The Apex Legends developers, who are part of Respawn Entertainment, decided to organize a community AMA. You definitely know of these events that they answer questions about the gaming meta, which Legends will be getting buffs, or even rework. Actually, they pointed the link leading to the summary that is mainly about the Octane buffs, Legendary reworks, and, well, more. Sounds good, right? But if you take a close look at the replies to their tweet… oh boy. Players are not only talking about but also showing their discontent with the most fundamental game-winning turned-off-all-the-way thing.
Let us study it. The official tweet from @PlayApex shows the words, ‘You asked and we answered! Come check out some of the top questions from our latest Legends Meta AMA.’ They are trying to get involved, to show that they care about the players’ opinions about character balancing. And yes, there are a few players who think like that. For instance, D’angelo Taylor did some sleuthing, theorizing about which Legends could be changed according to the number o f players eliminated. The possible characters are Fuse, Conduit, or Bloodhound. Another player, Demetris Richmond, was pretty clear about how he wants Octane buffed; he suggested auto-reloads for the Assault legend perks. That is the kind of detailed feedback one should expect to receive during a meta discussion.
Yet, it is necessary to look at the other replies simultaneously. A flood of discontent totally apart from the topic of the Octane’s stim pack can be nothing but a replay of comments. The topics with the highest positive votes from that very user refer to the infrastructure of the game. Twitter user ‘dave sheful’ (@apexzilla302) very rudely said, ‘yall gonna do something about the cheaters or nah just keep radio silence or fix the horrible servers.’ Such emotionality is present all over the place. Another player, ‘SumikoCZ’, sarcastically wondered whether a company that ‘adds legal Wallhack’ (probably a reference to Bloodhound or Seer who scan) would take cheaters seriously, just suggesting that they would ‘need to ban like 60% of preds.’
Cheating is not the only problem; the server issue is huge and contentious. User ‘𝖄 yoooooori’ replied in Portuguese, which translates to ‘nobody cares, fix the damn server there all laggy sons of bitches.’ Even with the translation, the main idea is very loud and clear. The major online experience is suffering, and for many people in the community, this is a more significant matter than the discussion about the meta changes. Why would a player care if Octane is 5% faster if the game freezes every time that player walks around a corner?
On top of that, more issues are coming to the surface. A user called ‘Ferf’ has noted players are asking for Arenas and Solos to be made permanent playlists. ‘WellHmz’ is requesting the banning of Cronus and XIM users (cheating devices). Then there are the player-specific complaints that require in-depth and detailed understanding of the characters’ problems. ‘AirickSin’ thinks Bloodhound is ‘so useless he needs a whole new kit.’ ‘KingScrufflez’ claims reworking Revenant was ‘the worst thing you could have done,’ longing for his former silence and totem. And ‘Sebastian’ (@ArkonteSouls) tells a funny yet sad story of asking Rampart for Sheila kill trackers and feeling ‘completely ignored like when I asked my ex if she still loved me.’ That sure is a mood.
All this drama is there but still, the unexpected and funny side-conversations keep coming. For example, users ‘ScampBTW’ and ‘frierenismywife’ become embroiled in a dispute over a ‘gulag match’ and gang violence in the replies, which have absolutely nothing to do with Apex Legends. It is just chaos. However, that chaos somehow mirrors the overall vibe— the community’s talking is very scattered because the core issues such as cheating, server problems, and lack of game modes are so pressing that they push even planned discussions about the meta down to the secondary level.
So what can we conclude from the experiences following this Apex Legends AMA? Respawn is, indeed, dealing with the issue of Legend balance and this is a very positive step for the future of the game. However, the player base is taking the opportunity to amplify its complaints about problems, which affect every match and that are: cheating, server reliability, and lack of favorite game modes. This is a typical case where developers and players are on slightly different wavelengths. The devs are looking at the chessboard and thinking about moving the pieces. Players, on the other hand, are looking at the table that the board is on, realizing that it has a wobbly leg, and some people are playing battle royale on their phones with PlayStation and Xbox controllers.
