Apex Legends devs explain how ALGS impacted Season 19 changes

In a recent interview, Apex Legends developers explained how watching the 2023 ALGS Championship shaped some of the biggest changes to the game in the Season 19 update.

Season 19 of Apex Legends has been out for about a day as players are now getting used to the new changes. The new season brought along a host of changes in an update that implemented cross-progression and massive nerfs to Bangalore and Catalyst.

In an interview with TheGamer, Repawn game designer John Larson and experience design director Aaron Rutledge explained how the changes to Bangalore and the new ranked challenges came about due to watching the professional scene.

Larson said he saw how the ALGS was a “30-30 festival” and that Catalyst and Bangalore created what he called a “can’t-see-sh** meta.”

“We’ve had this before in terms of the Caustic meta back in the day, where you’re like, ‘OK, this is not as pleasant as we’d like it to be from both a player or spectator perspective.’ So a significant amount of [the nerfs to Catalyst and Bangalore] was influenced by just what we saw in the ALGS,” Larson told TheGamer.

The 30-30 Repeater saw its hip fire spread increase and both Bangalore and Catalyst received massive changes to their ability cooldowns in the Season 19 patch.

Some Season 19 changes came from ALGS play

Rutledge, on the other hand, described how watching the ALGS informed adjustments to the ranked system. He said ranked’s new challenges, which discourage players from camping in one area the entire game, comes from watching how the pros rotate around the map and look for more loot or fights.

“If you think about the general player population and ALGS, I’d love to see ranked bridge that gap right between just a shoot and loot fest, to the extremely strategic, rotational, calculated play of ALGS. If I can get the high end of ranked to bridge that gap, then I think we’ve done a good job,” he said.

The professional scene seems pretty mixed on the changes in Season 19 overall. Some have said the Bangalore nerfs are overkill, and those calling for her to be changed were “clowns,” while some have said the game still feels largely the same so far.