Apex Legends Dec 3 patch notes: new progression, Firing Range change, more

Respawn Entertainment have released a major update in Apex Legends that implemented changes to the progression system, added friendly fire in Firing Range, and much more.

This December 3 update is one of the biggest patches released in Apex Legends since the start of Season 3: Meltdown in early October.

In addition to the progression changes and friendly fire in Firing Range, the update also added 36 new Gun Charms, implemented numerous quality of life improvements and bug fixes, a slight change to Knockdown Shields, and an adjustment to Wattson’s Trophy System.

This update was actually slightly delayed by Respawn, who initially announced that it had been canceled but later decided to release it on PC only. Players on console had to wait an extra day for the patch to be available after their developers worked “all night” to release it, according to Respawn.

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A full breakdown of everything in this patch is included below, including all of the changes, additions, and the full patch notes.

Progression changes

For the first time in a long time, Respawn have made huge changes to the progression system in Apex Legends. The level cap has been increased from 100 to 500, with the XP required to hit level 100 reduced by about 5% to “smooth out per level XP increases.”

As for what this means in terms of rewards, players will be able to earn up to 199 Apex Packs by reaching level 500, a massive increase over the previous maximum of 45 Packs.

Here’s the rate at which these Packs will be earned:

• Level 2 – 20: One pack every level

• Level 22 – 300: One pack every two levels

• Level 305 – 500: One pack every five levels

• You will continue to earn 600 Legend Tokens per level

• Apex Packs rewards will be retroactive

• Players will be awarded a Player Level Gun Charm for every 100 levels they surpass.

Thanks to the level cap increase, Apex Legends players will be able to earn more Apex Packs and new Level Gun Charms.

Friendly Fire in Firing Range

The addition of Firing Range as a replacement for the previous training area in Apex Legends was very positively received by the player-base.

Now, following the December 3 update, friendly fire has been enabled in Firing Range, allowing players who load in together to shoot at each other and inflict damage.

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This feature was highly requested by the community because it considerably expands the use of the practice arena, since players can now 1v1 each other and practice against live competition outside of regular matches.

It will be offered as an option, so those who do not want it enabled can simply turn it off in the settings.

Friendly fire in Firing Range means that players will now be able to battle each other outside of regular matches.

Knockdown Shields buffed

This update implemented several changes to how Knockdown Shields work, most of them being buffs. For one, Knockdown Shields now offer protection that extends over and behind players’ heads.

Secondly, the healths of the gray Common shield and blue Rare shield have both been increased:

• Common [gray]: 100hp -> 200hp

• Rare [blue]: 250hp -> 450hp

There was one slight nerf made – players will now move slower while their Shield is active, with the movement speed reduced from 0.65 to 0.55.

Knockdown Shields now cover players’ heads, albeit causing them to move slower.

Apex Legends December 3 update patch notes

Here are the full patch notes, as provided by Respawn on Reddit:

PROGRESSION UPDATE

TL;DR – Player Level Progression Changes. Read the full notes here.

• Player Level cap increased from 100 -> 500
  • XP required to hit level 100 has been reduced by approximately 5% to smooth out per level XP increases
• Players can now earn 199 Apex Packs by level 500 (previously 45)
  • Level 2 – 20: One pack every level
  • Level 22 – 300: One pack every two levels
  • Level 305 – 500: One pack every five levels
  • You will continue to earn 600 Legend Tokens per level
  • Apex Packs rewards will be retroactive
• Players will also earn a Player Level Gun Charm every 100 Player Levels

NEW GUN CHARMS!

• 36 new Gun Charms are going into Apex Packs at Epic and Legendary tier.
• Gun charms will also appear in the Rotating Shop for players who prefer direct purchase.

THE PEACEKEEPER

We’ve heard feedback loud and clear that the Peacekeeper is still feeling too powerful after latest changes. We are working to push out more tweaks to address it ASAP and will post details on timing and what those changes will be soon.

QUALITY OF LIFE

• Helmets and armor should now be more colorblind compatible and appear slightly more vibrant – please let us know if this improves the experience for you!
• Added on/off setting that determines if taking damage while looting a deathbox closes the menu. You can toggle this in the Gameplay section of settings.
• Improvements to final circle locations to help bad end locations and provide more variety.
• Players that have auto-sprint enabled can now sprint out of a slide by using L3.
• Added inspect animation for Lifeline’s Heirloom.
• Fixed bug where “Thank you” key became unbound. It’s now back to its original default: “F1”.
• [PC ONLY] Fixed issue where using any arrow key after selecting a number field in the settings would jump to the next option instead of changing the selected value.
• Gold Armor spawn rate has been reduced.
• Players will now receive a prompt allowing them to cancel Finishers in progress.

BUG FIXES

• Fixed bug where other players would appear to be in the wrong Rank (e.g. they are actually Apex Predator but appear Bronze IV)
• Bunch of bug fixes to World’s Edge related to collision, geometry, supply bins spawning in bad areas, and cases where loot couldn’t be picked up in certain areas near Geyser.
• Fixed bug where sometimes the Respawn Dropship would be silent when arriving.
• Fixed bug where Bangalore would reference the Skullpiecer hop-up when pinging a Wingman.
• Fixed issue where player banner would appear off center in the match summary / squad eliminated screens.
• Fixed a visual bug where the progress bars for Shield Cells and Phoenix Kits appeared desaturated and hard to read.
• Fixed bug where players were able to instantly revive in certain locations.
• Fixed bug for rare cases where a player was unable to revive a teammate while outside the Ring.
• Fixed bug where the visual FX for the knockdown shield would remain visible after being destroyed by an enemy.
• Fixed bug where equipping the EVA-8 Auto Shotgun Double Tap hop-up would remove the rate of fire increase from equipped shotgun bolt.
• Fixed bug where some Legends would relay incorrect “ability not ready” sound FX when trying to activate an ability that was still on cooldown.
• Fixed a visual bug where sometimes when a Legend starts using a Shield Cell it causes their weapon to appear to be briefly floating past their arm.
• Fixed bug where sometimes the Train’s lead car would detach from the rest of the Train after a player stops and then starts it back up.
• Fixed bug for cases where players could get crushed by the Train while standing near the back of the front car.
• Fixed bug where Legend’s faces would appear distorted in third person during matches and while browsing inventory.
• Fixed issues with corrupted graphics and frame drops that we found were related to detonating ordnance in certain locations causing object to trigger bad pixels.
• Fixed bug for cases where flying Crypto’s Drone near the Train can cause Crypto to move around without player input.
• Fixed a bug where Crypto’s tactical hud looked like it was stuck recharging until you used it.
• Fixed bug for cases where a deathbox would not come to rest on stairs and players were unable to retrieve the player’s Banner Card..

UPDATE TO KNOCKDOWN SHIELDS

• KO shield protection now extends over and behind the player’s head.
• Changes to Shield health
  • Common [gray]: 100hp -> 200hp
  • Rare [blue]: 250hp -> 450hp
• Player movement speed while KO Shield is active reduced: .65 -> .55

FIRING RANGE

• Friendly fire is now supported! You can toggle it off and on in the setting menu. The option only appears if more than one player is in the Firing Range with you.
• [PC ONLY] Fixed cases where players could not enter the Firing Range.
• Fixed various issues related to players in other realms affecting each other in Firing Range including:
  • Seeing other Legends abilities and animations that are not in your realm.
  • Invisible zip lines.

LEGENDS

• Wattson’s Trophy System
  • The trophy system is now significantly more aggressive in the way it shoots down grenades. Rather than just identifying between incoming and outgoing projectiles, it now predicts the trajectory of grenades thrown within the interception zone and intercepts them if they will land anywhere within that zone. This means that no grenade can contact any surface within the interception zone regardless of team, but players can fire grenades outwards from anywhere within the zone.