A penalty for abandoning Arenas games has also been added to hopefully prevent those less than desirable teammates from dropping you right into it.
Ever since the launch of Apex Legends’ Season 9 – Legacy, there have been a few… issues with the game. For one, Wattson players have noticed that her electric fences, her core ability, no longer slow down opponents stuck in them. Another strange issue is that level 1 backpacks have become weirdly rare, which is strange when you consider their low-tier loot status. Fortunately, these are both issues that are being addressed by Respawn Entertainment with a patch that rolled out yesterday evening. Even better, the update is adding an important feature to the new game mode Arenas: An abandonment penalty.
First and foremost, Wattson will finally be considered playable again as the slow-down effect for her fences has been restored. From what fans could tell, the removal of the effect was unintentional as the official patch notes don’t mention it at all. This should mean that cheeky Octanes will need to be a bit more careful before running into a room while facing down a Wattson. Secondly, level 1 backpacks are now more likely to spawn on the ground instead of being confined predominantly to loot crates. Valkyrie has also been tweaked as Respawn has added a slight input delay to her ultimate ability in an attempt to prevent players from accidentally activating and then immediately canceling it.
Lastly, players who abandon Arenas matches early will now be faced with a penalty. The penalty is similar to the one slapped onto players who leave Battle Royale games early; it essentially locks the game mode for a while and prevents the player from immediately loading into a new game. Since Arenas seems to Respawn Entertainments major competitive push, this addition feels like a necessary inclusion… and yet its strange such an important feature hasn’t been there since the start of the season. In any case, the update has most likely rolled out to our game right now, so best you hit that “install” button and get on with the backpack trawling!
Last Updated: May 25, 2021
