Season 19 of Apex Legends massively reworked the Storm Point map. The Apex Legends dev team recently held an AMA on Reddit to answer questions about this rework.
Apex Legends devs answered submitted questions about the Season 19 Storm Point rework in a Reddit AMA. Topics included the removal of IMC Armories and the lack of dynamic major weather effects.
If you're curious why a map change would justify its own Reddit AMA, it's important to know that Storm Point is a top map when it comes to competitive Apex. Hence, why the major rework was kind of a big deal.
On the removal of IMC Armories
This is the first time Storm Point has received a rework since the Season 13 update. As a part of this rework, the developers added IMC armories to Storm Point. Players could enter these armories and receive high-tier loot from them. The caveat is that they'd have to fight three waves of IMC spectres in order to unlock the loot bins in the armory. With the latest rework, these armories were removed from the map entirely. In the AMA, a user asked why they removed these armories.
The Senior Level Designer at Respawn Entertainment answered this question. According to him, IMC armories led to fewer fights and encouraged squads to prioritize loot detours over rotation.
"One of the most common pieces of feedback for Storm Point was that players had difficulty finding combat. We felt that the IMC Armories were exacerbating this problem because some squads were taking a detour to fight Spectres instead of rotating into the map organically and encountering other players."
He also raised the issue about other squads setting up ambushes for squads battling specters in the Armory. Respawn Entertainment "didn't think it was great for the long term health of the game".
IMC Armories could be coming to the firing range
In the same thread, another user, u/GoofyMonkey suggested adding IMC Armories to the Firing Range. The devs agreed this was a great suggestion and confirmed they'd bring it up with the team. IMC Armories in the recently updated firing range could make it an even better training area for players to hone their skills.
Spectres will certainly pose a better challenge than the dummies in the range. It'll also add a new PVE element to the game for casual players to enjoy. It'll be interesting to see if Respawn Entertainment do add these to the firing range at some point down the line.
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Apex Legends considered adding weather effects to Storm Point
Another interesting answer in the AMA is about dynamic weather effects in the game. Reddit user u/stillcouldbeworse expressed disappointment about Storm Point not getting any weather updates. They spoke about how the map's previous iteration had a skybox that hinted at an upcoming storm.
The World Director at Respawn Entertainment addressed this comment, confirming speculation that the developers did, in fact, consider adding dynamic weather modes to the game but decided against it. They cited hardware discrepancies between consoles and PCs as the reason for this.
"In the past we've explored the possibility of weather features like dense fog and falling snow. The biggest challenge is to introduce an element like this that performs well across ALL possible consoles and PC specs and gives a consistent player experience so that there isn't a competitive disadvantage."
Storm Point is getting another Trident
Another user, u/cafnated pointed out how the Trident locations on the Storm Point rework aren't optimal, citing that there's only one Trident in the South East corner of the map. The developers agreed to this and said they'll add another Trident to the map at Barometer.
This is great news for players, both casual and competitive because Storm Point is the biggest map in the game by far. Rotations and traversal through the map has been one of the primary complaints with the map, especially for casual Apex Legends players.
Overall, it was an interesting AMA from the developers. Season 19 is considered off-season for Competitive Apex Legends because the next ALGS tournament will only take place after Season 20 releases. However, the changes to Storm Point in Season 19 will certainly be an indicator as to how the competitive meta might shake up when major tournaments are back in town.
Stay tuned to esports.gg for the latest esports and Apex Legends news.
