Speculation: What will this accomplish? How this affects both SoloQ and Pre-made teams?
Hello, I've read a lot of comments under that post, and the people seem to have three general points:
- More players will hit Diamond, lowering the value of the rank.
- There should be another separation rank between Plat and Diamond, or at least a clearer separation between D4-D3 and D2-D1.
- Ranked should have separate queues for SoloQ and pre-made squads.
I agree with only the third.
You know, I really think this is the healthiest in-game test in a while.
A coordinated squad and three random solo players are fundamentally different teams. I am not saying that randoms in SoloQ are bad, they're not, they're not coordinated together. How often do you and your randoms push absolutely together, are confident in each other, and focus on someone (even basic "Bang one hp"), or plan rotations?
Pre-made squads do that by default, and there's nothing wrong with that; that is a strategy for an absolutely different environment.
Currently, as a full SoloQ player in D4 3/4, I experience two scenarios:
- Round 4: ~10 Squads
- Round 3: ~4 Squads
Know why? Pre-stacks have nothing to do with that, right? But maybe I'm wrong here.
Pre-stacks can force their momentum and just start stomping basically as soon as they land, while randoms take a while to ramp up and are much less often a thing to see. Pre-stacks do not hesitate, they do not split a lot, and they don't take forever to recover because they don't trust you.
You will genuinely have to fight for your rank. You will have to bite down on that placement + KP to move, even in diamond. Sure, many will stop at D4, but hey, D1-D2 badges are shiny, while D3 and D4 badges are not.
The skill gap between just “mechanically good” and “actually aware players” will become evident.
Also, a few points to add:
Even two guys stacking as your teammates is already fundamentally different than playing with two randoms; this isn't just an Apex thing. I have observed that a lot before.
I also do not suggest anti-stacking; stacking is absolutely valid because it is a completely different thing from playing solo, after all, there are no solo scrims or no solo algs.