The new Battle Armor event is now live in Apex Legends, running all the way until the end of Season 4. When Season 5 arrives on the later date on May 12 though, a major change to shields could be included.
The Battle Armor event is part LTM, part game testing, as the developers put some new ideas in place. Players now drop in with a P2020 pistol and a shield, and instead of finding new and better shield on the ground, simply have to refill their default shield when it is damaged.
Each shield type will be rotated throughout the event, that is, all except gold shield. Previously the top tier (until Evo shield was added), gold shield was given a major buff in Season 4, changing its perk from refilling on executions to fast heal.
Fast heal means you can refill it much, much faster, a perk that was previously given to the gold backpack, and to Lifeline specifically.
With the notable absence of gold shield in the Battle Armor event, one player asked Josh Medina, producer on Apex Legends, if they were considering removing gold shield from the game totally, replacing it with Evo.
“Fast heals has been broken and takes the skill out of the game,” the player said, prompting a response from Medina. “What if it didn’t have fast heals?” the developer simply responded.
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What if it didn’t have fast heals?
— Josh Medina (@lowkeydbjosh) April 24, 2020
Clearly this is something that the team at Respawn has considered then, but whether they will make the change to remove fast healing from gold shields remains to be seen.
Evo Shield might be set to become the new top dog, and with gold granting the same amount of protection as purple with the only benefit being the fast heal, it’s not unreasonable to suggest they could totally remove it.
However, gold shield is somewhat iconic in Apex Legends, so it’s much more likely that Respawn tries to balance it out again rather than totally scrapping it.
The next major update is expected to be the Season 5 update itself, on May 12, so we’ll have to wait and see what Respawn has in store.
