Apex Legends S26, named “Showdown,” launched August 5th. Despite the confirmed and leaked season updates initially receiving a good reception, ALGS pro and casual players alike have several complaints.
From jumpship changes to audio overload and accolades, there has been plenty to discuss in the first 24 hours of Season 26.
DING DING DING DING… Accolades feature attacked for sound bug
Immediately post-launch, players and pros identified a bug with the game’s newly introduced Accolades feature.
In the Apex Legends S26 patch notes, EA and Respawn Entertainment explain that Accolades have been introduced as a way to “recognise players and their squadmates for all that they do during a match – not just winning.”
However, “all that they do” was taken to the extreme. Constant Accolade pings, accompanied by a very audible “ding,” were constant through games.
The words of Twisted Minds player Mac ‘Albralelie’ Beckwith provided a clear-cut summary of the situation: “DING DING DING DING DING DING DING […] DING DING DING.”
Despite developers quickly advising players how to switch off the sound feature on Accolades, their fix did not work for everyone. After only a few hours, Accolades were “temporarily disabled” by Respawn.
The community’s attitude to the Accolades addition was even more apparent after the feature was disabled. Many responded to Respawn’s removal, requesting that it never be re-implemented.
These responses included that of former FURIA pro Keon ‘Keon’ Berghout, who simply replied to the temporary removal post with, “permanently*”
Backlash from the bug was strong enough that Apex Legends Status, an independent server status, stats, and tools platform for the game, issued a statement attempting to quell the harsh words of players.
Audio bug and incessant “DING” sound aside, the function itself also gained criticism for rewarding simple actions such as running, jumping, sliding, looting, and doing damage.
Streamer and game developer Crystal also expressed concern over how Accolades fit into the game overall, stating, “it is not a system that fits into Apex.” One player drew a comparison to Call of Duty, telling developers to stop trying to make one game into another.
Apex Legends S26 Ranked: highly anticipated updates found disappointing on launch
Leaked season updates that suggested similarities to the ALGS format for Apex Legends S26 Ranked mode were extremely popular when revealed.
Central to Ranked updates was the removal of the traditional jumpship. Instead of players all leaving the same jumpship, Ranked teams now have individual jumpships in random POIs.
When this change was leaked online, Apex pros, content creators, and casual gamers alike seemed to appreciate the change.
However, on launch, opinions are a lot more diverse.
One of the primary reasons for this diversification is that players are still able to contest POIs with the new jumpship system. The jumpship is high enough that when skydiving, players can still swerve to a different location.
This, to a certain extent, defeats the purpose of introducing the POI-specific jumpship. It was meant to reduce early-game contests.
Reactions to changes in RP (the ranked points system) have been more mixed. How the increased focus on placement over kills affects the system will be better understood as players begin to rank up over the next few days post-launch.
Smokes dominate S26 meta expectations
Bangalore and Caustic, both smoke/gas Legends, received hefty buffs in the S26 update.
Smokes launched by Bangalore have increased speed, decreased pull-out time, decreased cooldown, and increased damage ability. Now, canisters can break through doors and cancel out other Legends’ ultimate abilities.
Caustic’s Nox Gas has increased damage and is more reactive. Caustic traps also have vastly improved health, from 150 to 225. The trap’s activation radius has increased from 140 to 260. His ultimate, the Nox Gas Grenade, also has increased speed and a cooldown reduction from three minutes to two.
Such a strong meta is going to impact the upcoming Split 2 of the ALGS Pro League. Players who have more experience competing with Bangalore and Caustic could boost their odds of making the Championship on esports betting sites, given the Legends’ new strength.
Overall Apex S26 reviews: devs “aimed well but didn’t throw hard enough”
In the first 24 hours post Apex Legends S26 launch, overall summaries from pro players are varied.
Most agree that the introduction of Accolades was either unnecessary or very poorly implemented. There is still relatively wide support for the POI jumpship changes, but a loose consensus that these changes were also implemented poorly.
Apex pro player Casper ‘Gnaske’ Præstensgaard offered support for the direction that Apex Legends developers tried taking with S26. He also admitted that they were not hitting the results they wanted:
“Can’t say they missed the mark, they aimed well but didn’t throw hard enough.
The direction they were heading with the update was spot on. It just really feels like something was holding them back from actually reaching the goal. The changes were so minuscule that they don’t actually change anything in ranked…
Set POIs was a perfect idea, less contests = more teams alive = higher quality ALGS type vibe
They made it so you can contest…
Kills give less points = Less kill farm vibe and more placement oriented = Better quality lobbies
They barely changed the values[…]”
Over on the r/CompetitiveApex subreddit, some users pointed the blame for bugs and seemingly lax pre-launch checks at EA layoffs. One user claimed, “They keep cutting the core team down to the bone. Which is why you have issues like these. Or you have wild meta changes to keep the game fresh instead of new content like maps.”
Overall, most pros and players are hoping that Respawn note the feedback from S26’s launch and make some changes.
Either major game additions need to be refined, improved, or removed. It is up to developers to decide which approach will work best.
Hannah is a writer specialising in the esports, gaming, and technology sectors. Working for outlets such as Dot Esports, Esports Insider, and of course ENUK, she has developed a love for wider esports and Apex Legends, although it may never surpass her drive to passionately beat her friends in every game of Mariokart. You may have seen her at various esports and gaming events, including ESI London, EGX, Discover: Esports and many League of Legends watch parties.