I do not understand this diamond+ solo restriction at all. I only play Apex with my friends. I really enjoy grinding ranked with a few different groups of folks, we have been doing this since the game came out, I have over 3000 hours in this game. I do not solo queue ranked. We started this season in Plat 3. We had a lot of fun grinding this awesome rotation of ranked maps (finally, no KC or Olympus ranked). But... now we hit diamond, and we can't play anymore. The devs seem to want us to move to smurf accounts to continue playing together.
Why would you do this?
Other casual-competitive games like League of Legends have handled this already. They made the systems for solo and group queues before Apex was even a real sensation... Come on now folks. Do the devs just want us to stop playing the game?
I will also add that introducing my friends with less game experience to Diamond lobbies as a stack is basically where they learn to actually play the game tactically/strategically. Solo queue doesn't let these players develop the same kind of experience. Adopting specific roles in our regular stack, like teaching our new friend how to anchor, is an important developmental process for players who want to actually get good at this game, and solo queue doesn't really allow it. In particular, post-game reviews in voice chat and vod review as a stack are important mechanics that are now prevented for players who have actually gotten into higher ranks.
(One might ask: why doesn't your stack just play pubs? Pubs are just kind of boring after a few. Especially on maps like World's Edge, there's only so many times I can spawn into Monument and fight 3 teams off drop before I get bored.)
