The latest Apex Legends Ranked changes are the biggest adjustments to the mode since its 2019 debut, and players are reeling from the effects. , and a lot of the changes make sen🧜se – but the application of these changes is a different story.
Apex Legends Ranked now favors survival over death-dealing, and can be a tough place for lower-tier players to find enjoyable experiences. Sure, you can play unranked Apex Legends to avoid getting rolled by players who belong in high🐟er ranks, but have otherwisওe ended up in low tiers because of the rework, but if you're like me and favor competitiveness over casual play and tend to solo queue for matches, Ranked is rough right now.
The rework
The Apex Legends Ranked rework largely focuses on its nature as a battle royale and how players should be rewarded for survival, which is the game's "primary objective." In the past, players fond of a hot drop will land in zones that are heavily populated🅺 with enemy teams and get a ton of kills early on in the match. This style of p𒅌lay often means squads are wiped within a few minutes, with the remaining playtime functioning like a big game of team deathmatch rather than a battle royale.
The Ranked rework is also a serious blow for players who solo queue. I don't have many friends who play Apex Legends, and the ones that do aren't big fans o𓆏f playing ranked, so I'm almost always playing with random teammates. And whi☂le Apex Legends' groundbreaking ping system makes it easier for me to communicate with mic-less players, it doesn't help when the majority of them insist upon hot-dropping. I'm not the Apex best player by a longshot, but I can usually walk away from a hot drop with a kill or two. Now that doesn't matter, as the new RP calculations favor teamwork and survival above all else.
These changes make sense on paper – after all, Apex Legends is a squad-based batꦆtle royale and you should be rewarded for outliving other squads by working together as a team. But for lower-skilled and solo-queuing players, the Apex Legends Ranked rework is rough⛦ as hell. I may be a masochist who will continue to grind my way to the middle, but will the rest of the player base do the same?
Alyssa Mercante is an editor and features writer at GamesR𝓡adar based out of Brooklyn, NY. Prior to entering the industry, she got her Masters's degree in ♏Modern and Contemporary Literature at Newcastle University with a dissertation focusing on contemporary indie games. She spends most of her time playing competitive shooters and in-depth RPGs and was recently on a PAX Panel about the best bars in video games. In her spare time Alyssa rescues cats, practices her Italian, and plays soccer.
