Some of the planet’s top Apex Legends ranked players – including popular streamers and professional players – have managed to get the hashtag #SaveApexRanked trending after uniting to put pressure on Respawn.
The viral hashtag stemmed from NRG’s pro Apex player Chris ‘sweetdreams’ Sexton, who used it alongside a lengthy diagnosis of why the most skilled Apex Legends players were starting to become disenfranchised and unhappy with the battle royale’s ranked mode. In his statement, sweetdreams says that players competing at Diamond rank and above “are going into about the eight or ninth consecutive month” of cheating and DDOSing hampering the competitive integrity of ranked Apex.
“This issue stems from Apex Legend’s general lack of enthusiasm when it comes to hiring or acquiring more people who can serve to ban cheaters either real time (preferred) or after the fact (still decent),” he writes. “It is completely unknown to me why Apex lets the one game mode that sets them apart from competitors (Warzone) hit absolute rock bottom when it comes to competitive integrity and just the ability to have fun.
“Myself and almost every NA/EU streamer or public competitive figure have come together because we literally can’t see the game spiral further out of control. Ranked is the backbone of apex and we can’t take it much longer.”
Empty Promises and False Hope. #SaveApexRanked before it’s too late.
Read: https://t.co/ruTdiQ7FGN
— sweet (@sweetdreamsh1) June 28, 2021
The post was received with widespread support, and #SaveApexRanked soon took off and trended on Twitter.
It also came shortly after Respawn had tweeted about the steps it was taking to tackle cheaters and DDOS attacks. While the sentiment appears encouraging, it seems that the top Apex Legends players and streamers wanted to apply some pressure to make sure those promises are kept.
Playing against cheaters sucks. We’ll keep you updated as we ship the above changes and pursue new ones.
— Respawn (@Respawn) June 28, 2021
With the hashtag gaining so much traction, members of the Respawn team were quick to respond to the community’s concerns about ranked.
Game designer Brian Vidovic acknowledges the community’s passion for Apex Legends and understands players’ frustrations. He also says that Respawn “love this game as much as you do and we are, actually, always working to make it the best experience possible.”
Disrespect, threats, or general garbage behaviour won’t be tolerated, no doubt, but we love this game as much as you do and we are, actually, always working to make it the best experience possible. There is SO much going on behind the scenes at all times. 2/3
— Brian Vidovic (@BrianOnTheRocks) June 29, 2021
Director of communications Ryan Rigney says sweetdreams’ post contains “very valid complaints”. He does, however, find fault with accusations that Respawn lies to its players and its communications around the ranked experience are there to “fool” players.
While Apex Legends has, on paper, one of the most fun and challenging ranked systems out there, it’s clear that for players at the top of their game the experience has dropped in quality significantly in recent times. With so many top streamers and popular pros uniting, real change could now be afoot.
Source: https://www.theloadout.com/apex-legends/save-apex-ranked-campaign
