The SBMM in Apex is the single biggest issue with this game, followed closely by the spotty positional audio. After getting banned for a rant against SBMM that violated the terms here, I started tracking my games.For context, my KDR this season is 0.79 and 0.61 lifetime so I am admittedly a below average player. I play PC, M&K and am older so I know I'll never be able to compete on twitch skills with kids who have played FPS's since they were in diapers.First 6 today...3/2/4, 1771 damage total. 3 top 10s, 1 win where I was hard carried by a Diamond Caustic (I'm Gold IV) who got 11/3/11, 2.6k damage. 5 of the 6 we got killed in our first gunfight for a variety of reasons from a random running off and dying to a 3rd party to BS where I was dead almost before I could start shooting. All pub matches, solo queue with randoms.How is this an acceptable outcome for SBMM? It isn't just that I die without a kill about 2/3rds of the time, it is that I die in lopsided fashion so often. Some of it is teamwork, some of it is my lack of skill, but the rest is just BS matchmaking.My feedback is for Respawn to come clean on what they are doing with SBMM and when they are making changes. You don't have to give away the details, but FFS talk to the community about WTH you are doing about it. There are hundreds of posts here complaining about it and nobody thinks you care and are ever going to do anything about it. There's got to be a better way, Respawn.

@Littumulkero I'm actually OK with the win rate. All other things equal, you should win around 5% of the time in Trios. Mine is a little below that so it is in line given that I am not the best and I solo queue most of the time.What I do have an issue with is how I get killed the remaining 95% of the time. Usually I die so fast I barely have time to react or I die to someone with godlike movement, perfect aim, and full knowledge of where I am at all times. Those happen about 75% of the time and when it happens 10 times in a row, I want to scream at my computer.

@HappyHourSumwur Yeah, they will never share this information. But even though we don't know exactly how this MM system works, after all this time we pretty much have a good idea on how it works. Basically, you can anticipate on what the MM system is going to do. And I stop playing when I get in the top tier lobbies where I'm unable to do anything. The system will somewhat recognise that my "retention factor" drops down when being put in sweaty lobbies. It's not a night and day difference but it seems to be an improvement.

@HappyHourSumwur Well in theory, dying without a kill in 2/3 of your matches when you even is honest and smart enough to recognize that you are an below average player, is not that far away from what you should in this "perfect SBMM" where everyone in the lobby are exactly equally good, since then you would, once again in theory, on average die 1/2 of your matches without a kill. Or rather have 50% to win your first fight, 25% to win two fights in a row, 12.5% to win three fights. And just to be on the safe side; for the third time; I know these numbers are just in theory and assumed that every fight was a 1 v 1 on equal terms. I am just making a point about the SBMM and assumption that its so sweaty even though its actually quite forgiving, even for below average players.

@HappyHourSumwur I would love to understand the SBMM but they will never tell you exactly what is going on. For good reason. If it was public knowledge and they distributed this information it would just make it easier for the cheaters/smurfs/whatever to game the system as they know EXACTLY what they are up against then.it's a bit like Google's search algorithm. it's a closely guarded secret and changes all the time to try and combat companies/websites from gaming the search engine to appear at the top of a search. Same thing.

SBMM and the average to below average player

13 Replies

SbmmMakesMeSmur
4 years ago
@HappyHourSumwur
Well in theory, dying without a kill in 2/3 of your matches when you even is honest and smart enough to recognize that you are an below average player, is not that far away from what you should in this "perfect SBMM" where everyone in the lobby are exactly equally good, since then you would, once again in theory, on average die 1/2 of your matches without a kill. Or rather have 50% to win your first fight, 25% to win two fights in a row, 12.5% to win three fights.

And just to be on the safe side; for the third time; I know these numbers are just in theory and assumed that every fight was a 1 v 1 on equal terms. I am just making a point about the SBMM and assumption that its so sweaty even though its actually quite forgiving, even for below average players.
RockDokRock
Seasoned Ace
4 years ago
@HappyHourSumwur I would love to understand the SBMM but they will never tell you exactly what is going on. For good reason. If it was public knowledge and they distributed this information it would just make it easier for the cheaters/smurfs/whatever to game the system as they know EXACTLY what they are up against then.
it's a bit like Google's search algorithm. it's a closely guarded secret and changes all the time to try and combat companies/websites from gaming the search engine to appear at the top of a search. Same thing.
Solim66
4 years ago
@HappyHourSumwur Yeah, they will never share this information. But even though we don't know exactly how this MM system works, after all this time we pretty much have a good idea on how it works. Basically, you can anticipate on what the MM system is going to do. And I stop playing when I get in the top tier lobbies where I'm unable to do anything. The system will somewhat recognise that my "retention factor" drops down when being put in sweaty lobbies. It's not a night and day difference but it seems to be an improvement.
HappyHourSumwur
Seasoned Ace
4 years ago
@Solim66I know they'll never share the details of SBMM, but I also know I'm not alone. How can they possibly be OK with a large portion of the player base getting their @$$3$ handed to them 3/4 of the time? The game is Free to Play, so WTH is that garbage?
Solim66
4 years ago
@HappyHourSumwur The answer to your question is quite simple I'm afraid: people keep playing. There are so many people complaining about the matchmaking, but it's also those people who keep playing under these poor MM conditions. So there is no real incentive for the developers to rework/improve the matchmaking system.

I really wish that it will change for the better in the near future, but I don't think it's ever going to happen.
Littumulkero
4 years ago
I think one big fat factor is winrate.
They will try to make it so that you are winning just the right amount of games that you keep coming back.

They make it happen by lowering the overall skill or then trying to pair really good players with not so good players.
chuckmynorris
New Hotshot
4 years ago
The matchmaking is super hard to make even close to perfect. It's always going to be unfair in some matches.
The biggest problem for me is the fact that if I soloqueue, I will most times have a below average player(s) with me and I'm facing pre-made squads most of the time.
Changing the MM so soloq goe another soloq. That would make all the difference.
I'm level 90 on PC (changed from PS4 mid-season 11) and most of the games I'm dying to three/two stacking 4K badge players. So if I was a new player with no background on console I wouldn't enjoy this at all.
HappyHourSumwur
Seasoned Ace
4 years ago
@Littumulkero I'm actually OK with the win rate. All other things equal, you should win around 5% of the time in Trios. Mine is a little below that so it is in line given that I am not the best and I solo queue most of the time.

What I do have an issue with is how I get killed the remaining 95% of the time. Usually I die so fast I barely have time to react or I die to someone with godlike movement, perfect aim, and full knowledge of where I am at all times. Those happen about 75% of the time and when it happens 10 times in a row, I want to scream at my computer.
MichelPostma
4 years ago
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RockDokRock
Seasoned Ace
4 years ago
@MichelPostma The reason they are not transparent with how MM works is because it will enable people to more easily game the system. It's not a conspiracy, it's the toxic players and smurf types that are constantly looking to abuse the system to get easier games.