The new drop system in ranked sucks

That was a good read.

"I don't like guardrails either, but we have to have them so we can be and do better individually, which helps us collectively."

There are political philosophies which correspond to your train of thought and I'm very sorry to say that I subscribe to most of them... just not in the case of this game! What that says about my character or the coherence and consistency of my politics, or my gaming, I can't really say, and am not too sure I want to find out!

But seriously, there's not a lot above that I can disagree with. Except to say this: The CoD reference wasn't lost on me. It wasn't the first title to have the game play one way in ranked and differently in pubs, and it won't be the last any more than will Apex. But it's another thing I dislike about this game, probably mostly on aesthetic grounds, but also on some practical points. Aesthetically, I'm a big believer in "the game is the game." In other words, I have enough to learn, to remember, to think about, and to do in this game without having to learn two similar but different modes. It's tedious and to be honest, yet another feature of ranked that drives me away from the mode. Which, as we've both said, is fine. Horses for courses, is the expression I think. But then I find myself asking whether the developer should be making decisions that divide the player base to that degree. And this is the practical issue I have with these changes: Is it really good for any player to feel "unwelcome" (for lack of a better expression) in some particular mode? Is it good for the game overall if some players suddenly can't find enough ways to play to keep them entertained and then wander off to Fortnite or Warzone? And, my perennial favorite question, which I ask always because it's always a serious issue: If these changes make some players happier and others unhappy enough to leave, even if they don't leave the game and only leave the mode, then how far can the dev afford to let the population drop and still maintain the integrity of skill-based matchmaking? I say it's a serious issue because sbmm in this game is already compromised in a thousand different ways, and changing modes in ways that bleed players is never a good thing. I'm not saying we know that ranked is bleeding players. I don't know that at all. In fact this season's changes may be having quite the opposite effect and bring back players who previously gave up on ranked at one point or another. But it's still the kind of thing I think about a lot, because a lot of the time I'm in matches with enemies who move and shoot like they're playing some other game I never even heard of. Players who edge me out are one thing. Players who obliterate me in half a clip from an automatic from the other side of the map before I can even make their position... that's a sign of a lot of things, and one of them is very, very low-functioning sbmm. I guess I'm just saying I'd rather they didn't make a bad situation worse in an attempt to improve some other situation. Especially when I don't personally feel it needed improvement to begin with.

Anyhow, it's always nice to get your input. Keep up the good work.