Apex Legends players slam “trash” Ranked system and matchmaking issues

Nathan Warby
Apex Legends characters running

Apex Legends players have called out the game’s Ranked matchmaking, claiming it’s placing them in unfair matches against opponents well out of their league.

Apex Legends Season 14 has been well received by the community, with the new character Vantage and other quality of life changes bringing the feel-good factor back to the battle royale.

Unfortunately, it hasn’t all been smooth sailing, and fans have been quick to point out a number of issues in the new season. Wattson’s fence is still broken despite the fix that was supposed to come in Season 14, while the Battle Pass has also come under fire.

Now, although Respawn did make some welcome changes, players have slammed Apex Legends’ Ranked mode for putting together lobbies with a huge skill gap.

Reddit user Azrael462 started a thread criticizing the state of matchmaking in Apex Ranked, arguing the wide range of ranks that can make up a single lobby make it less enjoyable for those in lower brackets.

“If I am in gold I should be fighting gold people, NOT F*****G PREDS OR MASTERS,” the user ranted. “You can actually say it’s a skill issue here because clearly it is, gold is the third rank below masters and fourth below pred, now fix your f*****g system.”

Apex Legends Ranked mode, like most similar modes, is supposed to work on skill-based matchmaking, where only players of a similar rank are put together to make for an even fight. However, players are noticing that this doesn’t seem to be the case.

The OP seemed to point the blame at streamers, as they felt that the current matchmaking system was designed to give full-time players in higher ranks more chance of finding a lobby, rather than being lumped together in every match.

“I’m tired of getting 1k damage and 3 kills only to still lose 30 RP because OF A F*****G PREDATOR STREAMER,” the Redditor continued. “Listen to the community and not the streamers because clearly they don’t know a f*****g thing.”

Other comments seemed to agree that Ranked mode is becoming more punishing, especially if you happen to be in the Bronze, Silver, or Gold tiers. “Never seen a game with worse matchmaking IMO,” argued one reply. “No other game made me feel so fucking helpless like apex did, not even League [of Legends],” said another.

This has been an ongoing frustration among the Apex community, and players will be hoping to see Ranked mode’s matchmaking given some tweaks during Season 14 or in the Season 15 update.


For more on Apex Legends, be sure to check out our review of Season 14, as well as the Season 15 Legend found in the game files.

Image credit: Respawn Entertainment

About The Author

Nathan is a Senior Writer for CharlieIntel and Dexerto, primarily covering FIFA and Call of Duty, as well as general gaming news and guides. After leaving university with a degree in Sports Studies and a master's degree in Magazine Journalism, he took on a role as a local news reporter before moving into games media. You can contact Nathan by email at [email protected].