Earlier this week, I tried playing the battle royale game Apex Legends for the first time since 2019, and I was really surprised how much things have changed. When I stopped playing, the game had just started its second season, but right now, its already at season eight. A lot of new legends and weapons had been added since then, as well as lot of other features.
The first thing that I noticed when launching the game was how there were now multiple different gamemodes. Previously, there was only one gamemode where you had to queue with three people, on one map, started with no loot, and was not ranked. However, now there is now the addition of a trio, duo, and ranked queue. From my understanding, the new ranked gamemode is the original one but now with an added ranked ladder. The new trio queue now has two maps in rotation and when you drop you already start with a weapon and armor. The duo queue is just the new trio queue but with two players per squad. Additonally, there seem to be limited time event gamemodes that come and go every few months.
In terms of the gameplay was that the shields were completely different than they used to be. Before, there were four different tiers of armor. The first tier gave two shield slots, second gave three, third gave four, and fourth also gave four with an extra perk. However now, those tiers of armor are no longer in the game except for the fourth. Instead, there’s now an evolving shield that players start with in each match. The more damage you do, the more shield slots you’ll fill up. From my experience, this makes playing out late game fights a lot longer since people can usually take more damage. Still, it’s interesting to see how players who engage in more fights are rewarded now, even if they don’t go looking for the best loot.
I also noticed that some legends that were previously considered to not be that good like Caustic are being used a lot more. Apparently, there have been lots of changes, but I’m not too sure about the specifics. There have also been several new legends that were added. For most of them, I have no idea what their abilities do, so that adds a few more things to learn about. Lots of new weapons have also been added as well as new attachments. I’ve tried a few of them, but I still feel more comfortable using the weapons from season one. Unfortunately, some weapons from season 1 like the Peacekeeper have been removed from standard loot and can now only be found in supply drops.
Overall, the game has changed a lot since I’ve last played. The second map that was added now has vehicles and portals, and so many legends and gameplay changes have been made it’s like playing a new game for the first time. Even though my friends and I haven’t been winning too many of our games, it’s still some good casual fun anyways.