Apex Legends bug lets players brawl before a match
Martial flaw.
Two major additions arrived in Apex Legends last night: the first, a long-awaited firing range - the second, the duos mode announced last week. But a third addition Respawn probably didn't plan was a bug allowing players to punch each other before the start of a match.
Bemused players have uploaded videos showing themselves being punched in the dark, along with some entertaining footage showing knocked-out teammates flailing as they fall through the air. While players can't actually see themselves being punched, the sounds and subsequent damage are a bit of a giveaway.
(There's some slightly rude language in the clip below. Put your headphones on.)
It's unclear just how many have been affected by this bug, but some on the Apex Legends subreddit claim to have seen a fair number of players take a beating. According to the perpetrators, all it takes is to spam melee immediately after selecting a Legend - although the time window before the match starts only allows for one person to be knocked out. Kotaku notes that some players claim to have used this on teammates - despite Apex Legends not having friendly fire.
At a guess, the bug could possibly stem from some sort of change to the player lobby. If you've previously heard coughing before an Apex Legends match, it's the sound of a Caustic near you: and a Reddit user previously caught a glimpse of what it looks like thanks to a server crash.
While it's quite funny to watch the confusion, the bug is pretty irritating for those affected, as starting a match crawling around on the floor isn't going to help you get that sweet sweet loot. Hopefully it won't take Respawn too long to fix it.
Moving on to the good news, Apex Legends finally has a proper firing range where you can practice your skills. Prior to the latest patch, Apex players who wanted to practice could only do so in the fairly limited training mode. You could only play solo as Lifeline, and not all the game's loot was available for practice. That's changed with the inclusion of the Firing Range - which allows players to enter either solo or with a squad, pick any Legend, and access all loot items and weapons - including attachments and hop-ups.
A small but welcome quality of life change allows players to view the ammo type used by their teammates, which makes communication and sharing resources a little easier. And, if you sometimes find the daily challenges a little frustrating, Respawn's made some tweaks to that too: players will now receive one easy, one medium and one hard challenge per day. If you've got any spare Legend Tokens, you can use them to re-roll a challenge you don't particularly like, costing 200 for the first reroll, 500 for the second, and 1000 after that (with the cost resetting each day). For more details, you can check out the patch notes here.
Duos mode, meanwhile, seems to be going down pretty well - with players enjoying the change in pace from typical three-person squads. With the current melee bug, we should be particularly thankful it's not solos.