Can someone fill me in on what’s happening?

You can find some pretty solid, detailed discussions of this topic on the r/CompetitiveApex subreddit.

@Cheese9ManFighting before top 10 is a waste of time so people tend to run away if you shoot at them and hit them. And on SP it is really easy to drop alone or run away. This first week I played quite a bit of ranked and it was basically loot simulator. Then pubs is either drop hot or don't see anyone. I'm totally burnt out on SP and never want to play it again. I'll check pubs map tracker before I even turn on the game now. If it's SP I'll do something else.

I've always been a proponent of high finishes mattering more than kills but they've basically made the game 15 minutes of nothing and 5 minutes of crazy. Why can't we have some balance?

@Cheese9Man They're ratting inside the storm of Ring-1 and Ring-2 as long as possible to get to top 10 , then they start to pick and choose their fight. 

Well, if there's amory inside the ring, that is the BEST place to RAT. Nobody can open it until ring closing to it, then you being force to get out.  If that's ring 3 or 4, you get at least top 5-7. 

@pandareno1999 @asukojo @hayhor Do you think think this shift in game style is healthy for the game? I just wish there would be a happy medium like what Hayhor have said. The map might be one of the factors why people can easily rat too.

They tried to rework the ranked system but they weren't smart enough for the task and now the game is less fun/ranked is going to die off and wait times will get longer or you will have preds in your lobby because they have no where else to put them 

I'm fine with the entry cost system they implemented that was fine, but they should have kept the old point system for kills and removed the cap from it 

@hayhorAbsolutely, the balance is off.  I think they  need to make kills worth more for bottom 10 finishes until the games loosen up. Just adjust it a little bit each split until things shake loose in early games.

You can add things like win streak bonuses (not my idea, somebody else suggested it in these forums) that promote better team play, too. 

@Cheese9Man Looks like i'm the only one still getting the same type of games we had before lol, no major changes for me.