The point keeps being brought up about how disappointing the skins are while comparing them to Overwatch, but the launch skins for Overwatch were every bit as uninspired as Apex. Is this a case or rose-tinted glasses or were they watching to many Overwatch "videos"?

No way. Even launch overwatch skins were better than what Apex currently has. And Overwtach right now? Blows apex skins out of the water. Granted they've had 3 years, and the characters themself lend more to better skins I think anyway. But I'm hoping for some better Apex skins in the next year or two.

Maybe in pure visuals, yes, Overwatch skins look better because the characters look better. When you look at what the skins are doing thematically, then there is no difference between most of what the 2 games do. Both games did boring pallet swaps for the commons, slightly elaborate in the middle, and some different looking stuff for the legendaries. Apex has a whole other tier in the middle with at least some boring and some fun print designs. OW launched with 10 skins for each to Apex's 40........ All I'm saying is we should all be fair to Apex and give them a chance to wow us.

@zombierogers: I know this sounds silly, but the slight colour change skins don't really count. I'd rather have a selection of 3 or 4 major skin changes than 20 or 30 slightly different colour pallet swaps. But I do agree with You, I'm sure given a chance they will release some good stuffm

Overwatch has really invested in their worldbuilding with cinematics and comics and a broader sense of history to their characters which meant you actually feel invested in their personalities and have context for their different appearances. The alternate skins in Apex have no context and consequently look like a lazy cash-grab.

The pallett swaps in Overwatch look better, every hero has a set number of them and they come with the hero on launch. But on launch all heros get 2 legendary skins which look significantly different. Every characther has about 7 skins on release (most pallett swaps) but everyone has at least 2 very unique flavours as well, even on release. Every subsequent skin is thenatically different so every skin related event and release is significant.

Apex does not have the above making the pallett swap releasea very underwhelming.

Tldr. Yes

But im sure Apex will get there

As a comparison: Titanfall 2 had equally terrible skins and they never got better. They just seem to not be great at that stuff. Mechanics and gameplay? Awesome. Aesthetics? Ehhh..I would even argue the art design overall is hit or miss - like the characters aren’t all that great and worst of all they don’t even seem like they’re from the same universe.

@yesiamaduck but Apex does have those legendary skins..... Bastion and pathfinder both have essentially the same retro/steam punk legendary skin. Apex genuinely does everything Overwatch did, and more, in terms of available skins. I will also posit that no launch skin in OW is anywhere as delightful as unicornocopia.

I would also disagree that the characters don't look like they're from the same universe. I actually think that they fit surprisingly well considering how little they've with the lore.

Also weapon skins blow OW out of the water.

It's not just the skins for me it's the characters as a whole. I do think there is room to flesh Apexs characters out and add more personality to them but that's what Overwatch has in abundance - character. Things like the mini cinematic they do, voice lines, emotes , quips between characters in game etc all help Overwatch in this regard. The cast of Apex are a diverse bunch and I can definatly see them adding to the characters......character as the game grows.

Yeah they are terrible. Respawn is terrible at cosmetics in general.

@hassun: It's too bad because I played so much of Titanfall 2 multiplayer and there was absolutely nothing worth working towards. Everything was a different shade of terrible stock pattern.

This. It also does not help that the battle pass only has 4 character skins and they're not good. I was hoping the battle pass would have some legendary skins but what we got was rare skins that look like a almost a palette swap.

Yeah their approach to DLC was commendable and just, but if you're only going to sell cosmetics then you have to make good ones that people will want to buy.

Even at launch Overwatch had the total-conversion skins. Like wolf skin/ult Hanzo, Pirate Junkrat, etc. Apex literally just has pallet swaps.

That said, I hope they improve them in the future but as it stands eh.

The legendaries are pretty good, but they're also super rare. The rest range from awful to okay, and the battlepass didn't add any that were all that interesting, and didn't add any legendaries. If you don't get any legendaries, it feels like you're not getting anything worthwhile, and I think that's the main issue.

I think Respawn just doesn't have the artistic talent that Blizzard apparently dedicated to Overwatch. I don't play Overwatch much anymore, but there were plenty of times during seasonal events when a new legendary skin would come out and I would become completely enamored with it and NEED to get it (either through grinding for boxes or, just like Blizzard intended, paying real dollars for hopefully maybe get them through a huge set of boxes or shards).

Ultimately for me I suppose I cared more for Overwatch's characters and lore than the actual gameplay. Here in Apex the opposite is true and so I don't really care about costumes and skins when I'm just here for the fun gameplay.

A big thing for me is that in Overwatch whenever there is a new legandry skin come out that I have to have (which is often), I always have the in game currency to get it. But in Apex the currency is soooooo rare and slow to build up that I can not even imagine having 1200 or whatever it is to buy a legendary skin.

With Overwatch's skins, nearly every character (some exceptions of course) had some selection of color-swaps or legendaries that made you stop and go "Woah..." Designs that were full of personality and visual appeal. I think of D.Va's 'B.Va' skin, or Pharah's 'Mechaqueen', McCree all suited up like some Dick Tracy-looking motherfucker, or Mei looking like a firefighter. Obviously more and more distinct ones came along with time, but as they were added, I would get excited just to see what the new designs were, even if just to appreciate on an aesthetic level. It doesn't matter that it breaks the fiction if one skin has the character deaged 20 years, or another has Tracer dressed up like an elf for a mall Santa. The point is that these charming characters have some fun looks that are well-crafted.

Apex has some decent color swaps here or there. I like the light blue hologram color on most of the characters. Some of the legendary ones are decent designs, but for their supposed rarity, they hardly feel appealing or distinct on nearly the same level. My current skin for Wraith is a legendary I unlocked. She has some type of breather with acouple hoses and pouches wrapped around her person. It's a decent piece of concept design, but in no way does it fascinate or inform any particular idea in my head about who this character is, or what is particularly appealing about it. This is a broader problem with some of the characters, but the appeal of playing dress-up and unlocking cosmetics and voice clips for them should be to celebrate their personality. Instead, this skin can be summed up as "cool videogame concept art", and that's about the best I got.

This doesn't begin to get into the mountain of absolutely hideous texture patterns that clog up the unlocks for both characters and the guns themselves. Most are just a visual mess and feel like last-second additions by the team to adjust drop rates for the rarer unlocks.

There is absolutely a conversation to be had about the predatory business behind Battle Passes (not just in this game, mind you), intentionally obfuscated value of built-in currencies, mixed with the problems behind Overwatch's adopted loot box design. But even on a base appeal level, the case being made by Respawn that these would be things I would feel good about spending money on is frankly quite poor.