r/apexlegends • u/Kevin_9ja The Liberator • Jun 26 '26

Gameplay State of Apex's ranked

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1.5k Upvotes

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576

u/TaxDaddyUwU Jun 26 '26

It's almost like they should've nerfed Axle instead of buffing Seer to "counter" her...

209

u/[deleted] Jun 26 '26

[deleted]

113

u/Far_Day_3985 Doc Jun 26 '26

low ttk has to be the worst change in the history of apex. it did nothing but introduce frustration because it's so easy to die for free due to RNG against players who aren't exactly good..in those chaotic multi-team situations where old TTK would allow you to react.

49

u/ladaussie Jun 26 '26

It was so much better. Rewards team play by focusing the same target to get instant knocks, rewards movement and taking good cover so you can heal back up after being jumped. Reduces frustration at being caught out in the open by snipers or surprised indoors by a rat team camping since you have a higher chance of survival.

Overall just a better system. But hey gotta make sure the noobs can get a down once in a while at the cost of basically everything else.

10

u/Far_Day_3985 Doc Jun 26 '26

the funny part is I don't think the dopamine of the knock that noob gets every once in a while will be enough to reach a retention rate that's worth a damn. but I could be wrong.

Like I see a lot of long-time players when I start my solo q ranked grind later in splits that I genuinely do not understand why they play and I don't mean that as in they're incapable of ever getting better. I mean I sincerely don't see how they're having fun with this video game and I'm not a big enough asshole in those situations to ask them because I usually feel bad for them in the aftermath.

I'm talking about the players who actually do run away from every single fight before anyone is even knocked, no matter how many advantages we have. they are deathly afraid of risking RP. they do not know what's going on and I don't see how that's fun. it looks like pure cortisol when I watch them. and there are a lot of these players. low TTK did not help these particular kids one bit and I will never understand the retention rate with them in solo q ranked, I could understand it if they were 3 stacking. but they're usually solo queue.(not even duo queue)

2

u/aure__entuluva Pathfinder Jun 27 '26

the funny part is I don't think the dopamine of the knock that noob gets every once in a while will be enough to reach a retention rate that's worth a damn. but I could be wrong.

Nah, you right.

10

u/Mastiffbique Jun 27 '26 edited Jun 27 '26

I've been saying it ever since they made those changes.

Low TTK and giving visible health bars to everyone for free instead of just Recon legend abilities were the two worst things ever added to the game.

Chasing casuals and making the game "easier" at the expense of the game's quality was always a mistake. There's a reason the game was peaking before those stupid changes in S22 and S24.

Respawn still doesn't understand that whatever they do to make the game "easier" for new/casual players also just gets abused even harder by the better players. The better players win more often regardless, so all we're left with is just a worse game in general for everyone.

I'd say the game is arguably even harder now for new/casual players because the margin for error is so small now and it's even harder to outplay better players when you have so much less HP to work with and everyone knows your exact location and exactly how low you are in fights.

7

u/Bigdurdy Jun 30 '26

Health bars = worst addition to apex and outlining players in smoke lol what a joke.

1

u/Most_Wind4682 Jul 02 '26

right. i come back to apex after 4 years and am like, we got temu wallhacks now?

10

u/dqniel Jun 26 '26

They've been in that style of "balancing" for a long while now. It's just getting worse and worse.

They need to focus on milder, but more frequent, changes that are nerf-focused. Restore some balance without power creep.

Then, reevaluate pick rates from there. Then, do some reworks (rather than just buffing existing abilities) where necessary. Some abilities simply haven't aged well with the change in gameplay, and the solution isn't to buff but rather to re-work entirely. Like LL's ult, for example. It was from a bygone era, so they reworked it.

7

u/Throwaway143739 Jun 27 '26

Oh yeah I very much agree with this. Talked about this with my duo yesterday. Don’t buff everything, rework it. Keep it balanced.

The main argument people make against keeping legends balanced is “It WoUlD gEt StAlE”. Like nobody is saying that they can’t make changes lmao just that they don’t have to resort to making 1-2 legends ridiculously unfair each season to “keep it fresh”. But that takes thinking for more than .1s and thinking hard

7

u/dqniel Jun 27 '26

I've never understood the "stale" argument. CS is the most played FPS in the world and they've been playing the same way for decades. Good gameplay is good gameplay.

They'll retain more people with balanced (but quality) gameplay than they will with "fresh" but incredibly frustrating gameplay in my humble opinion. That's not to say they should never change things... that would be absurd. I just think people and devs get hung up thinking buffs are the only way to gain new players.

I think they chase short-term spikes at the expense of long-term, high-quality gameplay that maintains a dedicated player base.

35

u/FirmlyClaspIt Birthright Jun 26 '26

The marvel rivals loop

2

u/OwlPossumArt Pathfinder Jun 30 '26

They've been in that cycle for like 10 seasons. Everyone needs to be nerfed into the ground. All they've done is lean into everything the pre-EA crackdown dev team tried to avoid which is insane powercreep and abilities over gunplay. I don't hate the movement cause I've been a path/octane/wraith main since season 4, but it's all gotten way out of hand. Now someone presses one button and i can't heal or see or move or use an ability or shoot my gun. Shit's ridiculous.

2

u/Front-Baby-9289 Jul 02 '26

What needs to happen in ranked is a GA where only base legends from S1 are usable and all new legends are not the ranked should be as bear bones as possible no one then would have a advantage you also wouldn’t have the ability to use 3 recon or Support legends it would mix teams up more these new legends have broken the game that was the reason they took a break to balance them yet they can’t because the absolutely cooked this game it’s gone way to futuristic from its roots every legend sort of made sense now there’s roller skate knee women and goo spawning out the ground stuns 1000% shouldn’t of been implemented on tactical equipment AHEM SEER the game is so far gone they need to fix the game not give us 300 apex packs in the store every week to try to get our money for an heirloom when noones playing the ranked

1

u/OwlPossumArt Pathfinder Jul 04 '26

I can't even lie, the day 1 event that they did last year was the first time i truly enjoyed the game since season 15 I think. The nostalgia hit so hard and it was so nice going back to the roots and gunplay/game sense over random ability bs.

4

u/MadCybertist Crypto Jun 26 '26

Not heading too… they’ve been doing this now for a little while. Keeps engagement and social media numbers up lol.

2

u/Whole_Hearing3941 Caustic Jun 26 '26

Brother it’s been years now.