TSM’s Albralelie calls Apex’s old ranked system ‘a participation trophy’

Apex Legends and TSM content creator Albralelie compared season 13’s new ranked system to previous iterations in a recent stream.

In a stream clip shared to Reddit, Albralelie starts out by calling the old ranked season “a participation trophy,” explaining that he believes it took much less effort and skill for the average player to reach Master in previous seasons. Because of the way Respawn changed the ranked system for season 13, Albralelie claims that players who were “hardstuck” in Platinum IV or Diamond IV last season probably won’t make it out of Silver or Gold this season.

It’s not that Albralelie thinks that the player base is getting worse at playing the game. “The previous system misled you and gave you a false sense of confidence,” he said, speaking to his stream audience. “I mean this in the nicest way possible. That’s just where you belong.”

He went on to encourage players to not get frustrated if they’re stuck in a lower rank than they’re used to. He said players should focus on improving their skills as they go up the ranks instead of simply grinding out time and expecting to climb.

Albralelie was involved in the design of the new ranked system, which introduced tier demotions, increased entry cost RP across all ranks, and removed kill RP caps. The new system was designed to encourage playing as a team and to discourage rat strategies, making matches more about a combination of overall placement and total kills.

Right when season 13 started, Albralelie asked Respawn for an additional kill RP multiplier for solo and duo players to balance out the emphasis on overall team placement.