Apex Legends is bringing back the Nerf move after fan backlash

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Summary

  • Apex Legends has reverted to a controversial tape-strafing change thanks to community feedback.

  • Respawn said that the unintended consequences of the change since the mid-season update had a negative impact on the movement mechanic.

  • The community praised the reversal, showing appreciation for the preservation of skillful movement techniques.

Following fan feedback, Apex Legends reverted to a controversial change to tap-strafing. The original nerf to the move technique came during the massive mid-season update for Season 23 of Apex Legends. Launched on January 7th with the start of the Astral Anomaly Event, this mid-season update brought numerous balance changes to Legends and weapons.

While the patch brought significant changes to Legends like Mirage and Loba in Apex Legendsone of the smaller notes in the Bug Fixes section frustrated a large part of the community. Specifically, Respawn Entertainment added a “buffer” to touch-strafe, making the ability less effective in-game. For context, tap-strafing is an advanced movement technique in Apex Legends which players can use to quickly change directions in the air, making them harder to hit during combat. Despite the developer making the switch to “combat auto-move technology at high frame rates,” many in the game's community believe things have been taken too far.

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Fortunately, this seems to be a sentiment that Respawn shares. Following community backlash, the developer announced that the previous tape-strafing tweak has been undone. The message mentioned that the mid-season update change negatively affected the movement mechanics Apex Legends and admitted that the change had unintended consequences. According to Respawn, while it will continue to look to “combat bots and degenerate gameplay” in Apex Legendsit would “keep” the skills surrounding some movement techniques such as tape-strafing.

Apex Legends brings back the controversial Nerf to Tap-Strafing

This move by Respawn to bring back the nerf to tape-strafing was praised by community. One of the things Apex Legends it is known for its movement. While the regular Battle Royale game mode does not feature walls that run in the same direction as Titanfall predecessors, players can make some incredible clips using various movement techniques, including tap-strafe. On Twitter, many players responded positively to Respawn's move.

It will be interesting to see what kind of impact this return to tape-strafing has Apex Legends. It's unclear how many people have stopped playing the game in recent days due to the initial nerf. Additionally, it's hard to say whether undoing the change will bring back some lapsed players.

It's worth noting that a lot has happened in Battle Royale recently. In addition to the major changes in the mid-season update, Apex Legends the Astral Anomaly Event has begun, bringing new cosmetics and a new version of the Launch Royale LTM. Respawn also noted that they appreciate player feedback on recent changes to the game, so more updates to fix other issues could happen in the coming weeks.

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