Apex Legends Devs Break Silence On Accidental Bangalore Nerf
Apex Legends' Chaos Theory Collection Event brought with it a number of new changes, but not all of them were welcome. Players noticed that a few of their favorite characters weren't performing as usual after the update.
When the Chaos Theory Collection Event dropped, Respawn also added some patches to the game, including updates to Caustic and Bangalore's smoke abilities. While the patch affects both characters, fans seem fixated on Bangalore, who has experienced some changes that were not directly addressed in the patch notes. Devs mentioned Caustic in the update, explaining that because Caustic's gas seemed overpowered, devs decided to change his smoke ability. The team promised to revisit the issue if it affected gameplay significantly.
In terms of Bangalore's smoke ability nerf, one fan speculated that Riot's update relates to Apex Legends' recent launch on the Nintendo Switch, which has different graphics capabilities than other consoles or PCs. This may be a reason why Bangalore's smoke seems to have been given a major visual downgrade, featuring fewer visible "particles" in its animation.
In a Reddit thread where developers from Riot answered fan questions, one player asked, "Why did you guys nerf [Bangalore's] smoke's visibility so hard? Part of what made her fun to play was how versatile that tactical could be, but now, with how easy it is to see through, much of that versatility has been lost." The player went on to say that while they weren't sure how the update officially affected Bangalore's stats, it definitely made her less fun to play.
Daniel Klein, the lead developer for Apex Legends, responded, "There was a change to the underlying VFX that we made with optimization in mind. The goal was to have it look identical to what was there before, but apparently that's not what happened." Klein also shared that the dev team will investigate the issue and let players know what is discovered. Even though the change to Bangalore wasn't intentional, it has fans worried all the same.
On Twitter, Klein thanked the Apex Legends community for discussing their thoughts on the game, and also for chiming in on other games, like World of Warcraft.
While Bangalore and Caustic may not have a fix just yet, Apex Legends recently rewarded Switch players with a new skin for Pathfinder. Additionally, the Chaos Theory Collection Event features 24 unique cosmetics for players to collect, as well as a special "Bangalore Heirloom set" to unlock. The Chaos Theory Collection Event also added No-Fill Matchmaking, which allows players to enter into the arena solo and take on teams of two or three. Setbacks sometimes accompany this type of progress, and hopefully the Riot devs will figure out a solution for the unintended nerf in the near future.