Apex is great.

The fact that Apex Legends game / gameplay is kinda unique is basically the only thing keeping this .... afloat.

As soon as there is something even remotely similar = 100% this game is dead assuming nothing changes.

I have been gaming even longer and I can tell that I have never enjoyed the game as soon as hackers take over and get praised. Apex is notorious in this case and why many play ranked in a format - reach D4 and quit, because after that you just get crushed by hackers again and again and again.

And the saddest part is that community is at the same time:
1. uneducated enough to see who is / is not hacking
2. knowingly cheering for whomever posts crazy stats without asking questions "is this too good to be true story legit"
3. people in charge allow this stuff to happen because money and business

And what's equally bad about above said - Respawn in a way (AA strength, gun meta, legend meta) is forced to dumb the game down given people are unable to teamwork nor willing to pay the price for not teamworking. Clear example Valorant = clearly implements the system where even if you do 3x frags and you team still loses, you lose as well, not as much as others but still lose. And on the other side as soon as you do 3x frags, basically next game is vs higher ranked players as it suppose to be, forcing you to teamwork as 1 man army mode will not be enough / possible.

Apex was fun for me like 100% fun until I reached D4 easily on split to split basis, after that I am one of those "hardstuck" idiots who train, do aim training, invest in hardware yet still can't bridge the gap between mindless controller players who flexing their "push into enemy face -> get a kill or two -> sabotage team effort and make other rat -> flex that you got most RP" and hacker 3stacks.

For the past 3-4 seasons I have quit the game twice (including now) and my only goal really has been to improve game performance / settings, audio and my tracking. Rest is just pointless grind when I feel like doing it with the hope that there will be 2 more people who are willing to do the same, communicate, don't rage on you and don't go "crazy mode" as soon as you comment on their decisions, skills, suggest improvements.

p.s. argument that game is free is not applicable as if this game would not be free player base would be at least 1/5 of the current one as only insane person would pay money to play "always beta" version game, which you can lose at any point in time (see daily topics in forums about accounts being lost, hacked, banned) + known to be infested with hackers.