Respawn are hearing out Apex Legends pros who want an update to Gold Shields in Ranked to complement recent competitive integrity changes in the ALGS.
The second season of the Apex Legends Global Series (ALGS) removed Gold (Level 4) Knockdown Shields after player complaints. Pros think a similar update should be in Ranked to combat the same problem.
“If all 3 players are downed but 1 person has Gold Knockdown (self-revive), your squad should still be eliminated in Ranked,” Cloud9’s Jamison ‘PVPX’ Moore said. “Gold Res was removed from ALGS for a huge lack of competitive integrity. Time to bring a similar change to Ranked.”
In the ALGS, issues would arise after a fully knocked team with one Gold Shield would still place higher than a group eliminated after them.
I would say the feeling of getting a gold rez off, respawning teammates, and coming back from shambles to clutch a win makes it worth for 99% of games/players.
But, if gold knockdown were to be reworked, what would you propose to make it interesting for both casuals and comp?
— JayBiebs (@RSPN_JayBiebs) October 26, 2021
Apex Legends Gold Shield rework ideas
Associate Live Balance Designer John ‘JayBiebs’ Larson responded to player concerns around the item in Ranked playlists. While it doesn’t sound like there’s going to be a change, the studio could be exploring options for the future.
“I would say the feeling of getting a gold res off, respawning teammates, and coming back from shambles to clutch a win makes it worth for 99% of games/players,” JayBiebs said.
The Apex dev invited rework suggestions from the community with PVPX, Phillip ‘ImperialHal’ Dosen, Mac ‘Albralelie’ Beckwith, Christian ‘Nokokopuffs’ Feliciano, and more chiming in.
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“If one player has a Gold Knockdown Shield, if they revive or are revived themselves it will res one other knocked teammate,” ImperialHal said. “Single-use would probably be the best way to balance it, but this provides players a chance to fend off 3rd parties after fighting.”
https://twitter.com/nathanias/status/1452872353554186254
Could also add a radius to the item so they at least have to be within the circle to multi res to avoid cross map res lol
— Albralelie (@TSM_Albralelie) October 26, 2021
Honestly 99% of the time the person with the gold res still dies and the team who originally goes for the kills gets punished by losing kills/placement. That situation you described happens once every couple hundred games. In pubs sure. Ranked it shouldn’t be there IMO.
— Nokokopuffs (@Nokokopuffs_) October 26, 2021
Other players like ImperialHal think Ranked should follow in the footsteps of ALGS and outright remove Gold Shields.
“Ranked shouldn’t be casual,” Hal said. “It should be a way to introduce players to the competitive side of Apex before actually competing which is why Gold res should be removed. Let anything fly in [public games] though.”
The Apex Legends community has long been split on Respawn tuning the game to facilitate pros and the competitive scene. How the studio will approach Gold Shields is unclear but they have plenty of input to work with.