Season 18 ranked feedback: A sad attempt to maximize playtime :(
TL;DR: Season 18 ranked is a sad attempt by EA/Respawn to maximize playtime. It doesn't actually fix the issues in Season 17 ranked ☹️
Be honest with yourself. Ranked in Season 17 was a joke, and anyone who cared enough could get to Master's with ease. Now, it's the same, it just takes longer given the changes to LP distribution.
Look at the ranked progressions on ApexLegendsStatus.com. It's very clear that all ranks are just diminished by 2-3 placements. Point distributions have been lowered, but with a rat-playstyle, it's still easy to climb to Masters. With enough time, everyone will level out to their "correct" ranks - it's just a matter of "is it worth it"?
I had high hopes given how bad Season 17 was. FWIW, anything could have been better than having >1/3 of the playerbase end up in Master's. It was and is clearly obvious that whoever is designing ranked for this BR has a very limited understanding of how matchmaking can work across various tittles, and I'm inclined to believe they don't actually understand how to balance a BR's ranked system.
For whatever counterpoint you may have about Respawn being an at-least OK studio, I challenge you to consider that Respawn removed such a trivial feature - being able to see you teammates' ranks. Try to think like a dev - why would this be removed? Toxicity? It's still possible to view your teammates ranks via ApexLegendsStatus and also by inspecting their profiles. Yet they still took the time to remove this from "Squad" screen so you have to return to the main menu or exit the game to view this info. The info is still accessible, but why make it harder to access? Perhaps the consistent, fair criticism of Apex's poor matchmaking proved too much, so some PM though it be best to install barriers between seeing other player ranks to deter further matchmaking criticism. Until they claim otherwise with data-driven evidence, this POV makes the most sense. And FWIW, if ranked continues to remain the same, I'll gladly start tracking the ranks of my teammates and opponents to supplement this claim - I have no doubt in my mind that what I'm claiming is consistent with what I'd find. TBF, I don't actually blame the devs here - devs do the hard work to make this game what it is. It's the PM's/execs who should be flamed here. These are the people who make Respawn the disappointing studio it is today. These are the people who have ruined Apex Legends.
I love Apex, and I sincerely hope it improves as a game for all skill levels. That said, I wish nothing more than for a great game dev studio (please oh please Riot save us) to come along and create a better BR. Competition breeds improvement, which all parties can benefit from. As long as Apex remains the dominant BR, they have no reason to rectify the terrible state of the game they have come to.
