Apex Legends Developers Address Concerns About Reworks

Apex Legends senior designer Daniel Klein described the process of reworking a Legend during a Reddit AMA on Friday.

Klein, who described himself as leading work on the Legend meta, said reworking Apex Legends' playable characters can be frustrating for players who have mastered those characters.

"We try to avoid reworks whenever we can because they invalidate previous player learnings," Klein wrote. "You're learned how to use Mirage ult invisiblity, and we take it away. That sucks, and all your skill in using this mechanic is now worthless." For that reason, he and the development team try to avoid reworks, leaving them as a "last resort."

Klein and company have occasionally reworked Legends because they weren't living up to their design principles. He cited Lifeline as a good example of this kind of rework.

"For instance, Lifeline was the battle medic, but for a while Gibby was much better at reviving allies due to his dome shield, and her old passive [which allowed her to use healing items more quickly] was entirely selfish, which is the opposite of what a medic should be. Old Lifeline was fun and not unhealthy for the game, but she didn't live up to her gameplay fantasy, hence the rework."

Apex Legends Season 7 kicked off Nov. 4.