Re: As a top 500 predator playing apex with friends is impossible.

@SDS_JuggernautTV I actually understand this and have run into it. Especially when playing with my nephew, he definitely can't hold his own in the lobbies I end up in. If we play trios, our third has to be decent or we get slaughtered because it's really me and the third carrying my nephew. So I get it.. But what is the answer? We need some sort of SBMM so players can find an area competitive for them. Ranked is a different beast than non ranked. Ranked is where competitive players go to game competitively not necessarily play with people of equal skill. Non-ranked in my mind is the area I go to just game casually, mess around and not grind.

I've also been in the position in which I game with a someone of similar skill to you. I definitely struggle in those lobbies and rarely come in clutch to save the team. If they go down I typically end up going down as well.

Perhaps SBMM needs more refinement in which it averages the teams stats and selects the lobby based on that average? My worry with this, is that people will abuse it to get into lower skill lobbies.

@DarthValtrex The only answer is completely random lobbies unfortunately.....or sbmm based on a middle ground of the team, not the best player.

@DarthValtrex I agree I dont want to see sbmm removed. Was just pointing out an option.

@DarthValtrex I think its noble to make sure that low skilled players have a place to play, but I don’t think it should come at the expense of the gaming experience of average and high skilled players. For average to good players, SBMM makes what should be a casual experience not so casual. I hate to say this because it sounds mean but I feel that the only option that low skilled players should be afforded is the opportunity to play people of all skill with the hope that they get better— so I am actually for random lobbies. I don’t think the implementation of SBMM (or at least whatever version we’re dealing with now) is worth the stress it’s causing the majority of the community (average players and good players). Of course, EA proclaims this is making them $$$ by keeping the low skilled players from dropping the game so the practice isn’t going anywhere.

OP’s issue regarding his inability of playing with friends is not limited to top 500 players. My real life friends want to play with me but choose not to because they can’t keep up with the opponents the SBMM algorithm selects based on my skill. They get destroyed because every opponent is specifically selected to be higher skilled than them. I think this is the most egregious flaw of current SBMM, because a game should literally NEVER deter people from playing with friends. You can’t say “we implement SBMM because we care about people’s experiences” and then make it so people have a miserable time playing with their buddies.

As for NEW players, I do think SBMM should exist and specifically lump players under a certain experience criteria into similar lobbies.

@hayhor A team rating system perhaps?