[GameSpot] - Apex Legends Season 17 Patch Notes Make Drastic Changes To Legend Classes

[343iBot]

Apex Legends Season 17: Arsenal launches Tuesday, and ahead of that, developer Respawn Entertainment gave players the nitty gritty details on the upcoming season's content via the release of the Season 17: Arsenal patch notes, which were posted on EA's official Apex Legends site. The patch notes give players a much better idea of what Season 17 will look like in terms of specific gameplay updates and other game changes that will ultimately affect the game's meta. From the remodeled ping wheel to Season 17's gold weapon rotation, keep reading for a breakdown of all the new gameplay content scheduled to hit the game when Arsenal goes live.

Much of the content included in Respawn's patch notes blog post includes previously announced details about the upcoming season, like the new Weapon Mastery system, a revamped Firing Range, and new Ranked Mode changes--which include the implementation of some serious new anti-smurf efforts. You can learn more in-depth details about these new features by checking out everything we know about Apex Legends Season 17.

New ping wheel options

As for new information, one new feature included in the patch notes post was about the game's ping wheel, a tool players use to communicate and cooperate without using voice or text chat. Currently, the ping wheel has the following dialogue options:

• "We should go here (together)"
• "Enemy spotted there"
• "Looting here"
• "Attacking here"
• "I'm going here (alone)"
• "Defending this spot"
• "Watching this spot"
• "Enemy was here"

Once arsenal goes live, the following new pings will be added to the wheel:

• "Avoid this area"
• "Enemy heard here"
• "We should regroup here"

Players will also see "an expanded set" of ping options when they are downed or waiting in the dropship for the initial drop into a Battle Royale match.

But even more changes have been added to the ping system this season--for instance, its behavior when pinging locations directly on the in-game map screen has been changed. Now, in-game objects with map icons (Respawn Beacons, Replicators, PvE wildlife areas, etc.) can now be pinged from the map screen, creating accurate waypoints with character dialogue callouts. Additionally, when pinging generic waypoints on the map, waypoints will have more accurate placement in the map's 3D landscape.

Weaponry

When it comes to weaponry, the RE-45 will return to the floor loot pool, with the L-STAR taking its place in the Care Package. As for the Replicators scattered across Apex's maps, the Sentinel and Alternator will enter the Replicator and the EVA-8 and 30-30 Repeater are slated to replace them. As for Gold/Legendary-tier weapons, Season 17's rotation consists of the following weapons:

• Flatline
• Mastiff
• Spitfire
• Triple Take
• Volt

Other changes of note include:

• The L-STAR, as a Care Package weapon, is losing its barrel mod and gaining the Disruptor Rounds hop-up.
• The 30-30 Repeater's projectile size has been increased.
• The R-99 now hold one less bullet, regardless of which magazine is equipped.

Legends

As for the legends themselves, some interesting changes have been made. For instance, Mirage is no longer a Skirmisher-class legend. He has now been reassigned to the Support class and will gain access to Support-exclusive abilities when Season 17 goes live. When aiming her tactical Arc Snare ability, Ash is slowed to armed-sprinting speed--a decent improvement to her previous armed-walking speed.

Class abilities, too, have been changed. Weapon Supply Bins available to Assault-class legends are less likely to skip a rarity tier (like presenting the player with Legendary-tier loot when they've currently got Rare-tier loot), and optics within Weapon Supply Bins now take into account the needs of the Assault-class player's squadmates, not just the player. Lastly, Respawn has added a "special drop rate" for Legendary-tier optics in these special Weapon Supply Bins, though it's not clear exactly what this means.

As for Skirmisher-class legends, Care Package loot is now automatically pinged for the whole team (provided the Care Package is looked at long enough to reveal its contents). Support-class legends, who can gain access to the secret compartment in Extended Supply Bins, are now guaranteed at least one Shield Battery. Additionally, when opening an Extended Supply Bin while a teammate is dead--even if their Banner Card hasn't been crafted or retrieved--a Mobile Respawn Beacon is likely to appear in the secret compartment. Even better, instead of the ability to craft timed-out teammate Banner Cards being locked to Support-class legends, any player on a squad with a Support-class legend will gain the ability to craft Banner Cards at Replicators.

When it comes to legends themselves, almost all changes have simply been bug-fixes. The bug causing Ash to make more noise when moving around with her Heirloom equipped has been fixed, and her ultimate Phase Breach ability will persist for its full duration--even if Ash dies before it expires. Also of note are several repairs to bugs that caused issues with Crypto's drone placement, and he also can no longer access his drone while downed.

Check out the full patch notes from the developers below:

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 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 an additional 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 usable 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 heirloom is equipped
  • Fixed UI loop when crouch inspect is canceled early
  • Ultimate will now persist for the entire duration even if Ash dies while it is active and while players are still traveling 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 behavior 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 canceled while in Death Totem protection

• Wraith:
  • Fixed ultimate being usable while ziplining
  • Mythic finisher “Whiplash” no longer pushes players outside of 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 teammates 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 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 added to events.proto file
  • Includes sample values, code snippets in Python and expected API behavior
• 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.

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