Apex Legends Patch Addresses Season 2 Balance Issue

The first patch of Apex Legends Season 2 reduces the damage of the new Disruptor Rounds and addresses problems with Daily Challenges and Ranked match quitting penalties.

Apex Legends has received its first patch since the launch of Season 2, partially to address issues introduced by the broad changes the new season brought to the game.

One new item introduced in Apex Legends Season 2 turned out to be a little too powerful. They were the new Disruptor Rounds, a hop-up for the Alternator and RE-45 do bonus damage against enemy shields. That may not sound like a big deal, but with them the Alternator ripped through shields before players had time to react, leading to complaints from plenty of players, including popular streamers. The patch reduces the damage multiplier of Disruptor Rounds from 2.26 to 1.7, which developer Respawn says is a stopgap until it has time to look into a full weapon rebalance.

The patch also removes located-based daily challenges, as Respawn says they’ve had “a negative impact on the game.” Specifically, challenges that required players to be in a specific part of the map could lead to teams breaking up, as solo players would split off from the teammates to complete the challenges. The change won’t affect how many daily challenges players receive.

The last change listed in the patch notes is the temporary removal of the automatic penalty for abandoning matches in Ranked mode. Respawn cites unspecified bugs as the reason for disabling the feature but says that may still hand out penalties to players who ditch Ranked matches until they get the function working again.

In response to a user comment on the patch notes, Respawn also says it’s been working to ban cheaters from the game. Referencing a widely circulated list of suspected cheaters, a member of the dev team says that Respawn has “taken action against” those who they confirm have been cheating with video evidence. According to the dev, the team is working on improving automatic anti-cheat measures and encourages users to continue reporting cheaters in the meantime.