Forum Discussion

ChemicalRelay's avatar
ChemicalRelay
3 years ago

I only hear negative voices now around Apex…

Lots of people play Apex. Play count is up and down, we hit some lows in the early part of this season but to me that was the OW2/COD MWII/WZ2 effect. Player count is rising again as people move away from those new titles and back to Apex. 

Yet everywhere all I see is negativity. Some maybe be “constructive criticism” but regardless of that being the case it is always from a negative angle no matter how subtle that may be.

Some of play Apex pretty much every day, have done since the beginning and continue to so that being the case, surely it isn’t all that bad.

It’s the best BR out there imo and although that can sometimes be attributed to it’s uniqueness - there are no other BR’s really copying the Apex formula - it also just comes down to how this game plays VS others. The speed and fluidity of movement etc is what sets it aside and no other game has that level of energy about it; everything else seems clunky and stuttering. 

With so many people playing daily it just pains me to inly ever see complaints. Yes, things need fixing/changing (matchmaking being one of those things) and we are still to get our promised next-gen console quality improvements and cross-prog (devs maybe shot their shot a little too soon with these things so we expected it a lot sooner than now, and I personally am also waiting for these things eagerly). I get that things take time but these things are critical and certainly require a higher precedence than they are getting - they are way more important than more cosmetics.

All this being said though, we still play daily - right? A lot of us do. So seeing everything being so downbeat all of the time from the community (and others outside of the community that just love to spend their time hating on everything because that’s how they get their kicks in life). Fact is, even with things little needing a fix and changes & updates being required the game is still generally really enjoyable and I pretty much play nothing else and there has to be something in that. 

A lot of content creators are now imo just finding really innocuous things each day to complain about or finding new ways to complain about the same old things - adding new, tenuously opinion-based critiques just because it’s a formula that earns them views and ad revenue and it’s so tiring and tedious. I almost feel embarrassed for some of them and their obvious over-reaching to come up with something - anything at all! - to feed their viewers with something else to whinge about. So many people nowadays just love to complain. About literally everything. Everything is a problem. If it isn’t, they’ll find a way to make it one. It’s tiring.

I’m just going to keep on playing and enjoying Apex for what it is and I’ll keep looking forward to new improvements. 

I do get irony of me complaining about the amount of complaining before anyone wants to jump on that (I can imagine some people with champ at the bit to disagree and ridicule this post) but I am complaining about something that happens all day, every day and it is something that is way tougher to have to observe than the things we see in-game that need a fix. I’d like to see this attitude of negativity and complaining nerfed before anything else.

Also, just as a side-note; a few things I’d love to see that I have really wanted to see for a long time that would improve the game too.

1. The ability to set a “Top 3 Favourite Legends” so that if someone choose your fave, it auto selects your second, then your third choice so we don’t end up being auto-assigned a legend we don’t want to play. So easy to implement considering we already have a favouriting system for skins (the ability to set 3 faves and the ability to re-order them)

2. Functionality to “apply to all” for badges so you can apply them to every legend in the same slot if you want to.

3. 3rd Party Boon. A much bigger piece of work of course and maybe not something all would agree on but to help stop the “constant” 3rd partying - if you getting into a fight and you SQUIPE the opposing team, you receive a short term ‘Boon’ that’s regen-heals health and shields for let’s say 5 secs and maybe even a 3 sec invulnerability so 3rd partying requires a more strategic thought-process before getting involved rather than just “Go! We need to 3rd party this!”. Teams 3rd partying would still have an advantage the majority of the time but maybe not as often as they do right now and also not as much of an advantage either. Also a further points-amendment for 3rd partying in ranked to reduce the amount of points a little more earned from jumping in and finishing other teams’ fights. I’d assume this would be contentious for some players, some would not agree at all but would be great to hear people’s thought’s on this or something similar.

Anyway, that’s just my thoughts and I’m happy to get it off my chest tbh.

tl;dr? I’m complaining about the amount of complaining.

discussion

54 Replies

  • Gabrielmojo26's avatar
    Gabrielmojo26
    Seasoned Ace
    3 years ago

    Just curious, how long have you been playing Apex for, as in season 1, 9,13....

  • hayhor's avatar
    hayhor
    Hero
    3 years ago
    @ChemicalRelay Well said on the complaining. Unfortunately even the people that constantly complain play every day. My theory is this- Many of the people complaining have done so for a long time so they've hit their skill ceiling. And many do not want to accept that. So they die or don't do well and then complain. You see it in here daily.

    If the game is as bad as some would have you believe, why do they still play it? Addiction? Is it really not as bad as they say? My view is a person's mental state is entirely up to them. If they want to be negative they'll be negative. We have people in here that continuously post negative stuff but when I bring a counter argument and actual information and data they won't talk about it. They'd much prefer other miserable people join them to feel better about themselves. I feel sorry for them. I've been there with other games and remember how miserable I was.

    As for your ideas- I like the first 2 but not the last. 3rding is a part of a BR. Knowing how to minimize the chances you will be 3rded is a skill. Taking clean, quick fights is a skill. I see way too many people trying to farm damage and then complaining about someone rolling up on them.
  • HappyHourSumwur's avatar
    HappyHourSumwur
    Seasoned Ace
    3 years ago

    @ChemicalRelayYeah, the tone of the media coverage on the internet and in the community in general has gotten really negative recently. The internet has always skewed negative and is the land of trolls, but it does seem to be bad ATM.
    1 & 2) A long list of good ideas for QOL features has been around forever. Check the stickied post here. That's the problem...good ideas from years ago haven't even been talked about. Huge opportunity to make the game better that doesn't seem to be on Respawn's radar.
    3) Third parties are a core element of BR. You just have ton learn how to be the one third partying and avoid or defend against them. That's where LTM's come in to give you a break from them while still playing Apex.

  • LaughingSharko's avatar
    LaughingSharko
    3 years ago
    @ChemicalRelay If you hear voices around Apex, that's probably a bad sign...

    Seriously, though, is this so surprising? The game's Steam charts are continually descending, which means a large number of people aren't "still playing every day."

    The ones who do come to the forums to say why they're not happy. Isn't that a good thing? Which is better for the company: that someone leaves without saying why or sticks around while saying why they're thinking of leaving?

    People who enjoy the gameplay can still disagree with the direction the game is taking or its priorities. Also, you could say there's a big problem when a large number of people who used to play for hours every day for the fun of it now only log in for 30 minutes, finish the battle pass and then go on to a different game. That's not being negative, it's being realistic about the state of the game.

    Take this collection event as a case in point. There's no doubt that something hugely different has happened: The devs have chosen to include recolors of past skins while charging a premium for them, something that hasn't happened before. The backlash is a direct result of this decision, not as if tons of players suddenly went from "love Apex" to "hate Apex" unprovoked.
  • ChemicalRelay's avatar
    ChemicalRelay
    3 years ago

    @hayhor Great reply mate. Nicely put. Totally understand your POV, well explained. My thing with 3rd partying thing is that it’s almost become some folks “only” strat. 3rd partying would always be a thing but to have to consider jumping into one just that litttle bit more before launching into it would make the strategic side of it a bit more interesting and also give the weakened team that’s just been doggedly scrapping against another a fighting in chance of countering the 3rd party threat. 3rd partying absolutely has to be part of the game, it is truly part of the make-up of BR’s and Apex itself but just that little tweak to make it a bit less of a simple task would be refreshing.

    (Oh, and on the skill ceiling thing - I’ve hit my ceiling and I’m still absolutely dog-water at the game anyway 😃 Hard-stuck plat Solo-Q right here lol. Never the less, even with that I still don’t get fed up with it)

  • ChemicalRelay's avatar
    ChemicalRelay
    3 years ago

    @HappyHourSumwur Totally. I think some of the decision-making around task-priority has absolutely led to a lot of the negative noise we hear around Apex. It’s just gotten a “bit much” in the last few months especially. Just seems a bit of shame but probably because I just still enjoy the game so much myself. It’s like I’m almost starting to take the constant complaining personally haha 😃

    And yeah, I get the 3rd partying thing being part of the game. I explained a little further in my reply to someone just above 👍

  • Kyldenar's avatar
    Kyldenar
    Seasoned Ace
    3 years ago
    @LaughingSharko wrote:
    @ChemicalRelayIf you hear voices around Apex, that's probably a bad sign...

    Seriously, though, is this so surprising? The game's Steam charts are continually descending, which means a large number of people aren't "still playing every day."

    The ones who do come to the forums to say why they're not happy. Isn't that a good thing? Which is better for the company: that someone leaves without saying why or sticks around while saying why they're thinking of leaving?

    I admit part of the reason I stick around is I love the lore/setting of the Titanfall/Apex universe. It reminds me a lot of the Battletech Universe without the suspension of disbelief you have to make for the Succession Wars and the sheer size of Battlemechs (Looking at you Atlas, you take a step and physics says you fall apart while the surrounding area gets hit with a shockwave like 30 tons of TNT went off).

    Apex is not really expanding too much more on the after affects of the Militia / IMC war, but they do slip bits in there. And it seems like they are setting up groundworks for the next civil war in the area (Silva vs other Syndicate, maybe even a 3 way war with the rebel faction that Maggie started).

    And the movment/gunplay from Titanfall 2 was top notch, and it mostly carries over into Apex. I just wish it had single player content.

    @LaughingSharko wrote:
    People who enjoy the gameplay can still disagree with the direction the game is taking or its priorities. Also, you could say there's a big problem when a large number of people who used to play for hours every day for the fun of it now only log in for 30 minutes, finish the battle pass and then go on to a different game. That's not being negative, it's being realistic about the state of the game.

    Take this collection event as a case in point. There's no doubt that something hugely different has happened: The devs have chosen to include recolors of past skins while charging a premium for them, something that hasn't happened before. The backlash is a direct result of this decision, not as if tons of players suddenly went from "love Apex" to "hate Apex" unprovoked.

    Well, another reason a lot of us play less is the matchmaking. If I play regularly, the Matchmaking punishes me by making me fight Masters/Preds and the like in Pubs, when I have never gotten out of Bronze in Ranked. Admittedly, that is because I quickly gave up on Ranked as a solo player. But as I am a very causal player I expect I would still cap out somewhere in Silver.

    If I take a couple weeks off in between playing, it at least treats me like a "new player" for the first few matches, and I can feel like I am contributing. Maybe even get some decent kills.

    These online only multiplayer only games need to realize that casuals will NEVER turn it into a 2nd job with the games skill floor and ceiling, and make modes they can play and enjoy too if they really want retention.

    They really need to either add a single player or cooperative vs AI mode to this game for the casuals. Or finally reveal if this new PvE game they are working on is Apex Legends: Rebellion or Titanfall 3.

  • KelRiever's avatar
    KelRiever
    3 years ago

    Complaining and negativity is good.

    Seriously, first off, nobody needs a giant head.  But second, whether it is complaining or accolade, it's just a matter of being useful, and negativity, I hate to say, is generally a lot more useful.

    If someone wants to go on with telling Respawn what's good about their game and why, that's not just positive, it's useful.  Saying, "I think your R-301 is perfectly balanced (likely because it is the gun all the other guns are balance off of but moving on), then that's good.  Or that Mad Maggie's abilities are interesting and fun to play with, even if they might need a little tweaking and how, these things are useful. "I think your game is the best ever!" is nice, and a lot less useful.

    However, there is everything right and nothing wrong with saying, "Your ranked scoring system is terrible, and it's terrible because it encourages people to work less as a team, and is less fun, even though you say your goal is to make people work more as a team."  That's negative and absolutely needing to be said. And WAY better than, "Nuh, I think it's AWESOME!"

    I get on this because, sure, positivity is great.  But useful is even better.  And there is nothing wrong with useful negativity, which is how things get better.  Besides, no, it's not a customer's job to be a certain way, except if they want to be. On the other hand, a company producing a product, they should always want to do better.

    Is what I'm saying positive or negative? You decide :P