Things have been fairly quiet since the launch of Apex Legends’ first season of post-launch content, but the developers have revealed the plans for the next patch. The new update addresses PC crashes, hit detection, the Lifeline banner that is crashing PS4s, and more. It’s not an exciting collection of updates, but it is one that should improve the quality of life across the board.
Apex Legends came flying out of the gates at launch, surprising nearly the entire gaming community. It climbed rapidly to the top of concurrent players across platforms and had a solid debut season of post-launch content, but then things calmed. The reason? Respawn Entertainment executive producer Drew McCoy says that the company wants to stick to the plans laid out before Apex Legends became a massive hit so its employees can avoid crunch. McCoy also alluded to some of the changes this upcoming patch is focused on.
Hit detection has been a small point of contention with Apex Legends and other battle royales but Respawn is pushing forward a fix that should cut down on incorrect hit registration. The company is also implementing some new framework to be able to track bullet damage info so they can spot issues sooner for future updates. This new addition is an effort to see how much internet connection is impacting gameplay.
After issuing a temporary fix for PlayStation 4 players, Respawn will be putting out a full patch of the issue created by Lifeline’s “Pick Me Up” banner frame. Also, if you suffered from any audio dropouts, Respawn is issuing a fix that makes the audio engine more efficient and lessens the chance for those types of problems. There are additional audio-related changes coming and you can read about them in the team’s Reddit post.
One bug players are sad to see go is the ability to stick objects to Gibraltar’s Gun Shield. This bug has produced some hilarious results, including the famed “Gibraltoad” glitch, which occurred whenever players would attach Caustic’s Bounce Pad to Gibraltar’s Gun Shield and send him bouncing through the air. The Apex developers acknowledged that this was a fun bug but was not intentionally added and could be taken for granted. They’ve graciously added the ability to deflect Arc Stars using the Gun Shield in return.
Apex Legends Season 2 is in development and Respawn will be showing it off at EA Play in June, which is an event that runs alongside E3. As stated in McCoy’s letter to fans, the developers have been taking in feedback and are aiming to produce a Battle Pass with “more meaningful content, the introduction of a new Legend, the debut of a new weapon” and a change to the game’s map Kings Canyon.
