3 years ago

Apex has a passive problem

In my opinion, Apex has a passive problem. This is not only about balancing but more of the inconsistency of what a passive ability means in this game. Here's some of my points/arguments:

1. Passive abilities should not be active abilities. This is the biggest problem in my opinion. This is a very popular topic in the apex community which revolves around Seer and Valk. Their passives should not be active abilities to the point that I can consider them another tactical ability. Passive abilities should not be toggled actively/voluntarily. Not only Seer's passive can tell how many players are in the vicinity, but also how much life they have left. The crosshair in his passive also turns yellow if the enemy is right on target. Valk's passive is too strong where her passive, in my opinion, is as good as if not better than Pathfinder's grapple without the cooldown. Passive abilities should not be activated by the player directly like BH's passive or Bang's passive.

2. The class passive ability. Why is there a class passive for recon legends but not for support and attack legends? Support legends should be able to open the additional bins. It doesn't make sense that Loba can't open those blue bins and just make LL's passive stronger. Or maybe support legends can respawn legends shorter. Some attack legends should be removed from this class and a new class mobility should be made. The attack legend class just became a waste basket class if they don't know what to do.

3. Too many and no passive legends. I main Gibby and he has too many passives. Remove the quick revive but retain the animation (I love the animation). Same goes with Valk and Seer as mentioned above. Valk has scans while flying but at the same time has VTOL jets is just too many. On the other hand, you have legends like Pathfinder where we all know he needs a passive buff. Respawn has proven that they can think of strong passives even though they only do one thing like Horizon and Bang's passive which are perfect for being a PASSIVE ability.

4. Other rants

- Ash has a data knife but can't use it to access beacons.

- LL's passive is still too weak.

- Valk should not be a recon legend.

- I love Mirage's passive and his clutch plays usually revolves around his passive being a support ability. Should be reconsidered to be a support legend (?)

- Seer's passive should be more vague. It should only be able to know if someone is near you but it doesn't tell you how many, doesn't tell you how much life the enemy has, and the crosshair turning yellow should be removed.

Unnecessary nit pick: Seer's heartbeat sound effect is not a normal heartbeat but a murmur, an aortic stenosis to be exact. Replace the sound bite to a regular heart beat.

Do you think that Apex has a passive problem?

Do you agree that the definition of what a passive ability is inconsistent?

What do you like about the current set of passives and what would you change if given the opportunity?

discussion

33 Replies

BigMacAttack8u
Seasoned Ace
3 years ago
@Cheese9Man These are the two stupid passives in my opinion. I’m not saying too good, I’m saying pointless. Nox vision is stupid, because it is useless. I suggest that they make his gas thicker, so the passive is actually viable. Nurolink is also stupid, it should just be part of the ability, they just took one idea, and split it into some horcruxes to make crypto. His entire kit hinges on his drone. Nurolink should just be implied. He should be able to activate his ult at any time, it would just center around him, when his drone is not out. His new passive should be off the grid. This has been suggested multiple times, but I’ll reiterate for those just hearing if this. For a bloodhound scan, it would say 3 people detected, but only scan two. Then the notifier label of three people would glitch, telling you that there is a crypto nearby, but he can’t be identified. This would only be available, while he is actively in his drone, to make it balanced.
maximas1986
3 years ago
@Cheese9Man I don't consider LL having a passive. opening an extra bin compartment to get a syringe and/or a shield cell or maybe a 1X optics is nothing.
if this extra compartment contained epic and legendary loot only then maybe yes, it would be a viable passive.
regarding the removal of Gibby quick revive, I don't know why it was added in the first place.
the guy is reviving inside a dome shield so should it be quick, while LL revives others even slower than the normal revive while completely defenseless.
even if a downed player can protect the revive process with their K.D.S , the moment that player is standing up but before the revive is completed they will be completely vulnerable.
again I will express my idea about reworking LL revive process.
if both teammates are downed then one of them can be revived the same as the current way, and the other can be revived the same as other legends ( the normal way) but with a shield ( old LL revive)
if only one teammate is knocked then it will be only the current revive.
this way it will not be super game-breaking, predator killing, streamer annoying OP because it will situational but it will make lifeline a viable legend again.
CCbathwater
Seasoned Ace
3 years ago
@Cheese9Man Agree with most here. Imagine longing for the days where I would just start off every season here with a "Gibby nerf?". Now he's just problem #3. Can't even figure out whether Valk or Seer is the worst. Watching Twitch, seeing them heartbeat sense for like 0.5 second every 20m they move kinda makes me wanna say Seer's the worst for the game though. At least the cringe Valk players make a sound when they push the fly button every 20m.
NickBeam27
3 years ago
Seer lol.....definitely Seer is the worst. Wall hacking should be frowned upon, not created and given freely by game developers.
Cheese, I feel you are spot on. It has shown more and more as of late, that the passive abilities have too great of a gap.
With every new Legend created, the originals just seem to get lost - especially their abilities and the massive differences between the new legends and the old.
Not really sure if Respawn would ever take the time needed at this point to rectify the large gaps between legend's passive abilities. I mean, dam....we're still waitng for sound issues to be fixed, legends abilites not working to be addressed, hit reg issues, optimization issues and so on and so on.
I feel at this point there are just too many legends for any Dev's to be able to balance properly.
IMO.
Lord_Scorpion34
Legend
3 years ago
@Cheese9Man I honestly don't mind Valk or Seer's passives. I think buffing/adding passives of other Legends can help balance things out more so than nerfing them. Maybe giving all Legends a active & non active passive could even the playing field. Or maybe compromise & make a new category for active passives & call the ability something else altogether.

I liked someone's idea of giving Path the ability to see the 1st ring. Not an active one but still it would be a decent buff. Maybe Mirage could have an active passive where he can see thru the eyes of his tactical decoy?

Wattson also has multiple passives but I think her shield regent should be buffed.
hayhor
Hero
3 years ago
@Cheese9Man While I agree they need to do better balancing what a passive is vs a tactical, especially for seer, valk and gibby saying valks jets are better than paths grapple is insane. You can't shoot a path who knows when and how to grapple. The speed a good path moves at is incredible. Valk is a sitting duck when jetting. Just yesterday I shot 3 of them out of the air in one game. Again, it isn't right it's her passive I say remove the rockets and make it her tactical.
Cheese9Man
3 years ago
@hayhor The amount of vertical mobility you get in a building going up and down as valk is unmatched. We’re on console and not a lot of valks strafe left and right using her jets making it easier to hit.

Respawn should just choose her tactical to be the jets or the rockets. Even the rocket tact is stronger than some other similar tactical abilities like Ash’s simply because it’s a trajectory and can hit people behind cover.
Cheese9Man
3 years ago
Only chance that older legends get a passive buff is when they get an heirloom or a POI that comes with a skin.
hayhor
Hero
3 years ago
@Cheese9Man Having played ash for half a season I'd rather have her tactical than valks. Good players don't die to valks tactical. They eat it and pop a cell. I killed a good amount of people with a combination of ashes tact and a nade or someone shooting them.
MrCarri-X
3 years ago
@Cheese9Man I agree with everything except "LL's passive is still too weak." Why do people keep saying she is weak? The shield was way too broken, and the amount of times I lost fights due to lifeline revives is insane. And don't get me started on how she performs in Arenas.

I really liked the idea of every legend class have a second passive like recon characters.