Matchmaking DEV Recap

"Squad matchmaking looks at closest skill to fill out your squad."

I too would have said this was an out-and-out lie. Except that:

"They are a similar skill value based on the number and how we measure it."

Their skill assessment algorithm is deeply flawed and then add to that the fact that they are 100% correct that match goals, play style, etc. can make teammates with same mmr play the game in completely different ways. Which is why I think this:

"You dont need to know what we consider skill, thats common knowledge."

is completely untrue.

I have far too many squadmates who think I'm your Fuse until the final two when I down 2 out of 3 enemies and set up the third for my squadmates. It isn't that I don't know what to do. I just won't do it until it suits me. And that attitude is absolutely endemic at my end of the skill spectrum, though it mostly plays out in the opposite way: squadmates who actively seek enemies and push them even though one or both squadmates are somewhere else. That solo pusher is doing what suits him when it suits him even though I have zero doubt that he knows what the outcome will be. Play style. Match goals. They mean a lot in this game unless you're knocking on Masters where you really do have to stack and play the meta. Which is where ""You dont need to know what we consider skill, thats common knowledge" becomes true. Below that level though, it's a free for all where some players have amazing mechanical skills and zero game sense, while others understand strategy perfectly but can't hit the broadside of a barn when it's time to shoot. And that's why skill assessment fails and teams of "similar skill" end up looking like The Village People and acting they're not even playing the same game. Because they really aren't.

r1ggedgame​ first of all by now it is publicly voiced starting by Hiswattson (let's assume he is credible) that Apex does not have SBMM but EBMM, especially for past seasons when player count due to hacking etc. has dropped a lot it clearly makes sense, especially given how uncompetitive environment is, people complaining even by pub game matchups -> if SBMM would be a thing = games would become more "harder" and faster (adjust) = people would have to sweat = quit/complain/smurf/hacks.

I am not EA fan, but just to give a benefit of a doubt Apex maybe is taking it ok, maybe these people just had fall off game or did not try or whatever before finishing 5, 10, 20+ games with much better results. We can't see that unfortunately as Apex e.g. does not have their data sorted either so tracker of stats is buggy to say the least vs e.g. Riot's Valorant where you can actually see gazzilion of stats of each player who opts to make them available. So let's assume Apex is doing ok here ->

What this system in Apex would still fall short would be smurfing (like in most games it just messes up system too much), Apex is too passive to ban those players, have blurry criteria what even is smurfing -> if I see my games this season (grinding a lot) 10-15 players in D4+ level lobbies are under level 200 yet D4 in many cases D3+ which imo is clear indication of smurfing, 5-10 players will be even under level 100, sometimes even under indicated level 50? to be eligible for ranked and those 90% of a time hack as well. => so maybe system takes into account player level and your "**bleep**ty" teammate is aligned with smurfing (hacker) and thus game thinks it is ok.

Still even that is not enough to make conclusions, what you should need is complete picture at the end of each game:
- maybe you would see that most teams got "**bleep**ty" teammate or combination of "overall same skill" but in a different form
- you should look at top 5 squads and see how much better they were vs rest, what is happening now these top5 squads usually are like 2x better than everyone else in the lobby, ideal example how Preds get mostly Diamonds in their lobbies most of time, this is the worst imo what Apex did (feeding Preds fast queue times and easy pray, not to mention ignoring a more serious issue with Preds khm khm)

So overall ranked in Apex is just better version of Pubs = game where people at least sometimes try vs never at all try.

I personally just focus on my skill - see how well I read games, called rotations, how good my aim is. For the rest I don't care, game is too random = some seasons Masters is free to take, in some I hover between D3 and D1, in some I can't get out of D4 despite reaching it basically with 0 effort... ranked is just too random. Basically if you would go off the stats = if you are Diamond these days = you can play the game alright, if you get above D2 = you are good, way above average, closing in on territory you might consider going competitive, D1+ = you are either unique or you just hack / abuse the game :)