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More is not always merrier, and it appears to be the case for “Apex Legends” as players have once again asked Respawn Entertainment what they plan to do with the game’s weapon pool. While one developer confirmed they are working on some ideas, the studio might not be planning on handing players a uniform weapon when they spawn into the game.
Rebalancing the weapon pool has been a long-running discussion among “Apex Legends” players. More recently, Respawn’s associate live balance designer John Larson was mentioned on Twitter by a player asking the developers to remove weapons like the P2020, 30-30, and the Bocek compound bow to improve the weapon pool and because they deem “nobody cares” about the weapons mentioned.
Larson replied, saying that Respawn has “stuff in mind” to address the weapon pool. The “Apex Legends” developer further recognized that they cannot continue adding more weapons to the game “without considering the health of the loot pool.”
You take that back. I care about the Bocek.
— John Larson | JayBiebs (@RSPN_JayBiebs) November 13, 2021
We got stuff in mind. We know we can’t keep releasing weapons without considering the health of the loot pool
Larson, however, did not specify what ideas Respawn has been working on to address the issue. But in another response in the Twitter conversation, Larson may have hinted that they are not big fans of giving players a weapon when they land into a match.
One Twitter user suggested that “Apex Legends” players should just have a P2020 in hand when they spawn in the game so it can be removed from the weapon pool. But Larson revealed that this strategy had been a “hot topic” within the studio and that he was personally against it. “I was against it because of how quickly a coordinated team could wipe a solo on a contested drop,” Larson explained. “It’s already a common strat in high-level ranked.”
As mentioned, this was not the first time developers were asked about the “Apex Legends” weapon pool. And this is also not the first time Respawn has addressed the issue.
“Apex Legends” season 5 was the first patch that did not add a new weapon when it went live in May 2020. At the time, the studio said the loot pool saturation was one of the factors that led to that decision and added that vaulting weapons is out of the question due to purchased skins. “We have some ideas on how to address it, but we need some time to test them and make sure they are healthy for Apex,” Respawn said in the season 5 patch notes.
