Smurf problem

[FunSizedHealer]

Product: Apex Legends
Platform:Sony Playstation 4
Please specify your platform model. Sony PlayStation 4 Pro
What is your gamertag/PSN ID/EA Account name? funsizedhealer
Please provide your squad mates' gamertag/PSN ID/EA Account name if possible.
Are you using any software with an overlay? No
Which Legend were you playing (if applicable)?
Which Legends were your squad mates using (if applicable)?
Where did the issue occur? Loading into the match from the lobby
Which part of the map or menu were you in? If you don't remember the exact name, please describe the area or what you were trying to do in the menu. in game
What were you doing when the issue occurred? E.g. respawning a squad mate at a beacon, using an ability, a squad mate left the game. playing the game
Did your squad mates also experience the issue? Yes
How many matches had you played in a row before the issue occurred? 3 out of 5
When did this happen? (dd.mm.yy hh:mm)
How often does the bug occur? Often (50% - 99%)
How severe is your issue? Major impacts to gameplay
What happens when the bug occurs? matchmaking against smurfs
What should be happening instead? matchmaking against similar skilled players
Steps: How can we find the bug ourselves? play your game

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there are too many smurfs in game and reporting doesnt do anything

[Vulpes37 · Accepted solution]

Hardware ban, phone authentication, dota 2's "overwatch" system.

If you want to do the war to something, do that.

If you like money of cheaters, smurfs, exploiter, do that.

You can't do both (or at least you should not).

[XHelperZ]

Smurfs are newly created accounts on which a high ranked player plays, correct?

This method conceals their actual MMR and other information about the player, meaning it's expected that you can get matched against a smurf.

It would be a bug if an actual high ranked player would be placed against you, so if you're saying that you get high ranked players to play against then it's a bug since certain players on the ladder should not be matched with those much higher than them.

Though if it actually is a new account, then there is nothing to really do about it from this perspective since the system works as intended.

If you want to suggest a way to prevent smurfs from getting into your game, feel free to post feedback or go start a discussion in one of the other forums regarding Apex Legends.

Feedback and suggestions are always appreciated and I'm sure others will stand behind it since smurfs do plague the game quite a lot.

[Vulpes37 · Accepted solution]

Hardware ban, phone authentication, dota 2's "overwatch" system.

If you want to do the war to something, do that.

If you like money of cheaters, smurfs, exploiter, do that.

You can't do both (or at least you should not).

[Eshshshss]

@Vulpes37I actually would assume that smurff accounts do not benefit the company from the monetary perspective - it would be damn stupid to have a tricked-out account where a person has bought everything he/she can and then create another account just to do the same thing all over again.

Three reasons I have heard so far the most about smurffing:

1) people didn't get heirloom(s) on their main account, so they want to get them on smurff

2) people reached X level (usually talks are about Diamond/Master), got sick of hackers in these lobbies and set teams => created a smuff to play on lower levels

3) helping a friend (or selling account boost) on lower level - e.g. now you can play any level vs any till Platinum or was it Diamond. So this is less common now, yet still people do team up to boost some less skilled players be it whatever reason.

Neither of these actually is bannable, just it is what it is...

[Vulpes37]

All those are not legit since you are avoiding matchmaking and you are reportable for that.

Rules are rules, is not fair, it's antisportive conduct, is against the rules. They don't ban cause they are greedy, but they (ea and all other brands) ruin our time.

[Eshshshss]

@Vulpes37 not sure there is a rule about matchmaking though

Plus you can't objectively detect a difference between a new player, smurf, new player for Apex who has a significant experience in other FPS games - they all can suck at times or be really great out of the gate.

Apex mentioned introducing paid accounts - meaning that you will not be able to create smurf accounts for free. Yet in my opinion that will not solve the issue as people who spend X EUR on the game could probably spend an extra 10,20 or more EUR to create an account. Especially ones who care about heirlooms.

[Vulpes37]

Yeah, like overwatch. THe only way to solve the issue is equalizing the behavior to cheating, and act hard like for cheating. People won't stop till huge punishments.

[tomsssss87]

It will never go away completely but in the meantime you have to start somewhere. Mobile number required, paid game, ip control. Reducing it would also help a lot.

[Eshshshss]

@tomsssss87 I think this would be battling with consequences not the cause.

What are the two main causes of smurffing:

1 - Diamond lobbies are too hard, people don't like to grind, so they create new profiles
2 - people want to play with lower ranked friends time to time

Next most popular cause is "I did not get heirloom on my main" :D

Introducing above mentioned limitations would only create additional issues:

a) players would be forced to pay for the account = limit new player base, ease of entry
b) question of security = how safe would you be to give Apex your phone number? I would probably opt out even if that would mean uninstalling the game to be honest, other option - e.g. in my country you can get prepaid card for <1 EUR with a new number, I could just buy those in bulk and smurf away, sell them to someone same as people now sell accounts boosts and other stuff related to smurffing
c) IP control - impossible for people with changing IP as well as unfair for people who have ISP with limited range of IPs that are changing = you might run into someone else in your network who registered his account with this IP before you got the IP

etc.

Matchmaking fix and better/faster banning reaction time is so much more efficient solution here. As for people who can't play with their friends - well enjoy pubs or teach friends to be better in Apex, end of story.

[Pulvertomten]

It shouldn’t be too hard get rid of smurfs from at least bronze, silver and gold.

if you have a player with statistics way out of the ordinary, game after game, just move the player up in rank much faster.

If smurfs climb in rank fast enough, so that it’s not worth it to create new accounts, i guess they will stop smurfing and stick to their level.