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This is probably a mistake because, let's face it, no matter what I say in here people will be angry and shout at me but: the 3% stat is for both Master/Apex Predator, i.e. the text should read "Only 3% of matches for all Platinum players in Apex Legends have them going up against a Master or Apex Predator". The only distinction between Master and Apex Predator is the reward the get at the end of the season, the rest of Ranked treats them as exactly the same. (Entry costs are the same, grouping restrictions are the same, they matchmake the same, etc etc). The omission was simply a mistake on my part.
To clarify another critique made here: If a match has 30 Plats and there's one Apex Predator in the lobby, we count that as 30 games when calculating the 3% stat above.
I'm sure the people most angry about the stat will say "I run into Preds far more than 3%", and that is probably true for them, but it is not true for the system as a whole. If you play on a low population data center as a Platinum player, yes you will run into Master/Predators a lot more than 3%. On any single night I cannot guarantee that you as a Platinum player will not run into Master/Predators more than 3% of our games. But taken across the entirety of Ranked, our data is clear - this is not a problem that happens too often.
Of course I also understand that doesn't make you feel any better when you're the person who runs into an Apex Predator in your lobbies. We are planning on doing changes so the experience doesn't feel as bad for you, but as mentioned in the blog, that will take a bit longer to come.
simply a mistake on my part.
Props for owning up to it and answering on here, even to criticism.
However, while we have you here I have to mention it. Why are you so fixated on platinum players facing predators? edit: It feels to me, as a diamond player from the start of ranked to me quitting 2 splits ago, that you're looking at this whole thing the wrong way round.
Excuse my assumptions, but if in 3% of platinum players matches they have to face Masters/Predators doesn't that imply that in those specific matches there are not enough players in all of Predators+Masters+Diamond added up together to fill even one lobby (out of the currently searching, of course there could be multiple lobbies in various stages of progress)? Is that not the bigger problem than that 3% of platinum games have players in masters/predator?
Or, to put it more bluntly: What's the point of the diamond rank if they're just fodder for masters/predators to fill out their lobbies? Obviously there are not enough players in the ranks when some times diamond and masters/pred are not enough to fill a lobby and they have to get platinums in their games?
"Why are you so fixated on platinum players facing predators?" - I'm not really fixated on that; as mentioned in several Ranked blogs now I,and the rest of Respawn in general, are overall happy with the state of Ranked. (Which isn't to say we're not going to try and improve it ever again). I picked one data point, percentage of games Platinum players play against Master/Predator, because that's the one that often gets screenshots posted on to Reddit etc, so it seemed appropriate to address it.
"Is that not the bigger problem than that 3% of platinum games have players in masters/predator?" - Also mentioned in the blog, but: "For Platinum players that might be 3% too much, and we certainly understand their frustration when it happens, but since we have to balance queue times and latency for all players involved, this is a situation we are unable to ever realistically eliminate completely. With that said however - we are looking into exciting changes for future Seasons to help alleviate this issue. We need a little more time to work out the details, but we’ll share details of the system when we are ready to do so."
I'm still really upset with the near complete lack of ranked changes this season after continual promises that we'd be seeing real change, but that said, I really, genuinely appreciate you coming in here to communicate with the players directly. Lack of communication and transparency from the dev team has consistently been one of the most frustrating things about this game, and seeing devs like you come in here to talk and try to explain their reasoning is a great precedent. Happy or not with the changes that have (or more, haven't) been implemented, it's good to be able to have this kind of two way discussion.
Thanks a lot for communicating and clarifying some miswordings.
If we gave off the impression that this season there'd be big, fundamental shakeups to the foundation of Ranked, I apologize. Generally though, as mentioned, we are overall happy with the state of Ranked and as such are not currently planning to overhaul it from the ground up. We are hoping to make improvements where we can, but there is no plan to just throw the entirety of Ranked away and start all over.