Earlier this month, Apex Legends added a new permanent 3v3 deathmatch mode, Arenas. It's brilliant, with one glaring problem: leavers. It's never fun to lose a few rounds in a row, and it's even worse a teammate outright gives up and abandons you, rather than sticking around to try and pull it back. Thankfully, a new patch released last night has added penalties for players who ditch Arenas matches early.
20/05/2021 'WeThePeople1', one of the competitors removed from Twitch Rivals, clarifies to The Loadout that the drafting issues were "a misunderstanding"
Apex Legends' Twitch Rivals tournament kicks off later today, including the game's first ever European competition on Twitch's headline show match channel. However, it's the North American tournament that is grabbing the headlines, thanks to a mixup in the preparations that have caused the teams to be drawn and redrawn three times already.
The issues became apparent after the first draw, which saw some teams draft multiple Apex Predator-level players, despite efforts to make sure that did not happen. Players had been split into three categories, one group of Apex Predators, one group of Master and Diamond players, and one group of players Platinum or below. The latter group are team captains, and draft one player from each other category to create balanced teams - in theory.
However, it transpired that some players had climbed the Apex Legends ranks since submitting their application to Twitch Rivals, rendering some teams significantly more powerful than others. Twitch Rivals' esports community manager, Blake 'CloudFuel' Tull decided to redraft the teams in order to prevent one team dominating the field and creating a boring competition, as happened with the last Twitch Rivals event in March which saw TSM's Phillip 'ImperialHal' Dosen and Eric 'Snip3down' Wrona drafted to the same team and romp to victory.
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I often find myself bemused by people who buy in-game skins, stickers and tchotchkes for free-to-play multiplayer games. Then I remember that collecting football stickers is the most fun I've ever had by spending money.
For my pocket money placed into Panini's pockets, I got a completed World Cup '94 sticker book. For buying one of four new bundles of items for Apex Legends, you'll now help fund the ALGS Championship prize pool up to $3 million.
The Apex Legends Global Series Championship is just around the corner, but the million-dollar prize pool could be about to grow considerably. From today, May 18, until June 1, Apex Legends players will be able to purchase four cosmetics packs which include skins, banner frames, and gun charms, and money from each purchase will be paid into the ALGS Championship prize pool.
The four animal-themed bundles for Fuse, Pathfinder, Caustic, and Octane will cost 2,500 Apex Coins each - roughly $25 (£20) - and EA will donate $5 from each purchase to the ALGS Championship prize pool, to increase it to a maximum of $3 million. There will also be a 9,000-coin Animal Kingdom bundle, which includes all four bundles for a slight discount. EA will donate $20 from purchases of the big bundle to the Championship prize pool.
While it seems a little random to introduce safari-themed skins to go alongside the Championship, this marks the next step in helping integrate regular players with the esports scene. The Winter Circuit Playoffs brought in record viewers across the official PlayApex stream and player co-streams, likely thanks in part to the gravitas of Championship qualification, but also helped by the introduction of Twitch Drops, which granted players Mirage cosmetics for tuning in.
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