Apex Legends Aftermarket patch notes: cross-play, Legend changes, more

The Aftermarket Collection Event is now out in Apex Legends; here’s the full patch notes, released early by Respawn Entertainment, and everything the October 6 update is bringing to the battle royale.

The Aftermarket Collection Event is the first major promotional period in Apex Legends since the start of Season 6, set to introduce a lot of new content and some huge changes to the popular battle royale.

Headlining the major update is the highly-anticipated launch of cross-play, which will allow players on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC to finally play together and against each other online.

Also included is a new Limited Time Mode called Flashpoint, a new Heirloom for Caustic, several changes to Legends and weapons, quality-of-life improvements, and bug fixes. All of the details can be found below.

Cross-play beta

As mentioned above, cross-platform support is finally arriving in Apex Legends. The feature will be in beta to start off, allowing Respawn to collect data, test its scale, and receive feedback from players about the quality of functionality.

Players will be able to party up on PS4, Xbox One, and Origin, with support for Steam being also available once it launches. The feature will be enabled by default, so those looking to not partake in lobbies with different platforms can opt-out.

All of the details, including how it works and the specifics for matchmaking, can be found in our cross-play info page here.

Aftermarket Collection event cosmetics & Caustic Heirloom

As with every Collection event, Aftermarket has injected a flurry of new cosmetic items into the game, including the highly-anticipated Heirloom for Caustic. There will be 24 new cosmetics in total, all of which will be available through direct purchase or in Event Apex Packs.

There’s also an Aftermarket-specific prize track that allows players to earn some new cosmetics; completing event-exclusive challenges will earn you up to 1,000 points per day, which you can use to unlock some of these items.

As for Caustic’s Heirloom, it’s a massive hammer that spits out some of that poisonous Nox Gas players have come to hate over the past year and a half. On the back of the melee weapon is the Legend’s face staring menacingly back at you, because… why not?

New Flashpoint LTM

Flashpoint is a new Limited Time Mode that is played on Kings Canyon. Instead of healing items, the map features large safety zones, called Flash Points, which regenerate players’ health and shields when standing inside.

Furthermore, the mode follows the format used in Always Be Closing – meaning that the circle never stops closing, and it’s guaranteed to close on one of these points. Players will be able to craft Phoenix Kits and Crafting Replications, but that comes with a price, of course.

Apex Legends Aftermarket event update patch notes

LEGEND META

Rampart

• Increased the rate at which Sheila’s bullet spread tightens

Bloodhound

• Updated Bloodhound’s tactical cooldown while ultimate is active from 6 seconds to 8 seconds.

Pathfinder

• Grapple cooldown is now based on the distance Pathfinder traveled. The shortest possible pull has a 10s cooldown; the maximum cooldown is still 35s, but you’re going to have to swing a very long distance to get there. Have fun out there, friends!
  

Wraith

• Updated Wraith’s sprint animation.
  Wraith is a very challenging Legend to nerf. We look at Legend performance across a number of axes: how often trios with this Legend on them win games / place highly, how often this Legend gets knock downs vs is knocked down, how often this Legend is picked. Across each and every single one of these axes, Wraith dominates.And yet each time we hit her abilities (which we’ve done a lot) she bounces back within a few weeks without bleeding a lot of pick rate. Her kit is uniquely useful both in solo games and in highly coordinated games. Also she’s just really cool. We get it.We don’t want to hit her abilities anymore. We think both she and Pathfinder have been pushed to the edge in terms of cooldown and utility nerfs where pushing them any further would make them a lot less fun to play. We don’t want that!So we started looking at other Legend specific things that could give her this power–and discovered that her sprinting animations are unique in how much they artificially shorten her (by hunching over), thus shrinking her shootable area from the perspective of the enemy. It doesn’t sound like a lot, but taken together with her already small hitbox, it’s a lot of power.This patch, we’re introducing a new set of sprint animations for Wraith. These are much more upright and expose a larger area of her body to gunfire. Now we know her old sprint was iconic and we hate to see it go as well, but we believe this is the best way by far of bringing her in line without having to hit her abilities again. Depending on what we see after these animations go live, we may even be able to put some power back into her abilities (no promises though).As always, we will be listening to feedback and monitoring data on this change.

Crypto

• Crypto’s Drone can now open loot vaults if Crypto has a key in his inventory. It consumes the key as usual.

Loba

• Increased range of ultimate & passive from 3100 units to 4500 units.
• Loba now starts the match with her ultimate half charged.

WEAPON META

Devotion

• Increasing hipfire spread at a base level and also increasing the spread added while firing.

Spitfire

• We try to keep hipfire numbers consistent with similar weapons of the same class. So, the hipfire spread increase on the Devotion is also being applied to the Spitfire. To compensate, we are reducing horizontal recoil on the Spitfire.

Triple Take

• Reduced fire rate from 1.4 to 1.3.

QUALITY OF LIFE

• Loot Prompts now show how much damage an evo shield has accumulated, so you can make a better decision when switching.

• You are now able to switch to same-level armor that has less health, if it is closer to evolving.
• Loot Prompts will now have a small indicator that lets you know if your teammate needs this item, so you can ping it!

• Performance Display is a new option that activates a panel that appears in the top right corner of your screen during a match.
  The data displayed is as follows:
  • FPS – Frames Per Second, or how quickly your game is rendering frames
  • Latency – The time (in milliseconds) it takes for your game client to communicate to the server and back
  • Loss – Indicates the percentage of packet data lost per second on its way to or from the server
  • Choke – Indicates the percentage of packet data congestion on its way from the server
  • In/Out – The amount of data being sent from/to the server

  If you’re noticing persistent issues while playing, this display may help you (and us!) identify what’s going on. The Performance Display can be enabled or disabled at any time from your Gameplay Settings menu.

• Anonymous Mode has been added to the options. Anonymize your name in the champion presentation, obituary, and other locations of living opponents.
• Level 0 Evo Armor will now appear as empty in the inventory, so you can ping to request for Armor
• There are more banners placed around World’s Edge to better support Cryptos ability to see nearby squads in his drone.
• Out of Bounds – The out of bounds timer no longer refreshes each time you enter a new out of bounds area. The timer is now a fixed amount of time: 30 seconds. If you enter new out of bounds areas, the timer will steadily decrease. However, if you only have 5 seconds left, the timer will keep refreshing up to that 5 second mark.
  • This should work against people exploiting the timer, while still allowing time for people to get down if they land up there.
• Random Favorite selection added for Music and Loadscreen categories
• Holo Sprays will now remember which players liked them, and will display a count to the owner. This also prevents other players from spamming “like” on the holo spray.
• Legend Tokens have been minimized to a tool tip in the lobby. Hover over your currency to see your amount.

BUG FIXES

General

• Added the ability to ping the satellite dish at Crypto’s Map Room from the dropship.

Gibraltar

• Fixed an issue with the bubble shield looking white in certain conditions.

Lifeline

• Fixed an issue with the “Guardian Angel” Skin having a stretched neck when using Sheila.
• Fixed an issue where care packages would not be allowed to be placed on certain parts of Capacitor, Rig, or Salvage in Kings Canyon.

Caustic

• Fixed Caustic barrels from being placed at an angle on shipping crates.

Mirage

• Fixed an issue that prevented Mirage decoys from being pinged.
• Fixed an issue that did not allow Crypto’s drone to highlight decoys.

Octane

• Fixed a visual issue that removed Revenant’s shadow form from a player after jumping off an Octane Jump Pad.
• Fixed an issue with the Jump Pad clipping into the ground in certain areas

Crypto

• Fixed an issue with his drone not detecting Wattson’s Security Fences.
• Fixed an audio issue with survey beacon sometimes making very little sound when using it as Crypto’s drone.
• Fixed an issue with his drone not taking damage from directly below.

Revenant

• Fixed an issue with the HUD of the Replicator staying on screen when the totem effect wears off.

Loba

• Fixed inconsistencies with teleporting onto a supply ship.
• Fixed an issue allowing teleporting into drills around Lava Fissure.
• Fixed an issue preventing teleporting on certain terrain in Staging.

Rampart

• Fixed an issue with doors closing when dismounting a placed Sheila in a doorway.
• Fixed Amped Cover from floating in the air when placed on a supply ship.
• Fixed an issue with being able to place Sheila on loot bins.
• Fixed an issue with Longbow DMR, Triple Take, Mastiff and Sentinel not always receiving the Amped Cover buff.
• Fixed an issue with Amped Cover being able to be placed at bad angles around the map.
• Fixed an issue with the Amped Cover not being destroyed by the initial blast of Charge Rifle.
• Fixed an issue with bullets getting amped before they cross the amped wall from certain angles.

L-Star

• Fixed an issue with overheating occurring when firing a single shot from the weapon multiple times.