Idea to increase quality of play during series promotion

PillsburyPunk·May 25, 2015·1 votes·760 views

Hey everyone,

I emailed a Riot employee with a suggestion (not knowing I wasn't really able to do that) and was directed here. **The TL;DR is to create a system in which people that are in their series will be matched up with other people who are also in their series to promote good play and teamwork. ** I'm just going to copy-paste my email below:

I was playing my (most recent) series to promotion to silver I just now. This is probably the 4th or 5th time I have been up for promotion to that league. As you can probably guess, I lost my promotion game again.

I have noticed something peculiar about this series promotion. It seems that every time I get into my series, something goes awfully wrong with the game - be it a feeding team (myself included), an AFK or DC'ed player, or just general bad behavior by my teammates. I understand that these things happen, that they are a part of the game, and that playing through these disadvantages is what sorts out the bad players from the good (and the good from the great, etc.). For all of the above, I mean not to complain, but rather to use a backstory to my most recent frustration.

I was playing mid as Annie. I notified my team before the game started that I was in the last game of my series, and that I would appreciate the most winning efforts they could muster. As planned, my Mordekaiser fed the enemy Riven top... and bot lane fed the enemy Vayne. I was OK with that. Feeding is a part of the game, right? It's up to the team to band together, fight through the adversity, and... apparently surrender without my consent at 20 minutes.

It isn't as though the game was COMPLETELY out of reach. Sure, it might have been a long shot. The odds were not in our favor, and most likely we would have come away with a loss. But that's the thing - there was still a chance to win. I wasn't even given a chance to carry the team to victory (or do whatever it takes to win the game). I was 7/4 at the time, and was completely capable of killing Vayne with a full combo. As you are aware, Annie can pull of 5-man stuns (all the while dealing incredible AOE burst damage) and single-handedly win team fights.

I know what you're thinking. Just another enraged League of Legends player QQ'ing about another series loss. I know that you probably get these emails all the time, and that the majority of these emails don't really have a purpose other than to rage at you guys, or complain about how the game isn't fair to them. My point is different. I have a suggestion I would like to make to perhaps prevent this sort of thing - having a team surrender a winnable match without trying during a teammate's series promotion - from happening to either me or another unfortunate player again. Is it possible to queue up players who are in their series only with other players who are in their series? If everyone on the team is in their series promotion, they will be less likely to make silly and careless mistakes (which, at this ELO, are what decides the game), both increasing the quality of play as well as decreasing the likelihood of having an unnecessary surrender (at 20 minutes!).

Best,

-PillsburyPunk

7 Comments

Nana A DevilukeMay 25, 20152 votes

Do you know how long queue times for dia 5 promos would be? I don't even want to think about it.

PillsburyPunkJun 9, 20151 votes

That's true. Maybe it could be a special thing for the lower tiers?

Just came back to this page because pretty much the same thing happened to me in my most recent game. This time, at least, there was a reason - an intentional feeder (and frankly I would have surrendered too) - but still, it sucks that it was in my promo to gold V.

But back to the point, don't mean for this to be a QQ. I wonder if implementing something like this would be possible for only certain tiers of play (silver, bronze) so that waiting for queues for hours wouldn't be an issue (something like 50% of the community is silver or lower?).

KazaashiJun 9, 20151 votes

How exactly would it promote "good play and teamwork"? Generally, the people who I have that are toxic, are that way due to the added stress of the Promo series they are in.

I don't think it would solve anything, and possibly make it worse in other areas.

Edit: Never ever tell your team you are in your promos. People love to be assholes at times like that.

PillsburyPunkJun 9, 20151 votes

The idea is that since everyone will be in their promos, they at least won't AFK, intentionally feed, or unnecessarily surrender. The absence of these factors will generally promote at the least, teamwork. I understand what you're saying about promos being stressful, and that's a good point. But I think, regardless, people will at least give a better effort to win.

In certain situations, I could see it being worse. For example, if one person is having a bad game, there's the potential for all of the teammates berating that one person due to the added intensity of the game, being a promo and all. However, how is that really any different than any other game we play? People, for the most part, behave similarly to their teammates regardless of whether or not the match is a promo. In other words, people that rage will rage regardless, and people that don't will not. Or at least tend to.

However, remember that the point is to stop AFKs, intentional feeds, and early surrenders. The idea is that these qualities tend to be associated with good play - increasing the quality of play, IMO, should always be the intention when making changes.

Edit: I have since stopped telling my teammates lol

KazaashiJun 9, 20151 votes

{quoted}

The idea is that since everyone will be in their promos, they at least won't AFK, intentionally feed, or unnecessarily surrender. The absence of these factors will generally promote at the least, teamwork. I understand what you're saying about promos being stressful, and that's a good point. But I think, regardless, people will at least give a better effort to win.

I think the mistake people make is that if a teammate messes up, they see that as a character flaw, i.e. a feeder or n00b; however, when faced with thier own mistakes they see them as a product of a situation, i.e. Top didn't ping MIA, so it's not my fault I got ganked.

If you start to expect people not in their promo's to feed, then that is all you will see. Giving your teammates the benefit of the doubt goes a long way in this game.

However, remember that the point is to stop AFKs, intentional feeds, and early surrenders. The idea is that these qualities tend to be associated with good play - increasing the quality of play, IMO, should always be the intention when making changes.

I think it would just make queue times longer and the stress level higher for promo games. You would have people stressed about not only their promo series, but the 4 others on their team. I think any changes to this game should make it less stressful and get people to calm the fudge down.