Apex Legends dev reveals reason behind unpopular Caustic buff
The launch of Apex Legends’ Fight Night event is bringing a host of changes to the game, but developers have been forced to explain why they buffed Caustic after complaints from the community.
The Apex Legends Season 7 Collection Event is almost here. Fight Night will go live on January 5, and Respawn will introduce a plethora of content in the new update, such as cosmetics, LTMs, and a Town Takeover in the form of a Pathfinder boxing arena.
We will also see some bug fixes along with a few balancing tweaks for some of the Legends. Rampart will get an amped cover buff, and Caustic’s gas trap cooldown will be reduced in the new patch.
Some of these changes haven’t sat well with fans, and they’ve expressed their worries about them online. Senior Game Designer Daniel Klein took notice of this and discussed the changes on Twitter.
Apex Legends dev explains reasoning for Caustic buff
Many Apex fans have taken issue with the buff for Caustic. One of them tweeted at the developer “Nobody asked for a caustic buff. At what point did the office decide this?”
Another user then stated that implementing this change without altering any mechanics was relatively easy compared to the work they put into Gibraltar’s arm shield. Daniel Klein then verified this, saying that it only took about 10 minutes and a few play tests to get it done.
He then continued to elaborate on why they felt it was necessary to improve Caustic, stating that they consider him to be “one of the weakest characters in the game” so they decided that the change was necessary.
A few users made it clear that they don’t agree with this statement. They referenced different scenarios in which they played as Caustic such as during ranked and unranked games, and then asked why Klein feels that the Legend should still get buffs.
The developer then stated that the character had been performing “extremely poorly” throughout the year, and he stuck to what he said about him being weak. Pro player Eric ‘Snip3down’ Wrona replied to Klein by stating that it’s important to understand why Caustic’s performance is weak at times.
“Caustic is weak in open fields and on unorganized teams,” explained Snip3down. “How about we take away his ult gas after he’s killed so all end games aren’t 4 caustic ults.”
Klein continued to stand by the buff given to the Legend, and it seems like Respawn will continue to make balancing changes. That said, it’s possible that if fan response is overwhelmingly negative to this buff, then they might revert this.
We’ll keep you updated if there are new changes to Caustic’s balancing soon. With Fight Night releasing on January 5, we can expect a plethora of exciting new content, which potentially includes a new Heirloom.
Image Credits: Respawn Entertainment