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Apex Legends‘ recently revamped leveling system has a lot of players excited, as the long-awaited change allows players to finally progress beyond the game’s initial 500-level cap, collecting more rewards and greatly increasing their odds of receiving Heirloom Shards when opening Apex Packs. Unfortunately, over a week after the launch of Season 14, the new feature still isn’t functioning properly, and although a fix is on the horizon, the game’s developers say it’s unlikely to be released this week.
As is common with Apex’s large seasonal updates, the Hunted patch introduced a few new bugs to the game. Compared to some of last season’s bugs, most of the new ones are relatively benign (and rather amusing), but the leveling rewards issue is notably frustrating, especially given the amount of hype that began building once it became clear the level cap was finally getting a much-needed update.
Respawn first acknowledged the bug on August 10, the day after Season 14’s launch. But over a week later, the issue still persists. The good news is the game’s developers believe they have identified the cause and are aiming to push out a patch to resolve the bug. The bad news? There’s no ETA on when this patch will arrive, though Respawn has stated it hopes to release it sometime next week.
Shortly after Apex Legends launched in 2019, the level cap was increased from 100 to 500, allowing players to accumulate a total of 199 free Apex Packs by the time they reached level 500. Players also received 600 Legend Tokens (used to unlock new characters and redeem recolored cosmetic skins) each time they leveled up. Once players hit level 500, they would continue receiving Legend Tokens each time they gained enough XP to level up, but no longer received Apex Packs for their efforts. This left dedicated players with more Legend Tokens than they knew what to do with, and little incentive to continue playing once a season’s battle pass was completed.
Players are guaranteed one pack of Heirloom Shards for every 500 Apex Packs they open. With this in mind, it’s easy to see why fans are frustrated–once it’s working properly, the new leveling system will allow players who reach level 500 (and then work through the remaining 1,500 “prestige” levels) to gain an additional 345 free Apex Packs. This brings the grand total of free Apex Packs received from simply playing the game to 544 for players who complete all 2,000 levels, thus guaranteeing these players at least one set of free Heirloom Shards.
When you factor in the additional Apex Packs received from free event reward tracks and battle passes, the possibility of some players receiving a second set of Heirloom Shards increases. Many players have yet to see their first set of Heirloom Shards, while others who got lucky and received a set early are disappointed they unlocked an Heirloom weapon when there was only one: Wraith’s Kunai knife. Wraith’s Kunai was the only Heirloom weapon in the game upon launch, and maintained that status until late August 2019, when Bloodhound’s Raven’s Bite axe was released. Recently, fans have begun asking developers to give Wraith’s Heirloom a little TLC due to the fact that Wraith’s Kunai is relatively underwhelming compared to more recent Heirloom weapons, which feature a multitude of unique inspect animations. Some players have even taken matters into their own hands, creating new concepts for better Kunai animations.
Re-animating a pre-existing Heirloom weapon’s animation set is probably pretty low on Respawn’s priority list at the moment, so it’s not hard to see why players are so frustrated that a new feature–one which will essentially guarantee them a shot at snagging one of the newer, more complex Heirloom weapons that have been released over the years–is currently bugged.
While there’s currently no specific ETA on when next week’s patch will arrive, Respawn has vowed to keep players up to date on the issue via the official Respawn Entertainment and Apex Legends Twitter accounts.
Apex Legends is free to play on console and PC. A mobile version of the game, Apex Legends Mobile, is available for download on Android and iOS devices.
Apex Legends Season 14 Battle Pass – All Skins And Rewards
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