Apex Legends Lifeline update: Respawn to retain her, favoring ease of use over competitiveness

Respawn developers have clarified that Lifeline will stay on the roster despite facing criticism from the community. There are select champions like Lifeline in Apex Legends, as nobody else has a kit made purely to cater to healing and provide support to team members. Moreover, she's super friendly to use for beginners, which Respawn wants to maintain.

Despite her utilities, the Apex Legends community has complained several times about her limitations. They believe she will become less viable as players move up the ranks.

There's evidence to claim that Lifeline is seldom used. One doesn't have to look much beyond the competitive scene of ALGS. Many players have also suggested changes to improve the champion and make her more viable for competitive play.

Respawn has now expressed what they think about it, and their vision of the medic is quite clear. Developers feel that changing the agent too much could twist the character's essence and make her difficult for beginners.

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Her ease of use underscores Lifeline's popularity in Apex Legends

Several champions are part of the Apex Legends roster, as Respawn has added numerous others over the years. That only sometimes means that all of them are on equal footing. While some are easier to play, others are much more effective in higher rankings.

Using Lifeline, as mentioned earlier, is relatively easy, and her abilities are helpful in any squad or trio. However, she is overly reliant on her teammates, and that's where the problems kick in. But Respawn feels that any change could make her overtly complex and reduce her suitability for beginners.

Developer Devon McGuire had to make the following statement about considering providing buffs to Lifeline to make her more suitable for the esports scene.

"If we end up looking into additional Lifeline buffs or reworks, we will be considering angles that preserve her Combat Medic identity, ensure that she has her own playstyle that doesn't overlap directly with other Legends or their abilities and solves problems with her current kit to improve her competitive viability without sacrificing her ease of play."

McGuire added that they don't want any of their champions to lose their natural identity, and it seems the medic's role is to be friendly to beginners.

"This approach is something we like to do with all our Legends to ensure that any change we make answers the problem correctly without causing new issues in the game, or sacrificing the identity of the Legend itself."

McGuire added that they appreciate all the feedback they have received over time from the community.

"It's awesome to see how passionate people are to show her more love and give her more power!"

It's still being determined where Apex Legends will go from here and how Lifeline will factor into that progression. Respawn has indirectly indicated that they want to keep her beginner-friendly identity intact and don't want to tinker with it. How it affects the support champion in terms of in-game meta will be revealed in the coming days.