Apex has got a lot harder in the past couple of weeks!

[Marge010]

It has got crazy especially this past week. My teammates are getting worse and I'm up against better players. 1 in 10 games I might manage to get more than 2 kills. Most games I get 0! This week has been so bad I've nearly smashed up my controller several times and punched the crap out of my chair! This game has made me so angry this week!! I need a serious break from this game. 

[Axs5626Sxa5001]

@Marge010

I have a theory:

Matchmaking gets stricter and more aggressive during the 2 week period leading into a new season. If you are above average, this tends to feel sweaty.

The reason they do this is so that average players experience slightly easier lobbies (overall), thus increasing the total amount of wins this demographic experiences. This is a manipulative but wise move because if this demographic is “happy and satisfied” on the day that a new season launches, they are that much more inclined to spend money on the battlepass/new character.

Sounds like an absolute tin foil hat theory, but I have been playing daily since S0 and I am very interested in patterns and data. Literally every single season (towards the end), my lobbies drastically change and become Master/Pred ranked-type games. Coincidence? Maybe. But after so many seasons of the same observation, I’m willing to bet something actually is happening behind the scenes regarding matchmaking. We’re talking about a BILLION dollar product. If they can take legal steps to ensure they make the most amount of money for the fiscal quarter, they’re going to. 

[B0n3SawMcSizzla]

I noticed that in season 8. I figured it was because all the casual players had finished their battle passes and were taking a break or playing less.

[Marge010]

@Axs5626Sxa5001 I'm an average player and currently its so hard its putting me off playing the game at the moment. Gonna try have a break for a while I think.

[Cheese9Man]

@Marge010 Yup it’s always like this on the last few weeks of the season. Like what @B0n3SawMcSizzla said the casuals play less because they have finished everything and just waiting for the next season to come. I also play less around the end of the season and I suggest you play other games as well!

[hayhor]

@Marge010 My whole season has been like that.

What I think happens the last few weeks is the casuals finish their battlepasses and take a break.

[lightning_5o]

@Axs5626Sxa5001 There’s hardly a difference between my pubs and pred lobbies. I mean I can’t even have some relaxing fun after work. I like to sweat in ranked and play with my girlfriend and lesser skilled friends in pubs. It’s impossible for me to do now they get absolutely lasered in my lobbies then stop playing with me

[EdwardDLuffy]

Since the 'legacy' LTM my season KDR has dropped from 2.01 to 1.85. My theory is that a lot of good Apex players came back when they heard the original maps were available again, and quite a few of them hung around. Also, I still prefer to play Fusey in BR (I play Octane, Mirage and Rampart in Arenas, depending upon the map) and he's better in the twisty spaces of Olympus than the wide open spaces of the original maps.

I went about 10 days without a win, too, although I won twice yesterday.

[OGdidsir]

I'm a S0 player too and I've definitely noticed this. I always thought it was the 'sweats' revving up before the next season but your theory also makes sense. I like it 

[OldTreeCreeper]

@Axs5626Sxa5001 not only am I in master and predator lobbies of late, they are on my teams. I'm getting mauled none the less, as are they.

My theory is they have done their bit with ranked and are now happily stomping pubs till the end of season to have a holiday so to speak. It's hot drop heaven..... And as mentioned above average player has finished their BP, collected their treasure packs, doing the arena event and seems to be waiting patiently for S10, playing the odd very hard pub game. 

It was murder over the last while to get the last tick on my S9 bucket list, to get my Wraith to 300 wins, but I finally got there.