Forum Discussion

ArgulKit's avatar
2 months ago

Ranked Ladder - Cost of Entry Issue

Hello devs and fellow gamers. I would like to address the issue that I noticed during first 3 ranked ladders.

I've seen a lot of people complaining that that their rosters consisted of lower rank players. That was the same experience for me.

Despite achieving Tier 1 in all 3 ranked ladders, last one was extremely frustrating.

Since ranked ladder counts your best 10 matches, the issue arise that the cost of entry between different ranks are drastic.
Costs taken from official material: https://help.ea.com/en/help/apex-legends/apex-legends/apex-legends-ranked-mode/

In general, higher ranked players will have a net loss against players from lower ranks:
Rookie/Bronze: 0 RP x 10 = 0
Silver: 20 RP x 10 = -200
Gold: 35 RP x 10 = -350
Platinum: 45 RP x 10 = -450
Diamond: 65 RP x 10 = -650
Master/Predator: 90 RP x 10 = -900

My ranked ladder journey looked like this:
*All other players nicknames erased for anonymity.

1 Ranked Ladder: Started in Gold, quickly progressed to Plat rank. Managed to earn a lot of points in Gold rank. From all other players, only second placed player was in Plat rank and had higher lifetime scores than me. Other players were a mix of Silver and Gold, but since I started in Gold I didn't mind that.

Ranked Ladder 1 Final Score:

Second Best:

 

2 Ranked Ladder: From the start I noticed missing players from Plat rank. It was a bit harder to gain points, but at the end of the ladder, nobody managed to progress to Plat. While I managed to progress to Diamond. Overall, my roster consisted of player with lower level and stats than mine.

Ranked Ladder 2 Final Score:

7 other players, that achieved Tier 1 in Ranked Ladder 2:

 

3 Ranked Ladder: Since I started in Diamond it took me way more time and energy to achieve Tier 1, barely surpassing competition. I checked EVERY player in my roaster. Not a single Plat player, all players are Bronze, Silver, Gold rank. (Even one Rookie)

Ranked Ladder 3 Final Score:

7 other players, that achieved Tier 1 in Ranked Ladder 3:

 

Main issue: As you can see, highest scoring players are from lower ranks, where their cost of entry significantly lower, compared to higher ranked players.
Example: Silver player will have flat -200 points across their matches, compare to flat -650 for Diamond player. 450 points can be the difference between placing in a higher Tier.

I don't really want to get into the notion, that lower ranked games are significantly more "chill" and prone to greater scores, than higher ranked one. But keep it in mind.

Suggestions:
A) Remove Cost of entry from Ranked Ladder scoring. This way there will be no disparity between lower/higher rank.
P.S. From my understanding, Rank promotion bonus already doesn't count towards Ranked Ladder scoring. If we excluding bonuses, we should also exclude penalties.

B) Adjust Ranked Ladder roster to ensure that 100 players are close to or in the same rank at the start of the Rank Ladder.

P.S. I consider myself a "mid" Apex Legend gamer, but holy moly am I this bad that I'm getting rostered with these players? No offense to them tho.
It's doubly funny since in pubs my team (solo q) almost every time marked all the way to the right side of player distribution chart.
This is the reason why I actually like to play Ranked around Gold-Plat rank. Feels more balanced than Pubs, but this is whole other topic.

Note: I actually really like the idea of Ranked Ladder, but it needs some adjustments to be more "fair". More fairness, more engagement.

1 Reply

  • Hey everybody. I want to share additional feedback regarding latest Ranked Ladder.

    4 Ranked Ladder: Continuing the ranked journey in Diamond rank, this time it felt pretty balanced at first. I'm finally in the roster with Diamond/Masters and a few Plat. However... after first day I realised that in this roster we had a few high Gold and low Plat players, who in the end dominated the Tier 1-2 with great scores. Bringing back the point of "easier" matches for players from lower ranks, compared to higher ranks. That point reinforces the issue of having Entry Costs counted towards Ranked Ladder score.

    In the end I managed to score enough point to achieve Tier 2, but I had no free time and motivation to fight for Tier 1.
    It felt unbalanced and to be honest out of my league (maybe?).

    Ranked Ladder 4 Final Score:

    8 players, that achieved Tier 1:
    *Sadly, I didn't take the screenshot of first player being in Gold rank when this Ranked Ladder started.

    Conclusion: Although this Ranked Ladder felt way more balanced than previous ones, the issue of dispersion between ranks and Cost of Entry still stands.

    To be frustrated by a feeling that Ranked Ladder is unbalanced will lead players to stop trying to engage with it.
    Ranked Ladder is a great motivator to engage with Ranked system in the first place.

    P.S.
    Inb4, skill issue. :)
    I'm still crying about it because I feel like other players might have it way worse than me.