EA can’t seem to catch a break with Apex Legends’ matchmaking system, and it’s surprising considering the repeated efforts Respawn has been putting in to make it “better” since early 2023.
In a Reddit post dated Nov. 5, a user named u/Alphalion135 shared their painful experience in the popular battle royale title, calling its skill-based matchmaking system “horrendous.”
It’s worth noting the player describing the experience logged in after a year and things in Apex’s matchmaking have changed a lot since 2022.
Respawn announced a major shift in early 2023, where it claimed to be improving matchmaking by segmenting the player base’s skill pool into additional buckets. It was supposed to make Apex a more balanced experience for both the highly ranked and beginners.
Unfortunately, the changes made ranked way too easy, with players reporting little to no competition in reaching Masters. Respawn reacted to the reports and complaints by bringing additional tweaks to fix its mistake, but the game’s matchmaking has just refused to feel right ever since.
Like all other recent seasons, Respawn promised to make matchmaking for the ranked and battle royale (pubs) modes better with the ongoing season 19, but things look the same old so far. Now, players want Respawn to go back to the old ranked system, but it seems like a far-fetched expectation for now.
“Respawn/EA really making bad decisions now, feels like they WANT this game to die,” one player wrote. Another player shared that their rank icon feels meaningless because pubs and ranked feel “identical” in terms of difficulty, thanks to MMR-based matchmaking.
Some players blamed the situation on the rumored, anti-skill EOMM (engagement-optimized matchmaking) system that Respawn and EA have reportedly been using for Apex since 2020. Explaining what the system implies, one player wrote, “Your games suck because they’re rigged lmao.”
While a considerable part of the player base feels it’s a false claim, Respawn has assured us of not implementing EOMM in Apex.
“Ranked is absolute hell for me rn,” one player wrote, summing up Apex’s current experience for many.
As a noob in Apex, I haven’t been enjoying my pubs matches either, only because I get pitted against considerably higher-skilled players. I’d love to play a lot more of this game, but right now, I’d better be playing The Finals or VALORANT to keep my sanity intact.
