Aceu suggests changing Apex ranked to solo-queue only

Another day, another discussion on the ways to help the ranked mode of Apex Legends feel better for players. So far in season 12, many top content creators and pros have complained about how watered-down ranked feels thanks to more players than ever being able to reach Masters. 

Brandon “aceu” Winn, one of the original Apex stars, has a simple solution. “The true fix to Apex ranked is to make it solo queue only,” he said. “But y’all not ready for that conversation.”

The logic here is fairly simple: solo-queuing in Apex is much harder than playing with a pre-made team of people that players presumably know and are familiar with. When you can guarantee a certain level of skill and coordination, moving up the ranks is easier. Solo-queuing offers none of those guarantees and, as such, places an emphasis on individual skill and players’ ability to coordinate with strangers on the fly. 

Aceu’s take split opinions among some of the biggest pro players and content creators in the game. Several agreed with the take, while others didn’t think the change would be healthy for the majority of players.

And of course, there are still players’ issues with the ranked points system as it stands outside of the debate between allowing players to play in teams vs. solo queuing. TSM leader Philip “ImperialHal” Dosen brought up the point himself in Aceu’s thread.

Ultimately, it seems clear that Apex can’t take a “one size fits all” approach to ranked since there are vastly different needs and desires from the system for the very small group of players at the top of the ranked ladder and the majority of players who rank somewhere beneath them. Keeping that small group of players at the top interested and engaged in the game is still incredibly important since those players form most of Apex’s online viewership, as well as the majority of the pro scene. Forcing everyone into a solo queue to play ranked, however, will probably lead to a large loss of interest in the game mode, as well as a decrease in its player base.

That might sound great to some of the top players who think there are far too many players in Masters right now, but losing player population is directly opposite to Respawn’s interests, in all probability. A slightly more refined solution might be to begin limiting players to solo queue in ranked once they’ve reached Diamond, so an issue that is by and large only affecting the very best players in the game isn’t met with a solution that changes the experience of every single average player who just wants to play ranked with their friends.

At any rate, it does seem like there are some changes on the way for the ranked mode, yet again, in the upcoming season 13, as Respawn devs have hinted at.

Solo queue only seems unlikely for next season, given how drastic of a change it would be. But the points system might see yet another tweak or the ranked system might even see the introduction of rank decay, another idea championed by several top players. Either way, the changes planned for ranked will become clearer when Apex season 13 is officially announced.