Electronic Arts and Respawn Entertainment released season 24 of “Apex Legends” on Feb. 11, entitled “Takeover.” This update brings meta changes, weapon stations, a new battle pass and even an anniversary event.
Last season, “From the Rift,” was possibly one of the most frustrating updates to date. Support legends were absolutely cracked, with shield cells healing double, Loba having an automatic ultimate, Mirage becoming cloaked whilst healing and a complete Lifeline rework to name a few. Playing on a team without a support legend felt like an automatic loss.
Thankfully, “Takeover” aims to balance this, with assault legends receiving major buffs. Ash and Ballistic received the most, with game developers feeling as though the two have “been flying under the radar.” It almost seems as though balance has been restored, with the assault class dismantling the support meta.
Ash’s passive was completely re-worked, and is now “an omnidirectional short-range dash” called “Predator’s Pursuit.” While players seem to be enjoying this, I can’t help but feel as though it is too similar to Revenant’s tactical, “Shadow Pounce,” which allows him to jump forward at a high speed.
As for Ballistic, he feels like a whole new legend to play. He received huge buffs, with his extra charge and sling leveling being added to his base kit, the upgrade option to double his Whistler charges, his ultimate now granting a speed boost and the ability to carry crate weapons in his sling — which means certain players can have unlimited ammo on a Havoc or Kraber.
The assault class itself was granted a lot of upgrades, including carrying more ammo, having grenade-only slots in their inventory, auto-reload on stowed weapons after two seconds, a speed boost on breaking an enemy’s shield, faster reloads and enemy highlights for four seconds.
I mainly play with Mad Maggie, one of the best assault legends in the game, but I can’t fully support these new buffs. There is absolutely no reason that assault legends should be able to scan other legends like this, especially through walls. It completely defeats the purpose of legends like Bloodhound and Seer, whose kits are built off of scanning and seeing enemies.
What I am loving about this season, though, is the fact that the R-99 has finally returned to ground loot. This weapon is one of my favorites, and has been stuck in the care packages for what felt like ages. “King’s Canyon” has also returned as a map, which I really needed after getting stuck playing on “E-District” for months. Having this map and weapon back guarantees a big damage game.
“The assault class itself was granted a lot of upgrades, including carrying more ammo, having grenade-only slots in their inventory, auto-reload on stowed weapons after two seconds, a speed boost on breaking an enemy’s shield, faster reloads and enemy highlights for four seconds.”
However, doing a lot of damage in game will no longer grant players an upgrade to the red EVO shield. Instead, the purple EVO — which holds four bars of protection — is now the maximum. In order to get a red shield, players must find a red helmet in a care package, which I don’t think is entirely fair nor necessary.
The developers did include their reasoning for this in the patch notes, stating, “Red armor allowed for a much wider health disparity in the mid to late game which reinforced activities like farming damage on the outskirts and avoiding encounters to collect resources. By lowering the total Armor available to these actions and the levels required to earn them, you can now get end-game ready more easily and focus on what matters most—the fight.” Valid? Yes. But I’m still upset about it.
They also added “Arsenals” into the game, which are basically just gun crates that allow players to select from an ammo type and upgrade their weapon. While these are cool, they aren’t necessarily game changing — I like knowing that I can land on a Flatline, but it’s hard to find arsenals of the same ammo class later in game.
There were a few more updates in regards to weapons, points-of-interest and heals, but it’s not enough for me to absolutely love this update. What I’d really like to see is a brand new legend or an heirloom for Maggie. Care package rotations and new grenade skins won’t be able to hold me over for much longer.
2/5 stars
ajones11@ramapo.edu
Featured photo courtesy of @PlayApex, X
