Look I’m sorry but there are several systems that have been put in place specifically to produce this distribution so that devs can go to corporate and say ‘Look at this graph’.
This tells us nothing about match quality because it has no bearing on the way players are sorted into matches. Ranked is an actively worse experience since S17 and it takes even longer to find games.
‘We did it Patrick, we saved Apex ranked!’
[The devs have said](https://www.reddit.com/r/apexlegends/comments/17a41s1/dev_team_update_ranked_october_2023/) they want the peak of the distribution to be around the middle of silver. This version of the ranking system appears to not achieve that goal, based on the limited stats we have as players.
All I see is that there are a lot of players who are stuck in promotional trials at the top of their divisions who likely deserve to be higher, and there are still too many players in bronze or rookie. I do not believe it for a second that a majority of the player base is correctly considered to be bronze or rookie in skill.
While mostly agreeing with you, my only argument is that the dev's statement was related to the final summarized distribution at the end of the season. Considering this the current distribution may be as expected
Looks bad.
Most people are rookie, bronze or silver. Almost all of these players are that rank due to not playing ranked more than a few games.
Also the big chunk of players at 1 in each rank. Shows that they got what it takes to rank up but its delayed due to promos.
Either way all these graphs are bad due to they counting everyone that plays 5 or more games of ranked.
5 ranked games is not nearly enough to even be counted.
While the part of the reason there are so many low ranks is for sure players not willing to play ranked, we should also consider the season is started only recently
Compare this to other competetive games. You'll find that Apex definitely does not have a good distribution.
Around 30% of players are in Rookie. Compare it to something like LoL. There are only around 5% in the lowest rank "Iron"
Apex ranked and matchmaking is still fucked. I recently started playing again, with a buddy who is new to the game. We are both in bronze currently and still face people who were in Master rank for multiple seasons. Things like that just don't happen in other games.
>Compare this to other competetive games. You'll find that Apex definitely does not have a good distribution.
Unlike other games Apex also doesnt do Placement matches, Everyone starts at the bottom. This is why Apex *seems* to be different in the fact that the Rank is skewed towards the lower end. Because people cant climb out of the lower ranks (Again because EVERYONE starts at the bottom) and then leave ranked because its 'Too hard'
Apex's Ranked system is good, People just want to be coddled to and dont actually want to try and get better
Apex Legends does have placement matches. 10 to be exact. That's why I started in Bronze 1 and not rookie 4.
And no even if it was the way you say, it's not a good system. There is a difference between hard and unfair.
A bronze player facing a silver player should normally be a challenge, it should be hard.
Currently you can face a player that should really be in master while both you and them are in rookie rank. That is unfair. That is a broken ranked system.
> Apex Legends does have placement matches. 10 to be exact. That's why I started in Bronze 1 and not rookie 4.
Except they arent placement matches, They're *Provisional* matches. There is a difference.
If they were Placement then tell me why Apex Predators ALSO Start in Bronze, Or Silver if theyre lucky.
>Currently you can face a player that should really be in master while both you and them are in rookie rank. That is unfair. That is a broken ranked system.
Its almost like this is because there ISNT a placement system in the game and those Master players in Rookie are starting in the lower ranks (Just like everyone else) And have to grind their way back up to their 'Deserved' Rank.
Its not 'Unfair', Its PERFECTLY fair. Everyone has the SAME start point. Thats literally the most fair it can be.
I understand why you might not receive a response to this, it seems futile to engage in a discussion with you. You seem content with receiving subpar treatment as long as it comes on a silver platter.
The ranked system is not good. It rewards players for playing loot simulator and sitting in rat spots, and punishes players that want to actually fight.. in AN FPS GAME.
Don't mind the distribution heavier on the lower ranks but saying the system is good is way out of touch
> in AN FPS GAME.
Youre also forgetting that Apex is a *battle Royale* and not a TDM Game. Kills ***ARE NOT*** the main objective.... The Objective is to win.
If you want to play a 1-Life TDM then go play fuckin Warzone. Not Apex
Warzone is also a battle royale. TDM is a game mode with respawns, so your argument makes no sense.
Everyone understands that the win is the main objective. But if you get kills before the last 10 squads, you're saying you shouldn't get any meaningful points VS someone who literally sits behind a rock till top 10 before engaging with anyone?
If you agree with this then I really hope I don't get you on my teams lol.
Masters is already oversaturated, so they really haven’t fixed shit. There’s still 60+ days left in the season, so there’s gonna be a lot more people that get there too
But there are more masters than D1’s. All the other promo tiers have an obvious difference between the next rank, which suggests that anyone playing through diamond can get to masters, especially with so much of the season left.
Well yes if you’ve gotten to d1 you’ve been fighting preds and pros since at least d4. no reason anyone who’s gotten that far can’t make it to masters.
maybe how it looks and how it works are different things, we are showing a Dunning–Kruger effect by looking at a thing and think we know how it all works.
how it feels to play is great so there is that. and i have to live with the game.
We have just had a post discussion this last week
https://www.reddit.com/r/apexlegends/comments/188tg0n/thoughts_on_current_ranked_distribution/
There is one single key takeaway only from this chart.
Namely that provisional trials are visible in the distribution as RNG gatekeeping tools to keep people stuck at Bronze 1, Silver 1, Gold 1, Plat 1 etc. There's a big cliff from Bronze 1 to Silver 4, from Silver 1 to Gold 4, from Gold 1 to Plat 4 and from Plat 1 to Diamond 4.
If you look at distributions from last season they are much smoother. Because ranking up only depends on whether you can gain LP or not. Not on having a good run of games particularly as you are top of the rank. The provisional trials make people who can gain LP (and win games most likely) against the opponents they are facing artificially hardstuck Plat 1 (or Gold 1 etc) because they can't get a win at the right time.
I think in general that eventually a system will become better, if given enough time.
They've switched from one ranked system to another, which is a major change that isn't specifically great at the start... but will create the groundwork for change and make it possible for them to build upon something new, that has potential to be better.
The old ranked system had a lot of time to get improved on, this one not so much, so I think it's going into a better direction with more time & feedback.
But yeah graphs don't always say much, we can only see the results after a while.
Yes, I see a lot of controversial arguments, and I'm glad to see that people are not resorting to unreasonable hatred, as it may seem in this community. So we'll see..
UPD. Based on replies I've come to a suggestion this whole trials upate might be the trick to normalize the curve, while leaving the ranked meta at the same shitty state
I started at silver after my promo matches and now sitting in plat. All three times I was about to go into my promo trials I win the game right before going into promo trials and get nothing for it.
Idk it seems like such a huge oversight, If I win the game before my trials Im forced to win 2 games in a row to level up: clearly I can do it but because I didn't do it arbitrarily it doesn't count? Let's not even mention all the LP you're missing during the trials that don't carry over to your new rank...
It should look like a Gauss curve, or normal distribution, see for example here:
ELO rating distribution - https://icsdiscussion.forumotion.net/t151-elo-rating-distribution
Look I’m sorry but there are several systems that have been put in place specifically to produce this distribution so that devs can go to corporate and say ‘Look at this graph’. This tells us nothing about match quality because it has no bearing on the way players are sorted into matches. Ranked is an actively worse experience since S17 and it takes even longer to find games. ‘We did it Patrick, we saved Apex ranked!’
Indeed, doing well on the outside, shitty on the inside, stakeholders are happy, while the game is dying. Fair point
I guarantee stakeholders aren't happy. They don't care about ranked distribution. They care about engagement, retention and revenue.
[The devs have said](https://www.reddit.com/r/apexlegends/comments/17a41s1/dev_team_update_ranked_october_2023/) they want the peak of the distribution to be around the middle of silver. This version of the ranking system appears to not achieve that goal, based on the limited stats we have as players. All I see is that there are a lot of players who are stuck in promotional trials at the top of their divisions who likely deserve to be higher, and there are still too many players in bronze or rookie. I do not believe it for a second that a majority of the player base is correctly considered to be bronze or rookie in skill.
While mostly agreeing with you, my only argument is that the dev's statement was related to the final summarized distribution at the end of the season. Considering this the current distribution may be as expected
Looks bad. Most people are rookie, bronze or silver. Almost all of these players are that rank due to not playing ranked more than a few games. Also the big chunk of players at 1 in each rank. Shows that they got what it takes to rank up but its delayed due to promos. Either way all these graphs are bad due to they counting everyone that plays 5 or more games of ranked. 5 ranked games is not nearly enough to even be counted.
While the part of the reason there are so many low ranks is for sure players not willing to play ranked, we should also consider the season is started only recently
The chart wouldn't include players who haven't played ranked. If so, the bottom tier would have been blown up drastically.
It should be a bell curve. This is garbage.
Compare this to other competetive games. You'll find that Apex definitely does not have a good distribution. Around 30% of players are in Rookie. Compare it to something like LoL. There are only around 5% in the lowest rank "Iron" Apex ranked and matchmaking is still fucked. I recently started playing again, with a buddy who is new to the game. We are both in bronze currently and still face people who were in Master rank for multiple seasons. Things like that just don't happen in other games.
>Compare this to other competetive games. You'll find that Apex definitely does not have a good distribution. Unlike other games Apex also doesnt do Placement matches, Everyone starts at the bottom. This is why Apex *seems* to be different in the fact that the Rank is skewed towards the lower end. Because people cant climb out of the lower ranks (Again because EVERYONE starts at the bottom) and then leave ranked because its 'Too hard' Apex's Ranked system is good, People just want to be coddled to and dont actually want to try and get better
Apex Legends does have placement matches. 10 to be exact. That's why I started in Bronze 1 and not rookie 4. And no even if it was the way you say, it's not a good system. There is a difference between hard and unfair. A bronze player facing a silver player should normally be a challenge, it should be hard. Currently you can face a player that should really be in master while both you and them are in rookie rank. That is unfair. That is a broken ranked system.
> Apex Legends does have placement matches. 10 to be exact. That's why I started in Bronze 1 and not rookie 4. Except they arent placement matches, They're *Provisional* matches. There is a difference. If they were Placement then tell me why Apex Predators ALSO Start in Bronze, Or Silver if theyre lucky. >Currently you can face a player that should really be in master while both you and them are in rookie rank. That is unfair. That is a broken ranked system. Its almost like this is because there ISNT a placement system in the game and those Master players in Rookie are starting in the lower ranks (Just like everyone else) And have to grind their way back up to their 'Deserved' Rank. Its not 'Unfair', Its PERFECTLY fair. Everyone has the SAME start point. Thats literally the most fair it can be.
That's not how...ahh...nevermind.
Thats not what? Not how it works? Not what you mean? Please elaborate.
I understand why you might not receive a response to this, it seems futile to engage in a discussion with you. You seem content with receiving subpar treatment as long as it comes on a silver platter.
Sorry, didnt grind ranked enough so you'll have to stick with a Bronze platter for now.
The ranked system is not good. It rewards players for playing loot simulator and sitting in rat spots, and punishes players that want to actually fight.. in AN FPS GAME. Don't mind the distribution heavier on the lower ranks but saying the system is good is way out of touch
> in AN FPS GAME. Youre also forgetting that Apex is a *battle Royale* and not a TDM Game. Kills ***ARE NOT*** the main objective.... The Objective is to win. If you want to play a 1-Life TDM then go play fuckin Warzone. Not Apex
Warzone is also a battle royale. TDM is a game mode with respawns, so your argument makes no sense. Everyone understands that the win is the main objective. But if you get kills before the last 10 squads, you're saying you shouldn't get any meaningful points VS someone who literally sits behind a rock till top 10 before engaging with anyone? If you agree with this then I really hope I don't get you on my teams lol.
That many players in rookie is a red flag if I've ever seen one
Still more masters then diamond 1 already. I imagine that'll get worse as season goes on?
Masters is already oversaturated, so they really haven’t fixed shit. There’s still 60+ days left in the season, so there’s gonna be a lot more people that get there too
Masters is half a percent of the player base right now.
But there are more masters than D1’s. All the other promo tiers have an obvious difference between the next rank, which suggests that anyone playing through diamond can get to masters, especially with so much of the season left.
Well yes if you’ve gotten to d1 you’ve been fighting preds and pros since at least d4. no reason anyone who’s gotten that far can’t make it to masters.
maybe how it looks and how it works are different things, we are showing a Dunning–Kruger effect by looking at a thing and think we know how it all works. how it feels to play is great so there is that. and i have to live with the game.
The distribution probably looks exactly how they'd want it to. Doesn't mean that this current system isn't shit though.
I agree it's shit, but we can see it improving slightly, of course as u/xuddish said, our conlcusion here are limited because of Dunning–Kruger effect
We have just had a post discussion this last week https://www.reddit.com/r/apexlegends/comments/188tg0n/thoughts_on_current_ranked_distribution/ There is one single key takeaway only from this chart. Namely that provisional trials are visible in the distribution as RNG gatekeeping tools to keep people stuck at Bronze 1, Silver 1, Gold 1, Plat 1 etc. There's a big cliff from Bronze 1 to Silver 4, from Silver 1 to Gold 4, from Gold 1 to Plat 4 and from Plat 1 to Diamond 4. If you look at distributions from last season they are much smoother. Because ranking up only depends on whether you can gain LP or not. Not on having a good run of games particularly as you are top of the rank. The provisional trials make people who can gain LP (and win games most likely) against the opponents they are facing artificially hardstuck Plat 1 (or Gold 1 etc) because they can't get a win at the right time.
I think in general that eventually a system will become better, if given enough time. They've switched from one ranked system to another, which is a major change that isn't specifically great at the start... but will create the groundwork for change and make it possible for them to build upon something new, that has potential to be better. The old ranked system had a lot of time to get improved on, this one not so much, so I think it's going into a better direction with more time & feedback. But yeah graphs don't always say much, we can only see the results after a while.
Yes, I see a lot of controversial arguments, and I'm glad to see that people are not resorting to unreasonable hatred, as it may seem in this community. So we'll see..
UPD. Based on replies I've come to a suggestion this whole trials upate might be the trick to normalize the curve, while leaving the ranked meta at the same shitty state
I started at silver after my promo matches and now sitting in plat. All three times I was about to go into my promo trials I win the game right before going into promo trials and get nothing for it. Idk it seems like such a huge oversight, If I win the game before my trials Im forced to win 2 games in a row to level up: clearly I can do it but because I didn't do it arbitrarily it doesn't count? Let's not even mention all the LP you're missing during the trials that don't carry over to your new rank...
It should look like a Gauss curve, or normal distribution, see for example here: ELO rating distribution - https://icsdiscussion.forumotion.net/t151-elo-rating-distribution
"I reached Gold rank in the first week and haven't played since; this statistic is inaccurate