Matchmaking will make or break Apex for casual gamers in a party

well game is like 4-5 months? if you dont have 1k+ kills i dont know what you doing

@marcbroadley That's definitely what it's like, typically, when we play in a party...fodder 🙂

@A7RDFYeah, we'll hold on and try it some more into season 2 to see how the matchmaking goes.  I will say if we have many more Apex sessions like we've had the past couple weekends then we'll be done with it.  It's either loot in a low/no pressure area for 10 minutes and get smoked by our first encounter, go to a higher pressure area and get rocked whilst trying to engage in more battles to improve our skills (doesn't work), or some other strategy to try to overcome the huge skill level disparity.

There are some really cool randoms we've played with who were spectacular players and carried us to like the top 5, great teammates.  But for every 1 of those great player/teammate types there have been probably 5-7+ who have left the match after seeing our stats (when we play as a party and solo), who leave the match when they get downed early, etc.

I get it, if I were really good and playing with randoms I wouldn't want to keep playing with novice players game after game.  That would be just as frustrating as the position we're in..

So thats why it seems like the solution is better matchmaking to improve user experience for casual, semi competitive, and very competitive players.   That will keep the game fun for all, decrease poor player conduct (leaving match before its over, even starts), and help new players get started with Apex.

And Btw, it's not rage quitting if we were to not play Apex any longer.  It'd be moving on to some other game that is fun since that is the point of games in general, to have fun.  "Fun" is different for everyone, but I can tell you it's not fun playing a game that you have almost zero chance to win, and slightly better odds to even be competitive.  

To use an analogy, the Apex matchmaking we've experienced has been about like having a high school JV basketball team play against a division 1 team.  Sometimes Apex throws one D1 basketball player onto the JV team to make it more competitive.  NO FUN for anyone.  Is your solution to tell the JV players to "keep playing against the D1 players, you'll eventually be able to compete."??  If you did that, almost all the JV players would stop playing...

@xIronFist42xThis is genuine info from someone who leaves once I establish I'm going to get 0 cooperation from team-mates.  You'll forgive any assumptions here I hope, as this advice is for someone who might be a lot newer than you two are.  If so: apologies in advance for teaching you to suck eggs 🙂  Whilst I accept we were all new once and that there is a rich and varied tapestry of different play levels - if you're going to have a random in your group :

1) make sure you use voice chat so you can communicate. I'm less inclined immediately to help anyone when I see they're in private voice chat at the start of the game.

2)Don't panic loot everything - try to cultivate an awareness of what you actually need instead of grabbing everything to sort through at leisure - especially at the start of the game this will alienate more experienced team mates as that 20 light ammo you just grabbed for your havoc might be what keeps them alive :D

3) Show willing by sharing ammo/meds, especially at the start. I've left games before now when I've seen someone picking up literally 100+ of ammo while I'm on 17 and then refusing to drop any, especially when they're not the one plowing face-first into enemy teams. If someone is stood looking at a shield battery it means they're making space to collect it because it's more important than something they've already got, so don't slide between their legs and grab it.

4) Ping primary weapons that you're not going to grab at the start. If someone doesn't have armor yet - ping armor.

5) Communicate that you need someone to wait if you do, and explain why. Tell the guy running off what you're looking for if you're still looting. Chances are good that the person charging towards the noise at skulltown has enough that they can spare some. Better players will loot faster and more comprehensively as they know exactly what is enough for their first fight. If they didn't grab something you need, they'll probably remember which building it is in at your drop site.

My experience really is that I will stick around to the death for people who are trying to play WITH their team. You guys being a duo inviting someone in as your 3rd means there's a dynamic where if you don't include someone in your game, they'll be a crap team mate to you no matter how good they are as a player. If your 3rd gets the impression that they're only going to get ammo/meds etc by beating you to them, the whole thing becomes counterproductive. Most will just start sprinting off on their own to get ahead, some (like me) will just leave in search of greener pastures.

Everyone who queues solo accepts that they're just as likely to get into a game with people less experienced than them as not if they've played for an average amount of time. Everyone who has played a LOT knows that they're incredibly likely to get into a game with team mates who haven't played as much as them. When you see someone's banner you're waiting for them to confirm all your prejudices about how people with x, y, z stats play. If I see someone with 35 kills who picked my main whilst I was hovering over him, I'm waiting to see if the guy doesn't break off from jumpmaster and if he starts spamming the resource bin I just opened - I know who I'm dealing with then.

The way to avoid team-mates leaving is to avoid confirming that kind of prejudice. Some players will leave anyway if you use the legend they main. Some will drop solo and leave when they die as they're farming kills or whatever. Some won't wait to see if you're team players or not. Of the players you can realistically retain as team-mates - all we want to know is that you're team players.

Lastly : don't drop bunker 😛

In fact - this is the last thing, but probably should have been the first.

While you are new to the game or still building up to being a stronger player : always defer on character selection.  At this stage in the game, it's been out long enough that there are a lot more experienced players than brand new ones I'd bet so there's a good chance that the guy hovering over Bangalore has a lot more kills than a newer player.  The kill value itself isn't a big deal, as once you're into the thousands it really is about who plays more hours.  But until you've played long enough (I'd say level 50-100 depending on your experience in FPS games) to really commit to a main if thats your thing : don't deny someone else theirs when the character you play is an arbitrary selection anyway.  It immediately gets people who main a character off-side.  I don't want to debate the ethics or culture around this - I'm just telling it as it is.

If you've decided to main someone and you're going to take them ahead of another guy on your team : just say that you've decided to main that character and that's the reason you're taking it.  You've not just decided that you're playing that character for this game and to hell with anyone practising a main for more rigorous competition later.

I've got just over 11k kills on my main, and whilst I try to be the bigger person because not everyone is even aware of the culture around 'maining' a specific legend in Apex when they're new : it is aggravating to be bumped out of the way by someone who is literally rotating around the characters each game still to decide who they like.  Those prejudices waiting to be confirmed from earlier - When someone decides "I don't care if this guy plays this legend primarily and I don't care that it makes no difference either way to me whether it's Path, Banga or Octane - I've decided that this game for no reason other than 'why not, YOLO' I'm playing it and nothing will change my mind" - it's a red flag.  9 times out of 10 this person will then either solodrop and die/quit instantly, or they'll be the kind of team mate who inhales every piece of loot within a 12 mile orbit.