Today, Respawn Community Manager JayFresh announced a list of Apex Legends balance patches changes that, so far, are almost a copy-and-paste list of things players have been eagerly awaiting.  This strategy isn't by accident either . It is part of the "core philosophy" that influences the way Respawn developers make slow but needed changes to the game.

JayFresh explained this philosophy in the Reddit thread:

A core philosophy of our development process for Apex Legends is to listen to player feedback, parse through all the data we get from the game, try things, and then playtest them a ton to get them just right. And… repeat. The goal is to ship polished, closer to the mark updates than if we got things out rapidly and iterated in the live environment. We know y'all are putting a ton of time into the game and mastering every nuance (like Wraith portalling people off cliffs for the final kill lolz). Our goal is to make less frequent, better tested, higher impact changes, so it minimizes the effects on your time spent mastering a particular mechanic, weapon, character, etc. You shouldn't have to read our patch notes every few days just to keep up with how characters and weapons now work."

While the philosophy will lead to slower patch schedules and less frequent changes, it seems to, so far, be a positive methodology for the massively popular game. The changes are almost universally well received and many Apex Legends have remarked on how carefully developers have been listening to their concerns.

JayFresh also went on to explain the justification behind changing the hitboxes of the larger characters:

"Our large rig characters, however, are underpowered and their natural size appears to be a large contributor. We’re planning on adjusting the size of the large character hitboxes to better fit the model. If these changes are insufficient to bring these characters in line, we’re also considering a range of other changes such as natural damage reduction as well as individual kit power tweaks."

The Weapon ChangesNOTE: These weapon changes are currently live.

Wingman

- Rate of fire reduced from 3.1 -> 2.6 shots per second.

- Skullpiercer Headshot damage multiplier reduced from 2.5 -> 2.25

- Increased base hip fire spread and decreased the rate at which hip fire spread decays (shrinks back down).

Peacekeeper

- Shotgun Bolt rechamber rate has been reduced for the Peacekeeper only.

- Level 1 mitigation 10% -> 7.5%

- Level 2 mitigation 20% -> 13%

- Level 3 mitigation 25% -> 16%

Wingman and Peacekeeper availability has been reduced in all zone tiers.

Increased availability of energy weapons & ammo in all zone tiers.

The Legends changes(NOTE: These changes will go live with the release of Season 1.)

Major balance changes:

• Hitbox size reductions and optimizations for Caustic, Pathfinder and Gibraltar
  
  
  • We’re better sizing hitboxes to character gear & model
  • Since these adjustments have a MAJOR impact on the game, we want to make sure there aren't any major bugs, so we didn’t want to rush them out
  • If these adjustments prove to be insufficient, we’ll consider additional adjustments during Season 1

Minor balance changes: 
(NOTE: These changes will go live with the release of Season 1.)

Caustic

- Traps - Reduced cooldown to 25 seconds from 30 seconds

- Traps - Increased radius and proximity radius by about 10%

- Traps - Removed a 1-second delay on the smoke dealing damage to players

Pathfinder

- Insider Knowledge - Increased the number of beacons in the world to 12 from 10

Lifeline

- Care Package - Removed slight chance that level 4 armor and helmets will drop

Wraith

- Into The Void - Cooldown increased from 20 -> 25 seconds

Bangalore

- Double Time - Reduced move speed bonus to 30% from 40%

The hitbox adjustments to large characters and the nerfs to the most powerful Legends are a welcome sight to players seeking a little more diversity when it comes to viable, competitive picks. While Wraith still has the smallest hitbox in the game, the increased lethality of Caustic traps mixed with a more balanced large hitbox may ease the power differential.

Gibraltar is a legend that may see the most increased play, as his abilities have always been fairly powerful. It was his massive hitbox that most-of-the-time made playing him a liability.

Do you like the changes? Let us know in the comment section!