Even as EA is working on ways to revive Battlefield, it hasn’t forgotten it has a successful competitive multiplayer experience with Apex Legends. The development team released its first blog post of the year detailing some of the improvements players can expect. Specifically, when it comes to combatting cheaters alongside some of the changes coming to the game’s matchmaking algo.
One of the biggest issues facing Apex Legends is teaming, where several squads work together rather than compete against one another. This throws off the balance of a match and is dispiriting for gamers who play the “right” way. EA has banned roughly 1,200 accounts that it detected participating in this type of scheme, which led to the erasure of 17.4 million ranked points. It has also improved detection algorithms to try and catch cheaters quicker than before.
There are also several updates coming to matchmaking. These include Pre-Match Skill Display, which provides players insight as to how they measure up to the competition, which will now roll out to unranked modes starting with Trios BR. Additionally, the game will now use a “starting skill value” that takes a player’s performance across game modes to better match them with players of similar skill even when trying a new mode.
A change players might not be so happy with is the testing of bots in public lobbies. The Bot Royale mode has always been there for players to find their footing, but the plan is to use these same bots to fill out matches. The development team says it will be a “small and deliberate amount of npc bots,” and will be closely monitoring players’ experience to see if it’s the right path forward. At least the developers are being up front about this rather than just inserting them into matches without saying anything.
Apex Legends players should mostly be heartened by some of these changes in the pipeline, and hopefully the developers continue to have open communication with the community to better improve the game.