Aaron Mibab 11: Apex Legends (part 4)

 Those who have looked at my last 3 blog posts (or spent time with me in person) may be wondering “How the ***** can someone keep on talking about Apex Legends???!” Well, JOKES ON YOU I AM JUST GETTING STARTED! YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT I AM CAPABLE OF!  I WAS UP AT 4 AM DURING THANKSGIVING PLAYING! MY OPINIONS AND LOVE FOR THIS GAME ARE STRONGER THAN YOU COULD HAVE EVER IMAGINED THERE IS NO ESCAPE (cackles with evil)!

Anyways, in this blog, I will be concluding my discussion of the issues plaguing Apex legends, the future of this game, the community backlash, and my hope for the future. 

Apex Legends SBMM (skilled based match-making) is used in order to ensure the new players don’t get curb stomped too quickly and quit. It is also used to ensure current players do not quit. Unfortunately (or fortunately) Apex doesn’t actually use SBMM, it uses EOMM/EBMM (engagement optimized/based match-making) in order to ensure players don’t quit. A large portion of Apex’s EOMM is SBMM so people refer to the system as either. The issue is that many good/better players are saying that in “pubs” (public unranked matches) SBMM should not be applied as ranked exists for people to be fighting others of the same rank/skills. This has been a point of complaint for a very long time with rare attempts at rectifying the problem. Personally, I have not had large issues with SBMM recently as my perceived skill is improving but ask me a month or two ago and I would be outraged ready for change. My only quarrel with the system is that when I play alone, I end up paired with people worse than me and placed to fight people better than I am, leaving me with bad teammates and me doing most of the work (in damage, kills, non-quantifiable ways, or generally). I know someone whose skill has placed him in a difficult situation as he is discouraged from playing due to the effort he needs to put into every game he plays leaving him extremely frustrated and leaving it difficult for me to play with him as his lobbies are a bit too hard for me. 

Apex legends also suffers from an issue known as smurfs. Smurfs are people who make new accounts to abuse SBMM and play against (and easily beat) new players. New accounts have no record so these incredibly talented players are performing well. Although improvements exist, the problem is definitely present as I am often faced against level 20’s with movement and skill much higher than mine (around level 240). Level is more an indicator of time played than skill but more time spent playing should result in skill improvement. I am happy that new players do not have to face these bullies (after a bit), but it doesn’t mean that I am capable as they move up to more accurately place these lazy players. 

Apex Legends has experienced some of the lowest player counts on steam since it was made available on steam. Despite the addition of a new map, many players are claiming the game is feeling boring. Streaming and videos regarding the game have been performing poorly relative to success a little bit ago for much less. This could be due to the release of new games creating fresh competition with players’ eventual return. The upcoming (now released) winter gamemodes and cosmetics were meant to revitalize the game but the community has made clear that the recycled and annual Winter express was becoming old. I love winter express but it seems like there is a lack of effort because it is largely the same mode as its initial release. Additionally, Apex has begun the pattern of releasing $160 items (heirloom skins) every three months with the content required to unlock the heirloom skin being re-skins thus not validating the absurd price. The EA greed is reappearing and the comments to the Wintertide trailer are hilarious along with the video being ratio’ed with a majority dislike. I hope winter express brings back more of the player base because I need my breaks from studying to contain apex. 

Finally, I believe/hope Apex will revitalize as now multiple developers have confirmed that something big is coming. The newest tweet regarding the topic by Samy Duc has confirmed that SBMM will change this or next month. A tweet by Garret uses google trends to show that “interest in Apex dies every November/December and” starts rising in the new year. This could also explain the loss of players. More importantly, the rise matches the time for the changes thus leading to the possibility of a grand revitalization.

What are your thoughts on the state of Apex right now or on Apex as a whole?

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