So, i took a long break from apex, mostly out of frustration as i was always finding myself only getting around 50 damage a game and no kills, then i logged on recently and found almost all the lobbies i played in to be players in my skill bracket or close to it. im consistently getting 1-3 kills and close to 1000 damage every game. did something change?

They seemed to have changed SBMM in early December right before their holiday break. It got worse, not better and IMO they have no idea how to 'fix' matchmaking let alone any real desire to. Letting PC players opt out of crossplay would be a nice start but they obviously don't want to do that either.

@Machetero0519With the number of smurfs per game hitting an all-time high, it's very hard to know whether matchmaking is "better" or "worse." I still have a lot of matches where my random squaddies are clueless fragment droppers who die in thirty seconds... and then I'll have two squadmates with very non-descript banners (barely triple-digit kill counts, and nothing else to speak of) who, without any help from me, wipe squad after squad after squad and then take the game. It's feast or famine. There is nothing in between.One thing I can say for sure is that the loot pool has undergone yet another scrubbing. We're back to matches where you're going into the final three missing half your attachments and there is not a decent mid-range scope to be found anywhere. I'm back to quitting some matches just because of the loot situation.

@reconzero I do not understand the loot pool changes they make. I swear the game F's with me. No gun on drop in an entire building. No sights by round 3. Bins with 3 white shields and a laser sight in them. I even got an empty bin the other day. SMH

@HappyHourSumwurGlad to hear I'm not the only one who's noticed this. Nobody else ever seems to talk about it....

@Lamboytroy wrote:So, i took a long break from apex, mostly out of frustration as i was always finding myself only getting around 50 damage a game and no kills, then i logged on recently and found almost all the lobbies i played in to be players in my skill bracket or close to it. im consistently getting 1-3 kills and close to 1000 damage every game. did something change?What you have discovered is what I discovered the first time I came back to the game after uninstalling for a season. If you're gone for a long time (forum "research" seems to indicate at least 45 days) it basically resets your matchmaking stats to the same ones the sub-level 50 players get (you know, that same time they are giving you Apex packs like crazy to try and get you addicted so you buy them when they are once per 5 levels or whatever it ends up at).Cause I too was gone for a while, and came back and for about 2 weeks it was fun again. Then it remembered I was about level 300 and put me back in the 'food for streamers" crowd, which was not fun. Which is why I uninstalled again and will not be back to the Apex franchise until there is single player content. Not making the same mistake a 3rd time. I'm done with being dinner for streamers. I already have a job and my games to relax is not becoming a 2nd one.Back to single player games and having a blast again. Just finished the "did everything" run as a Nomad on Cyberpunk 2077, and now working on finishing Doom Eternal.

Did they make a change to the matchmaking?

11 Replies

HappyHourSumwur
Seasoned Ace
3 years ago
They seemed to have changed SBMM in early December right before their holiday break. It got worse, not better and IMO they have no idea how to 'fix' matchmaking let alone any real desire to. Letting PC players opt out of crossplay would be a nice start but they obviously don't want to do that either.
Redmattgame
3 years ago
If anything over the past few weeks MM feels worse (as a player who solo queues it definitely has) but the cynic in me thinks has the MM been deliberately ratcheted up harder so that should a mere tinkering around sometime in the New Year players may be duped into thinking MM has been improved.A little like the shop/superstore etc that artificially inflates the price of an item a few weeks before the Black Friday/Boxing Day sales to then reduce the price to what it originally was in the first place.Cheating levels feel completely off the charts as well.
reconzero
Seasoned Ace
3 years ago
@Machetero0519

With the number of smurfs per game hitting an all-time high, it's very hard to know whether matchmaking is "better" or "worse." I still have a lot of matches where my random squaddies are clueless fragment droppers who die in thirty seconds... and then I'll have two squadmates with very non-descript banners (barely triple-digit kill counts, and nothing else to speak of) who, without any help from me, wipe squad after squad after squad and then take the game. It's feast or famine. There is nothing in between.

One thing I can say for sure is that the loot pool has undergone yet another scrubbing. We're back to matches where you're going into the final three missing half your attachments and there is not a decent mid-range scope to be found anywhere. I'm back to quitting some matches just because of the loot situation.
PeterN_UK
Seasoned Ace
3 years ago
@Machetero0519 Probaby temporary as influx of Xmas players break from school/work. Means bigger match making pool temporarily.

EOMM really kills you between 6pm to 11pm. Have a friend who plays 1 game, next game he quits when dropbox countdown is 0, repeat and it seems to keep him in lower lobbies. That and switching servers to regions which are like 3am, higher pings, smaller match making pool though, less sweats and but less pre-made squads. He says doing both above made a world of difference and really enjoying Apex more. Just sounds so much trouble to go through.

In a twisted logic this means a player can repeatedly hot drop, down then quit but actually rewards them to put them in easier lobbies due to string of early losses, no kills, or little damage etc.

EA should:

No EOMM, SBMM or whatever they've hidden logic. At least run a trial to see community feedback, they'll see people will play more, spend more money on cosmetics because they enjoy the game. Why not even try it out.

Ranked mode: Set a timeout for lobby to start say at least X number of squads if can't match make in reasonable time. i.e. not mix rank players even if it means only say 10x Master/Apex squads instead of 20. So then not mixing Diamond and Master or something.
HappyHourSumwur
Seasoned Ace
3 years ago
@reconzero I do not understand the loot pool changes they make. I swear the game F's with me. No gun on drop in an entire building. No sights by round 3. Bins with 3 white shields and a laser sight in them. I even got an empty bin the other day. SMH
reconzero
Seasoned Ace
3 years ago
@HappyHourSumwur

Glad to hear I'm not the only one who's noticed this. Nobody else ever seems to talk about it....
Kyldenar
Seasoned Ace
3 years ago
@Lamboytroy wrote:
So, i took a long break from apex, mostly out of frustration as i was always finding myself only getting around 50 damage a game and no kills, then i logged on recently and found almost all the lobbies i played in to be players in my skill bracket or close to it. im consistently getting 1-3 kills and close to 1000 damage every game. did something change?
What you have discovered is what I discovered the first time I came back to the game after uninstalling for a season. If you're gone for a long time (forum "research" seems to indicate at least 45 days) it basically resets your matchmaking stats to the same ones the sub-level 50 players get (you know, that same time they are giving you Apex packs like crazy to try and get you addicted so you buy them when they are once per 5 levels or whatever it ends up at).
Cause I too was gone for a while, and came back and for about 2 weeks it was fun again. Then it remembered I was about level 300 and put me back in the 'food for streamers" crowd, which was not fun. Which is why I uninstalled again and will not be back to the Apex franchise until there is single player content. Not making the same mistake a 3rd time. I'm done with being dinner for streamers. I already have a job and my games to relax is not becoming a 2nd one.
Back to single player games and having a blast again. Just finished the "did everything" run as a Nomad on Cyberpunk 2077, and now working on finishing Doom Eternal.
PeterN_UK
Seasoned Ace
3 years ago
@Kyldenar

I'm been playing Escape from Tarkov with single player mod. Granted my PC not great enough to run it at high settings, but having AI for relaxed gameplay without sweats, camping, cheats. The developers are upset over this mod as well, yet they can't enough do anything about cheaters so it is only fair. No more losing days worth of loot in 3 secs from someone hiding above a pipe as a glitch.

Feels like value of single player gone these days. Replayed witcher 3 next gen and this RPG has ruined every other RPG for me. It sets the standard for the decade.

Never put a penny into Apex Legends. Rather give money to indie developers or charity who have more passion and better cause.
pandareno1999
Hero+
3 years ago
I believe that the matchmaking in this game is quite requently being adjusted.
Lamboytroy
3 years ago
Thats extremely scummy