Forum Discussion

4 years ago

Ranked solo-queue only mode

Thoughts on Respawn doing this just for one season? To clarify, it would still be ranked trios but with no pre-made duos nor trios. It could serve as a longer LTM and would be a good way for the devs...

gameplay discussion

XHelperZ

Hero+

4 years ago

I don't think having a testing phase for this is too bad, though I personally do feel like this solution won't really help that much.

Matchmaking should probably be addressed first to fix the rank disparity with solo-queue + duo players, better take care of the core problem first.

As for the communication, yeah that can be a real pain in the *, though it's not guaranteed that other solo-players will show better behaviour, they might just say nothing and scream until the end.

As for the rest, well, we'll see how that goes.

Though do note that by splitting up queues that it will increase queue times for both parties, one of which did probably not ask to have increased queue times.

By splitting up queue times it will also create another issue where it'll become harder to find players of the same rank on your team, as the players are more split up.

(This issue will also become more apparent on lower populated regions and ranks)

Of course we can still try it, we're just touching a theoretical basis right now, though I do think the negative side will bring some issues that might make it not worth it.

1ndustree
4 years ago
I hear you and agree with most of what you're saying. For queue time increases, it's true that pre-made duos and trios won't appreciate the increase, but no change has entirely positive effects and there is some cost to each. +1 that less populated regions face the most to lose if there were to be a thing, though. That should not be ignored. Still, I hope they consider something like this and monitor queue times for each mode in the various regions of play before making that call.
It's also worth noting that while I don't see this being a problem given Apex's current playerbase size, if solos keep having this kind of poor experience they'll move on to games that actually care for the solo experience and don't yield nearly as many frustrations (e.g. a bunch of the game titles I listed before). That could also hurt queue times. I myself swap to Valorant or other games when I get too frustrated for aforementioned reasons, and it's gotten to a point now where once I reach Diamond I just stop solo queueing and only play unranked with friends (which is significantly less playtime). Again, not really an issue given the popularity of Apex at the moment but still something to consider.