Check out what’s new in Control
When Apex Legends first released Control in January 2022, it was an instant success. Players loved the game's first LTM launched in ages. The player base was craving a new LTM and Arenas just wasn't cutting it. Many players considered it a great "warm-up" mode before getting into ranked matches for their daily RP grind. After all, a 12v12 gunfight with no infinite respawns in Apex Legends sounds like an absolute party. The only problem was that the game mode didn't stick around too long.
Except it's coming back! Respawn have revealed that the popular game mode will return to Apex Legends with the Awakening Collection Event. This time, they've made some tweaks to the mode based on feedback and observations from Season 12. The changes to the game mode seem quite interesting and will shake things up with the way the players will approach it.
Better paced gameplay
They've introduced changes to the game mode to improve combat and objective pacing.
Improved Spawn wave times
- Reduced maximum death screen time from 20s to 15s.
- Max spawn wave time reduced from 12s to 10s.
- The first spawn max time is now 15s.
More players = Faster capture time
In the control mode, the rate of capture for objectives will depend on the number of players holding the capture point. So one player will capture the objective at 1X speed, but more players means lower time for capturing points.
- 1 = x1
- 2 = x1.5
- 3 = x2
- 4 = x2.25
- 5 = x2.5
- 6 = x2.75
- 7 or more = x3
Changes to match Time Limit
The match time limit is back in play, this time with a new logic to determine when the match should end. As a result of this, matches will run longer and losing teams will stand more of a fighting chance to turn things around.
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Improved combat balance
A few quality of life changes has been introduced to encourage objective-oriented combat. Particularly to capture more zones and get more kills.
- Tuned down ratings gain when a player spawns at home spawn from 75% to 50%. This will ensure players won't spawn with their ultimate abilities ready and purple tier gear.
- Players who died with their ultimate ability unused will still have it when they respawn, encouraging players to take more risks and try out more aggressive plays.
- Updates to spawning logic so that players don't spawn near enemies and get immediately killed or get free kills.
- Players now gain ratings for more team-oriented actions like securing capture points and neutralizing enemy zones. Hopefully, this will result in more teamplay and not just one constant gunfight.
There's a fine balance between inspiring aggression and finding balance in terms of ultimate ability charges. Players are encouraged to take risky plays as their ultimates will still be unused on respawn. However, if they spawn closer to home, the ratings gain is lower.
The changes to spawning logic also makes the game much less frustrating for players who might have spawned next to opponents.
And finally the focus on team-oriented actions means players are incentivized to play together or at least work towards team-objectives.
Apex Legends Control: Improved weapon meta
There are some marked improvements to the weapon meta in control mode. They've also made the weapon selections more accessible by organizing them better.
Players now get a wider selection of scopes for their weapons and can select weapons between a "Long Range Loadout" screen that offers Marksman and Sniper type weapons and a "Specialist Loadout" screen for a more diverse range of short-medium range weapons.
The Turbocharger on the Havoc is now available at Purple tier, making the gun more viable and competitive in a fast-paced game mode.
Quality of life changes
Control Mode has undergone some major quality of life improvements.
- They've improved the matchmaking system to fill slots of missing players at the beginning of the game. In theory, this should fix the issue with imbalanced teams.
- Added World's Edge to the map rotation in Control mode. They haven't yet revealed where in World's Edge the game mode will take place.
- Ad Drones have been introduced to the game mode. These are mainly for storytelling purposes. They were visible in the Loading Screen for Control Mode as teasers for Newcastle. It'll be interesting to see them used as in-game teasers and lore content. Players can also shoot them.
Will Apex Legends add Control permanently to the game?
So far, they've added Control twice as an LTM to the game since Season 12 was launched. The fact that they've tweaked it and are bringing it back mid-way through Season 13 indicates they might be serious about making it permanent. It's great to see that they've taken community feedback seriously and implemented these quality of life changes based on the data they've gathered in Season 12. Keep an eye out for more from Respawn on this. You can read the complete list of updates to the game mode in the patch notes for the Awakening Collection Event.
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