I've enjoyed playing Apex Ranked....
Over the last several years. It's a really great game mode. Great loop. Best BR game mode. The lack of team play and chemistry is disheartening. I thought the devs would keep Apex Ranked on a more...
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Well-reasoned, well-said.
Like you, I'm a player who toils at a skill level where none of this will ever have any effect on me, though if it did it would be no hardship as I really genuinely dislike playing with people I know. But overall I have to say that this enforced solo queue at higher ranks very much has the look and feel of a bandaid on a much bigger problem. And as usual developers will treat the symptom instead of treating the disease. I expect because it's easier and cheaper than... what? Acknowledging fully that they would rather leave solo queue players at permanent disadvantage than create new modes that are not team-based? Or just say out loud fully and finally that if you solo queue in a team game then you're artificially capping your advancement and that you better make your peace with it and stop complaining? I don't know. I don't know what the best answer is, but I have a pretty good feeling that this solution they've come up with is definitely not it. Like you, I'll wait and watch.
I think the best answer is "variety".
At this point there should be a server for pre-made squads only and a server for solo queuing only.
I understand that you're okay with playing with randoms and playing nonchalantly, but that mentality isn't universal. Some players would like to have more options to meet like-minded players in-game.
Personally, when I'm in the social networking mood I will amass a group of in-game friends to play with. Amassing a group of friends is so much harder than in previous years because everyone is so accustomed to solo queuing. This problem started when the devs added a "solo queue only requeue feature" a couple of years back. The problem has been fixed with the Play with Squad feature, but the monster has already been created; a Frankenstein scenario.
Also, when we had Ranked drop zones only I was able to link up with like-minded players a lot easier. I think because drop zones promoted team play and some players wanted to alleviate the stress of solo queuing in that environment. I was one of those players. Once Ranked switched back to the Dropship I found it harder to link up with like-minded players again. Dropping hot and dying doesn't encourage players to requeue with each other. No confidence was created.
I played my last Ranked game last night. Chasing my teammates around the map isn't it anymore. Playing Ranked with randoms is basically "their way or the highway", one dimensional game play. Nobody wants to have a "mutual strategy". I wanted to climb to Diamond again to try out the new update, but I stopped playing at Plat 3 on PS5 (and Plat 2 on Switch 2).
I will still play Apex on occasion to hot drop and kill farm in Wildcard, but that's about it for me.
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