now stuck in that daily quest grind once again, much to the chagrin of my ever expanding backlog.
While many things have changed, the core still remains. You drop, you shoot, you die, repeat. At least that’s what it was like for me at first before I got used to the new map changes and tweaks to the weapons. I was at a loss to find my go to sniper rifle (the Triple Take) was now locked behind the care package drops. Though because of this I did gain a new respect for the quick firing G7 Scout.
One thing that was completely new to me were the Arenas. A 3v3 round based mode in small maps, it’s a new way to play Apex, and I really don’t like it. Sadly about half of the games I play in Arena’s have ended up with players dropping out when we lost the first round. Shame really, because it could be a nice diversion from the main Battle Royale gameplay, but like so many things, is ruined by the player base. I would be more forgiving of it if there weren’t weekly challenges that require you to play it if you really want to boost your battle pass rank.
The newest thing about this season has been the new legend Seer. Initially a rather overpowered character (almost very game I seemed to play at launch had a Seer involved in my squad) they seem to have ramped down his abilities a bit. That said, it hasn’t stopped an argument erupting in the community as to whether these nerfs are good or bad. A tactical legend, Seer’s abilities to track enemies in a specific area and on top of that disable other legends abilities make him a nightmare to fight against, particularly when you’re on the backfoot. He’s certainly, from what I’ve seen, a lot stronger than the last few legends that have appeared.
There are still things in Apex Legends that people may not like. It seems to be one of the last holdouts of the standard loot box formula, while other companies are looking at ways to reduce the gambling aspect of them, Respawn seem fine to keep them as is. And the Battle Pass doesn’t seem particularly interesting this season either. But alas, Apex has once again got its hooks into me and refusing to let go. At least I’m having a good time with it again, I think?
