Hi. I've put over 2,000 actual in-game hours into this game. 400+ hours combined in all 3 betas, 1,900 since S1.
I've managed to hit diamond in all seasons and betas except for season 3 (Terminal Attack) and Closed Beta 1. 82K+ kills as well and climbing.

I promise I know a little bit about what I'm talking about.

After all of that I've decided that I can no longer recommend this game until Embark decides to make some serious changes to competitive cashout.

The main issue I have with this game is the frequency of third-parties in high elo lobbies.

The argument that you're supposed to "adapt" to this is kind of stupid, imo. Once you climb high enough in the ladder, it becomes apparent that multiple teams are going in with the mindset to third party as many objectives as possible when attacking. This becomes an issue when multiple teams adopt this playstyle and the game becomes a mess. A team can become either left alone all game to cashout for free, and one can feel cursed to be third-partied at all times.

The solution to this is usually to back out of the fight until both teams finish fighting, but this can go wrong in many ways.

Once one of the teams catches wind of the third party, it now becomes a waiting game until a team either pushes another one, or one decides to leave the fight. If you decide to leave the fight and go for another cashout, you may have less time to complete it. You are not only playing against other teams, but against time as well. Additonally, in the mess, a team may be able to completely reset and even more time must be spent eliminating teams on the cashout before anything can be done.

This isn't apex legends. The maps played in this game are too small. After being third-partied consecutively, it doesn't even feel as if you were legitimately outskilled. Sometimes you are the team doing this. When you pull off a successful third-party, do you truly feel as if you beat them? Or just lucky?

I got third-partied one too many times in ranked today. The only pattern I see in the games I lose are the frequency of third-parties. I should adapt. I should just "get better", but I have attempted to adapt to this for almost two years now. I can't. I can win a good amount of these 3-team fights, but sometimes? Sometimes, one team just seems to push at just the right moment, at just the right position as soon as we wipe a team. It's unavoidable sometimes. It doesn't feel good to lose ranked score to this. Not when the only thing you lose to are situations like those. It just feels like one of those situations where it was bound to happen and there is little you can do. I'm tired of feeling like that when I play this game.

Whenever I can get a fair 3v3, I can win maybe 70%-80% of the time. The moment a third team comes in, things get so much more complicated.

I just want to lose a game where I can genuinely go back and look at everything I did and go: "Yeah, I shouldn't have been there." And don't get me wrong - I vod review. I do often see genuine mistakes I made. It's different when I watch back what happens and see myself in a prime position to attack purple. I attack. Orange pad pushes up behind me. I either get audiocucked or ~2.5 seconds to leave the area before I get chased down and die. Additionally, my team is now effectively fighting a 2v3(v3) because I now need to run to switch positions to get away from orange. I was in the best possible position to defend. I'm paying attention to another team shooting mine. I don't have the time or inhuman mechanics to deal with both. This can't be considered fair.

Scrim/Private/Comp/Pug lobbies are usually setup to be a fair 3v3. This is the format high tier/pro teams practice and fight in. If you don't know of "Pro Hubs" - they are the central spot for competitive THE FINALS. They often hosts cash prize tournaments for high tier players. What I don't understand is why Embark doesn't go for this type of mode for ranked. World Tour is fine and can be kept the way it is since players are not losing ranked score for what happens in a game.

You have all sorts of other problems in this game like it's metas, but that's an issue for every competitive shooter out there. You don't get third partied in apex like you do here. Trust me. It's so much worse. Sometimes, it doesn't even work out for the 3rd team. They just push into a fight to attack the originally attacking team, they wipe them, they die to original defenders anyway.

Do you know how bad it feels when you lose -800rs because of the stupid actions of another team?

Respawn. Give me back apex arenas and my life is yours.