The Olympus map of Apex Legends has undergone a major transformation courtesy of Respawn Entertainment, and to be very honest, the players have…actually, let’s just say that they are experiencing a roller coaster of emotions about it. A new developer video accompanied the presentation of Senior Level Designer Michael Shannon, who described the changes and revealed the areas that have been altered as well as those with new movement-based points of interest; yet, despite the map being beautified and refreshed, the community’s reaction was quite mixed.
The Olympus map underwent a radical change, but what exactly were the changes made? The developers, among other actions, have scattered cover all over the map, redesigned the unexciting POIs and increased players’ movement in the map sections. One player, MrLisbon by name, was completely amazed by the transformations and shared his view that ‘the crew did an excellent job. I have always hated the Olympus map in both pubs and ranked. The POIs were small and uninteresting, and there were large open spaces. So, one can’t deny it; more cover is great and I am in love with the movement-based POIs.’ On top of that, he even crowned it the ‘4th competitive ranked map,’ which is indeed flattering coming from a user whose profile just oozes Apex content that was pointed out by another player.
Nonetheless, the situation is complicated; the reworked Olympus is still not part of the ranked game mode. So, what is behind this? A lot of players are expressing their concerns and saying that they are not even able to spend time on the map which would give them the opportunity to properly test the new features. One user called hgssprime commented, “I have only played one match on the map because every time I am about to play it, it is almost going to rotate out or is not rotating in for hours.” Another player, RaginKatfish, was actually crying out, “GIVE US THE NEW OLYMPUS BACK TODAY PLEASEEEEE!!! It is coming in 4 days!”
Server issues are also a part of the problem. TommyC_137 was very blunt when he asked, “Why even put this out? The maps are broken, the servers are broken, everything is freaking broken!” Mizu_805_ shared his frustrations and exasperation over the game crashes too, stating, “The game keeps crashing unbelievably, at this point, just make Titanfall 3 and bring Apex 2 from there. This is becoming a nightmare; 3 days of getting DC’d is torture!” which is definitely hard to endure.
Some players, however, don’t see the map update as anything other than an invitation to reveal their thoughts on every single flaw of the game. DShadow317 was quite vocal about making his point regarding the matchmaking system by stating: “Mikey should have illuminated EOMM in pubs that killed Apex. I know those hard questions are daunting for the developers of this caliber, though.” WoHype711 remarked: “Most players would be more than happy to have a talk with the head of the anti-cheat department, third-party devices, and matchmaking!! But either that person doesn’t exist or they are hiding because of the backlash,” which…ouch.
Another controversial topic is the changes in movement. Toni Vee was almost begging when saying, “PLEASE STOP messing with the movement! You all are making this game too casual; is that the reason you are making the movements easier? Movement is the only reason I still play this game, which I consider a doodoo game PLEASE DO NOT touch the movement.. roll back the change.” However, they did suggest wall-running as a new option, which is honestly a pretty cool idea.
On top of that, the whole ranked issue is still ongoing. SportsFan30000 complained about the dropping-in system ranting, “Get rid of this dogshit as drop-in system in ranked. Every single fight is a 3rd or 4th party, it is so unplayable.” ShadowWalker_VT, sharing similar frustrations, said that he hated that everyone knew where you were landing now.
Then, some users are totally confused by the whole situation and do not even know what to ask for. sknz_icy just stated, “What Olympus map????” which, honestly, sometimes is true when you think about how fast the game is changing.
And there are also the gamers who just want completely different things. wizard_bz made a “Vantage heirloom, please,” request while StyapOnTwitch asked “Please do not revive it until after tomorrow; we want ranked on Worlds Edge,” and TheOncey inquired about the changes in duos and requested a “New Bald wraith skin pls.”
It is really amazing how one map update can draw such a diverse range of reactions and concerns from the gaming community. Some players think the changes are “the perfect fit,” some “are denied the new map by the battle royale” rotation system, and others are just frustrated with the overall state of the game on PlayStation and Xbox platforms.
