The Apex Legends store has never been a favorite of mine. Its skins are expensive, some recolors and rarer cosmetics require you to own existing ones first before you have the privilege of buying the alternatives, and then there are the Heirlooms from Collection Events which could be a whole different discussion. But to the game’s credit, it’s gotten a helpful feature that mimics the “Your Shop” sale from League of Legends where players get personalized discounts based on what Apex Legends characters they play most in-game. Apex Legends’ version of this feature is called “Hot Drops,” and while it hasn’t exactly gotten off to a great start, it’s something that’ll hopefully be refined and brought back in the future.
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Hot Drops were announced earlier in the week, but they were pulled from Apex Legends shortly after their release due to issues players were experiencing with them. They’re back now, however, so if you see them in your shop, here’s what you need to know about them:
Hot Drops in Apex Legends
Announced on January 23rd, Hot Drops in Apex can be found within a new tab under the “Store” section of the game’s menus. Once you’re on the Hot Drops tab, you’ll see several cards in front of you that have to be selected individually to be flipped over so that you can see what your offers look like. Neither Respawn Entertainment nor Electronic Arts have offered specifics on how it’s determined what offers you get, but the game’s Twitter account called them “personalized offers” previously, so it reasons that these should more or less be tied to who you play as most often in Apex.
But Hot Drops experienced several problems at launch. For some players, the Hot Drops weren’t showing up at all. For others, the Hot Drops they got were offers for people they didn’t even play as. Perhaps worst of all, some players found that their “discounts” were identical to the prices for bundles that were currently on sale anyway, or in some cases, actually cost more than a sale price.
The image above is what I got in my Hot Drops first. Mad Maggie and Newcastle are definitely my most-played Legends, and I’m fine with Octane every now and then, too, so those discounts make sense. I’ve hardly ever played Crypto nor have I ever sought out an Alternator, however, so those didn’t fit in quite as well, but 2.5/5 wasn’t bad.
Hot Drops were pulled from the Apex store on the same day they released, however, due to “a bug that is affecting some players.” It’s unclear if that bug encompassed some or all of the problems players were experiencing with the first round of Hot Drops, but either way, the feature was brought back. When it returned, players found that they sometimes had different Hot Drops than the ones offered previously.
Round 2 of my Hot Drops can be seen above. The mad Maggie and Octane deals returned, though Mad Maggie’s somehow became more expensive, so that’s no good. The Newcastle bundle was different entirely, though it’s a better one overalls, so that’s fine. Crypto was swapped out for the Longbow while the Alternator persisted.
A somewhat rocky start for Hot Drops, but assuming some of the issues players have been experiencing can be ironed out before the feature returns next time, it’s a welcome addition to Apex.
