Apex Legends‘ new kid on the block is getting a nerf to her jetpack. Respawn Entertainment explains on Twitter that Valkyrie’s tactical hover currently consumes fuel at 10% the standard rate, but Respawn is removing that as the team found top Valkyrie players “would often take coffee breaks above the final fight in scrims”.
The team is partly making the change with the ALGS Championship in mind, which is one of the battle royale game’s prominent competitive modes. Associate live balance designer John Larson reveals on Twitter that the update is going live on Thursday, so it’s a swift one, too.
The reaction hasn’t been great, with some fans airing concerns the change is being made with a small section of the fanbase in mind – professional players – whereas others have asked why the mechanic made it in the first place. “I think it was okay to ship with it,” Larson replies to the latter point. “I can guarantee we thought about it, but we didn’t know for certain if it would manifest itself as an issue. There’s a lot of things in this game that I’ve thought could be scary but never turn out to be (the DPS on Sheila, for example).”
Respawn has been swift to balance the game this season. Earlier this month, the new Bocek bow and Spitfire LMG got slapped with some nerfs just over a week after Season 9 – Legacy, if you’d prefer – went live.
Valk’s "tac hover" was designed to consume fuel at 10% of the normal rate.
With ALGS ramping up, we figured we should remove this exception (we found Valks would often take coffee breaks above the final fight in scrims).
This will go live on Thursday.
— John Larson | JayBiebs (@RSPN_JayBiebs) May 25, 2021
The new season was met with some teething issues, with players unable to log in and then seeing, uh, rather low-poly versions of their favourite Legends when they could, but we got there in the end. In fact, Apex Legends went on to smash its concurrent Steam player record not long after the season launched.
One of the big, fancy additions this season is the new Arenas mode, which lets you duel another team in three-on-three encounters. You’ve got a loot economy to consider each game, forcing you to weigh up if you want to invest in a better gun or more uses of your ability.
If you’re looking for more of the best battle royale games on PC, you know where to click.