In my experience a previous trend was that first 1-2 weeks (if you progress fast) were really unbearable because of hackers / pros / streamer being added to ex-Plat / ex-Diamond4 lobbies, then mid-split was ok and last 1-2 weeks were again unbearable because all "boo hoo I want master's badge" hackers came along to do like 1000+RP day "grind" and go from whatever to borderline Masters in that time.
Now though I feel like it is about time of the day:
- during daytime say 10:00-15:00 aka kids time lobbies are even too easy if you can bare soloqing with kids (they just mentally unstable these days and shout into mic or play random music / sounds every other game)
- peak time is imo the best time - more competitive, adult people come online, player base is highest, you get a better mix of players and less % of hackers (still they are present pretty much every game but just 1-2 not like 3+)
- after like 20:00 adults go back to life, kids go to bed and this is the worst time, lobbies are basically the same, same players same hackers + every other game new matchmaking system feeds you into Pred lobbies as soon as you go positive (or not)
- night time = past midnight is absolutely the worst as Preds / hackers come online full swing, player count is low so you get into Master/Pred lobbies 2 out of 3 games no matter your rank or results, soloq regulars mostly are stoned, drunk or half-asleep yet still think they Apex Preds ... (that's why being from EU I shift to NAE or even NAC as soon as I feel this trend given I play late at nights as well)
Like 2 days ago for the first time in ages I saw Respawn dev in EU server = games were fantastic, it almost feels like hackers have a way to tell when devs are active online. As soon as devs left -> hackers started to rule the game as per usual. Otherwise especially Slavic (mostly Russian) players are just totally chill about hacking, they don't care like at all, they just enjoy ruining games for others / potentially making money boosting accounts. I have spoken with some and they openly admit it in Russian and really couldn't care less... I heard that in Asia culture of "whatever it takes" is ok with people but I think in Russia it is also quite similar as same happens in Valorant making Stockholm server unplayable as it is swarmed by smurfs and hackers from Russia (they can still play it with ~100ms ping, Frankfurt and further is already too high for them).