Yesterday, we talked about Apex Legends and its Halloween and Christmas events for 2019. However, Respawn has been keeping its devs busy by releasing other events outside of the holiday seasons.
Today, let’s talk about Apex‘s themed events.
Apex Legends Themed Events
To date, there have been 3 themed events in Apex Legends: “Legendary Hunt”, “Iron Crown”, and “Voidwalker”. Interestingly, all of these events were held on the Season 1 & Season 2 “King’s Canyon” map, meaning that the Season 3 “World’s Edge” map has yet to host a themed event.
Legendary Hunt
“Legendary Hunt” set players the task of finishing a game in the normal Apex queue as one of the top 5 teams. Once you ended a game in the top 5, you could play the limited-time “Apex Elite Queue”; if you kept placing in the top 5, you could keep playing “Apex Elite”. Once you ended a game not earning a top 5 spot, you got kicked back to the normal queue.
The Elite queue was a big draw to some players, and they worked hard to never lose access to that game mode. Ultimately, though, it didn’t change the dynamic of game significantly. Some players were more aggressive than normal, and others more defensive, as they stubbornly tried to hold on to their Elite status.
Honestly, it wasn’t a very enticing reward, and while the event offered some cool cosmetics, they simply weren’t enough to make me feel invested in the whole affair. I still played a lot of Apex, and I played a handful of “Elite” games, but it didn’t add much to my enjoyment of the game.
What the Elite queue did, however, was serve as a predecessor for Season 2 & 3’s Ranked mode, which we’ll talk about in another article.
Iron Crown
“Iron Crown”, however, changed things up. During this event, Respawn added the much-requested Solo queue. Finally, you could play without having to worry that your teammates would give away your position by shooting at a team on the other side of the map, or that they would disconnect abruptly as you battled valiantly for the coveted title of Champion.
For all those players who would drop alone into the hot drop zone, intent on killing everyone in the game entirely without any help… This was their time to shine!
Solo mode changed the dynamic significantly, forcing you to be more aware of your surroundings. Players didn’t have anyone watching their back, unless it was to shoot them in the back. Looting had to be done more quickly, and more precisely, to ensure survival in the moments right after dropping.
As much as I love the team aspect of Apex Legends, and the dynamic that it brings to the game play, I played a ton of Solo mode. I made more progress in advancing my skill as an Apex player in Solo mode than I ever did in the standard game mode. I loved it, and I hope they bring it back.
Voidwalker
The “Voidwalker” event offered yet another new game play mode: “Armed and Dangerous”. In this mode, players could only loot shotgun weapons and sniper weapons, with armor limited to common white shields and helmets. The limitations forced a drastic change in play style – no more “spray and pray” automatic weapons, no more constant-pressure semi-automatic pistols or submachine guns.
Some players excelled in this mode. They were already dirty campers – sorry, I mean they were already patient snipers – or massive-damage shotgun wielders. Other players struggled, like me. I didn’t play a lot of sniper weapons originally, as I didn’t feel that the map lent itself well to that strategy. And shotguns didn’t agree with me.
The fact that players could only find white armor and helmets also changed the dynamic significantly. One good headshot from a sniper could drop most characters. Shotguns became much more lethal in close quarters, and players couldn’t rely on having a health buffer to save them.
Eventually we all found our stride, and from what I can tell, “Armed and Dangerous” ended its run remaining pretty popular. I upped my sniping game by a lot, too, which has helped me up my kill count with Longbow drastically in Season 3.
Tomorrow, we’ll be changing things up a little and talking toys just in time for Christmas! That’s right, we’ll be doing a rundown of the various weapons you can find in Apex Legends.
