Apex Legends fans have been debating whether or not the new Charge Rifle needs changing already despite only being in the game since the start of Season Three: Meltdown.
After weeks of speculation, teases, and waiting, Apex Legends Season 3: Meltdown was finally released on October 1 – taking fans away from the Kings Canyon map that they have come to know and replacing it with World’s Edge.
Aside from the new map, a raft of cosmetics, and the new seasonal battle pass, a new weapon was also added to the fold in the form of the Charge Rifle. As the name suggests, it’s a bit different from the usual selection of weaponry, as it needs to be charged up before firing – but having it targeted on an enemy during that targeting phase will deal damage.
Yet, it’s become a source of frustration with fans.
In a post to the Apex Legends subreddit, user UnicornSaidNo argued that “something needs to change” in regards to the new weapon – be that a nerf in its power, or changing how it spawns in the map.
The Redditor stated that they believed the L-Star should be taken away and replaced solely with the Charge Rifle if there aren’t going to make changes to the hitscan, damage while charging, and not having any range drop off.
However, they also presented the argument for the other side of things, adding that if their first option wasn’t to be the case, Respawn may want to consider dropping the damage from the charge and then speeding up the time between shots.
Others agreed with the Redditor’s thoughts, as Party_McHardy added: “R99 is fine. Charge rifle just needs a damage nerf,” before noting that it shouldn’t be changed to become a weapon that is only available in drops or loot rooms.
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Another, Jinkuzu, put forward their own idea for a change. “Charge rifle should have a set range here its hitscan works. After like 200M the beam stops,” they commented.
Nevertheless, not every player appears to be sold on the idea of making change. Deep in a discussion about the possibilities of nerfing the weapon, user awoodwa, argued that it was pretty balanced in the first place.
“Now the charge rifle I’m still unsure about, on one hand it’s strong, but you have to be good at tracking and it has a tiny mag and very slow reload speed,” they added.
With Season Three still being, relatively, in its infancy, Respawn Entertainment has not rolled out any sort of update or patch just yet.
In previous campaigns, though, they have taken feedback on board and made balancing changes early on – but it remains to be seen if the calls for change will become loud enough to make them sit up and take notice.
