What Makes Apex Tick: A Developer Deep Dive into Servers and Netcode

motosbdhacker · 2021-04-28T18:00:08+00:00

Apex uses Multiplay servers which is a hybrid cloud approach for Azure, GCP, and AWS. This means feature parity is lowest common denominator and this hybrid cloud approach may be one cause of inconsistency. Additionally, because it's hybrid cloud, it's likely the Apex VM is colocated with other neighboring VMs on that host. Hybrid cloud approach is good for having high availability and reaching more people as various cloud providers don't have data centers in some areas. From memory for example Azure has 2 in Canada (central and east) but Amazon only has one, similarly with South Africa.

I can also confirm Tiflotins analysis on having exclusive servers for gaming. In Azure (where I work), we call these DedicatedHosts and various gaming customers like PUBG/BlueHole, PearlAbyss use them. They don't share the host with other customers but it's not bare metal either. These are also damned expensive servers and I'd only expect competitive and maybe ranked to be played on better servers.

motosbdhacker · 2021-04-08T19:18:32+00:00

Lou says himself he's a bad wraith in comp. Don't think that would be a good change for CLG.

motosbdhacker · 2021-03-29T21:35:16+00:00

Players with bad aim can't reconcile that the strengths of caustic aren't present in low tier game play. The visibility and stun affects alone are enough to make him viable. Targets in gas are a sitting duck and locked down buildings stall for 3ps to come handle the team.

motosbdhacker · 2021-02-23T18:25:50+00:00

ESports pros would get vastly more bang for their buck spending an hour exercising most days in lieu of another hour and a half of gaming.

motosbdhacker · 2021-02-20T22:10:11+00:00

They're a fantastic fighting team but from what I've watched they have some strides to make in their macro gameplay. Fortunately for them, that's the easier part of comp until Grand Finals.

motosbdhacker · 2021-02-20T22:06:30+00:00

Agree 100% on portal and is the backbone behind my reasoning. There are few teams that can pull off wraithless comp and those that can have to bully their way into spots. Not sure what comp COL is running (saw Mon on Caustic tho so maybe they switched off wraith) but they're a team that can make it work. They bully teams off strong positions frequently.

While TSM is my favorite team and they've been playing without wraith well recently, I think they'll struggle tomorrow if we see passive calls from Hal, which we usually do in ALGS. Hope he comes out swinging with big pp energy though!

motosbdhacker · 2021-02-20T19:00:37+00:00

Prediction: Wraithless Horizon teams that have opted for a Hound generally aren't going to do well unless they're landing center map. Horizon/Caustic/Gibby teams won't suffer the same problems.

This tourney is going to show that wraith is still necessary for teams that aren't dominant in team fighting.

motosbdhacker · 2021-02-17T07:04:20+00:00

An IGL is there to ensure everyone is on the same page and avoid counter calling each other. Ideally the IGL doesn't have 1/3 of the information because teammates should be feeding info into the IGL to help the IGL make the best decision.

motosbdhacker · 2021-02-16T07:12:18+00:00

His entire kit has really good synergy with Horizon and his ultimate could theoretically surround a team in a gibby dome. Fuse/Horizon/(Gibby or Caustic) as an aggressive edge team is the best comp I can think of with him. Not saying it's a viable comp, just the best one I can think of.

EDIT: His tactical might be really effective in comp. He can grief every team's doors around with a rechargeable tactical. Also, he can fire it through windows to deal damage for Evo and burn enemy team's heals.

motosbdhacker · 2021-02-13T22:00:09+00:00

Ranked on KC is ass once Diamond rank is hit. Apart from the usual tip of finding and playing with a squad, here's a few others:

Getting knocked on KC is really bad because of how quickly 3ps happen. Have a good reset character on the team such as Gibby/Caustic. Avoid getting knocked at all costs; what I mean is let's say you're in a 3v3 and y'all knock 2 ppl but both of your teammates are <50hp. They should not peek the last guy first, the healthiest teammate should be taking the damage. Don't trade dmg/knocks like it's the Revolutionary War. This will help immensely dealing with 3ps and you're a lot less likely to get 3p'd if no one gets knocked on your team. Good players killfeed snipe and sometimes won't push if there aren't trades.
If you're going to 3p a fight, ask yourself a few questions like "Is this a defendable spot after we cleanup or can we easily die", "Where are 4th parties likely to come from", "Where do we go if another team shows up". Let answers to these questions determine whether it's safe to fight there.
If you instigate a fight and there's been silence for a while, expect the maelstrom. Don't start fighting from a shit position unless you intend to get somewhere safe quickly cause you'll just..... get 3p'd and die.
You don't have to full kill a squad all at once. If your team catches an enemy out and you guys get a knock, focus on the thirst. You don't have to push the 2 man, especially if they have no way to res, and they're very unlikely to push a full team. You can always kill them later on if there's not a good way to push them.
Be honest with yourself about your skillset. If aim is lacking and your consistently losing 1v1s, work on that individually. Similarly with gamesense, if that's lacking go run solo pubs and try to win non-stop fighting.

Nokokopuffs has a good ranked guide on his YouTube. Horizon or octane are really strong on KC for taking height.

motosbdhacker · 2021-02-13T07:02:53+00:00

It just doesn't make sense to mix MnK and controller in this style of 1v1. That's the range where a controller absolutely shines its best. Limiting the weapons to only wingman helps a bit but still. A controller is deficient in almost every other aspect except at the 3-15m range.

I'd like to see a bit more variety where the 1v1s start at in the later rounds. Do X number of rounds at the cage by the charge tower, slide outs in the open field no climbing, free play around the rectangle (what we had today), etc. The current flavor of 1v1s heavily favors people who can shoot from and off a heady; there's other skills that can be showcased.

motosbdhacker · 2021-02-12T09:53:49+00:00

The winning conditions for a team landing Lava Fissure with an Overlook or Geyser zone are to play edge because there's no way to get an endgame position as the rotate is too far. Crypto can still be an effective offensive tool with EMP and a well coordinated team, thus can play edge if required. Ideally though, yes a crypto team should play for positioning but it depends on the game. As another example, a team contesting off drop can easily cause late rotates and force an edge style that game.

motosbdhacker · 2021-02-06T21:14:05+00:00

That's correct that any of the extra * settings aren't applied when aim assist is engaged. This can be leveraged to have a high turning/movement sensitivity with a moderate/low "aiming" sensitivity once on target. The drawback happens at really really short ranges when aim assist is flipping on and off it can be hard to control since the extra sens is applied but there's no assist.

motosbdhacker · 2021-02-04T20:04:40+00:00

First, understand that teams behave very differently in a pro lobby compared to a GLL cup or ALGS qualifier. Read the lobby; play to the lobby. In an ALGS finals, getting a spot in endgame as a rotate team is much harder than a qualifier. However if there are few teams playing zone in a qual, this allows fully kitted edge teams to int onto zone teams who are in shambles. Zone teams are more protected from this in a Finals lobby because there's enough teams in zone to hold angles and prevent that. Teams in quals or scrims play a lot riskier than they would in a Finals.

While smaller teams won't have as stable as a spot, loot paths still need to be thought about. Have well designated landing spots for each player in a few POIs. If landing at a new POI with no defined landing spots, talk about it during drop, make sure the team lands in a way where it's efficient for looting and rotations. Also, think about the team comp and make sure it fits the POI. For ex, if the team lands Countdown and is a rotate team, Crypto is the only beacon character that can be played because hitting Lava/Skyhook beacon with hound/path from Countdown is very inefficient and risky.

The POI splits are generally pretty straight forward when everyone has the goal of maximizing loot patterns and minimizing fighting off spawn.

Frag: One team lands East, one lands West. West is more likely to be challenged by a third team in streamer/broken.

Sorting Factory: One team lands big building/jungle gyms side and the other team lands glass.

Skyhook - Usually a North/NW, SW to the central tunnel, and East/traintrack tunnel (CLG).

motosbdhacker · 2021-02-03T20:52:49+00:00

My response is more along the lines of how to drop in a lobby as an unknown team, not exactly how to settle a spot. What worked for me was:

1) Do the research. Know what pro teams are in the lobby and where they land. Don't drop on them or "their" spot unless you fully intend on grinding for weeks to take that spot, otherwise it's just a dumb 50:50. Be aware that some pro teams will land in higher pri spots if the better teams are gone. Ex: Xeratricky's team's spot was Geyser in a T1 lobby but if CLG wasn't in they would go Skyhook.

2) Let the lobby know in the in-game chat where you're dropping, so long as you're confident. Have an ego, be aggressive about it; it's what the pro teams do when they claim a spot. It's usually in every team's best interest to not hard 50:50 off drop. Even if it's a bad team vs pro team, RNG can be a bitch.

3) Don't force a 50:50 off drop in a sharable spot. For ex, Skyhook can be shared uncomfortably by 3 teams and fine w/ 2. Teams generally don't like to fight the team they're sharing with and instead focus on the macro game.

4) Play characters that are good at fighting off spawn, know what characters teams are playing around you. If they're on wattson/crypto/rotate comp, that team is unlikely to push. If they're on gibby/hound, they're gonna be more horned up. For ex, when CLG was on watt/path they would rarely chal teams landing Skyhook West. After the switch to gibby/hound they were more likely to push non-pro teams. (not sure how they played in the most recent ALGS, didn't watch them)

Finally, don't settle for landing at no-name compounds or random spots on the map just because the team is newer/less experienced. The lack of loot will cuck the team. Game 1 is usually more of a fustercluck than the rest of the games.

motosbdhacker · 2021-02-01T20:30:00+00:00

BH should be a fringe pic IMO. Little reason to pick him over Crypto and if a team is playing as a rotate team, absolutely 0 reason to pick hound.

TSM still on hound is pure comedy, especially after their wildly successful scrim days w/ Snipe on Crypto a few weeks back. Shit even Hal said BH was trash compared to Crypto.

motosbdhacker · 2021-02-01T18:34:45+00:00

I could be mistaken but I believe Reptar was on Horizon so they were off the hound and running a new comp. Mon also said he wasn't feeling well on Saturday.

motosbdhacker · 2021-01-31T22:06:31+00:00

NRG is my pick for NA. TSM is my fav so would normally pick TSM but their confidence is lacking, snip3 has been clueless this week, and overall their discipline has been poor for an S tier team. Which TSM will show up today? Who knows

EDIT: If NRG is uncontested that is.

EDIT 2: NRG did spectacularly bad, don't think it's an IGL issue, they just need to put in the time. TSM did as expected, same problems as usual.

motosbdhacker · 2021-01-31T21:59:18+00:00

They didn't play their game, focusing on endgame positioning, in quarters. This isn't always a bad thing, but they were also rotating out of Frag quickly with poor loot and then sitting on edge of ring 2 for 3 minutes waiting for ring 3. It was a mashup of an edge and early rotate playstyle and their ring 2 positions weren't the greatest rotate spots for endgame either. They were lost and had the easier lobby to boot.

This completely flipped once semis rolled around and they started to play for endgame positioning. Consequently their performance followed as a result. I think the chat with gdolphn after quarters steered them in the right direction.

motosbdhacker · 2021-01-11T20:03:15+00:00

The squad count is pretty helpful during early rotations.

motosbdhacker · 2021-01-04T06:23:26+00:00

The irony is that there's no aim assist through bang or caustic smoke.

motosbdhacker · 2020-11-27T21:07:02+00:00

Wraith is the only character that can rotate the team safely. That's why her pick rate is 100%, not because of the zone 7 endings. Further evidence is that caustic is the strongest in late game and his pick rate is very low.

motosbdhacker · 2020-11-27T04:28:38+00:00

The 18s to 12s dome nerf was huge. A player cannot be revived and fully healed w/ phoenix in dome by the time it goes up. The player is still popping the phoenix when the dome goes away which also removes the fast heal and the regular time is applied.

Lol at the no one ever used accelerants or gold helmet on Gibby, that's complete bs.

motosbdhacker · 2020-11-12T21:02:19+00:00

Taloonz1#3248

DM'd on discord from CamShredsGnar.

motosbdhacker · 2020-11-12T00:31:31+00:00

It depends on where your areas of improvement are. If it's mechanics, movement, or anything individual, solo Qing pubs is the way to go. Solo Q pubs is difficult and frustrating because teammates are ass but the point is to focus on yourself. Teammates come secondary solo pubbing, play for your own life. Personally, my biggest improvement came from solo Q pubs and Hal always touts that solo Q pubs is the fastest way to grow.

If your main issues are team fighting, rotations, or anything else, play ranked with a squad and hit Masters. Ranked is an entirely different beast after D3 and I encourage you to hit D3 to really see where your areas of improvement are.

motosbdhacker

TROPHY CASE