Harris59's Blog (9 followers)

So I've been playing a bunch of Apex as of late and through a combination of either my friends playing PC instead or the fact I'm on at ludicrous hours as of late, I tend to have to play solo with a random squad of people I do not know. Thankfully I've been here before with other multiplayer games and I've learned to adapt to the the randomness of each players different playstyles and how to work as a team player. That being said, there are some bad behaviours and information I wish more players understood. This is not to attack any player that doesn't know and maybe someone might learn something from this list if you're new at the game.

1 - The Ping System
By far one of the greatest things about Apex is how fantastic the ping system is! Sadly there's a lot of players who ignore pings of information you may be giving them altogether or do not use it themselves and run off without warning. The basics of the ping system would be to tag a location where you want to go, double tap to tag that there's an enemy over there and paying attention to what people need and pinging those items if you see them, these are the basics I expect from most.

The great thing about the ping system however is if you don't have access to a mic (like me late at night/early morning) you can actually say a lot more than just those basic fundamentals. If you hold down the ping button you get a wheel with commands to say things such as you're going to loot over there, an enemy has been here, lets push an attack in this direction etc. additionally you can ping any empty slot from you inventory from weapon attachments, armour, helmets etc. to call out to your team you need that item and they can keep an eye out.
Have an energy gun and need a turbocharger? Ping your turbocharger slot.
Have a Spitfire and want an extended heavy mag? Ping the mag slot
No body armour? Likewise just ping the slot.

You can also request ammo for your guns by simply pinging on the gun in your inventory. Your teammate might even be carrying some spare ammo or ammo they don't need which you do, let them know you need it before they just drop it for another item later on.

Additionally have your say on proposed ideas, and confirm you're listening to your team. Every ping someone places in the world you can hover over and ping that with 'okay', 'no' or 'I can't'. If you have half your health, no meds, low on ammo and no shields and someone's proposing a push on an enemy squad that hasn't noticed you, let them know with either a 'no' or 'I can't', if they're paying attention they'll hold their push. You can also tag that you need health by pressing the health button without any meds, it'll call out that you need health and you can also tell them you need ammo as I explained earlier. On the flip-side to all that, if you're well armed and ready to strike, say 'okay' and they can move on in confidence that the squad are on the same page for this push (okay is also the default if you just tap the ping on theirs). Finally, regarding pinging other people's pings, you can call dibs on items they may have pinged to say you really need that, and again, helps confirm to them what weapon/setup you're using so they can ping more useful items you may need as the game progressed. I always try to keep tabs on what my team are running and keep an eye out for what they need.


2 - Reviving & Respawning
One of the fun things about Apex is once you're dead, you're not automatically out of the game, if your teammate can reach your grave and collect your banner in the allotted time (which is rather lengthy to be honest, but don't waste too much time) then you have the opportunity to bring them back at the nearest respawn beacon. If you've died, haven't been revived in time and bled out (or were finished off by the enemy) DO NOT QUIT. It's not over, you can be respawned, if you leave you'll handicap your teammates when you could have easily been a 3 man squad. The amount of times I've been the last man standing because both players immediately quit out after dying then went on to get 2nd place and almost win, if only I had a little backup, even just someone to be a decoy, anything! I've actually had games where I've died, been respawned near the end of the game, managed to loot off a squad we just downed and been fully geared up for the final battle and made the winning kill whilst my teammates were downed, imagine if I just quit, I would have screwed my team out of a win they worked hard for!

And, as far as bad behaviour goes... If you are dead, for the love of god, do not spam the ping on your banner. This is the most infuriating thing to hear whilst you're doing your best to work on recovering your teammate, the constant DING, DING, DING, DING... We get it, you need recovering, but if you died that clearly means enemies are present, it's not always a smart ideas to B line it straight for your grave, you have plenty of time, be patient, I'm coming.

Speaking of B lining it though, as with any game with a revive mechanic, don't just run in for the revive, make sure it's clear, it's a safe spot to revive or the enemies nearby are all dead. Revives take some time and they do make noise, if I hear a player being revived sometimes I'd just rush them down and finish the whole squad off, wham, you're out because you rushed the revive. Even if it means letting the player die, you can always respawn them, don't risk the whole squad going down. This is especially bothersome in the final top 2 squads situation, focus on the remaining enemies, let me go if you have to, get that win!


3 - Dropping In
As far as I'm concerned, anywhere is a perfectly fine location to drop, unless I'm Jumpmaster, I don't even think about it too much, I might ping a suggestion of the Jumpmaster seems hesitant on where to go, I'll respect their choice of location otherwise though. That being said, there's a few problems I see consistently that really need to be understood.

First off, the most important issue of all... If you're going to drop somewhere popular where a lot of people are dropping, whether it be the hot zone, the supply ship (which I'm not a fan of in general) or just a generally busy area, drop EARLY AND QUICK, if you decide late that you want to go a certain location and you already see people dropping there don't bother, change your mind, you won't get any loot and you'll face multiple squads unarmed, it's not going to work out very smoothly. It's not impossible, but it's a horrific way to start.

Secondly, spread out as you get closer to the ground, landing on the same building is just going to result in all 3 of you fighting for the same loot. If you're dropping somewhere other players are also dropping then it's sensible to stay close enough together to back each other up in fights that may occur, but if you're all dropping at the same spot and running into the same building probably only one of you is going to get a weapon for a little while and other squads that dropped and split are going to be evenly armed to possibly gang up on your 1 armed player while your unarmed guys are dodging and weaving away.

If for some reason you do group together, share the loot a bit, if you teammate doesn't have a gun and you have one, let them take it rather than having a second gun. Or if you have 2 guns and one is a Mozambique, don't switch it for the better weapon you've found if you've already got a 2nd gun and your teammate has none, keep that trash Mozambique for a little bit and let your teammate at least have 1 weapon that's not the Mozambique.

Also... Uh, extra spontaneous entry for anyone who somehow doesn't know - Mozambique sucks, it's the only gun that outright sucks, every other gun is viable, even for end-game, though I don't want them to buff it because it's kind of like Tachanka in Rainbow Six, it's bad, we all know it's bad, but it's like an inside joke that's well worth keeping.


4 - Ultimate Accelerants
Oh boy, this is a petty big one, not in the sense of it being the most important but more or less it being that the majority of players I've bumped into do not understand this item. This is not a passive item, you do not pick it up and receive a passive boost to your ultimates recharge rate. The Ultimate Accelerant is an item you use, much like meds and shield cells, which replenishes some of your ultimate by a set amount, as you can imagine, this benefits slower charging ultimates far more.

If you are a Lifeline or have a Lifeline on your team, this is who should be consuming all the accelerants, feed them to the Lifeline, ping them all for the Lifeline. Her ultimate isn't very quick to charge and benefits the entire team with care package loot throughout the game. If you don't have a Lifeline, give to another slow charging ultimate or someone who's just used theirs. Bangalore and Gibraltars offensive ultimates can be handy to accelerate, Bloodhounds can be handy too. I'd say Pathfinder, Wraith and Caustic are the legends who need it least, but even if those 3 are your team, if you see one lying around and someone's ultimate isn't charged up, or they've just used it, why not right?


5 - Breaking Doors
This is rather minor but similar to the ultimate accelerants above I see very few players who realise this is possible. Door blocking is quite common from downed players because it seemingly prevents people from getting a shot through that opening, rushing in or throwing grenades in. But, they can be destroyed, a grenade/arc can do the trick, but you can also kick the door with melee twice to smash it to bits.

Personally I think this would make for an interesting little ability for a new legend, some kind of dart that blows doors up. Doesn't do damage but just a quick cooldown, multi-use (like Caustic/Bangalore) dart that fires like a bullet (so it can go long range, unlike grenades etc.). Maybe it could be allowed to do minor splash damage, but only if it makes contact with a door, I dunno, just an idea.


6 - Hoarding Loot You Don't 'Need'
I've seen this from time to time when I look through a dead teammates loot, items they cannot use that a teammate has already called out they needed. I get it, sometimes you have a favourite weapon you fancy using like the ever so popular Peacekeeper and you want to take attachments for it just in case you come across a Peacekeeper later in the game... Thing is though, if your teammate already has had a Peacekeeper for a while and is pinging for a Precision Choke and you have one, drop it, ping it, let them take it.

Early game it's fine to hoard a little, keep anything good, you don't know what weapons you're going to grab along the way, but as soon as you know a teammate needs something you have and you don't have a use for it, pass it on. I've seen a teammate with a Longbow ping for a sniper sight then looted the other teammate who died and spotted the 4x-8x Variable in their loot, with no sniper of their own... C'mon man, you don't need that, he does. Share the loot, after all, if you can't use it, it's wasting an inventory slot you may very well need!

Likewise, consider the importance of said loot even if you can use it. If you have an extended level 3 light mag and you're using the P2020 pistol, sure, it's useful, but, maybe your teammates R301 could do with that a little more, and you might be planning on switching out the P2020 anyway (I know it's not super popular of a weapon, especially end-game).


7 - Playing Passive
Don't get me wrong, I'm not some over aggressive 'attack every squad' type person, but, what grinds my gears a little is when people will firstly drop in an unpopulated poor loot area (no big deal, I said before I'm happy with anywhere) but then manoeuvre around the map avoiding any conflict whatsoever. Sure, this may get you top 2 a lot, but you still need to fight that final fight, and if you've not gone for high grade loot areas or killed some squads, you're probably going up against a heavily armed squad for the final fight with level 1 body shields and some 'okay' weapon setups.

Whilst on the flip-side being overly-aggressive can get you killed, there's no need to reveal your position and engage enemy squads whenever you see a person. But it must be said, if you take the fight to people more often and get into more conflicts not only is the chance of gearing up better but you'll learn more when it comes to combat itself. Experience helps as with most things, if you've never had a team shootout before how do you expect to beat the last other squad alive, considering they're at least probably somewhat decent, that's how they got that far in the first place (though they could have been passive, they've at least killed some people, because if your squad hasn't, how else would there only be 2 left?).


8 - Your Legend Abilities
Every legend has abilities, some charge rather quickly (even some ultimates do), you don't need to hold back on using them. Feel free to use abilities liberally, they'll be off cooldown the next time you're in a situation you'll want to use them in. I've seen a lot of people play the game (sometime well, doing everything I've mentioned so far) but do not use any of their abilities for the whole duration of the game, or only use them during the final fight. Having your abilities for that final fight is obviously helpful, but you can use them before then and still have them later, the cooldown really isn't that long even for ultimates.

Get an idea of what your chosen legends abilities do, and use them pretty much whenever you think they'll be helpful.

No one has meds and you've just come from outside the ring and took a lot of damage as a squad for it? Lifeline, whip out that health drone.
Think some enemies are around but don't know where? Bloodhound, do a scan, and if you see fresh prints, ping them while you're at it.
Under fire, need to get out safely? C'mon Wraith you know what to do.
Mirage, spam those decoys while you're at it, why not right?
Pathfinder, your ability charges super quick as does your ultimate, use it pretty much all the time if you have to, and you realise you have a passive? Most people don't, get to those beacons and scan where the next ring will be.
Squads under fire, bad positioning, wounded and need to get out? Smoke cover please Bangalore, or, throw up a shield Gibraltar, especially if it's at range so they can't rush in, handy for revives too.
Caustic, well, block some doors with your canisters if you like, plant them almost anywhere if you want and your ultimate charges quite quick, throw it like you would your grenades whenever you feel it'll be helpful.

Every legend does a thing, so remember to do the thing.


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This is pretty much all that I could come up with off the top of my head, just throwing these thoughts out there as a primarily solo player. I didn't even know how many entries I'd have on this list until I finished lol. If anyone has any tips/tricks for newcomers or any vents about things they see players do frequently that bugs them and things they generally wish more people would understand hit me with a comment about it. If you've learned anything from me somehow, let me know so I can feel special and important xD

And if anyone wants to play with me (no mic remember) at my unholy hours, well, hit me up, but I doubt anyone is mental enough to have my schedule lol.