Ranked Season 1 vs. Ranked Season 2
Ranked Leagues Season 1 kicked off in Apex Legends Season 2. Ranked Leagues Season 2 started when Apex Legends entered Season 3.
In Ranked Season 1, all players started at Bronze IV. When Ranked Season 2 launched, Respawn had given players “credit” for their final rank in Season 1. Players who ended Ranked Season 1 in Platinum started Season 2 in Silver, for example.
Respawn also adjusted the scoring model significantly. Players still earn points per kill, but also earn points for assists, so whittling away 99% of an enemy’s health still pays off when a teammate plinks that opponent for the final 1% with a stray Mozambique shot from the other side of the building…
Sorry, where was I?
In Season 1, all points earned and lost were in the single digits except for winning matches, which earned 12 “RP” (ranked points). Season 2, however, sees the entry fees for each tier multiplied by 12, meaning that Silver matches cost 12RP instead of 1RP, and Apex Predator matches cost 60RP instead of 5RP.
Additionally, in Season 2, Respawn changed the flat per-kill RP reward to a multiplier system, whereby the higher players place in a match, the more RP their kills are worth .
Makes perfect sense, right?
Anyway, Ranked Leagues had a late start and the scoring can be a bit confusing, but the mode up for it with being everything the ultra-competitive Apex players wanted.
Or did it?
Complaints
The biggest complaint for Ranked mode, in Season 1 and Season 2, is that it has focused on the “thirstiness” and “sweatiness” of players respectively. In Ranked Season 1, enemies finished off their victims immediately rather than focusing on winning the overall fight.
Because of the aforementioned points-per-kill advancement model, a lot of players worried more about securing a single point instead of thinking about the long-term benefits of winning a match. As a result, lots of teams would lose because they split off on their own to each claw back at least a small amount of points for their first kill.
The fervor for chasing kills was only the beginning, though. Many players complained about how the dynamics of a match changed from one tier to the next. Bronze and Silver tiers played much like a standard match of Apex, with only slight shifts in the meta going into Silver.
Gold tier, however, saw players exercising more caution, playing it slower and relying on sniper weapons and camping. Such a drastic shift in pace resulted in many players struggling to advance further than Gold III or Gold II.
Platinum saw the pendulum swing the other direction, as players became more aggressive. Teams sought opportunities to third-party enemy teams and wipe two opposing squads off the map simultaneously. Often resulting in four or five squads converging on one area, Platinum matches became chaotic meatgrinders that frustrated players, and even drove some away from Ranked altogether.
As a former Platinum-tier player, I can’t speak much about the dynamic in the Diamond or Apex tiers, except to say that when I did find myself in a Diamond-tier match, I died very, very quickly almost every time.
Praises
For all those complaints, a lot of people thoroughly enjoyed high-stakes Ranked play. Having badges to display their highest rank achieved was more than enough motivation for many players to return to Apex after taking a hiatus.
Additionally, some players loved the changing dynamic between tiers. It forced them to change their play style and evolve their strategies to either align with or counter the meta of the tier.
The Verdict
Ranked Season 1 was great, with a few minor issues. Unfortunately, many of the die hard Apex Legends players that I knew got burned out by trying to grind for RP in pursuit of higher Ranked tiers. Ranked Season 2 is still fun, but doesn’t hold the same allure that Season 1 did.
Ultimately, I think that Respawn’s attempts to tweak & refine Ranked Leagues for Season 2 didn’t do enough to make the mode feel new or exciting. It’s just more of the same from Ranked Season 1. Hopefully for Ranked Season 3, they find some way to make it fresh and enticing again.
What do you think? Do you play Ranked in Apex Legends? What tier are you? Let us know in the comments below! And be sure to come back tomorrow, when we’ll be talking about the Apex Legends themselves, including a rundown of the biggest shake-ups the characters have gone through!
