Apex Legends Season 11 is finally upon us, but coming into Escape, console players believe that controller aim assist has been nerfed – despite not being mentioned in the patch notes.
Update Nov 3
Respawn confirmed players’ suspicions about an unlisted nerf to Apex Legends’ aim assist on controllers.
The developers had accidentally set aim assist on consoles to PC values, making a vast difference to the feature.
Well, we goofed. With the launch of Escape, aim assist on console was unintentionally set to PC values. It's back to normal now.
— Respawn (@Respawn) November 3, 2021
The studio has caught wind of the “goof” and has reverted the accidental change to pre-Escape settings.
Original story follows below…
Apex Legends Season 11, Escape, has introduced a slew of new content to the battle royale behemoth. With Titanfall’s Ash finally joining as a playable character, players can also jet off to the stunning shores of the tropical-themed map, Storm Point.
Of course, a new season means a series of buffs and nerfs to existing systems. While the long-awaited buffs to defensive Legend, Wattson, have eclipsed the other adjustments this patch, players believe one major nerf has been added silently.
Console players have noticed that the game’s aim assist feels less responsive than it had been previously, leading many to question whether this is just an accident, a bug, or a genuine nerf.
Aim assist has become a must-have for players looking to play to the best of their ability on console. Due to controller toggles simply not allowing for the same micro-adjustments as mice, the system is important for balancing in a cross-play game like Apex.
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However, post-Season 11 launch, players have suggested that Apex’s aim assist is a little “weaker” than it was before. “Did Respawn nerf the aim assist on Consoles secretly?” asks one player, who states that during a stream some of their subscribers noticed that “they felt aim assist [was] a little weaker on consoles.”
This was echoed in another post, which shows a side-by-side of PC aim assist versus console and finds that they appear to “match.”
On the subreddit’s dedicated bug thread, several comments note that “something got tweaked for sure” and that “aim assist is f**ked right now.”
This has prompted a response from Technical Game Designer RobotHavGunz, who responded that there is “nothing [no nerfs] I’m aware of, but I can field it with the gameplay team.”
Respawn did previously allude to potential changes to aim assist, but didn’t announce any concrete plans.
As Respawn look into this issue, we should find out soon if this is a bug or a deliberate change.