What Went Wrong With Apex Legends??

What Went Wrong With Apex Legends?? - Apex Legends player count continues to dwindle, but what exactly went wrong? Apex used to be known as the best battle royale game, so how did everything go so wrong?

[@telvanniis]

it's actually kind of simple, there's a.. -lack of meaningful action against cheaters -lack of meaningful action towards improving matchmaking -lack of meaningful innovation, core gameplay has remained completely unchanged since 2019 -lack of a real ranked mode since mid 2023 now. meanwhile, respawn is.. -selling 300 dollar heirlooms every other week -selling 10 new recolors of 5 year old skins every other week -selling 2 battlepasses with 4 different tiers every single season -locking heirloom customization behind an insane cost if you were an outsider looking in you'd almost have to assume they're just killing their game on purpose.

[@alfonshedstrom9859]

Lack of meaningful changes.. what? Perks? Class passives? Respawn changes? Replicators overhaul?

[@Fena870]

@@telvanniis I agree with every thing that you said!

[@telvanniis]

@@alfonshedstrom9859 those things add onto the core gameplay loop but they don't change it. yes, those are good additions - but my point still stands that the actual core gameplay loop is completely unchanged.

[@TheTeaGrinder]

​@@telvanniiswhat more do you want? Pubg didnt change anything core either and its doing great. If you want CORE changes its easier to play other game

[@JosephKirch]

I agree! The game has become infected with greed. $300 for a death box is wild (if you remember that event), battle pass change goes to 60 and that’s it, and even the simplest of new skins are +$20. With all this money they are gaining, it’s wild that they don’t have more maps, improved engine, and more communication with the player base. The game is at a low point in player count… if they don’t make significant changes, I don’t see this game surviving another 2 years.

[@TheMonkeydela]

It's as simple as relaxing matchmaking. Let the sweats play with other sweats and let the new players play with new players. And when the sweats make a smurf account recognize when they're hitting 90% or more of their shots per match and put them with the preds

[@tapeadeadworm]

You’re asking too much from Respawn (it’s really not)

[@samaantree]

More like put cheaters in cheater lobbies😏

[@janimize-3066]

As a sweat I don’t want to sweat all the time

[@TheMonkeydela]

@@janimize-3066 I'm a sweat too but I'm like the lowest level of sweat, I've got 16k kills on my whole account from season 2 to now. But most of these guys have 50, 80, 100 or even 150+ thousand kills on just one character and I shouldn't be in their lobby, I also shouldn't be in a new players lobby either

[@brodneypool1143]

Once a sweat. Always a sweat! ​@@janimize-3066

[@dd-sea4602]

Matchmaking cranked up so high you can’t even relax and have a casual game have to sweat every game , over monetization, cheating and the engine is 25 years old

[@SudoYETI]

Its because all the casual players left. The only people still playing the game are sweats. I play across 3 accounts and every match is sweaty. New account, old account, controller, MnK, pubs, ranked. Every mode, every platform, every input, everyone is playing as hard as they can.

[@karllafaille6362]

@@SudoYETI Are you not supposed to play as hard as you can every match? I thought that's how you get better. That's how I was able to get better at the game.

[@maqima]

@@karllafaille6362 people have lives outside of video games, it's perfectly fine to be a casual. what's no fine is to set casuals up with sweats, of course you won't get more people to play the game when they get dominated.

[@panduhh_]

@@karllafaille6362every improvement is punished with even worse and sweatier games

[@Dat-Boi-Camoja]

I’m fine losing a simple match but sweating to win then lose doesn’t feel good man

[@PeterTheRock3]

My answer to the question: -Terrible matchmaking -Trash/outdated netcode -Cheaters

[@kazekami7313]

Why is nobody mentioning the 20 years old servers? 20Hz tick is horrendous for a shooter game...even Amongus runs on 30Hz. Thats why connection is so bad all the time, and why you have audio, bullet hit mark, and shot-behind-cover problems.

[@georgej9366]

Crappy servers

[@ensar4115]

Im stuck in diamond 4 now, was at diamond 3. Furthest i have ever come, but i get matched with Gold 2 teammate and plat. Sometimes diamond, but still, i lose 75 points whenever in matched with a gold. Because my enemies are always super ultra co ordinated 3 stack Predator Horizon, Bangalore and Conduit etc. Not winning that alone, sometimes downing one or two but still losing the points. Even when i get 4 or 5 kills, i manage to earn a measly 8 points. As if that is going to get me to my goal, Master. It is dawning on me that, this greedy company, promotes only unfair bully esque Ranked matches, where the highest in the pecking order are there because they are already there, and do not want to give other people the chance to get there, and are a bunch of try hards, cheaters in a little club that has no access anymore. Exactly the same kind of parasitic behaviour of EA which reflects on the player base.

[@ydab8944]

You forgot their main focus, money grabbing. If they put their focus Into improving the game it would be so much better.

[@cama4252]

Ranked season split reset needs changed.. masters+ should just be reset back to 15k so they can grind for pred.. but everyone below should just stay where they are.. until season ends.. no reason for ranked reset at split for low ranked players, constantly sending higher tier players into lower tier lobbies

[@TimProVision]

Great trip down memory lane. Thanks for sharing! The tools to create new experience is really key at this point. Also finding the fun factor is going to be tough. There's just not a lot of casualness in the game anymore which makes it hard to play for a while at a time

[@meatkurtin9747]

S7 was peak Apex IMO.

[@fritosgaming]

Good times

[@Ssian_]

Seasons 1-12 imo

[@ninerknight5351]

Loved seasons 3, 7, and 12!

[@saleen6]

Game started dying in season 8 for me

[@elongatedman345]

Seer update was horrible for me . I hate his design .

[@jahson7_7_76]

I quit mainly because the quality of the matches were consistantly bad. Im a casual player with just below a 1/1 kd rate. If I got matched with people around my level I would probally still be playing. Literally every game, even in rookie ranked I find myself up against people way better than me and they all seem to have masters badges. And yes, the battle pass change scam sealed the deal for me.

[@brandondean5680]

If it's a s17 masters badge you have nothing to worry about 😂

[@GaaraFPS]

@@brandondean5680everyone says that and still gets dunked on by those players

[@brandondean5680]

@@GaaraFPS It just takes practice bro is all. I have that same problem on some days when I don't warm up. Id try warming up in mixtape

[@anjunakrokus]

@@brandondean5680 I played S17 too, and I did not get anywhere close masters. They are still soo much better than me, don't matter which badge they rockin'

[@GaaraFPS]

@@brandondean5680 bro I’ve played with pred players and carried them. I don’t need the advice..

[@riotfist9747]

Id say season 10 was the downfall, most of the devs from the og team left. They stopped doing dev diaries and communicating with the fanbase. The cheaters and the matchmaking is horrendous.

[@shyamprakash9050]

One thing the video misses out on is the server issues. I had almost 3k hours in the game when Seer came out, I used to play it almost everyday since day 1. I never missed a single event or BP, but that season, the game was largely unplayable in every SEA servers. It will be 40ms in one game followed by 200-300ms for the next 5 games. Happened to all my friends who were from different SEA countries. That's when we slowly stopped playing Apex and jumped to Valorant, which never had this issue ever. We still tried to get back into Apex once in a while but the server ping issues are still a constant amongst all the other issues you have mentioned. We spent thousands of hours in this amazing game, so much memories, got many new friends from different countries, only to be left unplayable due to the least care from the Dev team. Just sad.

[@toasted-bread]

yep, Singapore (SEA) servers now just a dumpster fire, where cheaters have meetings everyday.

[@jahson7_7_76]

Same issue, and the tickrate is frustrating. Nothing like thinking you made it to cover just for the bullets to lag teleport into your head after you hit cover or closed the door.

[@fritosgaming]

20 tick servers are trash too , I mean fun game but cmon 20 tick???

[@rPenek]

Well i got banned for no reason yesterday, account with 4K hours.

[@VWXYZDragonCatapultCannon]

I don't think you can even blame this on the dev team, I think it's EA being cheap and refusing to upgrade their servers, systems, etc.

[@kotztotz3530]

Don't forget about the Battlepass scandal back in July/August. Even though they fixed their mistake, it was the straw the broke the camel's back for some people.

[@Sa.d.bo26]

Yeah i wonder why he didn't mention that

[@DopaMineConnor]

And what’s crazier is that they still implemented something that increases the cost over time. They knew there would be backlash. Someone called this behavior “enshittification”. Expect backlash and then make it “better” by still implementing it in some smaller way. They’ll still get people who pay the full amount per season

[@taven580]

I should’ve dropped this game when the original Respawn devs left .. Now it’s just give me money for 2 battle passes , $150 deathbox , kobalt katar , prestige skin all while ignoring cheaters 😂

[@aimcrazy5843]

Casual players are getting destroyed by preds 20 bomb 4k badges it's crazy I jump on for 3 games before sbmm throws me into the fire then I jump off

[@cryokir2941]

You get 3 games? Lucky you😉

[@tskmng3r]

Its called being greedy, nothing else

[@ButtBlower]

Tgm is sponsored by e.a. so he can't rlly title the vid E.A. IS GREEDY & KILLED APEX... HERES WHY!

[@gamerbeast3616]

Blame EA for that

[@leandrogoodwin1205]

A huge part of the problem with Apex is that over the years, they've made adjustments and tweaks to legends, game play, etc, based on what the pros complain about, but it lacked balance. There's a bigger playing pool of casual. Also, i think it's important to always maintain certain original aspects of a game even as you continue to update and improve it. The biggest issue of them all, though, is cheating....they're everywhere and they've gotten worst and worst.

[@puffyips]

The adjustments for casuals are worse than the adjustments for pros.

[@leandrogoodwin1205]

@puffyips the point was that your game play adjustments needs to be a balance between what pros want and what causals want....find common ground and tweak accordingly. Also, the constant nerfing of good legends and abilities is a big part of why things are the way they are today. It would've been alot easier to improve alot of the legends in the earlier days of the game as opposed to the significant nerfs....often moved players from being high usage legends to barely picked legends.... yes, sometimes a nerf here and there was necessary but making more of an effort to improve other legends as opposed to always nerfing the one or two meta legends would've put the game in a better place for today

[@OddManOut420]

Ive been thinking. maybe the ttk is too high now and thats a big reason ppl arent using smgs anymore. fights take too long. what if sheilds all got a 25 hp reduction? white is 25hp like it used to be. blue 50hp. purple 75hp and red 100hp. it would make shotguns vs smgs feel more balanced. while also making marksmans feel more viable again. for example running a scout volt wont be suicide late game when you need to try and 1 clip with your smg. hard to say unless its tested though🤷‍♂️

[@thekinection424]

​@@OddManOut420they tried that before. it didn't really work out. the only reason I can see it working this time is because every gun in the game is far worse than they were back then (excluding mozam)

[@ALLOFTHEBOOST]

​@@puffyipstell that to Caustic. They literally nerfed him into the ground because pros were squeaking about end zone. He wasn't even a high pick rate in pubs or rank. And he's never been the same since s10 or whenever it was.

[@Anton_Glz]

Poor matchmaking, lack of content and greed are what is killing this game, but everyone already knew that for at least a year or two. Us who love the gameplay and just the feel of it struggle to leave it alone since you can’t find this in any other BR, but every match stings more and more with cheaters and people who don’t know how to play as a team, the latter being the essence and foundation of this game. Sucks because I’ve had good memories with Apex, but the reality is devs are just slowly letting it die and us day one/season 0 fans are disappointed.

[@VtomasB]

100% I couldn't agree more with everything you said!

[@ramonbenedictsantos3515]

the game just killed itself with greed...

[@gamerbeast3616]

Game is not dead tho

[@kylepolcin8000]

It is though. Same stuff every season since seson 6.​@@gamerbeast3616

[@JosephKirch]

@@gamerbeast3616the player count is declining monthly. It’s the early signs of a receding game. They need to make improvements to attract more players.

[@NAVYgamerboy137]

@@gamerbeast3616 Larger games usually don’t die overnight. Apex is certainly dying, trend over the last year is not good. Reason it’s a a breaking point: 1. Casuals left, so matches are sweaty. 2. New players don’t stand a chance because of #1. 3. Greed is through the roof. 4. Cheating. 5. Grind-able content. Current numbers are going to plummet around the holidays, always does. We may see an average of 50,000 players in December. At that point, Apex is lost. EA will pull the plug!

[@coryriojas4494]

My take: I stopped playing apex around spring time and the reason being it was tooo sweaty. Ranked was less sweaty with pubs, with every pub match having 3 stack with 100k+ kills each. Then my teammates being trashcans. I played over 110 days on this game and it aggravating too see devs not make the right choices. I mean they try but it’s not enough.

[@gaming_walkthroughs]

They dig their own grave by not doing anything about cheaters and just focused on churning out skins... Happy if this game dies

[@RemnTheteth]

You sound like someone who doesn't really play. I want this game to succeed, because the core gameplay is great.

[@xReisk]

@@RemnTheteth Facts! Wanting the game to die for such things its being nonsense and an ignorant fool.

[@Marmondos420]

@@xReiskno because if this game dies, they’ll make a better game with similar core gameplay. Y’all just want defend something that shouldn’t be defended

[@ivato46]

@@xReisk wanting the game to die is the resignation of YEARS of lies and proofs that the exectutives dont care... lose your hope, nothing is gonna change

[@Luke42652]

I haven’t played since ALGS was hacked. Shortly after that cheaters got bold. Was every game. From what I hear it isn’t better so I haven’t played since.

[@necrozim]

It being so sweaty put me off after many years, i just wanna chill with my friends and blast without trying. I dont want my friends to be mowed down before getting a bullet off (most of them being significantly lower ranked), and I dont want to be 'having to try' every single match specifically in casual. I have very limited hours to game and once something stops being fun, why am i playing?

[@arthurjeffery356]

Whats actually kinda crazy to me is that I can take a whole season or two off Apex and know for 100% sure I haven't missed anything

[@mcNuggetMuncher]

It's been like that since season 5 man

[@jemarshaw4986]

My friend stopped playing Apex almost a year ago from what he told me he said the lack of game modes and also the ltm that they give us are boring after two days. He also stopped playing because he loves playing TDM to warm up but not giving him the option to play TDM whatever he wants is a major turn off from the game for him. He also told me that respond an EA they just don’t get it. They don’t try. overall for him the game is just boring. It’s just dry. He told me back in the day. He remembers hopping on for 5+ hours after work but then he just completely stopped playing. He also told me at the end the Apex community gives respawn EA. Tons of ideas for new modes that would be fun. The idea of a rotating LTM every week or every three days is just too much for them.

[@Star-Wayz]

From the perspective of a multi time master player: 1) SBMM for solos is terrible. It's a challenge for me which I like but too much of a challenge to maintain fun. 2) playing in a 3 stack [diamond or above players] makes the game very boring very quickly. 3) Game is very unstable. Crashes multiple times during a session usually 2-3 hrs. 4) most guns feel weak or nerfed in some way. Namely the R301. Been weak for so long. 5) 90% randoms can't play to an average standard. Average standard is follow yellow pings and shoot your gun without instantly dying.

[@mcNuggetMuncher]

So you think your Randoms should just blindly follow your pings 😂

[@suave7928]

Solo queue matchmaking is horrendous. This is why the player base has quit. Not everybody wants to stack every time they play the game. Hence why playing solo became a massive headache. Apex ain't worth it no more. Simple as.

[@D1smantle]

The game is in its Call of Duty phase now. I mean, CoD players unanimously hate the game, but will still play it regardless. I feel like eventually, all games go thru that phase

[@ashketchum3441]

It’s just people stopping play Apex.

[@Sa.d.bo26]

You can find alot of matches faster and easier then apex

[@ninerknight5351]

The game eventually becomes a part of one’s personality making it rare for anyone new to join. New modes like Blackout and Warzone will bring some new players temporarily. But then everyone will decide whether or not it’s their entire personality and the others will be onto the next thing.

[@ALLOFTHEBOOST]

This is a severe drop off tho. I think it'll get worse.

[@ryancoleman8482]

Stopped playing all cod games after advanced. That game was 💩. I never went back. I dont need the rage that series gives me. World at war was so Good. Then they made another ww2 one and it was so trash and loot box based. I'll never go back.

[@marcuswong3050]

Another thing was the death of the lore and narrative. In the earlier seasons, lore was so good and engaging. That was what set Apex apart from other BR and FPS. But respawn slowly boxed themselves in by crafting lore that they couldn't tie up neatly. Plot lines didn't progress or got to convoluted.

[@Angry-Romper]

I had put 4,000 hours into the game. Started on day 2, played quite casually until S5, when an IRL buddy of mine wanted to try it out. He plays games super competitively, so that definitely made me more competitive and I instantly got hooked on Ranked. We reached plat on every split until season 8 IIRC, when we started getting Diamond every split. I started getting burnt out in S9 pretty badly, but still played anyways, and its actually the single best season Ive ever had. But once Seer released, it changed the way I viewed the game as a whole. I struggled to enjoy the game so much, and my interest in it has never really recovered. Going full seasons without even launching the game now. Any time I think about playing it again, it feels like one of those situations where you run into someone you haven't spoken to in ages, and even though they seem like the same person they were, its just really uncomfortable now. Anyways, I am now happy to just let the game go one without me, haven't played in months, don't plan on it, Absolutely adored the first 2,000 of my 4,000 hours played. I still think the game has its merits, I don't think Ive ever played a shooter thats felt as good as apex, I just don't care to play it anymore.

[@ImCantuxxx]

Same same bro it’s sad but I still play a few hours a week

[@riotfist9747]

@@Angry-Romper bro I'm in the same boat

[@adriangonzales2666]

A mixture of crossplay, cheating, matchmaking and monetization. Dead.

[@Harperd5]

At this point to fix Apex they have to rebuild the game. Make Apex 2.0 with improved graphics and most importantly an improved anti cheat. Not only is cheating a problem but the game is riddled with bugs. Updating the game on a new, better engine would fix alot of problems.

[@westfall19]

Bingo. The game is overdue for an engine update now it's been out for over 5 years. But according to Respawn, they have no plans on updating the 25-year-old modified Source engine because they're not willing to dip into their own pockets. EA isn't going to reinvest their profit to make the game better since people are still paying for the predatory collection events they're putting out 2-3 times every season.

[@687ffokcuf]

The nostalgia i had for the game is still there, but it feels like a sunken cost fallacy at this point. Put so much time and work into getting good, techs, grinding challenges, (even enjoyed getting skins for a bit) and now a year since i've played I can't bring myself to turn the game back on. Even lost the love for comp after the Reject Winnity surprise (watching that was still fun). The ravenous microtransactions just dulled the game to no end, can't say i've even watched an apex vid in the last 6 months if not more. Fondly remembered but having tried new things since, the nostalgia is just not enough to return. Wish them the best tho, thanks again for covering TGM!! *also will never forgive them for taking the bow out of ground loot - yes hard to balance but such a fun weapon to introduce just to basically delete it's use for the majority of the player base.

[@matthewsuarez6874]

Who the hell makes changes to a game that’s supposed to be for fun for the pro scene because they complain it’s their job and not for the benefit for the players who want to have fun

[@OddManOut420]

I wish they would put all the maps in rotation. we could have 8 maps. the current 6 plus og canyon and worlds edge. im tired of being in a constant state of boredom.

[@ProdigyMahadev]

Actually ssbm is biggest problem . Solo Q players can’t play this game . New players also can’t catch up . Game need to have causal friendly approach.

[@bakalyero1461]

Aside from the cheaters, Apex just isn't enjoyable for the casual players. Even in the lowest of ranks you'll run into cheaters or sweats who just make the game unbearable

[@anjunakrokus]

I just get so tired of the horrendously bad matchmaking, that "ranked" is just legal smurfing, and that Respawn/EA won't act to our benefit. They've also done a bunch of half-measures. Like "We like to release new stuff 'strong' to collect a bunch of data and then tune it down", only for that "tuning" to come about 2 month too late. Knowing that the moment that Respawn screws something up, it'll stay broken for weeks...

[@kevin_ninja_jones2363]

What went wrong? They fix what they want and never fix the problems we all complain about and ask them to fix.

[@laurenheintz5369]

I’ve talked to several teenage nieces and nephews. They say Apex is too hard to learn. I’ve played for several years and I have difficulty competing even with non-cheaters. I don’t know why I get matched with preds all the time. Apex needs to adjust the game so that even beginners can K a pred if they get the drop on them. The akimbo moz allowed me to win some fights but the preds didn’t like that so Apex nerfed them. Most nerfs and buffs seem designed to give the edge to more skilled players. So, look at my K/D stats and more often match me appropriately. Sure, everyone has to sometimes play with or against higher skilled or lower skilled players, but one shouldn’t feel they are always the proverbial fish in the barrel.

[@darkmoonblade1329]

what killed the game for me is when cross progression was added, I lost 90k kills which was 3 years of effort and hundreds of dollars, due to all of the duplicates i had obtained. after that it actually hurts me emotionally to boot up this game and look at my stat page. I already knew me playing games was a waste of time but still hurt to see 3 years of effort go down the drain. I should also note. I didn't know anything about cross progression because of my full time job and not watching content or being on social media.

[@ATM-GAMING-11]

the sweats, the constant server lags and the really really really poor matchmaking are all the reasons why I find myself playing apex legends less for the past few months. I've been playing since season 2, and i never though a day would come where i look at the apex icon on my pc and don't even want to click it. you said i best merchant "the game has become too serious"

[@CasperLydenberg]

I'm a day 1 player. I know everything there is to know about the game, from mechanics to bugs to private discords related to the game. As a solo sweat with over a 2 K/D, primarily soloing, and only playing ranked for the last 2 years. As a vet and a recognizable sweat, I can without a doubt, say the state of the game is in shambles. It's unrewarding, my teammates are generally far worse than me, and they have done nothing to separate triple stacks from solo q matchmaking or prevent cheaters. This is the primary killer of the game by far because I almost always have to carry dead weight and IGL; if I don't, my teammates will instantly die or run around aimlessly for 20 minutes. I've been falsely banned and proven my innocence twice, while blatant cheaters have hit predator multiple times and are still running rampant. They've nerfed the controller numerous times now and still haven't given us movement mechanics that are only accessible to MnK players; note that I don't care about the AA nerf. However, it is unfair for one input to have mechanics the other does not. AA is not a mechanic for those who would like to try and argue I won't be bothering. As someone with as many hours in this game as most pros, I can humbly say rEA$pawn has killed the game from pure neglect, and I un-installed after hitting 10 no regs in a single mag showing server stability has only gotten worse.

[@MaxJustice1987]

They've nerfed the controller numerous times and the game is still 95% controller players in pubs on Pc.

[@riceontopstew]

you can never trust EA with a good game

[@SweetbutPsycho0o]

I'm an oldie at 50yo and back when Fuse came out I was number 1 for kills in OCE on PC for 3 seasons. Matchmaking was fair for an old duck like me who'd never played shooter games before and it was fun to play back then. Now I play and all I die to is 3 stacks. If I happen to win a game (very rare now) you can bet the next game I get level 5 team mates! There is just no incentive to play anymore, so I might jump on once or maybe twice a week if that.

[@un1b4ll]

Let me offer my experience as a former valve employee, veteran of competitive shooters, and day 1 player with 4000 hours. I transitioned to Apex from a mix of counterstrike and PUBG and haven’t played another game since. You didn’t mention matchmaking and its effects on the game at all. You’ve talked about this in the past, but it can’t be ignored as a factor that erodes trust and fun in the game slowly and consistently. The matchmaking algorithm, like others in the dating app space, is tuned to a balance of suffering. Enough to make you know if you just play one more game, maybe you’ll get decent teammates again and have a good game. But once you do, you’re in for 8 or 10 horrible ones. Because matchmaking isn’t actually interested in matching you with equally skilled teammates- it *balances* you with your teammates; a very different thing. To my eyes, the game erosion began when flat elo was abandoned and hidden MMR was introduced. It was panned and “removed” for enemies but it was tuned up for teammates and introduced to ranked. What follows is a disconnection from honest gameplay. Hidden mmr belongs nowhere near a ranked mode in any form, but we all feel it and that feeling sours any delight from a win- knowing you’re going to be in for 8-10 games of hell afterwards- and being right every. Single. Time. Game modes, gameplay tweaks, content, events- they can all come and go, but the death of this game, to me, is due to the quiet erosion of hidden MMR and the insidious perverse incentive that it brings.

[@TrizollinTehWorld]

It's not a fun game anymore. It's a store with a game attached and they make that clear with every event, new currency, new battle pass system and shop update. They're gonna extract the maximum amount of money from the playerbase while doing bare minimum to the actual game. Cosmetics aren't content! Fix the game, fix the servers, fix the audio, fix the sbmm, fix the loot drops, fix the cheaters, fix everything. This game is a shell of it's former self and it's sad to see.

[@minusforty4323]

We as a community have known what's wrong with Apex for a long time; that's the exact reason we don't fw it anymore.

[@BDavidism]

I don’t think cheaters are why casuals are leaving the game. It’s matchmaking. The matchmaking is atrocious and it kills the fun for casual players

[@fizz_time7003]

Smg nerf killed the game. Whole class of guns that are bad. People use assault rifles as smgs because that also can’t compete with burst guns since burst guns have no recoil. They’ve made hipfire bad on all assault rifles and smgs. Ruining the core gunplay.

[@Doufun11]

Nothing like hipfire shooting a flatline from 5 meters distance and missing 75% bullets 😋

[@fizz_time7003]

@@Doufun11 i definitly dont think flatline hipfire is that bad but i was waaaay better before.

[@brodygates7535]

So crazy how Rocket league gives you masters if you Smurf and win a lot but in this there’s masters at every level

[@Fena870]

This is my story and honest opinion: I've been playing Apex Legends like 2x a week. I used to play the game almost everyday, even tried to go pro in my region (SA) in the past, but I ended up giving up after founding out my own teammate was cheating. He told me that it wasn't just him, and then named some preds and masters from the region that were all cheating too. The game lacks many things IMO. Here are some of them: (do u agree? If not, why not?) - Really bad servers tick rate! - Poor competitive experience! - Cheaters (it gets worse every time you hit Diamond+ ranks) - Ranked rewards are bad - Weapon mastery rewards are bad - The over all rewards for the time you put in are bad - Lack of "lore related" content(like YT videos), wich is important to keep players excited - Not hearing what the player base wants in the game. Like: fair lobbies to new players, better anti cheat, "sand box" mode, audio fix (they could do what fortnite did with the markers) - Lack of simple things to make the experience better. Like: picking up any gun you want on control / tdm, more ways to customize the gameplay (hud cutomization, the removed neon crosshairs, how the 2x, 3x, crosshair looks, etc...)

[@AAron-ot9ol]

They need to do hardware bans (never will happen), bring arenas back (not rank just regular arenas), fix the bugs that crash your game, and matchmaking. So simple. But will never happen. They are hardheaded like Vine. Vine wanted to do what they wanted. They didnt listen to their followers on increasing the time. And they ending up shutting down due to being stubborn. Same thing will happen to apex (already happening slowly).

[@x8Ghostyx]

Modern apex reminds me of unmemorable cash grab events, terrible matchmaking, cheaters, servers made from recycled plastic and just feels lackluster and lifeless 💀

[@thsxi]

What went wrong? The casual Halloween mode with respawning is more sweaty than my diamond lobbies in ranked rn, that’s the issue. Fun? What’s that? Here, spend money

[@gerardarellano4605]

The sbmm, cheaters, servers, greed, lack of creativity, recolors, re-used assets. Its becoming very stale. Ive been enjoying other games, Elden Ring, Cyberpunk, Wukong, Fortnite, Halo CE, Spiderman.

[@HeyItsAntwan]

Same here😊

[@suiyri_doma7132]

You should play Persona 5 Royal and the persona series. Highly recommend! It’s a long play through but it’s worth playing

[@gh0st0freach89]

They messed up by taking the randomness out of it. The evo shield were a good idea, but making it mandatory to level up with damage leaves lesser skilled players at a disadvantage vs if they dropped and could by chance get a gold or purple shield in the first round. A lot of player don't engage anymore until they've farmed enough damage. Also most team alive by the third ring have red shields already.

[@TheBigdan217]

Blame it on the streamers and content creators, they whine and cry because they play against people at their competitive level, so respawn made sure it's all mixed together so they can play against first timers learning to play and laugh at them and say they just need to get good, zero reason for a bronze/copper or even a silver to have to see a predator in their lobbies

[@Badwithsnipers]

The truth is it’s really not cheaters Cheaters are a problem yes but they were rare-ish The big issue is match making. The game has become wayyyy tooo sweaty. You can’t have a social life or 9-5 and enjoy this game. It’s just not for casual players anymore

[@Shakura8]

Lately the servers are just unbearable. I love the game but the dev don't give love to the game back . Sadge.

[@ALLOFTHEBOOST]

100% so on the money. These 3 things are killing it: Greed Cheaters Sbmm And theres no hope in site. So why bother keep playing. I came to apex in late s3 because i was so fed up with the radar, xim, lag switching cheaters in Pubg. And now, its literally the same thing but worse. The skill ceiling in this game is absolutely horrendous, i guess it was unintentional, but its a game for absolute sweat grinders. I could go play pubg right now and get 10kills and a win. Most nights on apex i only get 1 win and i call that a good night. I can have multiple nights in a row with no wins. My kids play Fortnight and get 5 wins a row. I have about 7 or 8k hours in apex, i have a 1kd. Soloq only. I dont care about kd, i dont care about rank. All i care about is having fun. And from s3 to around s10, it was super fun. But its dropping off. If i play, i play for say 3 to 5 hrs typically. But im starting to just not play at all. The game is so sweaty, no new players are sticking around, the super casuals cant be bothered to put up with it, and the mid casuals who play a lot but arent sweats, like me, who grind battle passes, grind events, grind in game missions etc etc, are just over it man. So daymn over it. I cant express enough how sbmm is one of the detrimental things to this game. Those who say get good, no, you are the problem, gaming in most part is about fun and enjoyment. One of the last games i played last week, i died to 3 stack preds/masters or just people not on my level. Why? Why should i keep playing? Tell me? Its not fun thats for sure. So the numbers will keep dropping. One of my best memories has been getting wins with absolute noobs, because i think to myself, gonna be a long time for u to get another one. The only thing ill be sad about when it does die are some of the cool skins that ive got, but mainly the stats that say ive invested my time and effort having fun playing it. But whatever. Idk what to say about cheaters. Every fps or online game will have them. But they dont seem to be doing anything. I mainly play console japan, and ive been saying for years that strikepacks, xim, cronus are rampant. Nothing will ever be done. But the pc cheaters, like how is that still possible? How can no anti cheat, pick up unnatural behaviour. Were talking about a billion $$ company getting over run by amatuers. Make it make sense. A lot of people will leave cos of the greed also. I honestly dont care. I just play the game. But it is sad to see lots of events and skins just at a ridiculous price. Like, what am i to do with 1million legend tokens? Anyways, thats my 2c, i know its the same sentiment as a lot of people, so i hope Respawn read this to know how we feel, peace.✌️

[@tylerjohnson4709]

I don’t think hackers are the main reason why ppl have stopped playing I think it just got boring. Gameplay wise it’s been the same since 2019. I play like every week and even then it just get boring to me

[@AustinsEdits]

Honestly, they need to do what Fortnite did: make a permanent respawn BR mode. This lets people practice and be ok with dying off drop.

[@alfonshedstrom9859]

Honestly it's literally just matchmaking and technical issues like audio. The meta itself (aside from akimbo) is the most varied and balanced it has ever been. No character is unviable and no gun is unuseable. But it's hard to enjoy when the game puts you in meatgrinder lobbies quite often

[@carlosh9476]

It's the same game as always... it's an AMAZING game... it's just boring for those who have played it for so long. And its hard to keep getting new players when the game is so unforgiving and hard.

[@nexxusty]

It's dying. Player count keeps dropping no matter what they do.

[@r0sebeast986]

Week one Apex player here, I have over 8000 hrs in game I used to live and breath Apex especially during covid. Seasons 3 to 5 where some of the best times I've ever had gaming, I loved this game and was a huge sweat. There are a few big things that made me fall out of love with this game. First off servers, the audio was always an issue from the start but got worse off as more sounds where introduced to the game. You can't hear enemy footsteps and abilities half the time and sometimes even gun sounds don't even register! 20 tickrate in an online multiplayer game is crazy, sometimes bullets don't even look like they where near you would still hit you I especially had this issue with arc stars where they would fly past my face but yet I always got stuck despite them missing. Another Issue I would like to bring up is Matchmaking, remember this is the view of someone who was a better than the average player but not a pro. The first half of the game I felt the matchmaking was pretty decent I would have some pop off matches and some where I would struggle or get steamrolled, then it eventually turned into just getting steamrolled or just clapping the whole lobby like they were bots. If you even try to que into a match you will be killed off spawn by if not by a pro a cheater dual wielding spitfires with aimbot while flying around the map. I would say the last big issue if not the biggest one for me is Dry content, I'm not just talking about no new game modes or the same anniversary events where nothing changes besides the color of the skins they sell but also the legends. I would say past season 9 every legend is pretty lacklust besides maybe ash, it feels to me like they don't really have as much as a character or that "cool" factor like the other legends have. I would say the first time no one was really hyped for a legend was seer, he wasn't that interesting and his story really wasn't that cool. He was used alot because how broken he was with his wall hacks and being able to kill with his secondary ability. I just believe that the legends have really gone down in quality. When revenant, Loba, Wattson, and believe it or not even crypto were teased the whole community was hyped nowadays it just feels like "oh another legend Great". I would say these are the biggest issues that made me fall out of love with Apex along with others smaller things like Greed, Greed, Making changes to legends abilities or the maps that feel unnecessary or pandering to pros too much, oh and did I mention greed? I really loved this game but stopped a little before catalyst was released and really hope someday they might make a change for the better!

[@pandoramon7361]

apex ranked is completely dead, not just hackers but troll players can leave the game after 2 minutes of his death.

[@ravolipai]

Haven't played apex for 3 weeks now. Ngl life feels a bit better now, just playing other rpg and chilling.

[@KidTreky]

Same! Been on Diablo for a few weeks now and I feel so relaxed 😂

[@joaomarques6944]

Like father like son, guess the TitanFall treatment was just a question of time. I'm glad I left Apex.

[@tiendatnguyenhua4283]

Now what are u playing now!? Im switching to the final😂

[@benj4144]

Servers are inconsistant, matchmaking is busted and cheating isn't taken seriously. Instead of fixing stuff they offer us higher priced battle passes

[@Itz_DatBoi_2156]

I love and appreciate you for helping point out all these issues. And thank you for helping me fill in gaps regarding the current situation and status of Apex as a whole. I really love this game and as one of the mediocre casuals this hit incredibly close to home. Hope we get back the Apex Legends we all started with and enjoy.

[@kingmoonk]

I’m banned from apex for a week for saying “Ask your mom about her fart box” in the text chat. I think I’m just gonna quit apex honestly, it just isn’t fun anymore, not even trolling :(

[@braydenferguison4584]

the biggest problem i have with apex is i cannot in good faith play with other ppl that either dont play apex, or aren't very good at apex. its just a miserable time of dying and reque-ing over and over and it isnt fun at all.

[@jeermhh]

Season 5 was legendary after it was absolutely where things went downhill

[@Prunesquallor]

The main reason I stopped playing Apex is because The Finals is so much more fun. Apex just became too repetitive.

[@JCU84]

I’ll play apex as long as it’s available. It’s still the only game I play.

[@BraunesToast]

Let's be true to ourselves and acknowledge that every player in Apex just got way better. That's why I'm not getting joy out of this game anymore. And I don't even think removing SBMM would make any difference. It's the players, not the game

[@av-blxckheart9071]

Well yes and no, there’s less than a third of players playing the game and most of those players still playing are the ones actually good at the game so it’s hard to find a balance match cuz no one’s playing this game anymore

[@Sega_Saga]

I stop playing because I’m not as good as everyone is in this game. Idk if it’s me but is everyone super sweaty in Apex nowadays and I also just hate how expensive everything is like I have never gotten a heirloom yet and barely bought any skins

[@LilThikki]

I made a song explaining the state of apex ab a year ago, still holds true to this day 😂

[@meowseverywhere7004]

Season 17 is where I stopped playing regularly. The game just kinda felt stale and the increasing amount of cheaters drove me away.

[@BNKbeatz]

nothing will ever hit like jumping off the map on olympus for the first time. man, season 7 was something else.

[@theshammy00]

honestly my biggest issue is that I get in a game with my mid-to-high skill level and want to relax and have fun but instead get creamed by pro level sweats and i just can’t play past a few games without wanting to uninstall. i’d love a new matchmaking system where i play against players around my skill level

[@ceG4235]

Of course cheaters is the most important problem ❌

[@tirushone6446]

something that I have always disliked about apex is how everything is nerfed, basicley every legend and gun has been nerfed several times and at this stage everything kind of just feels "meh" compared to how it used to be.

[@xMishu_]

Short answer: cheaters,sbmm, greed and brainless players.

[@KidTreky]

Finally someone added “brainless players” as a core issue. After 20 seasons and people still don’t understand how to flank or use their characters correctly in battle situations.

[@老衲法号客尘]

@@KidTreky That's still a SBMM issue. If SBMM actually worked, brainless players would be matched against other brainless players, and that would be fine.

[@xMishu_]

​@@老衲法号客尘exept that brainless players can be good at the game but completely horrible person to play with

[@THENickRyder]

Cheaters have completely ruined it.

[@siyeh6504]

Also, the constant nagging Pros, "remove self-rez" "nerf the kraber" remove this, nerf that...

[@TheFancyKyle]

So still playing and here's my hot take, I actually play APEX because of it's same gameplay formula being intense end game and fun abilities, the problem being is for ranked that's fine but for PUBS the Matchmaking is so screwed up now where you win 1 game suddenly you spend forever against sweatlords, The issue is, a feedback loop has now occurred as the playerbase dwindles even if they fixed MM it wouldn't work as queue times would take forever and that is in itself an issue, People have gotten to used to being able to just click and instantly be thrown in sure some will say "I don't mind waiting for the perfect match up" until they spend a ton of their free time in a queue waiting every time they play, Apex had a good run, but considering we still have audio issues from season 0 and they continue to stuff crappy cosmetics down our throats to milk whales I have 0 hope, I fully expect the game to have burned out and fall below Team Fortress 2 numbers inside another year or so, but this is EA we're talking about, they'll just release another cash making game and Apex will take it's place beside Titanfall 1 and 2. I honestly wonder what would happen if they did a "back to basics" season and reverted all these destruction changes in the old maps and ran only the original 3 maps. I'd also like to point out that MANY of the Respawn dev's that were around during Season 3-7 are no longer with Respawn.

[@YMan-zo5kg]

Imo season 17 with ballistic was the nail in the coffin when 90% of the player base got a free masters badge and pros were hitting pred without getting a kill.

[@leadpencil-223]

My final straw for playing Apex seriously was when I ground the battle pass to get the Mi-RAGE emote, only for it to bug out and turn invisible if you use it in the champion screen. It's been like this for at least a month and it still hasn't even been noticed.

[@Beeplex]

I started playing around season 7, I was the usual casual gamer play with friends. Somewhere down the line (work schedule). I was alone and started sweat and became more competitive. When I did eventually play with my friends, I found myself unable to have fun. I realized I had adapted to a competitive mindset. I can't have fun unless I play with locked in players, so playing by yourself with casual teammates against competitive stacks in pubs plus rank tends to heavily drain the mental

[@ThaRealElementX]

People dont understand that its not only matchmaking but progression and actual content as well. How can you be bored when you can actually work towards something? Cheaters dont help either but when you have things to grind for and show off i think that would definitely help but they aint gonna do that. They have to monetize everything smh

[@itzaquayt4489]

This used to be my game, I put over 1300 hours since the first week. But I definitely felt the fatigue of Apex. The solo queue matchmaking is horrible, you’re facing preds who eat 4ks and 20 bombs for breakfast, while my teammates will leave the immediate second they get downed. A majority of metas were incredibly boring, like how a bajillion players only play movement characters (is it bad? Maybe(?) is it boring? Absolutely.). The monetization was just so horrible and scummy, it disappointed me that since season 15/16 was when they wanted to start pushing out a new event every 2 weeks. And there not being any more heirlooms for some characters I like such as Mad Maggie, it’s disappointing. They can’t stop cheaters, they can’t balance their game, they can’t fix matchmaking, but they sure can find ways to fill up their wallets. Another gripe I have is that they seem to only cater to the pro players that meatride the devs. I am a believer that a game becomes less enjoyable when the devs only listen to the pro players, because what they want is completely boring, paint-drying, John Doe levels of interesting. The kiss of death was absolutely the battle pass changes they initially planned for season 22, that was the final straw for me. I had deleted the game months ago, but that was the nail in the coffin for me to say adieu to Apex. It really went from having the world behind it, to having the world against it, but honestly, I think it’s time that these “AAA” games like this, COD, Overwatch, and maybe in R6 Siege that are run by multimillion dollar companies should die out for letting their games become so… horrible for lack of a better word.

[@NoTime4NoHo]

Funny thing is, the whole reason I began playing was because of Revs Outland story. Literally had never touched the game but watched that video and instantly said “this is my character”.

[@olgierdbogusz9698]

As someone who used to play a LOT back when the game came out, a bit here and there throughout the years, and haven't touched it since 2023, I don't think anything in particular really went wrong. It's just that nothing really went right for a long period of time, and interest fizzled out.

[@theamazingsparky1711]

Something much more important than monitization issues and the hacking issues was missed. In the spring of 2023 they started messing with the SBMM in the game and has made it impossible to get fair matches any more. I consider myself good at the game. Barely getting into diamond one season but, getting put up against multiple season predators every single casual game has made it unplayable. They need to revert the SBMM changes they made.

[@xCreativeThoughtsx]

I started playing one week after it came out. I was instantly hooked. My issues started with the lack of lore. When a new player/map was coming, there was so much buzz and in game visuals that brought excitement. Stories from the outlands. This made you care about each player in the game. Now they don’t even bother to finish stories, buff and nerf everything, the servers aren’t updated and the game engine desperately needs UE5. And of course, I can’t leave out the cheaters

[@TheBeardedBurton]

I get that it’s not what it was but I don’t get why people say it’s trash. It’s still such a DAMN good game. The main folks complaining are people who play 6,7,12 hours a day and that’s not the common people. I play it every night for about an hour or two with my college buddies, and it’s a blast.

[@mr.voided9163]

The real reason(s) Apex legends is struggling is because of its age, its refusal to try new things (recolor spam and now event recolor), and because its players refuse to accept and try new metas (the first time the r-99 went into the pack people cried themselves to sleep and called the devs stupid for it). The community thinks cheaters just stop once they are banned and that respawn is doing nothing about cheaters (why would they want to destroy their business?) Another big one is the really talented people. Apex has an almost infinite scaling skill ceiling with all the movement and different tech. It’s either you play a lot or get destroyed by those who play a lot. People just don’t want to be queued up with them but what about those people? And what about the people you destroy? The only way to win that battle would be to queue all the sweats together and just hope they quit but why would a game ostracize their most committed fan base. The game can’t punish you for playing what is probably your favorite game. Apex is in an infinite loop of unavoidable problems, problems with a SERIOUS lack of creativity, and a player base that only wants to play with a few legends and weapons.

[@fedism]

Most memorable season for me was when Horizon and Olympus was released, it was so good. And I really loved the first few days you can just go around the map with an entire lobby to learn the map while the ring closes. I missed that and wish all new maps after had that...

[@1zoaele]

The thing about this game is I have a below 30 hours play time, and I'm matching with people who have over 3000 hours on the game

[@imsomeguyonutube]

9 months ago they needed to listen to the players and make changes. They ignored us, we left.

[@westfall19]

Apex Legends needs an engine update. The game is currently running on a modified version of a Source engine that is over 20 years old. This is the main reason for the game's issues with frame drops, audio cues, and optimization. Respawn/EA need to invest in their own game and make a much-needed update to future-proof the game and demonstrate that they still care. No amount of limited-time modes, collection events, or new content can revive the game anymore. They really need the overhaul the whole game.

[@eastsidechump92]

The risk is trying to replicate the feel/mechanics with a new engine. Too many of the original devs are gone.

[@Dbzmaniac6]

We the players have been telling the Devs for a long time what the game needs to no avail. They choose not to listen or communicate with the every day players of the game. It will take time, effort, and money but why not invest to keep the game around as long as possible? If they don't then they should just come out and say it, if they do then they need to implement some things. 1-Apex needs to get a handle on the cheaters, there's no point in playing ranked if I'm just going to lose to some dude one clipping me across the map with a Havoc. 2-Better ranked rewards (Why not make a special reactive skin for a weapon each season that changes depending on what rank you are?) 3-Stabilize the terrible servers that constantly make playing the game a chore. 4-Rework the matchmaking (Why the hell am I fighting masters and preds in my gold lobby?) 5-FIX THE GODDAMN SOUND!!!! 6-Bring in more casual and fun modes. Prop hunt, melee and skills only, Survival (Where 4 teams of 3 fight constant waves of spiders, prowlers, and spectres in round based combat where every round gets more difficult and last team standing wins and gets their team on a leaderboard) ETC. PS Keep Duos and quads permanently, I understand the worry of splitting the player base but that wont be as much of a problem if they start repairing apex. Players will return if there is something for them to return to. There is a lot more that I am missing but in my opinion these are the most important issues that Respawn needs to address if they want to keep Apex relevant. I personally love this game, it hurts seeing the devs and EA ignore the player base while giving us the impression that they have abandoned the game almoste entirely. The devs hope that the content creators will buy out collection events without question, they don't even seem to put the money they make back into the game. It's frustrating.If Respawn and EA don't course correct then we will see Apex continue to wither away until it is completely irrelevant in another year or two.