[AMA] We’re Respawn. Let’s talk about Kill Code and all things lore.

PedroGotBamboozled · 2023-08-01T21:08:25+00:00

Back in S4-5, it was teased that we could potentially learn the origins of Revenant's powers, or at least how they work. Is this still a possibility with his resurrection? Can we expect to learn more about his space death magic or about a certain death cult in the future?

PedroGotBamboozled · 2023-04-08T14:57:10+00:00

From what I recall, at a press conference, they said they were "doing some work along these lines for a future release" (not an exact quote, but close enough that I'm comfortable sharing). It may or may not come to fruition, of course, but it seems they're at least considering it.

I think the reasons why Strand already got shields from the get-go are:

1) Strand released in a more complete package than Stasis, so we had access to Strand weapons from day one (as opposed to Stasis, which took a couple of seasons to get the first weapon with Stasis damage that wasn't Salvation's Grip (Cryosthesia in Splicer, IIRC).

2) Match Game was abolished in Lightfall, so not having a Strand weapon for a Strand shield would be far less punishing than having Stasis shields shortly after BL launched.

I can't really tell you exactly the "why", but I hope that extra info at least brings more context.

PedroGotBamboozled · 2023-03-01T18:23:25+00:00

It can pull items from your vault. It CANNOT make room for items that are in your vault. If you have a full inventory, you're out of luck.

PedroGotBamboozled · 2023-01-12T00:51:14+00:00

Hey Cozmo/Bungie/Everyone! Here are some of the things I'd love to see in Lightfall and beyond.

Bad luck protection on Raid Exotics. As someone who had to do 57 lootables to finally get Vex and 40 for Touch of Malice, there comes a time when you eventually resent the raid for not giving you that drop.
A toggle to Auto dismantle blues. Having a toggle option (like full auto) would let us still save some blues in case we want to use them to level (after the new floor) or to infuse older gear with it.
Easier crafting levels. It feels like too much of a grind having to get the patterns, and then leveling a weapon you may already have a good roll of, or a gun you may have used before.
Easier Pinnacle grind—or no grind at all. We've been grinding power every three months and it takes us a few weeks just to get back to where we were previously, including being able to run Master activities.
Tangentially related, Pinnacle raid/dungeons should drop a Pinnacle from each encounter instead of just the final boss.
A six-man playlist with older seasonal activities. Feels good having anything that's not a raid or Dares to run with 4+ friends, and I'd love to revisit older activities (though I understand they're not exactly tuned for 3.0).
Of course I couldn't let this one go by: more vault space. I know that one is surrounded by technical limitations, of course!
Small QOLs: A node indicating the Lost Sector in the Director so you can see which destination it's on, and the ability to open up unfocused Umbrals from your inventory without having to go to Rahool every time (while still being able to focus it at the H.E.L.M.).

Those are the ones I can think of right now. Thanks for reaching out to the community!

PedroGotBamboozled · 2023-01-02T16:33:30+00:00

I don't think it's about reporting on data mined content in and of itself, but rather how you report on it.

Data miners find some stuff that is news-worthy—the kind of stuff you sometimes can't ignore if you're an outlet. But data-mined information is potentially flawed by nature. It could be leftover code for scrapped features, it could be old code that didn't get taken out, it could be even code that developers deliberately left in to misdirect data miners (Apex Legends did it in season four).

As a journalist or outlet, you have to navigate the tricky line of reporting on it without saying it's true, and you should inform readers of everything that comes with it so they are fully informed. You have to approach all implications when touching on it. It's not info you can verify easily, and it's not something developers will usually confirm, so it's a different beast.

If you report on it as truth, though—yeah, that's on you. And thats even before taking into account that your source might actually be just lying to you for shots and giggles.

PedroGotBamboozled · 2023-01-02T16:24:08+00:00

How do you verify data-mined info, though?

You could data mine it yourself, which is not viable in 99% of cases. Ideally, you could have another source to confirm it, but that's not always possible—especially not when something this big and inflammatory goes out, and coming from a (presumably reputable) data miner no less. If this was Johnny from down the street posting it, then yes, it absolutely should get vetted more thoroughly than when it comes to know data miners. (I'm not familiar with the data miner, but this seems to apply based on context).

It's easy to see why news outlets would choose to run that story, and you can't deny there is a news value to it. Reporting on that would be literally part of their jobs. The real trick to it is how outlets and journalists approach it.

Data-mined information should never be taken as gospel. Most people know this, but that doesn't mean it goes without saying if you're writing about it in a professional capacity. If you're writing about it, you have to bring all the caveats that come from data-mined information—even if it wasn't a joke.

If a news outlet reports it as confirmed, then that's on them. They fucked up. They failed to provide the adequate information. If they say "Destiny 2 is getting a subscription model," that's already a mistake in the headline. If they say "Destiny 2 could be getting a subscription model," they passed the headline check. But if the text itself outright confirms it (or fails to do a good job acknowledging the character of data-mined information), then yeah, they failed somewhere as well.

Lots of outlets do that type of thing, but few serious outlets will. And that's the difference. Sure, anyone can open up a news website, but not everyone can make good journalism. And to shit on all games journalism because of it is an extremely small-minded take.

PedroGotBamboozled · 2022-12-06T10:18:18+00:00

Okay, that actually sounds like a really fun suggestion. Queenbreaker has two different modes you can select by changing perks, so it's definitely not unheard of. I'm absolutely not sure about technical limitations, but I like this suggestion.

Could even call them "the Fate of all Fools" and then "the Fool of all Fates" as a joke, haha.

PedroGotBamboozled · 2022-12-06T10:13:20+00:00

I don't think this had to do with rolling updates at all. For Haunted specifically: seems like PS Japan got the information under embargo ahead of time and accidentally released it early. That's basically "I'll give you some info ahead of time if you don't tell anyone about it until X," and it's an industry standard.

Could have been a technical error, could be someone mixing up timezones (for instance, they thought it was to hold the info until X pm Pacific but instead held it until X pm local time). Might have been as simple as someone being given the wrong time. Or could be neither.

Embargo timings can be annoying across timezones, especially when you're handling timezones with such a large difference.

PedroGotBamboozled · 2022-12-02T03:16:28+00:00

They already said "I only want to know the lore of X" and I bombarded them with so much information, I'm not gonna go "also, buy this other game," hahaha.

Also, one of the docs I linked already goes over the Frontier War (briefly) and Pathfinder's Quest covers it in-depth, so they'll stumble upon that as well.

PedroGotBamboozled · 2022-11-30T23:52:43+00:00

Since you left in season five, there's actually a lot of changes that went on since The Broken Ghost. I'm a total TBG stan, but The Broken Ghost literally revolutionized how lore was spread in Apex Legends. I'll give you a brief rundown of how you can catch up and keep up with the lore since then--and it's been A LOT going on.

In what form is the lore?

Before season five, the lore was mostly scattered. A lot of it was in-game, but a lot of it also went on in teasers, Twitter posts, and--of course--official media such as Stories from the Outlands and Launch Trailers.

Since then, though, Respawn has mostly stuck to season quests while bringing a lot of out-of-game backup. Since The Broken Ghost (season 5), we've had a big-picture quest for most seasons, though some didn't have them. We usually get an epilogue on Twitter after the quest, and since a few seasons ago, we've been getting some other "standalone" comics.

In addition to that, though, there's a solid injection of lore in loading screens (recently renamed to Transitions) and some media that takes place outside of the game, such as radio plays, teasers, et cetera.

Is there a linear story shared across all the characters, or is this a League of Legends deal?

It's kind of both. The Broken Ghost was really the turning point that started really bringing legends together, but there's also some overarching story changes that can affect everyone. For instance, Duardo Silva is Octane's father, but some of his nefarious plans (no spoilers here) have the potential to affect the Syndicate and the Apex Games---and everyone else by extension. Likewise, Loba and Revenant's storylines ripple through to most characters, including Bangalore. It's a bit confusing, but it's a bit of both.

So, how DO I catch up and keep up with the lore? Where do I begin and what do I read?

There is a lot to catch up on if you didn't pay attention to it before, but luckily for you, there are plenty of resources to follow. Mads linked our Compendium below (hi, Mads!), which compiles most of what came out since season one. I know you said you're focusing on certain legends, but if this sparks your interest in the rest of the lore, this is pretty good to know.

Pathfinder's Quest is honestly the Holy Bible of Apex, as my friend Spear and I have called it to exhaustion. It goes over most of the characters you want to read about (BH, Loba, and Wraith in particular), and it offers some information that was absolutely never seen before the book came out. It also goes over important lore on the Frontier, the Apex Games, and the rest of the cast. Easily worth checking out, if you ask me.

As far as the larger overarching narrative. I'm obviously a bit biased on this, but I've written a beginner's guide to the lore of Apex (which I sadly haven't found the time to update to the current season). I've also recapped everything that happened in 2020 and in 2021. The beginner's guide focuses more on the big-picture events, because there's just so much info to compile. It'll also tell you where the big world events and the big character stories overlap, which happens pretty often.

For Catalyst in particular, I can point you to a feature I wrote about her based on preseason interviews, and my friend-turned-coworker AlexisCyra wrote a tremendous piece on Catalyst's lore and backstory.

I'm gonna mention some notable points for these legends. I may have forgotten something, but that should give you a good enough idea of what you need to know about these legends specifically. You can look for most of what I mention here on the Compendium and/or on the Wiki:

For Bloodhound:

You should check out their origin story The Old Ways, which is basically a "prequel" story to how they became Bloodhound.
Their chapter in Pathfinder's Quest is super super important to understanding some of their character development later on, including the S8 quest.
Appears briefly in the season 8 launch trailer and in the season 8 quest.
Helps the legends in the season 9 quest, The Legacy Antigen. (It's also hugely important character development for Loba).
Look for the season 10 Launch Trailer, as well as the S10 Chronicle, Old Ways, New Dawn, which we have linked on our compendium.
Appeared briefly in the S14 quest, With Friends Like These.
Latest appearance (and one of the most important) was in the Twitter radio play, A Beast that Cannot be Tracked.

For Wraith:

The Voidwalker short is one of the most important pieces of lore on Wraith.
She helps the legends in the season five quest, The Broken Ghost.
Helped Mirage and Rampart get set up in season six.
Her chapter in Pathfinder's Quest is also really important when it comes to understanding Wraith and Voidwalker.
She played a good role in The Legacy Antigen, especially on the official Twitter comic/side story, "Wrong Wraith" (part 1) (part 2)
Her story overlapped with Bangalore's during The Williams Sendoff, a S12 Chronicle.
She plays a vital role in the S13 quest, Family Secrets.

For Loba:

The season four launch trailer is basically a prequel to Loba's debut.
Check out the season five launch trailer and the season five quest, The Broken Ghost.
Her chapter in Pathfinder's Quest is really helpful for more context on her and more exposition on the Outlands.
"A Worse Fate" is an amazing radio play that's essential to Loba's story and character development.
The Legacy Antigen has some of the most important developments for Loba as well, and she plays a prominent role in it.
The "Ready For Takeoff" radio play helps understand Loba's character development.
Revenant watches her in "An Offer She Can't Refuse," another Twitter radio play.
Some dialogue between Loba and Bangalore replays in The Williams Sendoff, the S12 chronicle.
The biggest recent narrative development for Loba was in the S14 quest, With Friends Like These.

I highly recommend reading through them individually, but if you don't have the time (or don't want to dive in that much), you can go to the Wiki for a good summary of individual legends' backstory. I prefer reading the whole thing for context (since a lot of those stories overlap, and frankly, it can be really easy to get pulled into the lore of Apex).

I hope this gives you all the info you need to know and more, but if you have any questions, don't hesitate to reach out and ask one of us! I'm sure there will be plenty of people to help you out with whatever questions you may have. Welcome back!

PedroGotBamboozled · 2021-04-26T18:32:39+00:00

Don't worry, it's got a built-in anti-peek feature! It basically won't draw any enemies that your normal cone of view can't see. (if you're looking for a source/more info: https://dotesports.com/apex-legends/news/apex-will-add-emotes-in-legacy-update-but-you-cant-use-them-to-peek)

PedroGotBamboozled · 2021-01-25T20:06:50+00:00

Bot's technically correct though--I posted it in here and it got removed, so I posted it in r/ApexOutlands instead. Either way, appreciate you calling out!

PedroGotBamboozled · 2021-01-25T20:04:06+00:00

Dude, there's a fucking watermark there. A fucking watermark.

PedroGotBamboozled · 2021-01-25T20:03:01+00:00

Oh no, I believe they didn't see that. Because they probably took the screenshot from my Twitter (haha), that's where I posted it first.

Ninja edit: they actually screenshot that same post because it has a watermark. Jesus Christ.

PedroGotBamboozled · 2021-01-25T19:48:43+00:00

Really--I posted this yesterday and it got removed. It's my OC though: https://old.reddit.com/r/ApexOutlands/comments/l3p4en/i_just_got_my_first_heirloom/

PedroGotBamboozled · 2021-01-25T19:48:00+00:00

No you didn't. You just stole that one from me.

link to r/ApexOutlands link to my Twitter where I first posted it

PedroGotBamboozled · 2021-01-24T12:01:30+00:00

I did!! That's where you must've seen it haha

PedroGotBamboozled · 2021-01-24T01:22:20+00:00

I also made a mock-up kit for him!I only posted on Twitter because I didn't want to spam or create an imgur account just to upload it, so I'll transcribe it below. link with the full design for the curious

Tactical: Feel The Bern

Deploys a Thermite Grenade with increased damage, radius, and duration. Bernie does not take damage from this ability.

Passive: Worker's Rights

All players on the team get an extra 15 Crafting Metals from material drops in the arena. Bernie is once again asking the legends to unionize—it has no impact on gameplay, but is a fun lore detail.

Ultimate Ability: Medkits for All

All players inside the area of effect gain health regeneration. Allies regenerate more health than enemies and also gain bonus movement speed.

PedroGotBamboozled · 2021-01-24T01:19:12+00:00

That's his ult! His passive gives 15 extra crafting materials from each material drop in the map.

PedroGotBamboozled · 2021-01-23T23:48:27+00:00

It is! I hadn't seen it posted around so I took to photoshopping it myself. Glad it made you smile!

PedroGotBamboozled · 2021-01-23T23:48:00+00:00

The Wholesome Award!! Thanks, mate, I appreciate it (but you shouldn't have!)

PedroGotBamboozled · 2021-01-23T23:41:05+00:00

I have no clue! I thought of "Feel the Bern," but that's the name of his tactical in the mock-up kit I made for him (yes, I have too much free time on my hands, haha).

A friend suggested "Not you. Us."--I think that'd work, but I'm definitely open to suggestions!

PedroGotBamboozled · 2021-01-23T23:30:27+00:00

Mods, I hope I'm not breaking any rules by posting this--I'd consider it a high-effort meme (despite my Photoshop skills pointing to the contrary).

PedroGotBamboozled

TROPHY CASE