Apex fans, rejoice—Respawn is planning new ranked rewards according to leaks

It seems Apex Legends developer Respawn Entertainment has finally heard the pleas of players with apparent leaks revealing the developer has been formulating new end-of-season rewards for ranked Apex players, including changes to sky trails and themed optics.

The leaks, which popped up on the Apex Uncovered subreddit on July 28 via a post featuring prominent dataminer Osvaldatore, revealed the extent of the ranked reward overhaul ahead of season 18’s launch on Aug. 8.

The rumors suggest Skydive Trails will be removed and made available in the store, while ranked rewards will be changed to a custom ADS optic which differs depending on the rank the player reaches. A veteran fan pointed out Respawn had the same idea way back in seasons two and three in 2019—but for an unknown reason, the devs never went through with the change.

When asked about how the optics might look like, Osvaldatore joined the discussion to link a concept that was leaked three years ago. Comments are pretty divided with this change: one player isn’t convinced the custom optic is incentive enough to rank up, while others believe the update is a diversion and that Respawn removing sky trails is covering up for “faults” with Apex’s matchmaking issues.

Related: Apex fans frustrated at terribly stale Season 17 ranked distribution

With ranked distribution in season 17 so lopsided, whereby a third of the Apex player base is ranked in Master according to stats site Apex Legends Status, the rewards on offer aren’t particularly going to be unique. On top of this, with players angry at the broken matchmaking system—with reports that Gold players are finding Diamond or Master-stacked lobbies—interest in the title has dipped to a low. While it’s not uncommon for player counts to dive as a season progresses, player counts have taken a nosedive in season 17 according to SteamCharts.

At this stage, none of these rumors have been confirmed by Respawn. However, with season 18 right around the corner, we might be hearing about changes to ranked sooner rather than later. Waiting for Respawn’s announcement on whether these changes will be implemented would be better rather than being hyped about an uncertain change and then disappointed if choose to stay the course.