Following the launch of the Grand Soirée Arcade in-game event in Apex Legends, popular YouTuber ‘TheGamingMerchant’ has discovered that Respawn Entertainment had made several changes without disclosing them in the official patch notes.
The Grand Soirée Arcade Event is very much underway in Apex Legends, adding a ton of new content such as several brand new limited-time modes, a lot of new cosmetic items, and more.
The launch of this event came as part of a larger update on January 14, in which Respawn implemented changes to several Legends and weapons, in addition to a bunch of fixes for bugs and glitches.
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However, players were quick to notice several changes were made that did not get disclosed in the update’s patch notes, for one reason or another.
- Read More: All nerfs & buffs from Grand Soirée update
We’ve included a breakdown of all seven of the unannounced changes below, courtesy of The Gaming Merchant, who recently posted a video about it on his YouTube channel.
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Unannounced Apex Legends Grand Soirée changes
FIRING RANGE DUMMIES IMPROVED
The AI dummies found in the game’s Firing Range training area have been considerably improved so that they’re “a lot smarter now,” reacting much more aggressively when engaged and will hunt down players who try to pick a fight with them.
It’s not exactly clear why Respawn made this change, although it could be for players to prepare better for the upcoming Dummies Big Day LTM, which will take place January 26-28.
RED DEATH BOXES
Players who have a Vault Key in their inventory now drop red-colored loot boxes when eliminated, letting others know that their death box contains the ultra-rare item.
The Vault Key’s rarity trumps Legendary, so the boxes will show as red even if there are gold items inside.
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EVENT COSMETICS ADDED TO LOOT POOL
The Grand Soirée Arcade Event introduced a lot of new outfit skins and weapon camos, some of which were added into the main loot pool without Respawn making an announcement about it.
The significance of this is that the cosmetic items added to the main loot pool can be directly purchased or crafted and do not need to be unlocked by opening Apex Packs.
IMPROVED LONGBOW IRON SIGHT
The iron sight for the Longbow DMR was cleaned up with this update, with the new one offering players a lot more visibility than the old one.
PATHFINDER STAT TRACKER
The Event Prize Tracker in the Grand Soirée Arcade Event contains stat trackers that players can unlock for free. These stat trackers, currently only available for the Pathfinder, show how many wins, kills, and damage you have gotten while playing as the robot Legend.
It’s not clear when, or if, something like this will be added for other Legends but it’s certainly a positive sign from Respawn because fans have been asking for such a feature for quite a while.
NEW REVIVE ANIMATION
Gibraltar has received a new animation for reviving teammates when inside his Dome Shield. The January 14 update buffed Gibraltar so that he can now revive squadmates faster under the shield, and that’s translated into a new animation.
TOURNAMENT MODE AND PRIVATE MATCHES
The update added a new option to the main menu that leads to custom private matches and tournament mode.
Access past that screen is currently restricted, and there’s no telling when it’ll be made available to the public, but recent leaks have revealed how this feature functions once you get past the locked area.
While none of these changes are drastic or game-changing, they’re still worth taking note of, especially since Respawn didn’t mention them in their official patch notes.
The Grand Soirée Arcade Event is scheduled to run until Tuesday, January 28, a few days before Season 3 will wrap up in favor of Season 4.
