One of the things you never want to see as a player in the live service game is a complicated new spreadsheet. Rarely is it good news: the "improved" Apex Legends battle path structure announced today in a blog post and headache-inducing chart immediately led to a protest plan.

The two biggest changes are:

That is, instead of spending 950 Apex coins (about $9.99, earned by playing) on each season's premium Battle Pass track, players will be able to earn "half-season" premium Battle Pass They will spend $9.99 cash per track; a $19.99 Premium+ track has also been introduced with each Half-Season Battle Pass, replacing the traditional Premium bundle.

According to Respawn, the beauty of this new structure is that it makes it easier to get the most desirable items with each smaller half-season pass: the 60 tier includes the same number of Legendary skins as the old season long pass, and the top tier includes Reactive Weapon Skins, with additional Crafting Metal and Apex Packs. On the other hand, lesser-used items, such as weapon charms, will appear less frequently.

"We saw the numbers and felt we needed to make it more accessible and realistic for the global player community." Each of these updated aspects will allow us to make Battle Pass more attainable and worth your time and money."

Thus, players who purchase the Half Season Battle Pass Premium Track will get as much as the old season long pass, but faster and with less filler. Players on the free track, on the other hand, get twice as many apex coins and apex packs per season (because there are now two Battle Passes per season) and a small amount of epic skins every half season.

Not all bad, and I like the idea of cutting filler items, but removing the option to purchase premium tracks with apex coins eliminates the possibility of cheers. It doesn't help that Respawn's explanation for this change is not very coherent. The blog post states that switching to real money will "increase the value" of premium tracks, but it would take a top-notch rhetorician to make me believe such a thing. The value of the Apex coins earned from the Battle Pass has been severely diminished, as they can no longer be used to unlock Premium Battle Pass tracks in the future.

Also, more Battle Passes per season means that players will have less time to finish them. The new 60-tier setup allows for faster completion, but compressing the 3-month period into 6 weeks changes the FOMO formula for Apex. Once you purchase your pass, you better be sure that you will be playing a lot of Apex in the next few weeks, because the next Apex is right around the corner.

Already, one player has launched a protest plan on the Apex subreddit. The top reaction is skeptical as to whether such a boycott will accomplish anything - "boycott" screenshots of Modern Warfare 2 have always caused this - but it speaks to the level of insult some players are feeling. Other post titles rising on the subreddit include "Alright guys I'm out," "Farewell Apex, it was fun while it lasted," and "Is Apex Dying?"

The first half-season battle pass will launch in August with Apex Legends Season 22. To promote this new format, its premium track will be offered "for free to players who complete a series of challenges within the first two weeks."