An Apex Legends developer has explained the reasoning behind the buff of the Spitfire LMG that came in Season 6.
The buff has been relatively well-received by Apex players with the improved handling making the Spitfire an easier weapon to use, alongside a number of other changes that came with the new season including the new Legend, Rampart.
Though the patch notes were vague, a number of players noticed that the weapon felt different, and now one of the developers of the game have cleared the air on what they changed and why they did it.
David Bocek, otherwise known as AmusedApricot, is a Game Designer at Apex developer Respawn Entertainment, and took to the game’s subreddit to answer some questions about the new changes.
While fans sought to decipher the “vague” patch notes that pertained to the Spitfire change, with some saying that it felt different but they weren’t sure what had changed, Bocek decided to clue them in.
He said: “It was just a reduction in the multipliers for the vertical and horizontal kick, but not an adjustment to the pattern itself. The horizontal recoil was buffed a little more than the vertical.”
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The reason for this decision was a simple one, saying that “the high mag size with worse TTK is a combo that is better for non-high skill players,” and that as horizontal recoil is hard to control, it “made sense to improve on that axis.”
If you haven’t yet run around with the Spitfire for a bit in Apex Legends since the buff, you’re missing out. The easier handling has made it more fun to use, especially if you sometimes struggle to hit your shots over medium to long ranges.
It’s good to see Respawn continuing to be open and transparent with their core player base, and now we can put a bit more context behind the Spitfire buff after finding out why the change was made.