The developers at EA and Respawn have decided that the Battle Pass within Apex Legends needs to evolve, and some of these changes may not be so favorable.
Battle Passes are standard practice in most if not all, FPS titles – think Fortnite, Counterstrike, Call of Duty, and Naraka: Bladepoint, all of these titles have a Battle Pass to earn rewards, whether for free or for paying for the upgraded version of the pass. Apex Legends, however, will now be shorter than they were in the past, one for each split, but will give more rewards. The developers stated that these new changes would “improve your experience and progression goals”, but fans don’t appear to be thrilled with said changes.
Until this latest season, Season 22, all of the previous seasons' Battle Passes tasked players with getting through 110 levels of different rewards and weapons or cosmetics. These major changes now make it to where there will be two separate passes available, basically splitting the season in half. So what are fans upset about? The fact that now there is no option to use Apex Coins to purchase the Battle Pass, and only real-life currency can be used to get the overhauled season pass.
The new “evolved” version of the Battle Pass will cost $9.99 USD, which prior to season 22 could be purchased for 950 AC or Apex Coins. In regards to this change, Respawn states,
“The decision to move from AC to real world currency is not one that we made lightly, but it does allow us to decrease the price of Premium+ for our community. The new Premium+ Battle Pass comes in at $19.99 USD* and offers additional value; a cost difference of ~29% when compared to the discontinued Premium Battle Pass Bundle at 2800 AC.”
The other issue was the clarity of the new changes, as players were not sure if the pass was simply $10 for both parts of the season or if they needed to pay $10 twice per season now to earn the maximum rewards. Once they learned it was $20 for one Battle Pass season, a lot of fans weren’t happy. One comment on the Reddit thread states,
“So you can’t buy the battlepass with apex coins anymore and the pass only lasts half a season now meaning you gotta spend double each season? Lol”
We will see what EA and Respqan have to say about these new changes, but for now, anyone who wants the rewards will have to pay the new premium price.
