Ahead of the fourth season of the immensely popular battle royale, developers Respawn Entertainment have revealed a number of changes coming to Apex Legends’ ranked play.
At the end of January, the designers behind Apex Legends’ Ranked Series explained a number of changes that players can expect going into Season 4 – Assimilation, which has been confirmed as dropping on February 4.
Reset to rankings midway through Season 4
The post, dated January 23, revealed a few major changes coming to Ranked Series 3. Arguably the most notable is that there will be a reset to ranked standings midway through each season.
With an Apex Legends Season equating to roughly 12 weeks, the ranked cycle will now be roughly six weeks, resetting midway through the season.
“This means that Series 3 will have two shorter splits, each with a soft reset,” Respawn said. “Split 1 will be played on World’s Edge while Split 2 will be back on King’s Canyon to keep things fresh.”
This news will likely be welcomed by players, many of whom have hoped for a chance to return to King’s Canyon.
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‘Master Tier’ to be added before Apex Predator
The next change detailed is the addition of a ‘Master Tier’, which will slot in between Diamond Tier and Apex Predator. This is to reduce the number of players who achieve the rank of Apex Predator, which will now only allow the top 500 players per console.
“The RP required to make it to Master Tier will still be 10,000 RP as Apex Predator was,” Respawn explained. “Apex Predator tier will now be exclusive to the top 500 players per platform… We feel this should give more prestige to making and keeping your Apex Predator rank, while still keeping the tiers above Diamond very exclusive.”
Other changes include rewards, but these are minor and will likely not affect players to a significant degree.
Scoring and buy-in system to stay the same
The post details a number of aspects of the Ranked Series that are staying the same, including the entry costs for matches at respective tiers. The new Master Tier will cost 60RP – the same as a match in Apex Predator.
The post concludes by saying: “We’ll continue to evaluate and improve Ranked Leagues, but we’re happy with the progress so far. A big thanks to all the players that grind the ladder and show us what high skill games of Apex Legends really look like.”