Oof. I feel your pain. For a little I was taking screenshots of just the 'Champions' in the lobby (not even the guys I was killed by), and would see how 'out of my depth' I was (not my fault! :P). Hammer Badges, 20Kill badges - red and purple everywhere! haha. I don't like having such players on my team (see the 'principles for gaming with others' :P alluded to below), but usually I get the ones where they must have handed their controller to their grandma ("No offense, ma'am!" :P). As my 'NBA example' below shows, I am NOT a supporter of having people that would max out at Gold or Plat play anything-resembling-frequently with Diamond or above.
On the one side, the game can be so fun (which gets us hooked!); with all its weapon animations, many of the sights (and sites) and sounds, exploring the maps, and having success (I THINK I remember this??? Haha). On the other, it's become a nightmare with the lack of true competition, and the gross (pun intended) amount of cowardly and disrespectful people in the game (that speak disrespectfully and arrogantly, that crouch spam/jump and shoot into your death box, etc). Alas, such cowardly and disrespectful behavior is encouraged with the game (as, certainly, nothing has been done to discourage it). Even the one potentially decent principle I have seen on Apex was ruined: "Remember to thank your teammates..." (Good on you EA for encouraging people to be polite and proper teammates)...."..because they'll be more likely to help you later." (.......Annnnd you made it into something selfish...Essentially, 'be nice because then you'll get something you want,' rather than, "Be nice because it's the right thing to do."). Alas! But, back to your points!
When I started the game years ago (and 're-started' it a few times) it was fun for the first games; where it actually felt competitive. Now I do it not for a feeling of 'fun' but more through something like addiction and a (somewhat delusional) 'hope' haha.
I have no problem losing a game, and don't feel any lack of value in life for not getting 150 kills and 18,000 damage per hour as many on Apex seem to have! haha. However, I think it's EA's thing based on whatever gets them the most money. So, loads of guys that are (proper) Diamonds and (true) Masters and such (I know EA tends to demean the value of such badges sometimes) with 20 kills and all the Hammer Badges and such get them more views on YouTube. BUT, the amount of kills and 'crazy cool' things those players do goes DOWN if all those things are verses players of similar skill level to them. It doesn't appear often that you hear such folks point out the fact, "To be fair...about 14 of my 15 kills there were guys far below my skill level." Haha.
Also, it's silly that people don't point out how bizarre it is that people who play a few hours a day (cough-cough...) and see 1,000 damage maybe every two or three days are consistently (read as 99% of matches (I've gone all 'nerdy' and kept track) beaten by guys with 20 Kills badges, Masters, Preds, etc).
Take a quick example from the 'real world.' Imagine you went down to your local park and saw Michael Jordan, Larry Bird, and Wilt Chamberlain (insert your favorite NBA players from whenever here) playing basketball...And you saw them placing a whooping on the other team. All well and good there; it happens..But, then you see the other team is comprised of 12-year-old girl scouts, but these NBA players are not letting up. Dunking over the top of them, lobbing alleyoops while the girls stand there, near frozen in their confusion and state of being overwhelmed, with not even a lollipop to suck on for comfort (poor girls : ( ). And on TOP of that, as you look on, you see those NBA players spitting on the girls, talking serious (i.e. hateful, and not playful...) trash, slapping them upside the head..You know..crouch-spamming and shooting into their 'death boxes.' ...What would any sane, decent person on the planet say??? "What is WRONG with those dudes??? What a bunch of jerks!!!" Yet, alack and alas!! That is precisely what Apex "Legends" is for many of us who simply cannot compete with Diamond and up players.
Back to my comment above; it's absurd that people who seldom hit 1,000 damage are in lobbies with guys who hit that mark every few games; us "12-year-old girl scouts" compete (this is a misnomer) with top college and NBA players consistently. It's disgraceful. No sporting (I'd take it further and say 'no honorable') person would think it's a 'nice thing' to put people in lobbies where they simply can't compete.
To wrap that all up: For those of us who can't compete with proper Diamonds and above - or whatever that limit may be as we judge it - we are used as, if you remember the old Star Wars movies, what I call 'Bantha fodder.' At this stage, I don't think it's entirely a lack of thought and stupidity on behalf of the decision-makers at EA; it's deliberate. With such a large player base it's absurd that people that are true-bronze players are always in the same games as teams where each player could kill the formers entire team (and easily; in many cases). Every bazillion games I'll find one of those 'unicorns' (and I feel bad for them)...I wish more of those Diamond and up (and people in general) would feel the same when they killed me! haha.
My wish is that EA would hire leaders that focus less on maximizing (an important qualifier) profits, and more on making the experience as pleasant for all (as you'd do if you were arranging board games in your home); and encouraging good and right behavior from all the players (I'd like to see what many of 'the usual' Apex players would do and say if their house guests acted up at the table in the same way they do in Apex games!). Lots of cowards out there, lots of selfishness and arrogance, lots of jerks, and lots of unsporting people. And EA seems to only enable such behavior. When's the last time you saw a loading screen saying something like, "Don't bail on your teammates just because YOU got killed." or "Be respectful and gracious, whether you win or lose" and "Be courteous to others" and, "Remember not everyone is amazing as you there 'Stud-at-a-meaningless-video-game,' so encourage people rather than trying to tear them down." I like to say that in this life you can choose to be a blessing to others, or a curse, and it's a shame that certain folks at EA (I hope not ALL of them) encourage more of the latter than the former.
The tragic nature of it all, is that the game is so addicting. I'll go so many games thinking "Maybe the next one will be fun again??" haha. It's been brutal. But for that one small 'glimmer' of hope that 'maybe they'll make it more competitive' and for the friends that I join, I'd be gone. Speaking of which...Off to go sacrifice myself to those discourteous Preds! Maybe I'll see you out there. :P
