Popular Twitch streamer Michael ‘shroud’ Grzesiek has revealed he is already feeling the effects of ranked play in Apex Legends, suggesting he is “almost over” the new mode.
After an underwhelming Season 1 battle pass left fans desperate for more content, Apex Season 2 kicked off with the launch of ranked play, allowing players to climb divisions based on their skill level.
Players will start off in the Bronze rank and work their way towards becoming an Apex Predator. However, shroud may have already had enough, after alluding that he is suffering from burn out.
Shroud played CS:GO professionally for years, regarded as one of the finest players in his peak, but explained that this could be the reason why other ‘competitive’ games wear off on him sooner, namely Apex Legends.
Questioned why his long-term friend and teammate Tyler ‘Skadoodle’ Latham – also a CS:GO professional for many years – wasn’t playing Apex Legends as much, shroud said: “He’s probably over the way this shit plays – it’s annoying man. When you come from a really good competitive background, and you play a competitive BR, you hate it.
“It is fun for a little bit, but it’s not the right way to play. It’s a fucking nightmare.”
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Shroud explained that he sympathized with Skadoodle, as both have put in thousands of hours into a game like Counter-Strike, and battle royale games inherently cannot match that competitiveness
He said: “He’s probably just over it and I’m almost over it too. I like Apex which is why I’m still playing it, but I’m almost over it too. The ranked part of it anyway.”
Judging from shroud’s comments, it seems that even with the very best ranked mode possible, Respawn wouldn’t have been able to match the ‘competitiveness’ of more tactical, less luck-based shooters, due to the nature of BR.
Apex Legends’ main competitor, Fortnite, has also been criticized for coming up with a lackluster ranked playlist, another hint that the problem may be the battle royale genre, rather than the developers.