Respawn’s development team and Apex Legends fans want to put the Iron Crown fiasco behind them because it included overpriced content and some ugly feuding between employees and players. To avoid repeating history, Respawn outlined exactly what its events will look like going forward.
Respawn’s director of product management Lee “Leeeeeee-RSPN” Horn announced the Apex Legends Event Structure Overview on the battle royale’s website today. The post goes over the three different types of events and their structure.
Each event comes with its own unique theme and components but they share the same framework, according to Leeeeeee-RSPN.
Here’s the template that each event will generally follow.
- One or more new gameplay changes such as permanent and limited-time modes (Ranked or Solos respectively), map updates and town takeovers, balance changes, new characters, new weapons, and more.
- New free progression content via challenges or the free Battle Pass track.
- Purchasable cosmetics via Battle Pass, Packs, and/or the Shop.
The Iron Crown patch, for example, met all three of these criteria. It introduced Solos mode and Town Takeover for a new gameplay change and it provided challenges to help you earn Iron Crown packs.
The three types of events will be Season Launches, Themed Events, and Collection Events.
Season Launches
Basically, each season will bring major changes to the map, introduce a new legend or new feature, and alter the meta with balancing. In addition to the new content, players will also get a new Battle Pass.
Season two, for example, changed Kings Canyon by knocking the Repulsor down (thanks, Crypto) and creating two new areas on the map. It also introduced Wattson, a new Battle Pass, and two attachments.
Themed Events
Themed Events will enter in the midseason to freshen up the game with added content. “These events will generally occur during a season and bring with them a limited-time mode, event challenges that let players earn cosmetics, and a mix of event limited and evergreen cosmetics available for direct purchase,” Leeeeeee-RSPN said.
The Legendary Hunt was a Themed Event that gave players free cosmetics upon completing specific challenges. A new Themed Event is scheduled to come in early September.
Collection Events
Collection Events are similar to Themed Events in that they deliver a limited-time mode and event challenges to earn cosmetics. Much like the Iron Crown event, however, players will have to buy event-specific Apex packs or directly purchase cosmetics from the store.
Today’s announcement is largely due to confusion that surrounded the Iron Crown packs. Players believed that $7 Iron Crown packs were exorbitant and that cosmetics should’ve been attainable through completing challenges.
“We received a lot of fan feedback on our recent Iron Crown Collection Event and we’re listening,” Leeeeeee-RSPN said. “We have another Collection Event planned for October and ahead of that event we will share with you how we are making changes to the event.”
The event in October will likely be Halloween-themed after pictures of a Frankenstein Gibraltar skin was leaked earlier today.
Despite the Iron Crown debacle, Respawn’s development team is listening to Apex fans and is looking to make amends with more content.
