I tried taking a break after my last remaining friends gave up on Apex due to terrible SBMM and cheating Smurf scum. I honestly thought a couple of weeks away would be enough to refresh me after over 3 years of this situation worsening, along with a new game mode to try….. I was wrong, this game is not a place for your average player anymore. It’s always been iffy on the SBMM but now it feels completely busted, every match is filled with diamonds/masters and preds, these people are so far above my skill lvl it’s completely pointless playing. The new mode is definitely enjoyable but sadly it took a very short period of time before the lobbies started filling with the same lvl of players from BR. It’s no fun being constantly killed by someone crouch spam jumping everywhere whilst hitting nearly every shot. I love Apex but I’m done until I get confirmation that Respawn have improved both SBMM and Smurfing, with a player base as large as Apex they should be able to find me a decent 60 player matchup far more often than the current not at all! I know we live in a different generation of gaming, everybody sweating to become the next big streamer etc, but it really shouldn’t be this bad, just feels like a lack of giving a damn on Respawns part. So on that note I have to stop playing and spending as it’s the only thing that ultimately gets any attention from the likes of developers and EA. Good luck to the people still getting enjoyment from the game whilst playing on genuine accounts, no ill feelings.

I think you make some valid points! I'm not so sure it's the matchmaking that's the real problem. I just feel like apex is no longer a place for either the casual or solo experience. Between the 3-stacks, the smurfs and the hackers, and all of these things contributing to the rage quitters, without a regular team to roll with, I find less and less reason to play, let alone keep funding the cosmetics etc. I don't see a solution though... this is the world gaming now. We've lost sight of why we used to play games, for the fun of it. Now everything, and I do mean EVERYTHING, has to be a competition. And yes, this is a BR, so this game thrives on competition... but what it lacks is sportsmanship. Ok... I'll go back to my old-man corner now and pull out my Atari!

@IdleHandsNo1Apex doesn’t use SBMM, it uses EBMM. Check out this vid: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=8Dzxkmcs8MEI much rather have SBMM than EBMM, but they think it’s a better way to retain players, even tho EBMM results in unhappy players.

@swift07I call it PBMM: Performance based matchmaking. And I’m fairly certain it works on a ladder system.The issue is: Going up the ladder is super easy (just one game can put you in a lobby where 80-90% of the players are Diamond to Pred). But going back down the ladder takes much longer and requires really poor performances (depending on the account, it can take up to 30 matches with no damage and no top 5 placements to get knocked down into easier lobbies). THIS is a huge issue. It’s a horrible system for a non-ranked mode.

@KelRiever Ironically, the Apex MM punishes people who play with their friends even if they are bad players. I am a below average player and play with two friends who are also fairly bad. We get destroyed by high ELO players, mostly in three stacks, when we queue together as a premade almost without fail. When I queue together with my buddy who is a masters player? Forget it. I literally -have- to solo Q to not have my KDR completely dumpstered by group matchmaking. My high skill bud has been coaching me this season via screen share. He keeps detailed stats. My KDR in those games is over 2, while my season KDR, including all those games with my friends, is .68. I gave up playing with my high skill buddy on my main account. I play on an alt, and my KRD there is, I believe, below .4.

I wonder how the MM engine deals with me. I probably confuse it alot, as I am probably #1 most leaving player EU. 🤭 I even left a Gun Run when we were leading 23-16-14-13 because some crouch spam kid ****** me off.

No longer a place for regular players

35 Replies

swift07
3 years ago
@IdleHandsNo1Apex doesn’t use SBMM, it uses EBMM. Check out this vid: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=8Dzxkmcs8ME
I much rather have SBMM than EBMM, but they think it’s a better way to retain players, even tho EBMM results in unhappy players.
JfrognB75
3 years ago
I think you make some valid points! I'm not so sure it's the matchmaking that's the real problem. I just feel like apex is no longer a place for either the casual or solo experience. Between the 3-stacks, the smurfs and the hackers, and all of these things contributing to the rage quitters, without a regular team to roll with, I find less and less reason to play, let alone keep funding the cosmetics etc. I don't see a solution though... this is the world gaming now. We've lost sight of why we used to play games, for the fun of it. Now everything, and I do mean EVERYTHING, has to be a competition. And yes, this is a BR, so this game thrives on competition... but what it lacks is sportsmanship. Ok... I'll go back to my old-man corner now and pull out my Atari!
Anonymous
3 years ago
Why do you think EA cares about anyone who is not a giga-sweaty pro streamer?
Axs5626Sxa5001
3 years ago
@swift07I call it PBMM: Performance based matchmaking. And I’m fairly certain it works on a ladder system.

The issue is: Going up the ladder is super easy (just one game can put you in a lobby where 80-90% of the players are Diamond to Pred). But going back down the ladder takes much longer and requires really poor performances (depending on the account, it can take up to 30 matches with no damage and no top 5 placements to get knocked down into easier lobbies). THIS is a huge issue.

It’s a horrible system for a non-ranked mode.
Unitee01
3 years ago
@swift07 The last part of that video rings true for me. I think this is where I went wrong. I kept "powering through" the hard games until I got a win and then quit. So I was basically teaching the algorithm to give me more experiences like that and as time went on the wins just became more and more scarce and I would end up playing longer. Problem is you are
then never satisfied and you basically get addicted to it. Getting good with the weapons and doing firing range for countless hours didn't help either because the lobbies just got harder as I improved. Which btw makes me wonder what stats really mean and if you could accurately judge a player on it? As he mentioned, the software is programmed to think challenging = fun because of the long hours I played, but that was hardly the case. It almost became a part time job and a full time obsession. At this point I don't see a reason to continue either, what's the point of quitting early so I can get a better experience in the long run? I mean, I came to play, not try and manipulate the software. Might as well invest my time in something else then.

I feel like they did so much right and with just a little bit of tweaking this game could have been the goat but yeah..here we are. And the other guy is right, you need a full team, solo just ain't worth it.
Unitee01
3 years ago
@Axs5626Sxa5001 Agree. I feel that with the amount of players available and the state of things they might as well just remove the mm and let everyone fend for themselves. I think we would still have a better time in comparison.
swift07
3 years ago
@JfrognB75 for sure. I think people who usually play ranked are spending more time playing pubs because of the new rank changes from season 13 and 14, resulting in more 3 stacks. As for smurfs, I'm sure it's increased a lot because of how sweaty pubs have gotten.

Basically, you can blame everyone on rank changes 🙂
swift07
3 years ago
@Axs5626Sxa5001 It's EBMM, engagement based matchmaking and it's basically set up for you to lose a majority of your games. The technical director of Apex explains it on the video.
swift07
3 years ago
@Unitee01 yep, exactly. As it explains on the vid, people are likely to continue playing a game if they kept losing because it's challenging. On the flipside, people who win (dominate), will get bored because the game doesn't provide them enough of a challenge, so they move on to other games. So bascially, you are not likely to keep dominating lobbies because it will just get more difficult.
CCbathwater
Seasoned Ace
3 years ago
I wonder how the MM engine deals with me. I probably confuse it alot, as I am probably #1 most leaving player EU. 🤭 I even left a Gun Run when we were leading 23-16-14-13 because some crouch spam kid ****** me off.