Arrange play in Apex Legends will be refurbished next season with more opportunities to earn RP, fairer matches and a change in scenery. The changes to the RP system aim to create more equal fights, especially in Diamond and higher, by giving good players more opportunities to stand out.
Respawn aims to create a healthier ‘top-end’ in Diamond and higher in the eighth season. According to an official post, the rare player pool in Diamond + has in the past been ‘too small to consistently offer fair matches’. Another goal is to “improve match quality” and generate fairer matches, even if it causes slightly longer times.
Respawn’s choice to achieve both of these objectives is to review the RP system to “[provide] more opportunities for good players to earn RP. The new model will adapt the existing values to make it easier to collect RP in a match – and this will bring significant changes.
Players will receive points for up to six kills and assistance in each game. The new rule is a gentle push for ‘really good players’ to climb back into their ranks, but will also provide more ways for the Apex Predators to prepare for their competition and dominate the standings.
The new season will also implement a longer aid threshold. Assists will count up to 10 seconds after damage to a target (from 7.5 seconds), a relatively large increase associated with the higher RP cap for kills and assists.
Local RP rewards start for the 13th group instead of the 10th, giving extra points to players who survive the first few battles.
To improve the times of the ride, there will be 750 Apex predators (versus 500). The larger pool should promote more fair matches, but hold the position as exclusive to the best of the best.
The new season will also feature a much stricter matchmaking system. Players under Diamond will, according to Respawn, “match much more frequently in their own ranks”. The measure appears to be a way to achieve both big-screen goals for the season by creating a fair environment so that only the best players will climb to Diamond and higher.
Arrangement and division of the map
With the update of the Kings Canyon map on the way and the new debut of Olympus, World Edge will sit outside the ranking of the map for the duration of the season. The first split of competitive play usually takes place in the newest arena – in this case, Kings Canyon after the map has been updated.
The second division will take place through Olympus rather than World’s Edge. This means that the Talos arena is out of the picture – at least for the next few months.
Diamond Roads will also return to the battle royally in the next season – but only in the next season. An image in the official blog post shows that diamond roads are a reward for Ascension, but communications director Ryan K. Rigney confirm that this is an error.
The seven rewards for the season include parachute paths for Masters and Apex Predators, in addition to the usual weapons for gold and higher and banner badges for all ranks.
Player distribution
According to Respawn, the season counted seven higher players and had more playing time than its predecessors. The increased stats helped populate games from Platinum and higher.
Here is the distribution of players compared to season six:
- 16.35 percent bronze (17.76 percent)
- 23.86 percent silver (26.23 percent)
- 32.09 percent gold (36.25 percent)
- 23.13 percent Platinum (17.75 percent)
- 4.37 percent diamond (1.89 percent)
- 0.20 percent Master and Apex predator (0.12 percent)
Apex season eight begins on February 2nd.