**Editors note:
Getting back into the heat of things! Now that I have some free time to write I want to finish a couple of articles that I wanted to release months ago but simply didn’t have the time. Expect to see a couple of posts about past topics then it's back to the regularly scheduled program of blog posts.**
With the Iron Crown event bought a first for apex legends: solo mode. Respawn has been very adamant about (rightfully) claiming that apex is a team-first Battle Royale game. Other BR games have squad options, but the trio squads for apex means that to be successful at the game, there must be constant teamwork and communication. The release of Wattson emphasizes this and sets the stage for more support legends in the game. Even so, the entire community fantasized about what an Apex solo mode would entail. Can the map sustain 60 Individual people instead of 20 3-man teams? Will some legends become useless? Will some become godlike? Here's my take on the event
1. there should be more people on the map.
The ring structure in solo mode means you don't have much time before you're forced into the circle with the rest of the survivors. I've noticed most people just go to the circle so they don't have to run, which means A LOT of people die within the first 180 seconds of a round.this also means 3/4 of the map is empty. Bumping up the player count from 60 to 80 or even 100 would mean there would be active all over the map no matter where you land, which is probably the only time I ever want to land at a location with people due to looting RNG.
2. Some legends may need mode-specific changes
This is just the nature of a game designed around team synergy. Watson is beyond terrible in this mode (Wattson is just a terrible legend at the moment, but that's another story for another time). On the other hand, Legends like Caustic and Gibby become bullet sponges due to their passives which make for a lot of annoying situations once people realized the damage reduction and abuse it.
3. This mode should come out permanently in a couple more seasons.
With the limited character pool offered thus far, there's not a lot of variation of who you can play with right now and in solos, you saw massive amounts of Lifeline/Wraith/Octane/Pathfinder players, with some Caustic and Gibby as well. More playable characters would distribute this power balance, but that's going to take some time with the current release schedule for legends.
4. Solo engagements expose a skill gap between regular players and casual tryhards.
A lot of what I said in my post about why most Apex players suck is shown in a game mode like this. Without teammates to watch someone's back or to help kill an enemy, most players simply cannot handle the pressure of mano-y-mano engagements against a single player. There is a certain level of finesse needed as you need to account for whatever moves he may make or how they may use their legend abilities to get the upper hand on you. I had some of my most intense fights in this game mode due to this and no matter if I died or not, I enjoyed it.
Overall I was surprised by how much I ended up liking this game mode. It was a nice distraction from the normal rage-inducing, third party heavy gameplay of Play Apex and Ranked. Seeing that the map has changed for season 3 and Respawn has said that they want to bring kings canyon bak into the mix, I think that kings canyon (with some tweaks) would be a perfect candidate for hosting solo mode permanently.