From reworks to its scoring system to foundational adjustments to its matchmaking, Respawn has long been in hot pursuit of that sweet spot where ranked can be the best competitive experience Apex Legends has to offer.
For season 19, Ignite, which launches on Oct. 31, Apex is adding another significant addition to ranked to continue refining the experience. It comes in the form of promotional trials, which lock players into a skill check challenge to rank up from one ranked tier to another. Going from Silver to Gold or Gold to Platinum will now require putting in performances worthy of that rank, which in part is a “direct response” to ratting strategies, according to experience design director Aaron Rutledge.
“This past season, we’re happy with how competitive the matches have been. It’s been pretty sweaty all season,” Rutledge said at a recent press event. “But we have plenty to do to smooth out the climb experience.”
“The promo trials are a direct response to the ‘I’m just gonna hide in a corner and make my way to Plat,'” he said. “If you don’t engage, and fight, and try for the full win, you will not promote. You’ll be held down lower until you put your tryhard pants on.”
As he went on to explain, promotional trials come with a specific set of challenges that players will need to complete within a limited time frame. In the example trial given, in the next five ranked games, a player would need to do one of two things: win a single match or place in the top 10 with three kills and/or assists three times. Completing either of these challenges would then allow that player to rank up to the next tier.
“Promotional trials will create some emotional tension as their results will directly impact whether or not they climb the ladder,” Rutledge said. “This also helps ensure that players can’t climb just by being passive. You have to perform at that clutch moment to get your promo. You won’t be able to have just an average game where you came in 11th and that was just enough LP to give you the promo, right? You’re going to remember when you actually made it from Gold into Plat.”
This isn’t the first time Respawn has directly called out the passive strategies many players use, but the promotional trials are the largest step the devs have taken yet in curbing the effectiveness of ratting in its entirety. In Rutledge’s eyes, the trials “ensure a minimum skill level” for each tier and will aid in increasing the intensity of the ranked experience.
Naturally, if this new system of skill checks is going to ensure that minimum skill level, there needs to be a punishment in place for failing it.
“The punishment is a sliding scale of punishment based on how you perform within the trials that you’re given,” Rutledge said. “Say you’re given five trial games, and you’re a total stinker in all of them, you’ll get kicked down the ladder farther than if you were very, very close. If you did really well in those five games, you’ll only get pushed down the ladder a tiny bit.” He also noted that the punishments were more significant in the higher ranks, further putting emphasis on the importance of the promotional trials once players start pushing into Diamond.
The trials aren’t the only change coming to ranked in season 19, though. Respawn is also removing the party restrictions on Trios, which will allow players to play with their friends regardless of their current skill level. With the hard skill checks now in place, this is more than likely a restriction the devs feel comfortable removing as carrying a worse player would now be a far harder task to pull off.
As previously announced, ranked will also be transitioning away from Skydive Trails into providing animated Banner Frames as its cosmetic reward. Compared to Skydive Trails, the Banner Frames are an indefinite reward, which will make them a more worthy item to chase in the long run for the majority of the player base.
All of these changes are going live with the launch of Apex season 19, Ignite, which comes out on Oct. 31 across all platforms.
