Respawn has officially addressed one of the more worrying Apex Legends issues in recent weeks, confirming that it identified and fixed a bug tied to Apex Packs not rewarding Heirloom Shards after 500 packs were opened. The studio says the issue only affected a very small number of players, not the wider player base, and that the pack system is otherwise working as intended.
Respawn confirms the Apex Legends Heirloom Shards bug
The concern around Heirloom Shards gained traction after players reported opening more than 500 Apex Packs without receiving the guaranteed Mythic currency. That immediately raised alarm bells because EA’s official Apex Legends support page still states that players are guaranteed Heirloom Shards at least once within 500 Apex Packs, excluding Collection Event packs. Respawn has now confirmed that there really was a bug behind some of those reports, though it says the issue was far more limited than many players feared.
According to Respawn’s statement, the bug only impacted users who had all but one Mythic item left to unlock and had leveled up their Horizon Prestige skin to level 2 or level 3 before March 17, 2026. That is a very specific set of conditions, which explains why the issue did not appear to be widespread across the entire player base. Respawn also stressed that accounts at large were not impacted.
Who was actually affected by the 500-pack issue?
Based on Respawn’s explanation, this was not a general failure of Apex Packs or a complete breakdown of the Heirloom pity system. Instead, it appears to have been a narrow edge case tied to Mythic ownership progression and Horizon’s Prestige skin upgrade path before the March 17 cutoff. That distinction matters because many players were understandably worried the long-standing 500 pack guarantee had been silently broken for everyone. Respawn says that is not the case.
The broader system still remains the same on paper. EA’s current support documentation says Heirloom Shards have a 0.045 percent drop rate from Apex Packs and are guaranteed if you do not receive them after opening 500 Apex Packs. That guarantee is one of the most important protections in Apex Legends’ cosmetic economy, so any report suggesting it was failing was always going to cause major backlash.
Compensation has already been sent to affected Apex Legends accounts
Respawn says the bug has now been resolved and that all affected accounts have already been compensated. Players who fell into the impacted group were sent 150 Heirloom Shards along with one Legendary Apex Pack. In other words, if someone missed out on their guaranteed shards because of this specific bug, Respawn says that the account has already been corrected.
That part is important because it means affected players should not still be waiting for a manual fix. If Respawn’s rollout went through cleanly, the missing Heirloom Shards and extra Legendary Apex Pack should already be in those accounts.
Respawn’s message makes it clear that this was a bug affecting a very small subset of users, and not evidence that the overall Heirloom system had stopped functioning across the board.
Still, the situation shows just how sensitive players are to anything involving Apex Packs, Mythics, and Heirloom Shards. These are some of the rarest and most valuable cosmetics in the game, so even a limited bug can quickly turn into a major community concern. The good news for Respawn is that this one now appears to be closed, with the issue fixed and compensation already sent.
