Respawn Entertainment announced today that the fifth season of Apex Legends, Fortune’s Favor, is the most popular season yet. More new players are coming to the game, and more importantly, more are sticking around day-by-day.
Sure, global quarantine and lockdown likely have something to do with the high player numbers, but Respawn reported similar stats for both Season 3 and Season 4. It seems like the game is just growing in size and scope.
Season 5 has introduced a lot to the Apex Experience, with huge map changes on King’s Canyon and the introduction of a new Legend, Loba. There’s also a new battle pass, and most importantly in terms of season success, the new quest and Treasure Pack system.
Players log-in and play daily with the chance to uncover a Treasure Pack from a supply bin somewhere on the map. The chances are pretty high that you’ll find at least one in a game, and the rewards are meagre but will stack up over the course of a season.
Treasure Packs also give you access to the weekly quests, a narrative-driven PVE mode set on King’s Canyon After Dark. The story progresses as the season unfolds, and the platform will likely be used to tease the new legend for Season 6.
Over the duration of Season 5, you need to collect at least 45 Treasure Packs to be able to complete all the quests and earn all the rewards. This obviously has players returning every Tuesday, and likely every day, to collect packs and do the quest.
Player numbers may certainly have surged due to the weekly quests, where the first two quests going live on a Tuesday have caused EA’s Apex Legends servers to have a meltdown.
Despite some of the issues with Season 5 – the server lag, frustrating ranked matchmaking and notoriously broken audio – Apex Legends continues to prove itself in a very competitive field.
Respawn is yet to address the irritating buzzing sound you might have heard out in the arena, and the ranked matchmaking and split-season mechanic do need some work before they feel fair for all players.
Season 6 is still months away, but there will likely be another season event sometime in June. Depending on what effect the WFH status has had on the Respawn team, there will be a new Heirloom, cosmetic items and some limited-time modes.
