Season 17: Arsenal is now live with changes and updates aplenty.
Apex Legends Season 17: Arsenal is finally live alongside Ballistic and a host of new changes are coming to the game. While we already covered this a few days ago, EA has released the full patch notes for the new season and here is what you can expect.
Season 16's debutant, Catalyst got a buff with her ultimate while cringe overused weapons like the Charge Rifle have been nerfed and trash underrated guns like the L-Star got buffed. Changes have been made to the legend classes and even ranked matchmaking has gotten an overhaul.
Apex Legends Season 17: Arsenal - New Legend
A former Thunderdome Games champion that formed a formidable trio with the love of his life, Sok Leng and her brother Kit Siang, August Brinkman a.k.a Ballistic knows a thing or two when it comes to being the best. But after his overconfidence became his downfall, Ballistic would retreat into reclusion, closing himself off from Sok Leng as well as their son, Nate.
But when Nate became old enough to be a contender in the Apex Games, Ballistic saw this as a chance at retribution. He would eventually strike a deal with the Syndicate, taking over his son's place on the battlegrounds.
Ballistic - Abilities
Passive: Sling
Store a third weapon in the sling. Access via inventory or Character Utility Action Button. The sling weapon cannot take attachments.
Tactical: Whisper
Shoots a projectile that heats an enemy's gun as they shoot. Overheating causes damage. Hold the Tactical to lock-on.
Ultimate: Tempest
Nearby teammates get faster reloads, faster-armed move speed, and Infinite Ammo. The sling weapon will be upgraded to gold
Map Updates & Rotation
One of Apex Legends' most popular and polarizing maps, World's Edge will finally be getting some major updates. This includes a brand new POI known as Monument that will take place where Fragment West and East. As for the popular construction building that many have dubbed "streamer building", it has also been moved to the Southern edge of the map and replaced Lava City.
Harvester also gets an update to its appearance while Respawn has also made changes to the lava vertical updraft on the map. This ensures that all parts of the map with lava can be traversed but you will still take damage. Skyhook is another POI that will be getting updates, which will mainly be snow that also opens up new pathways.
Map Rotations
- World's Edge
- Olympus
- Kings Canyon
Ranked Matchmaking Updates
For quite some time now, Apex Legends has gone through the doldrums especially when it came to its ranked matchmaking system. Over the past few seasons, many have found that ranked matchmaking would pit many Diamond and Platinum-ranked players against Predator-ranked players, most of whom are professional players within the scene.
This resulted in many calling out Respawn to fix its ranked matchmaking system, which has since become almost impossible to rank up, especially if you can't dedicate all that time to the game. The game has also been riddled with cheaters, many of whom will try all sorts of tactics to rise through the ranks.
Thankfully, with the release of Season 17: Arsenal, there will also be a massive update on ranked matchmaking. Here are just some of the major updates that will be included in the new ranked matchmaking system:
- New matchmaking by hidden skill rating, with skill adjustments made on premade sizes to account for the competitive advantages gained
- New Scoring system that emphasizes winning the battle royale
- New Bonus system that conditionally rewards wins and compensates losses
- No more split reset, with a full seasonal reset, started off with 10 provisional games
- Ranked will now require account level 50 to play
Head over to the official EA blog to read the entire post about the update on ranked matchmaking in Apex Legends.
Weapon Mastery
With gunplay being part of the core of Apex Legends, Respawn has finally introduced a new rewards system for players through their gun usage. At the start of the season, every player will begin at level one and can start progressing on their weapon levels in any game mode. Whether it's having the weapon in hand, dealing damage, securing kills, or fighting with style, all these will give you Weapon XP to progress in your levels.
Each weapon can reach level 100 at its peak with trials and challenges along the way for you to accomplish. This includes a weapon-specific trial every 20 levels for you to put your training and skills to the test. Pass all five weapon trials and get to level 100 to be rewarded handsomely with a Legendary Apex pack and a legendary weapon mastery banner frame. There are also weapon-specific badges as well as lifetime performance trackers.
Firing Range Updates
The firing range that all Apex Legends know and love will officially cease to exist. And in its place will be the new-and-improved practice area that has everything you need to be the next Apex Predator. The brand-new firing range now comes equipped with its very own town, complete with everything a pro player needs.
This includes a duelling pit, an agility course, as well a as training centre with moveable dummies that can shoot back. Aside from that, simulated death boxes will also be scattered across the firing range. This will now give you the chance to practise your death box looting whilst in the heat of battle to get a quick shield swap.
Ping System Updates
The ping system in Apex Legends is one of the most underrated features of the game, even if it's heavily underutilized. As the main tool for non-verbal communication among players, Respawn has revamped the ping system by adding some new pings while also removing some with lower usage rates.
On the default ping wheel, you will now see three new ping icons:
- Avoid Area
- Enemy Audio
- Regroup
There will also be an expanded set of options when you are downed or in the dropship at the start of the game. Pings from map behaviours have also been improved in the following ways:
- In-game objects that have map icons (Respawn Beacons, Crafters, Wildlife, etc) can now be pinged from the map; creating accurate waypoints with callouts
- When pinging generic waypoints on the map they will have more accurate placement in World Space
Survival Item - Evac Tower
With the Heat Shield and the Mobile Respawn Beacon being the only two survival items in Apex Legends, the devs have decided to add a twist to your gameplay with the Evac Tower. This new survival item will act very much like jump towers that can be found within the game.
Once called and deployed, the Evac Tower will feature a vertical zip line with a balloon at the top. Ride it to the end and launch yourselves into the air to glide to a new location on the map. Be careful though! People can see the Evac Tower you deploy and it can even be destroyed.
Patch Notes
Balance Updates
Crate Rotation
- L-Star EMG enters the crate
- RE-45 returns to the floor
Weapon Crafting Rotation
- Alternator SMG enters the crafter
- Sentinel enters the crafter
- EVA-8 returns to the floor
- 30-30 Repeater returns to the floor
Gold Weapon Rotation
- Flatline, Triple Take, Spitfire, Mastiff, Volt
Loot Spawns
- Improved Vault Loot
- Increased chances of gold loot
- Added light mags to spawn pool
- Improved Cargo Bot Loot
- Removed small healing items, Mobile Respawn Beacon, White Armor, White Backpack
- Adjusted Large Healing and Heatshield spawns to allow for more desirable loot spawns
- Removed gold weapons from purple tier Cargo Bots but increased spawn chance in gold tier
Weapons
L-Star EMG [Crate]
- Added Disruptor Rounds: 60% damage increase against shields
- Base Damage Reduced to 16 (was 17)
- Projectiles now have passthrough: 60% damage retained
- Projectile growth increased
- Improved recoil pattern
- Removed barrel
- Ammo Stockpile: 324
- Reduced VFX brightness when hitting unarmored targets
30-30 Repeater
- Projectile size increased when fully charged
Triple Take
- Projectile size increased
- Improved hipfire spread
- Tightened bullet pattern when fully choked
- Ammo per shot reduced to 1 (was 3)
- Magazines sizes adjusted to match the new ammo costs
- Purple Mag: Increased to 10 shots (was 9)
R-99 SMG
- Removed 1 bullet from the base and all magazines
- No Magazine reduced to 19 (was 20)
- White Magazine reduced to 21 (was 22)
- Blue Magazine reduced to 24 (was 25)
- Purple & Gold magazine reduced to 27 (was 28)
Charge Rifle
- Reduced shots per magazine to 3 (was 4)
- Reduced spawn rate
Legends
Catalyst
- Dark Veil
- Scan Highlights & Diamonds are no longer visible through the Dark Veil
Mirage
- Class changed from Skirmisher to Support
Ash
- Now gets slowed to weapon sprint speed instead of weapon walk speed when targeting with her tac
Assault Class
- Smart loot gains have been adjusted to reduce skipping an upgrade tier
- It will now be less likely to jump from White to Purple or Blue to Gold
- Optics are now given based on team rather than just Assault Legend who opens them
- Added special drop rate for Gold Optics
Skirmisher Class
- Care packages are now automatically pinged for the team on reveal.
- This includes empty Care Packages that have already been looted by another team
Support Class
- Support Bins will now guarantee at least one Battery in one of the Secret Compartment slots
- Support Bins will now award MRBs if your ally is dead, even if you don’t have their banner card.
- Legend Banners can now be crafted by ANY player who has a Support Class Legend in their Squad
Mixtape
- New Podium screens for Gun Run and Control
- Display a message in the Kill Feed if Leaver Penalties are disabled for the match due to an unfair match
- Control and Gun Run will indicate the team's MVPs on the intro podium
- Control and TDM have updated loadouts (Crate Weapon changes and updates based on weapon meta/pick rates/kill rates)
- Gun Run and TDM now have XP Bonuses for Match Completion and Match Completion after Join in Progress
Control
- Map rotation: Barometer is out, Olympus: Hammond Labs is in
- Weapon Evo Change: No longer Evo weapons automatically when a new Rating Tier is reached. Players now reach the new tier and their weapon will Evo when the player holsters and then unholsters their weapon in any form (reload, weapon switch, manual holster, rides a zipline, performs a skydive, etc)
Gun Run
- Weapon Track update for new crate weapons.
- Added XP bonus on the last weapon knife kill
Team Deathmatch
- Map rotation: Skulltown is out, Phase Runner is in
Bug Fixes
- Prowler: fixed ADS while crouching
- IMC Armories: fixed spectres taking too much damage from arc stars
- Fixed Duos showing NBR challenges instead of BR challenges
- Fixed comms wheel not being used when a game is over
- Fixed players glitching inside of loot bins
- Fixed spectators not receiving audio queues for all types of launch pads/jump pads
- Fixed flickering of banners during victory and end of match screens
- Scoreboard is saved when a game is finished now, not post-podium sequence
- Lifetime Stats numbers no longer overlap for more than 7 digits
- Various lobby ultrawide UI improvements
Legends
- Ash:
- Steps are no longer louder if the heirloom is equipped
- Fixed UI loop when crouch inspect is cancelled early
- Ultimate will now persist for the entire duration even if Ash dies while it is active and while players are still travelling through it
- Bloodhound: White Ravens already in flight can no longer be scanned for free Tacticals and Ult charge
- Caustic: Fixed traps destroying when placed near closed doors that are then opened
- Crypto:
- Drone can no longer be accessed after being knocked
- Drone no longer occasionally teleports behind a wall after you throw it
- Fixed drone sometimes spawning in the middle of the world when thrown into a wall
- Loba:
- Fixed visibility issue with Black Market when Bangalore’s smoke is behind
- Amount head peeks over cover while crouching adjusted to match other Legends
- Mad Maggie: Improved reliability when hitting objects that the ball will damage or destroy
- Octane: Removed the double jump hint from the Launch Pad in cases where it would incorrectly show as an option (e.g. after a Pathfinder grapple)
- Rampart: multiple cover walls can no longer be placed in the same spot on a Trident
- Seer: Dummies in the firing range will now have the same footstep behaviour as other players when moving inside of Seer’s Ultimate instead of behaving like other AI (Prowlers, Spiders)
- Valkyrie: Ultimate cooldown no longer set to 75% after being cancelled while in Death Totem protection
- Wraith:
- Fixed ultimate being usable while ziplining
- Mythic finisher “Whiplash” no longer pushes players outside of the play area
Modes
- Mixtape
- Fixed shields dropped by killed enemies being empty
- Fixed players leaving a match will no longer try to join the same match if its join-in-progress window is still active
- Team Deathmatch
- Fixed grenades not dropping on player death
- Fixed Estates map image displaying the night variant of the map in the Lobby
- Control
- Fixed Custom Match Observer issue where it was difficult to close the Map Screen if an Observer had it opened before players spawned in the match
- Fixed teammate's death icon not appearing on the map if the map wasn't open when the teammate died
- Fixed ordnance not auto-equipping to the ordnance slot if the player spawned out of bounds
- Fixed reserve ammo counter not displaying when switching weapons from Rampart or Vantage's ultimate ability
Quality of Life Updates
- Removed Auto-Taunt Prompt on Enemy Killed
- Can now ride ziplines while playing the banner pickup animation
- Bullet impact VFX on snow reduced
LiveAPI Improvements and Documentation
This season will have some updates to the LiveAPI based on player and developer feedback. These include improvements to existing functionality and messages, new events, and extensive additions to documentation including some examples in Python.
- Support for Secure WebSockets (WSS) server connections
- Configurable SSL verification, to allow self-signed certificates
- Request validation through a pre-shared key mechanism that can be specified through `cl_liveapi_requests_psk`
- Newly added game event broadcast delay that affects only real-time WebSocket connections, configurable through `cl_liveapi_ws_event_delay`
- Additional documentation and snippets were added to events.proto file
- Includes sample values, code snippets in Python and expected API behaviour
- Change for API request acknowledgements not behaving as intended
- Introduction of the RequestStatus message for more detailed explanations
- Fix for 4KB message payload truncation seen mostly when using JSON data format
- Fix for PlayerRevive event where the revived player field was incorrectly typed as a string instead of a Player message
- New WarpGateUsed and ObserverAnnotation events
- Downgrade of most uint64 fields to uint32 to ensure serialization as numbers and not strings in JSON
- All timestamp fields remain as uint64. Developers should take note when using JSON data format instead of Protobuf.
More information, including technical documentation, can be found in the LiveAPI folder at the root of the game installation