Respawn Makes Big Changes to Team Deathmatch in Apex Legends
Despite only being live for a few days, Respawn has already rolled out an update to the new Team Deathmatch mode in Apex Legends.
Released as part of Apex Legends Season 16, Team Deathmatch aims to provide players with a more casual way to warm up their gunplay. At launch, on Feb. 14, the mode released with the following gameplay features:
- 6v6 Alliances
- Pick your loadout on spawn
- You can swap your loadout or legend while respawning
- Shields regen automatically (We’ll be looking to update this very soon!)
- 30 kills to win a round
- First alliance to win 2 rounds wins the match
- Swap loadouts in between rounds
- Collect airdrops mid-round for stronger weapons
Now, showing that Respawn remain receptive to player feedback, the developers have rolled out a few changes and improvements to the mode.
Apex Legends Team Deathmatch Updates Increase Kill Count
On Feb. 16, 2023, Respawn posted to Twitter with a breakdown of some of the changes being made to Team Deathmatch. "We're ecstatic about your love for TDM following Revelry's launch. We've also heard your early feedback, and are making some changes," the post read.
A quick update from the @PlayApex team on Team Death Match. Read on below! 👇 pic.twitter.com/TUEOyyvxYO
— Respawn (@Respawn) February 16, 2023
The changes come largely in the form of time balancing. At launch, players felt the matches were too long, sitting at three rounds per match. With this update, matches are now just one round.
Following the removal of multiple rounds, the kill count needed to win games has been increased from 30 to 50. The devs also highlighted that the UI will be "inaccurate" until updates to reflect the change at a later date.
Additional quality of life changes are also in the works, including:
- Ending the match when one team completely leaves so remaining team wins.
- Adding in a penalty for abandoning matches, similar to the feature in Control.
The fast changes were well received from the community, with many praising Respawn for taking fan feedback to heart so rapidly. "This season is about to be their best season just for how quick they listened to the community, it's amazing," one user said.