Respawn Plans on Nerfing Wattson

Apex Legends developers have revealed the latest information regarding a potential nerf to Wattson.

It's no secret that Wattson's abilities have been a point of contention between developers and players in recent months. While the team behind the scenes seems open to community feedback, according to Daniel Klein, lead game designer for Respawn Entertainment, the data surrounding the legend does not lie.

Here's what he wrote about tweaks to Wattson on Twitter.

Apex Legends Incoming Wattson Nerf Updates

On Wednesday, June 28, Klein took to his Twitter account to discuss Wattson's strengths, vulnerabilities, and the need to buff or nerf her abilities in-game. It began with Twitter user @VinegarAndSoda questioning Klein on Wattson's power compared to other legends such as Wraith. They didn't think Wattson was particularly strong. Rather, they played her because they liked her as a character.

"I just don't see how she's is stronger than Wraith, though," they wrote, "I mean, the only thing that makes me think she's is strong is her Pylon. Other than that, i think she's not very strong comparing to Wraith."

Klein replied that it can be difficult to "separate what your subjective feeling while playing the game is vs what aggregate data from hundreds of millions of games shows us." He attached a chart in a follow-up tweet displaying the win rates of specific legends. Wattson was at the top, followed by Lifeline, Pathfinder, and—surprisingly—Wraith. All four have similar hitboxes, making them a level set of comparisons.

"You can't just ignore data," he wrote, "I'm not saying she's a little strong; I'm saying if we look at the entire skill spectrum, she is the strongest character in the game."

Therefore, instead of making her more powerful, Klein explained he was more focused on making her fun to play. In his opinion, Wattson's abilities don't feel fun and, as a result, they don't feel as powerful as they truly are. This is a direct conflict between player experience and objective data. The team cannot "measure how it FEELS."

In another tweet published on the same day, Klein discussed the work that needed to be done on Wattson in general. He rejected the idea that the legend needed a buff. Instead, he stated that "it'll likely need to include a nerf so we can ship it without warping the game."

"So obviously we've got work scheduled on her, but no ETA yet." He wrote.

Unfortunately, Apex Legends players and Wattson mains will have to wait a bit to see what the team has cooked up.