Apex Legends received a small update today that has added a feature for controller players, allowing them to ditch the button for using survival slot items in favor of inspecting weapons. The feature can be toggled on or off in the “controller” section of the game’s settings.
Previously, Apex Legends controller players could hold left on the d-pad on their respective controllers to start an inspection animation for their currently held weapon. When Heat Shields and the survival inventory slot were added with the Chaos Theory event update, holding left on the d-pad became the button for equipping whichever item was in a player’s survival slot.
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Producer Josh Medina first mentioned the change earlier today while also teasing aggressive Wraith players who love to spin her Kunai heirloom. When the survival slot was introduced into Apex Legends, developers Respawn justified the change to weapon inspections by saying that there are only so many buttons on a controller.
Many controller players were not happy with the fact that they had been moved to the emote wheel, however. The move made the animations far slower to use, and often they wouldn't work at all. This was especially the case for players with heirloom sets, such as Bangalore's new Cold Steel knife, which are often a source of pride and a way to show off in Apex Legends given how rare they are. Designer Director Jason McCord said that this change also taught him a “valuable lesson on value in product vs gameplay design.”
McCord explained that he felt strongly that the new survival slot should have priority over weapon inspections. He believed it was useful and important for players to be able to quickly use survival items, while weapon inspection animations were “cool AF, but not vital to winning or getting better.” The player response to this change showed McCord otherwise and that players really value their hard-earned heirlooms.
The developers behind Apex Legends are generally good at listening and responding to player feedback. While this feature is a small change, it is great to see that they quickly implemented an optional setting, letting players that are now used to the new system continue, and those who want to flick around their kunai, boxing gloves, or death hammer around can do so. It is worth mentioning that this feature obviously has no effect on keyboard and mouse players since they can bind any key to any control.
Meanwhile, player reception on the latest Ring Fury LTM has been quite poor due to numerous bugs – including irritating Heat Shield sounds – the fact that it took over regular public matches, Kings Canyon boredom, and an unenjoyable mode. With a new event coming up soon, players should keep an eye on how Respawn changes its approach to LTMs in the future.
Apex Legends is available now on Nintendo Switch, PC, PS4, and Xbox One.