Respawn Dev Stands by Decision to Remove Tap Strafing

Respawn Entertainment developer John ‘JayBiebs’ Larson explained in a TwitLonger Respawn's decision to remove tap strafing from Apex Legends. The highly technical movement mechanic allows players to strafe after jumping, and fire their weapon. It's rather frustrating to play against as your opponent moves unnaturally fast while spraying their weapon.

It's become a staple at higher levels, and depending on your stance, it's a good or poor addition to the game. When Respawn decided to remove it, Apex Legends fans took to social media to express their dismay, or at least the PC players did. As console players are unable to use this mechanic, they could care less.

This actually leads to another part of the problem. PC players are upset that console players still have aim assist while their "counter" was removed. That's where Larson started.

"This is why I believe tap-strafing exists solely as a design problem. Even in a MnK only Apex world, or a scenario where controller and MnK could tap-strafe just the same, I don’t believe it would be a healthy change with the freedom it currently allows. As someone who prides myself in my movement (albeit limited on controller), I gotta say no to the forbidden fruit. This is a much more interesting debate, and I welcome other opinions."

"As Apex and its players evolve, it’s only prudent for us to continue to evaluate whether or not aim assist is “too good.” When I see top-level controller players saying they would be alright with nerfing aim assist, I definitely take note. Players should not feel forced to use a specific input type, and if I see players converting out of what they think is necessity, I would 100% be concerned. In fact, I’m meeting with CGE, weapons, and analytics teams this week to take a temperature reading on the situation."

Respawn is well aware of the aim assist problem and they'll take a look to see if consoles now have an unfair advantage over PC players, but they'll also look at the rest of movement, floor looting, and range performance as comparable goal posts. PC still has the advantage in many different forms, the hard part is, does console have an advantage in the most important part, shooting.