Re: Who else thinks this is the beginning of the end?

I get what you mean re the novelty wearing off, but that's not what is making the game 'unfun' right now, at least for me. There was a definite change in the number of players that literally laser me down and can shoot dead on with no aim or recoil issues, seemingly from any distance since season 20. It's not the win or lose that makes a game fun, it's the being able to play it and participate and that is what is missing now.

Same feeling here, season 20 was the worst for me too. But that's just the peak, the degradation started at least 2 - 3 seasons ago.

Almost 90% of my games, on Xbox, were full of no-recoil/* aim and crouch spamming in this season. It always existed yeah but now it has reached a stupidly high amount of this *. 
I struggled finishing it, only a few days before it ends and almost exclusively in mixtape farming painfully "play X times/do X damages with ..."

Haven't played a single game in season 21 and don't even planning to. Even thinking about finally uninstalling it. Season 20, 5 years, those are good numbers to finally end it all.

Anyway to answer the question, I think it started to die a few seasons back and that's why we only have all the cheaters/try harders left.
And that their communication seems less impactful and more discreet than a few seasons ago, that the solo finally returns only at this moment, like they no longer knew what to do to stimulate their game.

Of course, I mean dying in number of players, and healthy players. I think that economically on the other hand, with the whales, it can still live for a good while yet 😉

@ZigoSid "Same feeling here, season 20 was the worst for me too. But that's just the peak, the degradation started at least 2 - 3 seasons ago."

S14 Hunted (Vantage's introduction) was absolutely horrible and looking back that was the start of the slide. Became really noticeable S18 and then just drove off the cliff S20, for me anyways.