Apex Legends players find a fix for “unplayable” pubs mode

Alan Bernal
apex legends bloodhound

Apex Legends players are reeling from “unplayable” matches in the game’s popular public matchmaking and thought up of an update for Dropships that could fix the problem.

Outside of Ranked playlists, casual matches can easily devolve into fiestas where strategy flies out the window if enough players land in the same hotzones. This is a scenario that many find too often in pubs, as casual matches are called.

It’s gotten to the point where players want Respawn Entertainment to get creative by spreading players out with a new feature or two that could lengthen the game enough to make matches satisfying again.

This led one Apex player to think up how they’d stretch out the playing field, resulting in a slight gameplay tweak that could have major benefits for pubs.

apex legends dropships
Having a few dropships to open an Apex Legends game could make casual matches more playable.

By splitting a lobby into two Dropships, Reddit user ‘kevboard’ made it so every game starts with half the lobbies far apart from each other.

In their concept, they would employ double the amount of carriers that were pretty distant to each other while running in mirrored, parallel routes.

This would make sure that everyone has a, somewhat, similar start and encourages people to explore their drop options.

“Pubs needs this so badly, thank you for the great visuals,” one user said in response to the idea. “Pubs are unplayable because of clowns who drop hot and die within seconds. Matches don’t last beyond ring 1-2 and most of the map is empty, exactly because those people didn’t spread out normally.

“Forcing teams apart like this from the game itself is the only way to improve the spread.”

By default, that’d make any early-game skirmish populated by at least half the amount of contestants since 30 players started on the opposite side of the map.

As great as it’d be to divide the lobby and make opening fights less chaotic, everyone agreed with kevboard that this should “not be used in Ranked mode.”

The proposed changes could throw off a typical Ranked game, where the stakes are higher, but it could make casual Apex Legends matches much more fun to play in.

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About The Author

Alan is a former staff writer for Dexerto based in Southern California who covered esports, internet culture, and the broader games/streaming industry. He is a CSUF Alum with a B.A. in Journalism. He's reported on sports medicine, emerging technology, and local community issues. Got a tip or want to talk?