The developers at Respawn Entertainment are gearing up for what should be the game’s first big update since the start of Season 7. Here’s everything you need to know.
While the seasonal Holo-Day Bash event will be a simple playlist update, we’re looking forward past that onto the next big balance patch that could have major implications for the Apex Arena.
Don’t expect anything until the holiday festivities are done and over with, considering the devs might want to start 2021 with healthy changes to the BR.
Below, you can find everything there is to know about the patch, including both what’s been confirmed as well as any changes that have been teased and/or rumored to be included.
When is the next Apex Legends update?
After the fun that’s coming in the Holo-Day Bash event, Apex Legends is primed for a major balance change in the new year.
As confirmed by Respawn, the next meaningful update to gameplay will be sometime in January, which should contain big changes right before Apex Legends’ two-year anniversary.
The exact launch time hasn’t been announced yet, so we’ll let you know those details as soon as they become available.
Confirmed Apex Legends fixes in the next major update
Here are all of the confirmed bug/issue fixes coming in the next major patch, according to the official Apex Legends Trello page:
- Invalid or expired tokens errors: These are frustrating connection-based errors that often prevent players on Xbox and PlayStation from connecting to the game’s servers.
- Octane jump pad bugs: There are several issues where players who interact with an Octane jump pad are then unable to double-jump and gain the maximum height from using the jump pad again.
- Lag within Steam lobbies: Since the release of Season 7, Apex Legends players who are accessing the game via Steam have reported serious frame drops, lag, and visual bugs in the pre-game lobby.
- Player names displaying incorrectly on Steam: Another issue introduced with the game’s release on Steam, this bug causes player names to be displayed as long strings of characters instead of the intended text.
- Placing Sheila on the Trident will cause game crashes: This bug is related to the interaction between the new Trident vehicles introduced in Season 7 and Rampart’s Sheila turret. Players have reported that placing one of Rampart’s turrets on a Trident – which is supposed to be a viable interaction – will cause the game to crash. On November 19, Respawn blocked players from using Sheila on a Trident and said a fix would be coming in a later update.
- Mark all as seen option for menus: In a response to a recent Reddit post, Respawn confirmed that an option to mark all new unlocks – characters skins, weapon skins, etc. – was being worked on and would probably be coming in the game’s next update.
Respawn have already confirmed they are working on a bug related to Rampart’s turret and the new Trident vehicles.
What else to expect
In addition to the fixes that have been confirmed by Respawn, there is a laundry list of other things that have either been announced or teased for Apex sometime soon.
- New cosmetics: While you can check out all of those Holo-Day skins here, the new year should bring a new theme for the BR’s current season, as well as plenty of skins to celebrate its launch.
- Weapon balancing: Weapon balancing in any game is an extremely particular process. Although Respawn pushed out several weapon tweaks with the release of Season 7, the developer often updates the weapon meta during special events as well. Players could potentially see buffs to some underpowered weapons like the Alternator, L-Star, or Charge Rifle along with nerfs to more powerful guns such as the Devotion, Hemlok, or R-301.
- Audio fixes: Since its earliest days, Apex has faced criticism from its community regarding sound design and audio issues. Players in Season 7 have reported sound issues with the new map, Trident vehicles, and Horizon. While not officially confirmed for the next update, the devs are working to address these issues and players could see some audio fixes pushed out.
- Map updates: Respawn continually updates the maps in Apex Legends, and it is not unheard of for the developer to push out changes to multiple locales at once. It’s possible players could see some other tweaks to World’s Edge, Olympus, or both.
- Battle Pass progression: The Season 7 battle pass was a sore spot for the Apex community from the moment of its release. Respawn has already implemented several changes to bring the progression system back in-line with what players are used to from previous seasons. Although the outrage surrounding the battle pass has largely died down, Respawn could potentially tweak the system again.
- Octane buffs: Along with addressing the broken functionality of his jump pad, Respawn has also confirmed they are still looking at ways to tweak Octane’s kit after the Season 7 changes. Although the team stated they were hoping to get these changes out in the January update, it has not been officially confirmed.
- Crossplay improvements: Since the release of crossplay in the Aftermarket Collection event, players on all platforms have reported issues with the system. Respawn has been working to improve the player experience when teaming up with friends on different hardware and could push out some of these fixes.
- Even more bugs fixes: While the developers do their best to keep players updated on what they are trying fix with their Trello board, the developer has stated that “the board will not show everything” and they are constantly working on other issues. Some other recent bugs, like an issue with no-regs related to Gibraltar’s gun shield or other reported issues that are not listed in Trello could also see a fix.
Fan-favorite holiday skins will likely return in this year’s Holo-Day Bash.
All of this is just the tip of the iceberg for what’s coming in the following update once the Holo-Day Bash has concluded; expect tons of new content, lots of fixes, and plenty of adjustments to weapons, Legends, and the rest.
Players will be able to jump into the Holiday Express LTM and see what Respawn pushes out after the event goes live on Tuesday, December 1 and will end a few weeks after.
But until then, make sure to follow us on Twitter, @TitanfallBlog, for all the latest Apex news, leaks, guides, and more.
