Why do pros play on a delayed patch?

2pudge1cup·Dec 20, 2014·3 votes·2,168 views

Just something that's been swirling around in my head.

Riot has proven in the past that they are more than willing to restart matches over bug occurrences, so that's not a legit reason.

I don't really think practice is a valid argument since much of their practice is on ladder games that are on the most up-to-date patch.

Besides, I don't know about other people, but personally I have a hard time ever watching any game that isn't the exact same from what I've been playing. I especially love when they are thrown a new patch and have to adapt on the fly. When they are on a delayed patch it almost cheapens seeing a pro do anything because I'd already know said move was OP and was going to be nerfed the following patch cycle.

13 Comments

BloodDelmarDec 20, 20142 votes

Because... pros aren't like you and me. They get free level 30 accounts with all champs unlocked, then Rito denies it.

TheHappyGingerDec 20, 20141 votes

this is also not true. the pro's speed lvl in 3v3 bots and gift them selves from there main

TheHappyGingerDec 20, 20141 votes

i have seen so many pro's lvl there smurfs

2pudge1cupDec 20, 20141 votes

They've been getting fully unlocked accounts upon request for quite some time now as they are treated as riot employees once they are in the LCS. I'd love to know which pros you saw streaming leveling "there" smurfs.

BloodDelmarDec 20, 20142 votes

{quoted}

this is also not true. the pro's speed lvl in 3v3 bots and gift them selves from there main

You must have missed late S3/early S4 when Dyrus(? - don't remember who exactly) said flat out on his stream Riot gave them fully unlocked accounts.

ZaneShadowJun 18, 20171 votes

So, the accounts they use on stage (Faker from SKT) are fully unlocked, but their private accounts they stream on (Faker's "Hide on Bush" account) are not fully unlocked and have whatever they personally unlock.

TheHappyGingerDec 20, 20142 votes

these guys are playing for well over $1,000,000

TheHappyGingerDec 20, 20141 votes

They play in pre patches because its a tournament. They practice a comp's and strat's vs teams, and they dont play solo q when they are at lcs. they have the ability to play on a riot/pro server which is only for them for scrims and pre patches. this also only takes place when a patch happens while they are already in a current weekend of pro play

2pudge1cupDec 20, 20141 votes

What does being in a tournament matter? Part of their ability as a pro should be an ability to adapt to a new situation.

BigBellBruteJun 19, 20172 votes

{quoted}

What does being in a tournament matter? Part of their ability as a pro should be an ability to adapt to a new situation.

They'd pretty much have 24 hours to adapt depending upon when they were scheduled. Pros have to play at such a high level that they need more time than that. Also, Riot would have just 24 hours to fix a bug in the patch.

TheHappyGingerDec 20, 20141 votes

these guys are playing for there life. this is more then a game for them. they adapted all the time, but lets just be in there spot. ok so we know we are facing dig this weekend. so we spend all week monday-friday getting a strat ready. then a patch goes through on the friday before we played. so we eake up and go to a tournament and they nurfed are strat. do we just say what ever because we are playing for are pay check. the patch would go through the next weekend and then change are current play to something better the day after the tournament

2pudge1cupDec 20, 20141 votes

Talk about being melodramatic. They aren't playing for their lives.

These patch notes are known before coming out. If their strat gets changed then it was obviously OP. If they prepared with an OP strat that they knew was getting patched out then they deserve to lose.

They all get flat salaries anyway. The extra tournament winnings are just icing on the cake. They might need to stay good enough to not get demoted to get that salary, but part of a player's ability is adapting. That's the nature of the beast.

anonymous119Jun 18, 20171 votes

Riot has extremely frequently had to issue hotfixes to patches because of either gross imbalance or finding a new bug. The pro scene is by far the most visible showcase of LoL gameplay. Riot does not want people watching the potentially bugged and horribly imbalanced several days after a major new patch launches. I doubt the pros want to play on that either. Their system isn't perfect, but there are good reasons why they do it.

There is a lot of weird off topic discussion about free unlocked accounts and smurf accounts. Yes it has been confirmed that you can request a fully unlocked level 30 account from riot that started off in diamond 3. However, pretty much every single pro has many many smurf accounts that they play on for various reasons. Wildturtle once had some thing like 5 of the top 7 accounts in challenger. I personally played against dyrus when he was a pro a fairly large number of times on a sub level 30 account he was streaming with.