I am convinced

The skill distribution curve went live long before the server migration. And it has always shown just how pointless the "skill based" matchmaking in this game has become. I'm not saying I never get tight matches anymore, but they're few and far between. And the typical match is exactly like you said: bronze to predator. On the one hand I can almost believe the necessity given the steep drop in population. On the other hand, matches still take 30 seconds. That makes it clear that speed is always favored over accuracy. And I'm sure there are players of a certain mmr who might never get a match at all if they were forced to wait until there were enough of their own to fill a lobby. On the third hand, I don't really care how long a master tier player has to wait for a fair match, or if they ever get one at all. It's not my problem. Or at least it shouldn't be my problem except that Respawn has chosen to make it my problem with their bad matchmaking. So I respond by quitting out of lobbies with bronze-to-predator matchmaking. Fire with fire, as they say.

It literally doesn’t work. I’ll have maxed bar far right and get the most braindead teammates while I’m in pred lobbies. I’ve been complaining about this forever. I mean even ranked it’ll give you lower teammates and put you with preds.

Yes, I agree... and like you, I quit that match immediately. I don't care what the issues are for rEAspawn... I will never allow a master or pred to use me for a free kill because they are light years above my skill level. 

I only wish the devs at respawn would play this game so they themselves can be deleted in milliseconds match after match after match by the ones THEY have put up on the pedestal. But I'm going to assume none of them play it or want to. Which is why we have the garbage we have now. If you don't play the game you work on... how the hell are you supposed to know what to work on, fix, change et cetera - you can't possibly. 

I'll say it again... Respawn, you don't deserve to manage this once great game made by your predecessors. You all should feel ashamed. 

"I will never allow a master or pred to use me for a free kill"

That is the mainspring of my entire playstyle/personal meta. Everything I do in this game I do in order to avoid the games where matchmaking is non-existent, and when I finally do end up in a match like that then everything I do is done to avoid other players except by poking from a distance to see what it is I'm up against. Is it one solo, like me, or is it a full squad? Do they panic when they get poked or do they form up and counter in the blink of an eye? When they shoot at you are they doing it with an auto from a distance where they can't land a single bullet, or are they the guys who hit you with everything regardless of weapon, distance, or scope? I've learned to do this kind of math in a matter of a second or two... and I stay or leave based entirely on the calculation. The thing that galls me no end is how these guys will get a kill if they land even one single bullet and I quit out. I get why the dev does it that way, but it still irritates me no end.

I think the devs do play their own game. I think they know exactly to what extent the game is run by cheaters on the foreign servers, and cheaters and smurfs here at home. I'm sure they'd love to stop the problem, especially now as they've driven away most of the pros and creators. Smurfing they could stop tomorrow if they wanted to. Obviously they don't want to. The cheating problem seems to be a game to them. They execute their ban waves to much public fanfare and hype... only to have it provide the rocket fuel for the smurfing problem. It's a snake eating its own tail.

The only solution I can see is a new game. But that's no solution at all. Respawn has already outlined their plans for an Apex 2.0 and it's too little too late, and will do nothing to solve any of the problems that are currently destroying this game. And if we go play some other game... they're all bloated and dying in the sun with the exact same cheating problem this game has. I guess that means single-player games are the only possible future for gaming-with-integrity. In fact, when I've had enough of Apex crap matchmaking I usually unwind with a round of Halo/Reach firefight. Fifteen years old and still just as fresh and fun as it was back in the day. Why can't developers figure it out?

lol, I do the exact same. You can tell, like you said, in a second what you are up against. I'll also shoot at them and then start doing some duck strafing and slide jumping and if i'm getting popped without a miss by a sub from 100 meters away, I'm back in the lobby in seconds. 

If they can't hit grab, spraying all over the place, I stay in and play smart, position and strategic and use the match as practice. 

I don't believe any devs left actually play this game other than for testing purposes and as part of the job. I don't believe they play on days of rest for fun. No way. Maybe i'm wrong, but I just can't see it. 

They also support smurfing and have said multiple times its fine. Like you said once... what other reasons realistically does one smurf for in the first place. I know there are some legit reasons, such as playing with you child or for testing specific things. But in most cases they are created because the person is not farming anymore. And I agree, it doesn't matter what game you move to from here (multiplayer/competitive) the cheating is the same everywhere, every game. 

I have moved to the single player campaign games like God of War, and Flintlock, Ghost, Evil West, or the games like Helldivers where you can play with friends against the AI. 

I actually pulled out the old original Medal Of Honor for the PS one and MOH underground for PS one and re-played those both. Had a blast from the past. 

Fun fact... the aiming platform for MOH for PS one is far better than the one Overwatch uses today LOL.