Let Us Choose Our Modes AND Maps! (The Rotation System is Ruining Matchmaking)

I'm sorry to say this, but the Apex player base isn't as huge as you think (if we divide the entire population into all regions of the world and platforms (PC and all consoles).

You can already see how Wildcard has "crumbled" the trios and duos population. In the mornings and late evenings/nights, matchmaking takes an average of 5-10 minutes.

If they introduced the ability to choose which map to play, the player base would be much more spread out, making matchmaking even longer.

That won't work. I'm sorry.

I can't disagree with any of the theory there. But practice is a different animal.

Masterchief Collection, for example, eventually gave players an unimaginable degree of specificity in which game, mode, and map they wanted to play... and because of population it brought unimaginable waiting. And I won't even talk about how horrendous the skill matching was in that game.

Apex, sadly, no longer has the population to support high-functioning matchmaking. Although we hardly ever got it even when the population was high enough. In that regard, especially if you're talking only about mixtape and not battle royale, then sure. They should at least try it out and let players such as yourself make the determination as to whether or not the wait times and match quality are acceptable.

You bring up Halo, but comparing Apex's Mixtape to an older game with paid DLC maps splitting the player base isn't a fair comparison. Besides, the real issue here isn't even the maps — it's the modes.

When players log in specifically to play Team Deathmatch, but the game tells them to sit in the lobby for 45 minutes because the rotation is currently stuck on Gun Run, that is a massive design failure. People don't want to play modes they actively hate, and holding them hostage with a countdown timer just makes them close the game.

If we want to look at a matchmaking system that actually works, we just need to look at Counter-Strike 2.

The Blueprint for Success: CS2 lets players queue up for exactly what they want to play. You pick your modes, you pick your maps, and you hit search.

The Results Speak for Themselves: Giving players total freedom hasn't hurt CS2's matchmaking at all. It consistently holds over 1 million concurrent players and remains the most-played game on Steam for the third year in a row. It is undeniably a massive global phenomenon that dominates the PC gaming landscape.

If the number one game on the market can give players complete freedom over what they play without killing its queue times, Apex Legends has zero excuses. Apex has a massive player base — more than enough to support a simple toggle system for Mixtape modes.

Even if we completely disagree on how BR maps should be handled, the mode rotation in Mixtape is actively pushing people away. If Respawn wants to keep players engaged, they need to take notes from the top game in the industry and just let us choose what we play.

I've played games that allowed a lobby vote for the map. It was one or another version of Halo, can't remember which one. Basically it ended up by guaranteeing that out of 16 or 18 launch maps, you only ever got to play on the same 4 or 5. And if you spent money on extra DLC maps then you never got to play them at all. Ever.

Sorry but I'll take the rotation. I'm not saying that I love every map in this game, but honestly the differences are overblown and exaggerated.

As to the amount of time that has to pass before maps in rotation switch over... I'm certainly open to fine tuning on that point.