Apex Legends Reverts Movement Changes After Community Outcry

Summary

• Apex Legends reverted a controversial change to tap-strafing due to community feedback.
• Respawn shared that unintended consequences of the change from the mid-season update negatively impacted the movement mechanic.
• The community praised the reversion, showing appreciation for preserving skillful movement techniques.

Following fan feedback, Apex Legends has reverted a controversial change to tap-strafing. The original nerf to the movement technique was introduced during the extensive mid-season update for Season 23 of Apex Legends. Released on January 7 with the start of the Astral Anomaly Event, this update brought numerous balance changes for Legends and weapons.

While the patch made significant adjustments to Legends like Mirage and Loba, one of the smaller notes in the Bug Fixes section frustrated a large portion of the community. Specifically, Respawn Entertainment added a “buffer” to tap-strafes, making the ability less effective in the game. For context, tap-strafing is an advanced movement technique in Apex Legends that allows players to quickly change directions in the air, making them more difficult to hit during fights. Despite the developer's intention to “combat automated movement tech at high frame rates,” many in the game’s community felt the change went too far.

Fortunately, Respawn shares this sentiment. Following community backlash, the developer announced the previous change to tap-strafing had been reverted. The message noted that the mid-season update change negatively impacted the movement mechanic in Apex Legends and admitted the change had unintended consequences. According to Respawn, while it would continue to look to “combat automated workarounds and degenerate play patterns” in Apex Legends, it would also aim to “preserve” the skill surrounding some movement techniques, such as tap-strafing.

Apex Legends Reverts Controversial Nerf to Tap-Strafing

This move by Respawn to revert the nerf to tap-strafing has been praised by the community. One of the things Apex Legends is known for is its movement. While the regular battle royale game mode does not feature wall running in the same sense as its Titanfall predecessors, players can pull off some incredible clips using various movement techniques, including tap-strafe. On social media platforms like Twitter, many players responded positively to Respawn's decision.

It will be interesting to see what kind of impact this reversion to tap-strafing has on Apex Legends. It is unclear how many people stopped playing the game over the last few days because of the initial nerf. Additionally, it is hard to tell if reverting the change will bring some lapsed players back.

It is worth noting that a lot has happened in the battle royale recently. In addition to the sweeping changes in the mid-season update, Apex Legends began the Astral Anomaly Event, bringing new cosmetics and a new version of the Launch Royale LTM. Respawn also noted that it values player feedback on the recent changes made to the game, so more updates could happen to fix other issues in the coming weeks.