A product analysis of Apex' core game mode.
Hi! I like to analyze products that I don’t work on for fun. I thought it would be interesting to do an assessment of Apex’s core gameplay mode and provide my thoughts. In this post I will not be go...
Forum Discussion
@_Im__Ed___Young
Your list of things which bring enjoyment is largely accurate, and also demonstrates to perfection why a multiplayer game will never, ever be able to bring enjoyment to most players, especially the battle royale format.
Your list of things which create "feel bad" moments are almost exclusively things which are in the control of the player, not the gametype or the developer. Bad or careless players who don't experience "feeling bad" about their ineptitude are unlikely to ever make any effort to change their failed tactics.
The standout examples: difficulty of banner retrieval, difficulty of respawning, difficulty of not getting third-partied, what to do after winning a fight, running out of gear late-game.
These things all exist as they are for a reason. It isn't supposed to be easy or fun to rescue a downed teammate. It isn't supposed to be easy or fun to respawn them. There is supposed to be a price to be paid for entering into risky situations. Third-partying is not a game bug. It's a game feature. Players who don't understand this will "feel bad" when it happens to them, without understanding that it is something that they themselves have allowed to happen. Ditto running out of gear because you recklessly choose a fight you didn't need to get into instead of planning for position and a win.
The whole thing reads as if Apex would be so much better if it was just team deathmatch with infinite respawns and no strategic considerations beyond good aim.
Now if you want to have a discussion where the question is about whether battle royale as a gametype is more complex than the typical player can comprehend or account for, then we can have that debate. But I would say the onus is on the player to learn the game, not on the game to dumb itself down for the short attention-span player.
Your list of things which bring enjoyment is largely accurate, and also demonstrates to perfection why a multiplayer game will never, ever be able to bring enjoyment to most players, especially the battle royale format.
Your list of things which create "feel bad" moments are almost exclusively things which are in the control of the player, not the gametype or the developer. Bad or careless players who don't experience "feeling bad" about their ineptitude are unlikely to ever make any effort to change their failed tactics.
The standout examples: difficulty of banner retrieval, difficulty of respawning, difficulty of not getting third-partied, what to do after winning a fight, running out of gear late-game.
These things all exist as they are for a reason. It isn't supposed to be easy or fun to rescue a downed teammate. It isn't supposed to be easy or fun to respawn them. There is supposed to be a price to be paid for entering into risky situations. Third-partying is not a game bug. It's a game feature. Players who don't understand this will "feel bad" when it happens to them, without understanding that it is something that they themselves have allowed to happen. Ditto running out of gear because you recklessly choose a fight you didn't need to get into instead of planning for position and a win.
The whole thing reads as if Apex would be so much better if it was just team deathmatch with infinite respawns and no strategic considerations beyond good aim.
Now if you want to have a discussion where the question is about whether battle royale as a gametype is more complex than the typical player can comprehend or account for, then we can have that debate. But I would say the onus is on the player to learn the game, not on the game to dumb itself down for the short attention-span player.
@reconzero Appreciate your feedback, but using your examples, then why have respawns at all? It is, in fact, as you point out a competitive BR experience? That logic falls apart pretty quickly. These are all points of balance - rewarding players who invest time to get better while still providing a reasonable experience for players of all ranges. All mechanics deserve to be observed through a lens of balance both in skill and enjoyment.
- @_Im__Ed___Young
Funny you should say that. I'm on record as having said many times that the respawn mechanic could be removed entirely and the game would be better for it.
I agree in principle that every feature of the game falls somewhere on a skill/fun continuum. And I would far rather have fun in a game than be skilled in the game, assuming as I do that the two are mutually exclusive. They're not in principle, but always seem to be in practice.
That said, make the game too much fun and suddenly no one behaves as if actions have consequences, and that's where I draw the line. This game already has far too many players who behave as if anything goes. That's bad enough but getting rewarded for it is worse. That's why I despise the respawn mechanic. Though the principle applies to so many other aspects of the game.Completely fair assessment for what you enjoy. I think they have to optimize for fun more often than not though since it generated more revenue and this is a business. Personally I don't think people being respawned usually does much more than feed a few extra kills to the lobby but I have no hard data to prove that. @reconzero
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