January 2021
January 2021 - last edited January 2021
@DarthValtrex
I don’t think he is asking for lobbies exclusively filled with noobs. I know that’s definitely not what I want.
I am fairly confident he wants lobbies that provide VARIANCE (players of all skills) in a public match setting. Why do many skilled players want this? Because the expectation to play in tournament-level matches EVERY match for no reward is ridiculous. As a clinical psychologist specializing in “rules, rewards, and consequences” , I can tell you right now that the science suggests that when competence is under-rewarded, incentive diminishes.
And unfortunately, a gold level player exclusively playing gold level players is actually NOT the same as Pred level players exclusively playing Pred level players. As the lobby skill increases, the overall experience of Apex changes drastically. As highlighted in his post, ONE TINY mistake typically = death in lobbies full of Masters/Preds. This experience is something most people simply don’t understand because they aren’t competing in these lobbies. There is a strange belief that somehow there is a scaling effect; that high skilled vs high skilled feels like average skilled vs average skilled— it doesn’t.
The issue is compounded by the fact that many of these players are already level 500, so sweating in public lobbies is literally rewarding these players with nothing. Perhaps if the level cap were increased this wouldn’t be an issue, but the fact remains that if you are going to ask skilled players to play the most stressful version of the game, you should be compensating them appropriately.
January 2021
January 2021
January 2021
January 2021
January 2021 - last edited January 2021
@DarthValtrex
I’m glad that you get to experience those top lobbies when you queue with your Pred friends. I’m also glad you find them enjoyable. They absolutely can be enjoyable— in doses. Being locked into these lobbies as a norm gets ridiculous. This comes back to my earlier point (which you didn’t disagree with) regarding variance.
You have the option to essentially “turn off” these lobbies by virtue of not partying up with your pred friend. Where is my option, lol? As I have shared with you before, it takes me losing approximately 130-140 games with under 200 damage to see a reduction of pred/master trails (I have tested this on 3-4 occasions), and that reduction is minimal.
I refuse to make a smurf account to pick on lobbies which exclusively consistent of weak opponents— that’s just wrong and boring. All I’m looking for is for them to revert the SBMM back to what it was in 2019. In its current form, its outright disadvantageous to be a skilled player (regarding overall online experience).
January 2021
January 2021
January 2021
Only skimmed OP and comments.. Another SBMM thread.
@DarthValtrex I would take that article with a pinch of salt. They also said they don't want to milk every dime out of players but we've all seen how they've tweaked the store since to do just that. If they want to increase engagement for an enjoyable experience for most players or cater to casuals to increase revenue, i know which they'll focus on and defend with the data to back it up.
FPS games are competitive in nature anyway and what do we consider SBMM to be? Protecting new players or matching of equivalent skill because in their own words it's the former (which is good) with ranked being the latter, but what's the point of improving if both game modes end up with the same resulting experience for regular players? Just stay bad and win more and have more fun, right? Absolutely no incentive to improve. You know as i have spoken out and even created multiple threads about bypassing protections and how i disagree with smurfing or noob bashing but when SBMM is to harsh people will find a way around it as it's common knowledge ultimately leading to the breakdown of SBMM and those protections for newcomers anyway. One guy on the forum was fairly recently saying how he has 10+ accounts and will continue to create more. Most streamers have minimum 5+ like Diego/lulu ect.. that will obliterate entire lobbies but if it's content creation then that's fine apparently as it's ''just a game''.. Some example these influencers set..
''This game has killed friendships of mine just because I've gotten better at the game and I literally cannot play with those people anymore because we're just not competitive as a trio''
I can relate to this (wouldn't say it killed the friendships but we don't play as often as we would like) as i have a few IRL friends and a little brother that don't join up with me often because they only played a few hours total here and there and can''t keep up so i'm forced to play with people who have a fair amount of time or similar rank.
End of the day it isn't going to change.. Best solution out of hundreds of threads is giving players the choice of having SBMM on/off and to encourage players by adding rewards to compete in those matches. Maybe 10/50/100 wins and you get an evo skin? Incentive is there and newcomers into those servers get brown trousers when they see that flaming ball of DOOM coming.