Despite its explosive success, Apex Legends is far from a perfect game, and popular Twitch streamers Guy ‘Dr Disrespect’ Beahm and Michael ‘shroud’ Grzesiek have some ideas on how it can be improved.
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On March 11, the pair engaged in a public discussion about Apex Legends on Twitter, and the topic they focused on was RNG.
RNG, of course, refers to random number generation, a system commonly used in battle royale games to randomize in-game aspects such as loot drops, quality of loot, outcome of certain events, and more.
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The Doc believes that RNG should be eliminated from the game, which would be done by standardizing the loot. This means, essentially, that the same items of the same rarities would appear in the same places on the map every game.
According to the Doc, such a change would legitimize the pro scene, establish points-of-interest for loot, increase the risk/reward balance for specific high-tier items, and create a stronger narrative for casting and/or spectating.
I think Respawn should really consider trying out set loot with @PlayApex. Not only would it legitimize the pro scene by eliminating RNG, it would also create POI for loot, higher risk/reward for specific high tier items, and a stronger narrative for casting/spectating.
— Dr Disrespect (@drdisrespect) March 12, 2019
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The Doc further expanded upon his idea by explaining how it would work in the early-game stages, which would become even more tactical and strategic since everyone would know where the higher-tier loot is located.
“Maybe everyone drops in with a default, low-end loadout, or nothing at all,” he tweeted. “But with map experience, you would drop in an area with knowledge of what’s there already.”
Maybe everyone drops in with a default low end loadout or nothing at all but with map experience, you would drop in an area with knowledge of whats there already.
— Dr Disrespect (@drdisrespect) March 12, 2019
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Shroud, on the other hand, wasn’t completely on board with Doc’s idea, contending that the loot aspect of the game could be balanced without the need to eliminate RNG.
“I think just get rid of Hot Zones in general and make every location have the same exact number of items spread out and drop percentage,” he responded. “Keep the BR RNG, eliminate everyone dropping in the same spot each game.”
I think just getting rid of hotzones in general and make every location have the same exact number of items spread out and drop percentage. Keep the BR RNG, eliminate everyone dropping in the same spot each game.
— Michael Grzesiek (@shroud) March 12, 2019
The Hot Zones that shroud refers to is a unique feature in Apex Legends which marks a random location at the start of each match as the designated high-tier loot area, virtually guaranteeing it to be a very risky place to land.
While the concept of Hot Zones keeps all of the map’s point-of-interest relevant in the grand scheme of things, it does create an imbalance each game as a lot of teams understandably choose to land at the same marked location.
While each streamer’s suggestion does have its pros and cons, it seems very unlikely that Respawn Entertainment, at least for now, will opt to make such a fundamental and radical changes as the one that Doc proposed.
However, considering that the game is barely a month old, it would be sensible to expect the developers to make large-scale changes down the line.
