Developers from Apex Legends creator Respawn Entertainment have explained why they haven’t given Pathfinder a new passive.
Today’s AMA on the Apex subreddit featured comments and insight from senior game designer Eric Canavese and lead game designer Devan McGuire on a variety of popular topics. In a comment, Reddit user Moosemaster21 asked, “Many seasons ago, Pathfinder was given a temporary passive while a real one was being brainstormed. At least, that’s how it was presented to the community. Are y’all still brainstorming, or have you decided Pathfinder doesn’t deserve a real passive?”
McGuire answered the comment and gave a look into the steps behind ability development in the process. They noted that the team is aware of the way fans view Pathfinder’s passive and that they’ve heard a variety of suggestions for new passives from the community. But they’re concerned that Pathfinder is already powerful enough without an ability change.
“We are looking at it, but we don’t want to slap a new passive on a Legend who is already well-liked, powerful and performing well at the risk of adding to his already potent combat power,” McGuire said. They also don’t want to take away from the time the team needs to focus on other balance changes and meta shifts.
The community concern about Pathfinder’s passive stems from what many players see as a redundancy. His passive, Insider Knowledge, allows him to scan survey beacons. Each time he does so, the cooldown of his ultimate is permanently reduced for that match and his ultimate is instantly charged. Originally, the ability to scan survey beacons was unique to him, but the ability has since been granted to all legends in the Recon category, leading many to believe that Pathfinder needs a complete passive overhaul to keep up with other legends’ abilities.
