How do you think Apex should be played?
Another question because I see some disagreement over this in quite a few comment sections on the internet. To me, I think the game is geared towards aggressive play, and placement is a reward for s...
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@Unitee01
"the game is geared towards aggressive play"
This is because the shooter player base skews "young and dumb" and craves action above all else, not because aggression is an inherently desirable quality in a player. The dev knows this and actively perpetuates the mindset. Because it is the smarter way to play? I don't think so, but this is a question everyone has to answer for themselves.
"placement is a reward for surviving while actively engaging in gun fights and eliminating teams"
This is rank-think, and a justification for aggressive play, something aggressive players shouldn't feel the need to justify. Unless their less aggressive buddies have higher win rates.
"Most abilities compliment [aggression]." Please correct the paraphrase if it isn't accurate.
This is entirely in the eye of the beholder. I find that, for the most part, abilities are what you make of them. An aggressive player will find ways to use them aggressively, and a more circumspect player will find ways to use them to make aggressive players pay for their impulsiveness.
"All the game's trailers show it as well."
"We have badges that reward high kills and high damage."
Sell to your audience (see "young and dumb" above).
"Survival can be manipulated, at least in pubs, hence why I consider it a meaningless statistic on it's own."
You're right. In and of itself, survival is meaningless no matter how it might be weighted in ranked. What matters is winning and squads who routinely die in a hot drop are automatically disqualified from winning. Yes, you have to be able to win a gun fight in this game, but if you can't survive until you get to the only gun fight that matters, the last one, then all your crack shots and recoil control and hard-won loot and teamwork are just practice. You have to win. On whatever terms the game lays out for you. Discounting survival because it isn't glamorous is a big mistake.
IMO, treating gun fights as a means to an end is, in my experience, a winning mind set. Treating gun fights like entertainment, as if they're the whole game, or the only part of the game that is fun or that matters, is why so many people actively suck at this game.
- @reconzero Umm, I don't think we are really at odds here. It seems like you think what I mean by aggressive is to just run up to everything and start shooting? That's not what I mean at all. You can still be smart at what fights you take and how you fight, like using cover for instance. And there are times when engagement is not the best play, like when you have bad positioning.
I've had teammates who want to hide on top of some roof somewhere instead of participating. Half the match is basically just sitting there and then when the fights come our way they pretty much die instantly. I believe that is because they avoid fights instead of talking them thereby never actually getting better at the game. I would rather have 5 kills and die than wait 15 min, kill nothing or maybe 1-2 players and win, it just does not feel satisfying.
Anyhow,
"Unless their less aggressive buddies have higher win rates."
Well, like I said to someone else earlier, passive play can and will only get you so far. Maybe someone can have a decent win rate, for now, but eventually they will be surpassed by people who has more experience in fights. Every player in comp knows this. Even hot drops aren't a bad thing if your goal is to get better at fighting.
"Sell to your audience (see "young and dumb" above)."
Sell what exactly? It's just a showcase of what's possible. Some things literally exist to compliment fighting. Again, we would not have these awesome movement speeds and abilities if the intended way to play was to go camping. 🙂
Just to sum up - aggressive does not have to mean dumb or reckless. But in order to progress a person HAS to start taking more fights eventually.- @Unitee01
"...aggressive does not have to mean dumb or reckless."
Yup, we're very close to being on the same page.
You're right that aggressive play doesn't always mean reckless... but in my lobbies it usually does. And it's largely the kids you're describing. They're not trying to be dumb, they're just trying to get some experience. They're throwing everything at the wall to see what sticks. And I can appreciate that, but this is a "not on my time" situation.
"But in order to progress a person HAS to start taking more fights eventually."
Right again, but it is a question of easing into fights at one's own pace, not at the pace of the diamond-level double stack I just got paired with for no good reason. Not that this bothers me now, but it sure did back in season five. And this IS the way this game so often works.
"Maybe someone can have a decent win rate, for now, but eventually they will be surpassed by people who has more experience in fights."
Here I have to say again, this is rank-think. This is only true IF you play ranked and IF you genuinely believe that anyone can make it to predator if they just want it bad enough or work hard enough or buy the right strike pack or whichever. I can't. I won't. And I'm not interested in trying. I'll take my sbmm matches and play it cool and win way more than my gun skills should allow, because this game has sbmm. Whatever others may claim to the contrary.
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The problem with the idea of constant improvement, as I see it, is twofold. First: there is a performance ceiling for each and every one of us. Do I really want to bleed out my eyeballs to get to my true potential just to discover that it's low platinum? And Second: Wherever that ceiling may turn out to be, once you get there sbmm is designed to make sure that you don't have even one minute to feel satisfied or proud. It will, with great haste and assuredness, find many many players who can wipe the floor with you no matter how good you get. So where is the incentive to grind ever upward knowing that you'll never reach the top, and that the higher you go the harder you'll have work for every single inch of ground and every single bullet you fire? My daddy always said, "Work harder, not smarter." No! Wait! He never once said that in his life and neither has any smart person I know!- @reconzero So you're basically saying you are worried that if you play differently or improve the mm will ruin the game for you because you'll get harder lobbies? Theoretically that should already be the case if you've been playing this long. Either way, both scenarios sound kinda equally bad for me tbh :/ What's the point of playing if you're only interested in getting easy wins the easy way in the easy lobbies? The pride or enjoyment you speak of is gained by beating the odds which aren't in your favor, that's the point, at least for me anyway. I played very passively back in season 3 but it eventually just made the game feel dead to me and it always bothered me to know I couldn't really take fights head on. And if you think about it all the game really is is a series of 1v1's, in a way. But hey, I'm not here to judge you or tell you what to do or how to play, it's not really the point of the discussion. It's just my perspective. You do you 🙂
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