Respawn Entertainment introduced Valkyrie in Apex Legends not too long ago. She has a unique passive that allows her to fly, albeit for a limited time. Although the ability is fun for most players, the developer considers nerfing it and players are not happy with it.
Associate live balance designer John Larson tweeted that the character’s “Tac Hover” will be removed before the ALGS tournament comes.
According to Larson, Valkyrie’s jetpack was originally designed to consume just 10% fuel of the normal rate. The issue here is that players can just hover for extended periods and that could make a huge impact once the tournament comes.
Valk’s "tac hover" was designed to consume fuel at 10% of the normal rate.
— John Larson | JayBiebs (@RSPN_JayBiebs) May 25, 2021
With ALGS ramping up, we figured we should remove this exception (we found Valks would often take coffee breaks above the final fight in scrims).
This will go live on Thursday.
For people who are interested to know about this, user "@A_SOC97" posted a video of the issue in question.
Fans Are Not Happy
In light of Larson’s statement, players are not at all pleased with the decision. The majority have said that the only reason why the devs are even considering the change is that some pro players are not okay with it.
As per user @RealDillPickles: “Stop letting cry baby pros dictate the meta.” This was also echoed by another user @EliRich36891714 saying: “Facts, they don’t represent the player base at all.”
Some players said that the supposed removal of the Tac Hover may not really be helping pro players anyway. That is because once Valkyrie uses her jetpacks to fly, she cannot use her weapons or other attack abilities. If anything, the player will just be a good target since they cannot do anything else while hovering.
Others try to defend the move by saying that it could potentially be abused, especially in professional tournaments. However, many players are not in favor of completely removing the mechanic from the game.
The patch that should remove the Tac Hover mechanic will go live on Thursday, May 27.
Do you play the game as Valkyrie? If so, what is your reaction to this?
