Honestly, like, personally, it feels as though I'm only a Fragger now compared to an IGL on my previous team.

So, I think the best way to put it is it seems way easier to be on Falcons for sure.

I think the main thing I'd probably miss with my former teammates is obviously, like, being around them in the first place because we used to be in a team house.

And I also kind of miss IGLing, kind of, because it feels way different when we win when I IGL compared to being a Fragger.

It doesn't feel as, like, redeeming if I IGL or if I Frag.

So, definitely being around them and then obviously IGLing, I kind of miss that.

I'd say the relationship is still there for sure.

But obviously, like, in-game it's not.

Personally, I don't know about them, but I'd say there's definitely a rivalry for sure.

I don't think either of us, you know, want each other to win in-game.

But outside the game, we're still best friends and, you know, we still enjoy each other's time.

I definitely think that we're going to keep the streak of winning even from NA Pro League.

You know, we broke a lot of records from, like, points and kills.

So, I definitely think it's going to be...

It should be easier to win EWC compared to NA Pro League in my opinion, but we'll see.

We made NA look pretty easy and I feel like that's the strongest region, like, in the world.

So, I'm expecting it to be, you know, just a pretty smooth tournament for us.

What up everyone, my name is WeThePeople.

We are here at the Esports World Cup in Riyadh and I have two special guests.

We have Hal, we have Sweet.

Guys, how's it going?

Doing good.

Doing good.

All right.

Well, we're here to talk about metas and Apex Legends throughout the five and a half years of Apex.

What has been your favorite meta?

Go ahead, Hal.

I'd say my favorite would probably be Seer, Horizon, Valk for sure.

It used to be Wraith, Wattson, Path, but I feel like Seer, like, Horizon, Valk was, like, the best aggressive meta in the game ever.

So, it's definitely my favorite.

What do you think about that, Sweet?

I don't want to copy the answer, so I'll slightly change it and say Seer, Horizon, Bang towards the end of when Valk was falling off.

But, yeah, that was definitely probably the healthiest meta we've had in the game.

Yep.

And why do you think that?

It was the perfect balance of, like, there not being too many abilities in the game, but also, like, the ability to still fight.

Certain metas, both a long time ago and now, there's kind of too much going on and that meta kind of perfectly encapsulated the ability to, like, take a fight, but it also not being super one-sided.

Absolutely.

And this current meta, what do you guys think right now?

Go ahead, Sweet.

I mean, say what you will about Fuse, but the way that they've restructured, kind of, like, the characters who can hit beacon and stuff has, in my opinion, negatively affected the game.

I think it's kind of really restricted what types of team comps you can play and it's kind of forced certain characters when otherwise, I think most good teams wouldn't want to play them.

But, you know, we've had worse in the past and now I wouldn't say necessarily as bad, but it's definitely in, like, kind of a weird state.

Hal, current meta?

I hate it, to be honest, just because of Bangalore.

Like, I just hate playing against Bangalore because of Smokes, but it's, I don't know, I think the previous metas are better.

I'd rather have Bloodhound than what we have right now, to be honest, but, yeah, my biggest thing is, like, I just hate playing against Bangalore because of Smokes and, like, no aim assist and stuff like that.

Yeah.

So, but yeah, other than that, it's just, like, I don't mind playing Fuse and stuff like that.

I think, like, the biggest thing for me, too, is not just other than, like, Bangalore being in the metas, it's more so, like, there's only one good character and every other character is, like, really bad because they got nerfed.

So that's, yeah, that's another thing.

That's a problem.

Your answer to maybe fixing the metas a little bit is buffing more legends rather than nerfing?

Yeah.

Yeah.

Like, obviously, you can nerf, like, the meta legends, but, like, buff other ones to kind of, like, match it, you know?

Absolutely.

Because everything right now, I feel like the only good character other than, I guess, like, Fuse and Bangalore, like, the only good characters.

Like, the third pick right now is just kind of, like, up in the air and it's whatever.

Yeah.

So, yeah, that's, like, the biggest thing.

In my opinion, that's, like, a problem.

And what about the guns that are popular right now?

How do you guys feel about them?

So bad.

We've been in one of the longest burst metas in the history of the game and, like, we need some variety anytime soon.

It's been Nemesis, Hemlock, Havoc, Bolt for God knows how long now.

And, yeah, back in my day, we used flatlines in our 301s.

But, I mean, burst weapons are good for the game, too.

But when it's the only weapons that are really meta, it's kind of, like, it kind of just gets stale.

Not that it's, like, a bad meta.

The guns are insane, right?

It's probably the easiest to kill anyone nowadays with Hemlock, Havoc.

But just in terms of variety.

I agree with that.

Hal, what do you think?

Yeah, I agree.

I don't know, like, mine the gun meta that much.

Because I feel like it's kind of more balanced than what it used to be.

Like, there's more variety.

Obviously, like, you have to use Hemlock and Havoc if you want to, right?

But, like, Prowler is not terrible.

Bolt, obviously, is, like, not a pick.

But in 301, it's just you don't want to use a 301 at all.

But I think, like I said earlier, just my biggest thing is the characters.

Like, the gun meta is whatever to me.

And it's not like, you know, you can't find a Havoc.

Everyone can find a Havoc and Hemlock and stuff like that.

It's just, I feel like the characters make the game more than the guns do.

So, yeah, that's how I see it.

I like it.

I like it.

So, if you guys were able to buff one weapon to make it meta, what would it be?

Hal.

R9.

R9?

Yeah, I miss R9 so bad.

It's the one clips.

Yeah, it's a lot more satisfying than playing Havoc.

That's for sure.

Fully agree.

Sweet.

Shotguns.

Bring back PK.

Bring back Mastiff.

Yeah, I'm good on that.

Well, if we're bringing back shotguns, we would need a little bit of a meta switch in characters, right?

So, Gibby coming back or Newcastle?

Yeah, Newcastle, Gibby.

Honestly, we'd never play those characters, if I'm being honest.

But maybe a new character.

Or, honestly...

Maggie?

Yeah, like if some characters were, like, slightly changed, more so if the gun meta changed slightly, shotguns could creep in.

You know, I don't think we're ever going to see another shotgun meta in Apex.

Probably for the rest of its time span.

Just because people kind of woke up to the fact that you can kind of counter shotguns when they don't have a Gibby bubble.

But, you know, the Reject boys did just recently win LAN, mostly running Peacekeeper and stuff.

So, there's hope.

Phenomenal mechanics by those guys.

Phenomenal.

So, changes to the meta, the current meta right now.

Bangalore, Fuse, Seer.

What would you guys do?

I would just gap Bangalore completely.

Just, like, nerf it to the ground, like, get rid of Bangalore completely.

I would, yeah, like, I would nerf Bangalore really hard, and then maybe just buff, like, Horizon.

I don't know.

I'm being biased.

You're a Horizon guy.

Oh, yeah.

Buff Horizon.

The most controller answer ever.

Nerf the smokes, bring back the most OP controller player ever.

Okay, all right.

Nerf Bangalore, buff Horizon.

Buff Bloodhound, buff Seer.

Just, yeah, that'll be my, that's what I would do.

Sweet.

Give us an MK answer.

Slightly more unbiased.

Well, no, even I'm bored of playing Bang in a way that, like, I've just been playing it for so long.

It's kind of, Bang's been either in the meta or right on the edge of it for quite a while now.

So, where smokes are good because we do have a difference in input in the game, but smokes taking that away are actually not very good for the game.

They do negatively affect some fights.

I'd rather there be kind of like some set mechanics like cat wall or some other like rotating tools like that kind of come back.

But, you know, as for Horizon, she can kick rocks.

But, you know, maybe seeing Pathfinder kind of creep back into the meta will add more inclusivity moving forward with other characters.

We've been seeing a little bit of Pathfinder poke its head every now and then.

That's more than a little bit.

I mean, there's quite a bit of zone teams that are playing Pathfinder now.

I like it.

I hate it.

Pathfinder is the worst thing ever for scrims.

We may as well not even play them.

And that's Rich coming from me, I know.

But he doesn't play them.

That's not true.

I actually do play a lot.

But Pathfinder, you know, come LAN, I'm excited to see how it's going to play out.

And if some people's vision of how it's going to play out on scrims isn't going to come to fruition online.

Why do you hate Path?

The inting or?

Well, just more so like what he said, you know, like kind of, what's the word?

Encourages bad play, I guess.

Like it's kind of just like you said, inting.

And especially in scrims, it's just like you see a fight and then someone just zips on you across the map without even taking damage.

It's kind of like, it's just annoying.

Like you can't play aggressive at all without something like two or three teams just showing up as a Pathfinder.

But we'll see.

I hope they do bad at the tournament because it should.

It should.

But we'll see.

It's completely removed good edge macro because a team who has nothing to lose can say, hey, screw it.

Let's just full, let's just zip line across the map on this team.

So in the past, you would spend time, you know, honing in on macro and taking smart fights where if you were to get thirded, you would have an advantageous spot.

But now that's all out the window because three dudes can just say, all right, we're zip lining on their height and they can come from literally across the map.

The purple perk, I was going to say, like the purple perk for Path is like really OP.

Like before, you know, even if someone zipped on you, it's like you just rip them.

Yeah, you just rip them.

Right.

But now, like, even if you see them, it's just kind of like, you have like Mount Everest just running at you.

You have two guys behind that are going to be 100% full HP and the first guy you're hitting him for like a hundred.

Yeah.

And then you're like, you're just dead.

Right on.

Because you don't have to be purple at least.

So max you're going to do is just crack them.

So something off meta that we're going to be seeing here at EWC, and I got a confirmation from the guy himself, design on Wraith.

What do you guys think?

See you in 40th, buddy.

There's a reason design didn't qualify for LAN.

Is there even a 40th?

How many teams are there?

30?

30?

No, 40.

We are, KSWT took the 40th spot.

Okay.

Well, yeah, he's, I think he'll do better than design.

Yeah.

Wraith, once again, you know, tying us back into meta.

The worst thing you can do right now is force a character into the meta because there's like very defined characters that are good right now.

And that you kind of need to be playing.

So that's kind of, in the past, you might have been able to like squeak in some characters in the meta when it was kind of less defined.

But nowadays, like there's characters you need to be playing to be competitive and Wraith's not one of them.

Yeah, it won't last, I bet.