s27 soloQ ranked at it's worst

Either you are one of those fanboys of Preds or cheater like them yourself.

Because if you would have invested time in ranked / matchmaking history in Apex you would see that since season 20 or even a bit before that (related to hacking part) Respawn changed A LOT:

1. streamers / pros cried about queue times and the fact that their lobbies are too hard for them = competition hard and they basically threatened to stop grinding, streaming, attracting attention = Respawn not only deleted 1.5 Tier protection (there was no way you get Preds in Plat lobbies a long while ago, you started seeing Preds from like D3/2), but also created this matchmaking that distributes preds in various servers from the same region vs putting them into the same game = you basically never see game these days where server has like 15 Pred squads...at most it will be close to 10 and given new system in most cases Preds will be in 3stack with some lower ranked Diamonds to dumb down lobbies even more, rarely you will see multiple current 3stack top Preds going vs other 3stack top Preds in bunches
2. as even Imperialhal himself said on a record even he would have 0% !!!! chance in soloq Pred lobbies -> why some random soloqing sweat would get into such lobbies as soloqer? It is not about being difficult, it is about being IMPOSSIBLE. Say you do some running and people time to time put you vs Usain Bolt or Eliud Kipchoge like just for fun to see how you do...yet in D4+ lobbies every like 5th game these days is like that
3. and most of all those Preds are not godlike and far from being able to do those 15+ KP games one after another because they all use hacks or booster - look at Zeus in YT and you see stuff more clearly. I bet you sit down Pros vs sweaty random grinders in LAN and run free for all solo lobby = results would be shocking

Hackers should play vs hackers and matchmaking should be stats based period, there is no way besides EBMM logic to put a person in D4 or below after losing 5 games badly into lobby even with one Pred squad! THERE JUST IS NO LOGIC.

I agree that not everyone is entitled to Masters or Diamonds or even Gold, yet progress "hitting the wall" should be GRADUAL. Currently... I go from ripping people apart and doing like 5-8 kills ON AVERAGE in Gold lobbies, to get humbled by hackers in Plat who do there 10+ kills, if I grind for weeks and get past Plat mainly because hackers being on my team (had like 2 today where dudes were doing like 10-15 kills pushing everyone) or playing during times when they are not that active (during the day, for sure not at nights) -> you get to see Diamond+ / Preds where you feel instantly like nub... there should be some middle ground and gradual progression not this bs.

But it has been like that for ages. When I started I first managed to soloq to like P2 or P1, then I discovered LFG discord and got better at the same time -> D4 was no problem for me. Then I got 3stack for 1 month and we went from G2 to D4 in 3 days! and then hit such a wall that people got upset and left, scenario repeats till this day...people are just tired of being cannonball meat for Preds/Masters/Hackers thus you see more and more soloqing, increase number of smurfs (legit players during season middle/end can play vs legit players only in P4 or lower) and fall of overall player base me included.