Apex Legend Season 11 Release Countdown: Can Apex's servers cope?

We're hours away from Apex Legends' next title update and Respawn Entertainment is bringing a lot to the table this time around. The only question is... Can the servers keep up? Here's what they have had to say...

SERVER ISSUES? - Respawn Entertainment is trying

As we head into the launch of Season 11, let's take a look at what Respawn Entertainment had to say - courtesy of AlphaIntel - on the ongoing server issues Apex Legends has been facing...

" We've been doubling down on our efforts to resolve the connection issues and intermittent lag that some players may experience at different times and regions around the world.

" We've been expanding our dedicated server teams at Respawn, creating new ways for us to see, predict, and respond to potential bandwidth issues, and implementing new ways that we can make the back end of a technically massive live game like Apex require less bandwidth.

" We hear you, and the community, and we're working tirelessly to resolve these server issues."

BATTLE PASS - Quick look at the new skins

There is so much to look forward to in Apex Legends Season 11 - the Battle Pass isn't even really up there when you consider Ash and the CAR SMG. However, that doesn't mean it shouldn't be.

For 950 Apex Coins you can get your hands on the Season 11 Battle Pass and 110 Tiers of content, including...

• Desert Mirage - Legendary Mirage Skin
  • Cover Fire - Spitfire Skin
• Glorious Combatant - Legendary Gibraltar Skin
  • Bucking Bronco - 30-30 Skin
• Visionwalker - Epic Wraith Skin
  • Ante Up - Volt Skin
  • Compound Fracture - Bocek Skin
• Pipe Dream - Reactive Prowler Skin

If you don't want to pay 950 Apex Coins, you'll get the following free rewards this season...

• 7 Apex Packs
• 6 Weapon Skins
• 6 Loading Screens
• Season 11 "Win" Banner Trackers for all Legends
• 1 Music Pack
• 300 Apex Coins
• Season 11 Banner Badge

RELEASE DATE - When does Season 11 start?

Apex Legends' next season of content is due to start as soon as the current season ends - this means, we know exactly when to expect the next season of content to start.

Season 10 is due to finish on November 2nd - so this is when Season 11 will start. Specifically, looking at the previous seasons, we think Season 11 will start at the following times:

• 10:00 November 2nd PST
• 13:00 November 2nd EST
• 17:00 November 2nd GMT

These times are unconfirmed, so take them with a pinch of salt.

There's going to be a new Battle Pass to check out, the start of a new Ranked season in both Battle Royale and Arenas, and a lot more...

MAP ROTATION - Two of the four maps are in play

We're not sure why just yet, but it looks like Kings Canyon and Olympus are - once again - being benched in Apex Legends. The Season 11 Patch Notes confirm that only Storm Point and World's Edge are going to be available to play on in the battle royale map rotation.

With this in mind, the first half of Ranked BR is going to be played on Storm Point and the second half is going to be played on World's Edge - if nothing changes.

In addition to this, there's not going to be any battle royale locations included in the Arenas map rotation - only custom-made Arenas maps will be available.

We don't know why Apex Legends are limiting the number of battle royale maps, but the decision to only include custom-made Arenas maps makes sense. It'll be interesting to see how people react to this throughout the season as the early reaction is quite split online. Some people want all the maps, some people don't really care. It's a tough one, but it could be due to storage space issues.

NEW LEGEND - Ash is joining the Apex Games

Season 11 is bolstering Apex Legends' roster with a new playable Legend: Ash. She's going to be a hard-hitter with an offensive ability set which you can check out below:

• Passive Ability
  • Marked For Death
    • Ash's map shows the location of recent "deathboxes". Press on a "deathbox" to mark remaining attackers (once per box);
• Tactical Ability
  • Arc Snare
    • Throw a spinning snare that damaged and tethers the first enemy that gets too close;
• Ultimate Ability
  • Phase Breach
    • Tear open a one-way portal to a targeted location;

NEW WEAPON - Titanfall's CAR SMG is here

Apex Legends' newest weapon is a unique SMG that uses both Light Ammo and Heavy Ammo to keep you firing even when you're running low.

" The C.A.R. hits hard but handles light, this hybrid weapon’s the best of both worlds for when you’re ready to take a stand and become the most dangerous thing on the island."

A fully-kitted CAR is also being added to the rotation of loot from the start of Season 11.

NEW MAP - Storm Point and its' wildlife arrive

Storm Point is here and it's the largest Battle Royale map to date. Grav Cannons are a new feature that should help your rotation in-game and three types of wildlife can be found scattered throughout Storm Point as an opportunity to get more loot as you play.

" It looks so enticing, but the pristine beaches and crystal waters are just the eye of the hurricane. All around, dangers swirl: wild prowlers, venomous spiders, and the gathering storms only add to the tension in the air. Now the Legends are here to make this place their own."

Storm Point and World's Edge are going to be the two maps in Battle Royale rotation at the start of Season 11.

WATTSON BUFF - About damn time, right?

The only other major feature in the Season 11 update is the long-awaited Wattson buff that's being introduced in next week's update - when Season 11 finally does release. Here are the Patch Notes regarding these changes specifically...

• Improved the reliability and responsiveness of placing Wattson's Tactical and Ultimate in-world objects.
• Wattson can place her Tactical and Ultimate objects on valid surfaces above Wattson's eye level (to a reasonable extent).
• General hitbox size increase, to compensate for the removal of low profile in the Legacy update.

• Tactical: Perimeter Defense
  • Increased damage on crossing a Fence by 33%. (15 to 20)
  • Increased debuff duration on crossing a Fence by 100%. (1.5 to 3 seconds)
  • Increased the time allowance to be hit again by a subsequent Fence effect by 100%. (0.5 to 1 second).
  • Decreased recharge time by 50% (30 to 15 seconds).
  • Increased placement range by 50%.
  • Decreased the delay between Fences shutting off and reactivating after an ally passes through them by 60%. (1.0 -> 0.4 seconds)
  • Wattson now moves at Unarmed-speed while readying/placing Fence nodes.
  • Fence nodes can now be placed as soon as the weapon is readied, instead of waiting for the animation to finish.
• Ultimate - Interception Pylon
  • The Pylon output has been significantly reworked.
  • Reduced the number of active Pylons Wattson can place from 3 to 1.
  • The Pylon now lasts forever (instead of timing out after 90 seconds).
  • The Pylon now has a pool of 250 Shields that can be distributed to nearby players, instead of effectively infinite Shields.
  • Increased the Pylon shield recharge rate by 150%, and smoothed regen rate. (2/second -> 5/second, or more accurately: 1/0.5 seconds -> 1/0.2 seconds)
  • When a Pylon is out of Shields, it no longer recharges players' Shields, but can still zap incoming ordnance.
  • Taking damage while regenerating Shields via the Pylon delays continued regeneration by 1 second.
• The UI on the ground and HUD elements now displays the amount of Shields that remain in the Pylon.
• Pinging a friendly Pylon will now display the percentage of Shields remaining in the Pylon.
• Pylon ordnance-zapping has been moderately reworked.
  • Ordnance is now zapped when the Pylon detects that it would hit any surface within range and line of sight of the Pylon, instead of being zapped as soon as it comes within range.
• As a part of the changes, current issues where the Pylon doesn't reliably zap ordnance (particularly concerning airstrike abilities, and ordnance that bounced off surfaces near the Pylon) should now be addressed.