I like to think I’m pretty good at Apex Legends. THE extremely specific score tells me I’m the 16th best player on Horizon (for kills, in the UK, on PC), and I think I could have easily made Masters last season if it weren’t for a little game called Elden Ring. But look at my ranked game so far and you’d think I was completely mediocre, struggling as I am to get out of Silver.
Three days into season 13, and my Apex ego has been completely verified. But look around the scene and you will quickly realize that I am not alone.
Season 13, Salvadores, was relatively small compared to its predecessors. Just minor map changes for Storm Point, a new legend, with no new weapons and no new highlight mode like last season’s controller, you’d be forgiven for thinking Apex was slowing down a bit. But this season also came with an overhaul to ranked play.
Ranked reloads with the release of Apex Legends: Saviors! Check out the highlights below or read the developer blog to learn more about the changes.🔗: https://t.co/dvhKOZYyYW pic.twitter.com/x7GUYCwj7cMay 4, 2022
Many of these changes won’t make sense if you’re not familiar with ranked Apex, but here’s the gist of it. Kills and assists are pretty much useless if you’re not in the top 10, and the rewards for winning (or even reaching the top three) with a few kills, assists, or new “participation” points (kills your team did that you didn’t help ) are more profitable than they used to be.
It’s a change intended to make Apex play less like a 20-team deathmatch and more like a battle royale, something Respawn said in detail. Ranked reloaded blog post. Hot drop is now extremely discouraged in favor of teamwork, planning, and survival, which is a welcome move that makes ranked Apex more in line with competitive-level play.
The problem comes with the fact that a lot of people (myself included) like to play ranked solo. After all, Apex’s ping system makes this a lot easier, and I don’t always have a stack of three to use. But people still haven’t learned that picking early fights you can’t win is much, much more punishing than before. Solo games right now often end with players thirsting for kills, dragging their team into reckless fights and causing everyone to fall further down the ladder.
This has always been the case, mind. The difference now is that even picking up a few kill points won’t help you balance if you’re not putting in – and as even some of the best players in the game are finding out, taking out multiple entire squads won’t be enough if you’re not in the top half. in the higher echelons.
this can’t be real… @PlayApex pic.twitter.com/hxKnAn8jK7May 12, 2022
In addition to the kill points changes, an unspoken change has seen everyone drop two and a half ranks this season instead of the usual ranks and a half. Players who were once Platinum are now Bronze, Masters Silver, and so on. The early season reset is often chaotic, but even more so now, with players who used to be the best desperately fighting for the lower echelons.
With a new tiered entry fee system and higher fees at all tiers, the climb in rankings has slowed to a crawl. According to player review sites like ApexLegendsStatus and tracker.ggDiamond and Platinum are pretty much sterile at the moment, with maybe only a dozen making it to Apex Predator.
These rank changes were probably the right move. As long as you were competent enough in the game, getting to Gold, Platinum, Diamond or even Master was simply a matter of attrition. A lot of people made it to the Masters last season, and it looks like Respawn wants to return that rank to the role it was destined for – the best of the best of the best, players who could easily turn pro.
It’s a shame that individual queues are being left behind by this new system. The best thing about Apex ranking was how it offered degrees of success – that you could still walk away feeling victorious with good enough fights, even if you didn’t win the round entirely. But if you’re not coordinating, not carefully planning your next rotation, and gathering resources as a unit, raw skill alone will no longer be enough.
A lot of players will feel sour with their new placements, platonic players stuck realizing they can now be either Silver or Gold, but it’s probably best for Apex to get their foot in the door. means to be placed in each rank. Under the old system, I think I could have done a master’s with enough time, but let’s be realistic. I’m not ALGS material.
Still, it would have been nice to get there just once, if only for the skydiving trail.