Not sure what you mean by "Reporting works you just gotta remember that they're gonna ban players once they reliably have a fix for whatever cheat is used.".
From my experience there are two types of bans that are applied (not in Apex, in general):
1. automated ones = scripts, processes that detect software running and messing with the game
2. manual = players are reported a lot -> person joins their game, sees what is going on, makes expert decision even when from software side nothing is flagged
As you mentioned and as it is publicly available online - lately hacks went from software to more complicated hardware side and for games like Apex where loads of processing takes place locally it opens Pandora's box of opportunities to hack while basically 0 chance for devs to detect this stuff.
So imo manual reviews are must have. Yes, they are time consuming if we talk about 600000 player base. At the same time if you dedicate 20 min per each top 100 PRED player = 2000 min = 33h = basically 1 full working week for 1 person to review at least one game for each of 100 PREDs. For huge company as EA I see no problem employing a few experts who are dedicated to such process just to keep things legit at the top level and avoid current situation where:
1. streamers feed "fake news" while abusing system themselves
2. pros / Preds set fake unattainable standard for players -> people with low self-esteem / ego are tempted to hack to reach the same result they are seeing because in most cases what they are seeing are hacks
3. we hear time and time again that higher ranked lobbies become hackers vs hackers playground - first it was Asia, then Oceania, now imo it is EMEA's time (servers went form some hackers here and there to basically at least one hacker team per EVERY game lately after you reach D4+ lobbies)...
Maybe EA has made a call that saving money, resources and leaving situation unattended is worth it, but for me as a player experience regarding this is just the worst since season 7 when I started playing and I have 0 motivation to spend any money on the game or give it any positive reviews just because of this fact = it is hell for legit competitive players.
So the ban thing pertains to banwaves. If you just ban the guy instantly upon detection that guy will go to the cheat creator and they can patch the cheat. BUT if you get everyone rounded up in one big banwave once you patch the exploit they use to cheat then you can effectively wipe out an entire operation. Think squishing individual ants vs setting up those colony killer traps to deal with infestations at home.
Manual reviews would be a thing, but you have limited capacity to do so. It's why we had the overwatch program in CSGO they wanted to get player input, which also then would help feed into their VAC detection system. Another thing to consider is that it isnt just money saving its time. Apex is a HUGE game and that means a LOT of manual reviews of not just top players but even the basic guys. So if we do the whole 100 players for 1 match taking a week... that's still 1 week for ONE match. You'd want to get as much data as possible and Apex its very easy to do 10 matches in a day with how quick some can go, and for top level players that number is gonna be SIGNIFICANTLY higher.
Long story short is that they're more than likely already doing everything they can, and a lot of it is down to developing new ways to detect like with the DMA stuff which means a wider net of cheaters get caught up. Players while understandably frustrated, need to understand that cheating will be a forever war of sorts with banwaves taking time as you want to get as many of the rascals as possible. Manual reviews ARE a thing, but you can't solely dedicate resources to a blanket number of players, but rather go off of reports, so do those cause they do work.
Ok thanks for the clarification, I see your point and point in banwaves. BUT with one addition - it makes sense if in that banwave they ban people with various exploits not just a lot of people with the same one. If latter is true I don't see why people should not be banned as soon as detected to avoid them running lobbies, ruining game for legit players, eventually getting perks for achievements, monetizing that factor before ban happens.
As for the manual review - my point is to actually focus on higher rank players first as that's where it matters imo.
Like there are so many fanboys of Preds, everyone wants to get at least Masters and flex, while most people like that don't realize / see how bluntly those players hack. Sure some has very good teamwork and game awareness, sure many have very good (like way above average mechanics) at the same time it is much easier to farm and pretend to be a Pred if you have those + you add wh/softbot and just emulate what we see in streams e.g. talking with chat, not paying any attention to the game yet come up with best rotations, spot enemies at the right time, hit shots when it matters etc.
For me as I see it: newcomer comes in, looks at top level (game awareness like crazy, no recoil on no guns, much higher accuracy with any weapon and range), newcomer stats playing and is nowhere near the level, trains and still is not there -> many will quit because game is too hard, many will go to dark side because they want the same thing as Preds. Especially these days where you can make 5 figures per month streaming...
If top people would be banned ASAP that would lower currently hack boosted skill level / decrease number of players in that bracket -> that would make game more tolerable + people would have good, attainable result not those fake natties.
As for Respawn doing all they can - not sure and current (same as previous) ladder is proof to that:
- my ladder contains smurfs that occupy wait for it.... tier 1 bracket
- scores are crazy high if you average per 10 games like 300+ points each... especially for low level player...
- previous ladder people had like 35 kill average games and were not instabanned
Like come on... Glad they at least insta-reacted to rage hacks, that's really the only positive I have seen so far.
I might not be gifted but I have like 10k+ hours in the game, can play every legend, can read rotations quite welll, many say I am really good IGL, I have spent like 150+ hours in aim trainer, done my fair share of firing range => I am still getting D4-D2 at most and can't win most of my 1v1s at D4+ lobbies, Preds just roll over me and I clearly see why, meanwhile an odd 16-20k Master will be matched with me on the team and I am in pretty much every way better... like go figure :) unless it is clear, provable hacks.
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