[GameSpot] - Respawn Unveils $170 Peacekeeper Skin, And Players Are Furious

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Apex Legends' new Celestial Sunrise Collection Event launched on Tuesday, marking the third Collection Event of the season, but the new event has been met with far less fanfare than the two events that preceded it, mainly due to an unexpected change to the standard Collection Event formula. December's Wintertide Collection Event and the recent Spellbound Collection Event, and all previous Collection Events have had something Celestial Sunrise lacks: the Mythic-tier Heirloom Weapon or Prestige Skin players normally earn by unlocking all 24 Collection Event cosmetics. Instead, players who shell out the $170 USD required to unlock the entire Celestial Sunrise collection will receive a Legendary-tier Peacekeeper skin.

The skin in question is called Jadeite Retribution, and despite its hefty pricetag, players who have unlocked it are overwhelmingly disappointed. Celestial Sunrise is the first Collection Event in Apex Legends history to lack a Mythic-tier reward for players who purchase the full collection. Worse, the weapon skin itself is a recolor of two previously-released Peacekeeper skins players could unlock by completing the Season 3 battle pass.

The Jadeite Retribution skin isn't entirely charmless, of course. It's a reactive weapon skin, meaning its appearance changes as players rack up kill during each match. But this is nothing new to any Apex player who has ever completed a battle pass, as two Legendary-tier reactive skins are always included in each season's battle pass. The fact that players can get their hands on said reactive skins every season just by purchasing a $9.50 USD battle pass seems to be the root of the outrage.

Many players have pointed out the very similar design shared by Jadeite Retribution and the pair of reactive peacekeeper skins from Season 3's battle pass, Bloodstone and Frostbite. Though the design has been tweaked slightly, it still bears a striking resemblance to Season 3's skins, and it lacks some of the other bells and whistles typically found in Heirloom Weapon and Prestige Skin sets. In addition to the weapon itself, Heirloom sets always include an exclusive Mythic-tier intro quip and banner pose for the legend the weapon belongs to. The Jadeite Retribution Peacekeeper set, however, only includes a Legendary-tier weapon charm and holospray, with no Mythic-tier items in sight.

But there's another feature this pricey Peacekeeper is missing: inspection animations. Every Heirloom Weapon features a series of unique animations that are triggered when the "inspect weapon" option is selected from the emote wheel. These animations can be seen by both the owner of the Heirloom and their fellow players. Heirloom inspection animations are very detailed and, in many cases, quite amusing. Some animations are rare and only appear every now and then, but all of them are a sight to behold. Revenant will occasionally summon his scythe seemingly from the void itself, while Loba's Heirloom weapon has a rare animation that sees her slicing open one of Revenant's spare skulls. But the Jadite Retribution Peacekeeper has no unique animations, as pointed out by popular Apex YouTube personality Bottlecap in a recent Reddit post.

Once a Collection Event ends, its corresponding Prestige Skin or Heirloom Weapon enters Mythic Store, where players can use Heirloom Shards to purchase any Mythic-tier item of their choosing. But due to the Jadeite Retribution's Legendary-tier status, it's unclear where it will end up once the event comes to an end, leaving players confused. Many have taken their complaints to twitter Twitter, with frequent references to the skin's lackluster accessories and unoriginal design. At the time of writing, Respawn has not made any official comments regarding the Jadeite Retribution Peacekeeper's price, nor the reason for its presence in the collection. The Celestial Sunrise Collection Event ends on February 7.

Apex Legends is free to play on console and PC. A mobile version of the game, Apex Legends Mobile, is available for download on Android and iOS devices.

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