Respawn Entertainment has a special treat prepared for the popular battle royale players, perfectly timed for festive season. Fans of this game's super-slick movement can rejoice to learn that an innovative traversal feature will be introduced when Season 27: Amped goes live on November 4th.
Named "Mantle Boosting" by the developers, this feature gives players a surge of forward momentum when scaling obstacles. As explained lead battle royale designer the design lead, Mantle Boosting was previously been a feature of the game for quite a while, usually referred to as "ledge boosting." But it's no easy feat for the average player, and typically employed by pro gamers in competitive play or esports competitions. In this update, Respawn simplifies the process for everyone to execute these tricky movement boosts.
"This technique existed in Apex for a while, but the movement requires skill to pull off and gamers might not realize it [is in the game] without outside knowledge," Canavese states. "We're adding a visual cue so users can clearly identify when and how to activate the fast-paced traversal skill, opening up the mechanic and adding fresh strategies to compete for a much wider base."
What's the reason for making a once niche movement quirk accessible to everyone? Principal designer the development lead says the team aims for gamers to experience empowerment — including ones who are new.
"Our community is doing advanced techniques like super-glides and tap-strafing, and we examined at our competition, looked at what the community execute, and we said, 'What if we provide these capabilities to more players?'" the designer clarifies. "Since right now, certain advanced [movement] mechanics are kind of janky to access — you need to remap your keybinds and execute within precise timings. So we said, 'How about we make a more official implementation?'"
Movement is primarily the name of the game in this season, with Legends the gravity mage, Rampart, and Valkyrie all getting buffs to help keep them in motion. Recovery time on her tactical ability has been decreased, and this skill will boost players into the air much quicker than it used to. Her defensive walls now include a roof and capability to grant movement bonuses to allies in range. However the spotlight is on the high-flying this Legend who's getting significant improvements this season, with various adjustments applied to enhance her as more potent, faster, and deadlier.
"In my opinion many agree that her moment is here," says character developer Ian Holstead. "Certainly she was dominant previously, but due to the addition of new Legends, mobility perks, and redeployment tools, it felt like she's not very relevant in today's Apex. This presented an ideal chance for us to reexamine a bunch of aspects [of her kit] and essentially bring her back to her glory days."
To reclaim Valkyrie's relevance in current strategies, the developer says the team assessed all her skills and introduced some powerful changes. Her jetpack received improvements, increasing velocity during flight, and this equipment regenerates much quicker, allowing the player to spend more time aloft. Now she won't take damage from her ultimate ability, which has also been upgraded to tag enemies who are hit from it. Her Skyward Dive ability — which launches teammates skyward for repositioning or retreat — now takes much less time to activate. She's also getting recently added Legend Upgrades that players can select to conserve resources, widen the area of her Missile Swarm, or accelerate her Skyward Dive takeoff time.
"Valkyrie's equipment now delivers on that jet-fighter fantasy," he comments.
Additionally, the only floating arena, this location, receives a mobility-focused overhaul, with major changes that opens up choke points and makes securing elevated positions more manageable. The developers says the game this update focuses on giving players the tools required to keep up with the competition.
"Really, we examined the game's fundamental nature as a movement shooter," explains lead Legend designer the lead.
Apex Legends the Amped season launches November 4th at 10 a.m. PST/1 p.m. EST.
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