Current state of Apex...I think some of you know already how I feel. But I will just get a few thoughts and opinions out, a lot of which many of you have already mentioned in this thread:
Respawn know how to put together a great story. Titanfall 2 has the best single player campaign of any FPS I've played. They have an incredible universe created here, and they've expanded it even further with some incredible characters and lore here too, and it draws me in further and further every time I see something new. I love it!
The gameplay feels good in the right places as well. Moving, jumping, sliding, it just feels right (though, I do get stuck on terrain every now and then, but this can be in any game). I'll play just about any champion for how good they can be (still not great with defensive characters though...).
I love most of the guns in this game and have a hard time deciding on what loadout to go with when looting. Do I want a R-301 with Anvil? A Wingman Skullpiercer? Triple Take for the spread? Maybe go wild with a Devotion Turbocharged? Infinite bullets with a Spitfire and a purple/gold mag? Volt? R-99? Hemlock? Flatline? Ooo! Care package with a Prowler? Let me just drop everything for that baby! There's almost no gun here that I won't play (note the almost, and you'll see why in a bit).
All of this has helped keep me drawn in to this game, or reeled me back in when I step away, but it only works for so long... This season started off pretty good. I liked the changes to King's Canyon, I love Fuse and have had some amazing games with him. The Locked and Loaded event was the best thing ever for this game, but once that ended, the reality of the game as it is right now hit me.
The biggest issues I have are as follow:
Audio. Plain and simple, it sucks in this game. I don't think I need to mention the FWOOSH FWOOSH bug happening currently... Footsteps are all over the place, ranging from CLUNK CLUNK CLUNK when your teammate is next to you, to non existent when an enemy comes up next to you. Many times, it's hard or outright impossible to tell where footsteps are coming from, especially when above or below you. Oh, and let's not forget how a gunshot is basically a calling card for everyone across the map for how bad the combat echoes across the entire map. I kind of get it for a map like King's Canyon, where canyons are known for having echoes, but when it's every map (remember Mirage Voyage in World's Edge sounding like a nuclear war going off every match?)... They need to work on the audio...
Third parties are an absolute plague right now. I know it's a decent strategy in a game like this (move in while the enemy is weak and vulnerable), but when every match, nearly every fight, has someone coming in and shooting me in the back...I'm ready to break something. The audio problem only amplifies this issue when every team can hear you fighting from miles away. It also doesn't help that nearly every squad drops all at once in most of the games I play, so half the game is fighting, third partying, and dead before the first ring appears.
Shotguns have been my least favorite weapon in this game from the start. I've always been hit and miss....and miss....and miss again with them. They feel so inconsistent for me (point blank can be either 100 damage or 7....) This is just me however and everyone else can basically one-two shot no problem with them without trying it feels like. Never liked the Peacekeeper for how it could nearly or outright one shot you, especially in early game and especially with a choke (obviously not as prevalent and problematic now that it's locked in care packages), Mozambiques everywhere make me want to scream (Hammerpoint helps it, but I'd still prefer a P2020 with Hammerpoint than a Mozam...), Eva-8 is just BLAMBLAMBLAMBLAM when you get a purple bolt on it, and let's not forget the god forsaken Mastiff....I really don't understand why they felt like it was a good idea to put that out in the wild. No hop up needed for choke, insane one shot damage, just a disaster waiting to happen in close combat. Glad it got nerfed, but as mentioned, it's still a big issue and honestly just needs to go back to the care package or reduce the spawn rate (like with the Devotion).
Squads and having to team up most of the time just to play. I'm still hoping they add a solo mode in the future. I know it's a team heavy game, and a lot of things aren't really cut out for solo play (lifeline rez and knockdown shields for example), but for someone like me that just wants to enjoy the game (guns, gameplay, champions (lifeline can still be good solo with free heals), etc.), but doesn't have friends who play, or just wants to play alone (I'm just not feeling great lately and socializing is....well, not a top priority for me let's just say (coming here to give feedback is difficult enough right now)...), it's hard to enjoy things unless I get matched with a good team or get lucky and have good situations thrown my way. Otherwise, it's either get teamed up with a squad that doesn't care about me, can't work together and go off in multiple directions, or just doesn't seem to know what they're doing (still don't understand the matchmaking in this game, especially when I get in a match where the champion is level 2 with no kills...), or try to wing it solo when the game is full of squads that work together like some pro league team... Again, those rare moments where I get good luck as a solo, or have the good team that works like a dream, it's amazing, but the number of negative games just drown out those good games and it wears out a lone wolf like me...
Bugs still popping up constantly. I know no game is perfect, and there will be flaws every now and the, but I can't think of a time where there wasn't some bug causing issues somewhere in this game. Currently, the FWOOSH FWOOSH I mentioned earlier in audio issues is just...game breaking. You can't hear yourself think when it happens... Heck, I've reported like half a dozen issues in the past couple days alone, some of which are issues I've had for ages (like randomly punching when I go to shoot).
Even the visuals drive me nuts sometimes... Abilities just rendering me blind (Bangalore smoke especially...even when I'm playing Bangalore...come on, give her goggles or something so she doesn't have the smoke in her eyes as bad), enemies difficult to see or just outright invisible (sometimes literally thanks to bugs...), bullets are difficult to track at times for me, red....red everywhere (pings, damage, ring, etc.), but thankfully Olympus isn't as bad in this area (one of the few pluses for that map), no way to change up reticle or other color options to make the game a bit more visually pleasing (not counting color blind options since...yeah, that didn't work for me since I'm not color blind and it made some things look too similar)
I'm probably leaving out a few things, but I think I've said enough. As it stands, I'm literally just playing to finish my battle pass, then hanging up my hat until things change. It sucks because there's so much good and potential still in this game, but with all the problems, issues, and just outright negativity I'm getting from this game, I'm not playing for enjoyment anymore, I'm just playing because I finally put money into this game last season when I saw I maxed out the battle pass and was enjoying myself and don't want to lose my investment. It's just draining me and I'm playing awful most of the time because of how frustrated I am 9 out of 10 games before I finally get that match that manages to go well (well positioned in the ring, have a good loadout, been able to deal with squads surprisingly well, etc.). I hope we see some major changes to the game someday, but for now, once I hit level 100 (not even sure I have the energy for 110), I'm out.
