I gave up on Apex when I saw Season 8 I think, not only because of the inevitable balance problems they've caused because they just keep adding shit in without thinking ahead they've also got a matchmaking bug in duo's that hasn't been fixed since before April. When you try joining a game even with auto-fill ticked on more often than not you get no teammate.
I guess it does vary from server to server what playerbase you encounter as well. I've found myself surrounded by absolute morons in gaming mostly who clearly don't know how to play and it's gotten so bad for me that I can solo a pair of them no problem if they aren't co-ordinated enough and immediately go after me. Unfortunately especially for learners who are trying to get into FPS' for the first time grabbing friend to play with is probably your best option but that's never as easy as it sounds.
It's got very good gameplay mechanics for the most part, but they're slowly breaking it.
Oh I can definitely relate to almost everything you brought up. I am quite "new" as I played at game release but not for long, and just recently got addicted to it right before the end of season 7. In a weird way, I like the re-balancing but only when it changes overused weapons and not introducing super OP ones.
I played a decent amount of duos but I'm not sure what bug you are referring to.
I can agree with the players too, I've wiped a whole team solo in 3's, and other times it feels like I'm against pros. Apex is definitely not the beginner FPS game, the team coordination and advanced movement is hard to overcome, and the necessity for friends to play or risk losing 24/7 being solo is quite annoying.
Great comment, Thank you for your insight!