Apex Legends Season 17 Gameplay Trailer Teases New POI, Weapons Mastery System, And Firing Range Rework

Apex Legends Season 17: Arsenal is only two weeks away, and today, developer Respawn Entertainment gave players a taste of the upcoming season's content via a gameplay trailer. Although much of the trailer was naturally focused on new legend Ballistic, what really stole the show was a new POI that appears to have been built on World's Edge.

Over the weekend, the official Apex Legends Twitter account temporarily changed its display name to "Apex Games Museum," posting a series of cryptic tweets that ended with a two-minute look at the new POI, which seems to have revamped the Fragment East and Fragment West sections of World's Edge. But there were plenty of other surprises included in the Arsenal gameplay trailer, including another look at Ballistic's curious abilities and a redeploy balloon being used in a manner that was previously unheard of.

The trailer made mention of updates to Ranked Mode, but did not reveal any additional details, so the exact changes being made to the mode are currently unknown. What we do know, however, is that Apex Legends is getting a new Weapons Mastery system. The system appears to have six tiers for each weapon, with a unique reward that can be claimed upon completing each tier. This new feature will likely be well-received by dedicated daily players who tear through battle passes and LTE reward tracks at the speed of light, have already maxed out their account level, and are hungry for something else to grind for besides Ranked Mode rewards. (Though assuming these unnamed updates to Ranked Mode are an improvement, grinding for Ranked rewards may be more appealing.)

Ranked Mode isn't the only thing getting an update, however--a good portion of the gameplay trailer actually takes place in the Firing Range, which is getting yet another makeover this season. This means it's possible the unreleased "Intro to Apex" tutorial trailer that was unearthed by dataminers last year may finally make its way into the game. We'd also love to see Survival Items appear in the Firing Range, especially given the moment in the gameplay trailer that appears to show a new type of redeploy balloon. The balloon is yellow instead of red, and, according to EA's official Season 17 update post, it's a new Survival Item called an Evac Tower. Evac Towers can be placed just about anywhere outdoors, and--based on the gameplay trailer--they appear to self-destruct after use, potentially allowing players to make a quick escape without having to worry about being followed.

But the centerpiece of the trailer was, of course, the new Apex Museum POI on World's Edge. Officially referred to as "Monument" on the game's map, the museum which evidently exists for the purpose of showing the history of the Apex Games (in addition to selling a massive amount of legend-themed merch). Naturally, the museum was constructed and funded by none other than Torres "Duardo" Silva, the villainous CEO of Silva Pharmaceuticals who recently took over control of the Mercenary Syndicate, the organization that runs both the Apex Games and the entirety of Syndicate Space. The museum's contents cover everything there is to know about the Games, from the history of the Thunderdome Games to the biographies of all the current Apex Games competitors--including information showing exactly which year they joined the games.

Season 17 is set to launch on Tuesday, May 9 at 10 AM PT / 1 PM ET. For more detailed information on the upcoming season, check out everything we know about Apex Legends Season 17. Don't forget to finish up your Revelry battle pass and any unfinished Veiled Collection Event challenges before the new season goes live!

Apex Legends is free to play on console and PC. A mobile version of the game, Apex Legends Mobile, is available to play on Android and iOS devices, but will be sunset today, May 1 at 5 PM PT / 8 PM ET.