Apex Legends devs admit they go ‘overboard’ to make new characters OP on purpose

In a multiplayer-only game like Apex Legends, players are always eagle-eyed when it comes to the game’s most powerful characters. As many have noticed, new characters tend to launch with wildly unbalanced sets, and it seems that some of this is actually by design.

In an interview with VideoGamer, Apex Legends Lead Legend Designer Devin McGuire admitted that new Legends are often released in an “overboard” state to encourage players to try them out. With released hero Lifelife now getting a massive rework, that overpowered state will undoubtedly continue, but balance patches based on feedback will help her properly slot into a balanced sandbox.

Apex Legends characters are purposefully overpowered

Speaking to VideoGamer, McGuire admitted that most, if not all, new characters release in an unbalanced state within Apex Legends. With so many players stuck in their ways, there needs to be an incentive to try out the new kits that are tied to new characters, and this is one of the most effective ways.

“There’s a certain level of imbalance that you go for to release something hot and spicy,” McGuire revealed. “It needs to come out of the gate feeling like its not just on-par with everything else it’s kinda, something people are excised about, something people wanna try and experiment with. So, you go a little overboard on that front to make sure it stands out knowing that it’s probably too far and we can probably tweak these back if it becomes a problem.”

McGuire explained that the biggest issue with upgrading a character in a new update is actually making sure that existing fans of the heroes don’t lose what they liked about them. With Lifeline now receiving a huge shift in design, Apex Legends developer Respawn is keen to make sure existing fans aren’t turned off by sweeping changes.

“The bigger challenge that we have in terms of an upgrade to a character is maintaining the sense of who that character is and being loyal and honest to the character’s fantasy and respecting the people who like and love this character already. Because we’re taking things out of the game that were in there, that players liked, even if they weren’t the most effective. So, we have to be careful that we’re not breaking the character and turning them into a character they’re not.”

“There’s a certain level of imbalance that you go for to release something hot and spicy.”

APEX LEGENDS LEAD LEGEND DESIGNER DEVAN MCGUIRE

McGuire explained that they could’ve given Lifeline an ability to blow everything up and change their support role into a “combat medic”, but players already attached to the character would have their favourite Legend ruined.

“That’s not the role that people gravitated towards. So, we have to maintain that fantasy while also finding an ability suite or change that’s effective in gameplay and still has its own space that still makes her different from other Legends… she has to maintain her own area and the balance actually becomes ensuring that she’s hitting that fantasy, she’s feeling like the type of character, she’s better than before and she’s not overstepping.”

Lifeline 2.0 will be unbalanced on launch

With the sweeping changes coming to Lifeline, McGuire admits that the new version of the character is sure to be unbalanced on launch. However, as soon as the player base gets their hands on the new version of the character, the team will move to fix issues that gamers discover.

“She will be, kinda, become a dominant force just because of the way we’ve tuned her for launch,” the Apex Legends developer said. “We’re hoping that, with the levers we have, we can keep her in her track, her swim lane, and bring her into a more healthy spot if she does seem like she’s too [powerful] later on in the season.”

As the newest “Reborn Legend” to come to Respawn’s shooter, Lifeline’s new changes will add some more variety to the free-to-play game. Hopefully, with the effort the team has put into revitilising the character, fans will find a run new way to play.

Additional reporting by Talal Musa.