Boards›Gameplay

Truth Time: If you smurf, you are creating an artificial elo hell

Fed by Snu Snu··148 votes·5,957 views

Not a permanent one like some would like to claim, but an elo hell nevertheless.

People of higher skill are not supposed to be a constant force in lower MMRs. This is achieved in many possible ways, like MMR snowballing. (probably the only part of the tier system that is functioning properly) A person of your caliber is not supposed to spend that much time within those tiers.

Likewise, there's also one more parameter. The baddie friend of yours that benefited from this. He is also not supposed to spend time in higher MMRs. And going down is not as well tuned as going up, so he is going to spend some time there, costing games for his teams.

So by proxy of those two factors, your smurfing creates an unnecessary disparity of wins/losses that should have been the opposite outcome. This in turn inflates the time someone takes to reach their true tier, with the exception of those who are already at the top and can keep on doing it over and over again.

You and subsequently your friend losing games outside of his league are turning a 100 games venture into a 200 one for a part of the community.

Just my 2 cents as someone who has also helped friends of mine in the past and decided to stop.

TL;DR: Your smurfing is not harmless.

106 Comments

sirwaterfles14 votes

Depends.

I recently made a smurf to learn kayle and adc. Im gold 3 but my adc skills are bronze lvl.I cant attackmove for shit, Im not used the positioning and vulnerability, trying to last hit with only autos while also trading in a 2v2 lane, ... If i try it on my main i just get raped by the enemy team and flamed to death by mine while not learning anything. On my smurf i can learn it slowly and at my own pace since the role doesnt come naturally to me.

On the other hand you have the smurfs who take the same champ as their main, rape the enemy while making fun of them and flame their team for not being as good. I get that you make a smurf to stomp (even though i think its sad) but then flaming your teammates for not playing like pros what the fuck did you expect.

KoggyStyle39 votes

normals are there for a reason.

Votable Jester8 votes

Normals on the Smurf would work. Normals on the main account would probably still be too hard with a role you aren't accustomed to.

Still agree with you, probably shouldn't do ranked on the smurf for that.

Anhartamin1 votes

[deleted]

Votable Jester3 votes

But you've probably played normals already in your main role, which will influence who you play against.

Dreadlocks3 votes

Normals arn't taken seriously enough.

Automated Riven2 votes

Doesn't matter. If you are playing normals and you aren't taking it seriously that's the best time to just work on attack moving and harassing in lane. If you lose lane, who cares it's normals. If you have to recall level 1 cause you took a terrible trade and lost both summoners, who cares it's normals. This is the point of normals.

(Aside from practicing flash 1shot combos with riven on hapless adc's)

Dreadlocks2 votes

"who cares it's normals" is exactly why you can't get good practice. Everyone has that mentality then you're basically wasting your time.

If you want a competitive match you play ranked. If you don't want to learn a new role on ur main and tank your rank/mmr then thats the good thing about having a smurf.

Steelflame20 votes

If you are a long time normals player that doesn't work either. Normals MMR exist, and can put you in far harder situations than even ranked can at times unless you are literally at the top of the ladder.

In normals I've gone vs teams entirely composed of diamond and challanger players while I myself was plat at the time (Currently gold mostly through lazyness and an unwillingness to ranked at all without a duo so that I can vent in a way that isn't going to impact the game mid-game.)

sirwaterfles3 votes

^this

TheAustinWorm1 votes

Yeah, I'm in bronze 2 at the moment (for the same reasons you're gold ), but I have a really high normal mmr and often play with gold players and a play every once in a while.

KoggyStyle1 votes

i ussually get a gold team mate on aram, ocassionly diamonds and masters too.

Sanctimonious1 votes

In season 6, my normals mmr was masters and challenger. Top .4% of normals MMR. It was hella fun.

Steelflame1 votes

Yea, I was around there in Season 4-5, I played with and against EZskillshot (#1 Normals MMR player at the time, was a player in Challenger in ranked settings) multiple times, along with a few other escapades of wacky normals match making especially when premades were involved.

The massive decline of play rate I had in late season 5 and throughout season 6 has dropped my MMR back down in norms, although it's rising again and I'm getting more games with very plat-diamond heavy teams, with a nice mix of challangers.

sirwaterfles4 votes

i am talking about normals. But if you go 0/10 in a normal your team isnt any nicer than in ranked.

KoggyStyle

jeez not many people care if you do bad in lower MMR normals, no wonder you guys smurf.

sirwaterfles2 votes

Its more about being able to rely on i guess. Adc can be good or bad but at my lvl you can rely on him to do certain things. Im to bad at it for them so people get mad if you didnt follow up. Where at my smurf lvl you always kinda expect them to not follow because you know there is a chance they wont because they are not at that lvl. I dont know if i explaint this right but do you get what i mean?

KoggyStyle1 votes

Yup, those teams that just hang back and watch 300 armor 200 mr 5k hp tank melt on aram vs the team that does something while the tank takes everything the enemy has.... i know exactly what you mean.

i try to follow up on my team mates moves, unless its extremely stupid.....

Mech0p2 votes

/muteall

AlienPrimate3 votes

Getting stomped in normals on an unfamiliar role won't teach you anything other than how to take abuse from your team and frequently press that report button.

Mech0p2 votes

it will tell you a lot actually... I mean theres always a reason why you got stomped so you need to learn what that reason is and not do it next game... Now this doesn't mean you shouldn't ff if its that bad as later game youre correct and wont gain much from the enemy team flash one shotting you every time you come up... But you should take away what started losing you the matchup and work on fixing it..

AlienPrimate2 votes

All playing ADC would tell me is how I should stop trying before I get banned for "inting." I would be so bad at it I would actually look like I'm inting. The only champions I have with more than 5k mastery points on who aren't melee champions are Swain, Morgana, Heimerdinger, and Karthus. All of them have a tool or style of play that doesn't really put them in harms way if they get dove on.

I like playing on people's faces. I know what I need to do to get better on ADC but it wouldn't happen against people of my rank. I would go 0/10/0 every single game until I get banned for feeding because I am just used to being on top of the enemy when I fight.

NineTailedMystic2 votes

But you still have the correct knowledge. You know what those bronzes don't in terms of game knowledge, when to rotate, enemy champion CDs, when to take objectives, etc. Even if you aren't as mechanically apt on your ADC you still know what to do.

sirwaterfles2 votes

Yes this is why im low silver lvl on the smurf. Any higher and i get destroyed to hard in lane to be effective and people dont listen to your calls if you are behind.

Catastrop1 votes

{quoted}

Depends.

I recently made a smurf to learn kayle and adc. Im gold 3 but my adc skills are bronze lvl.I cant attackmove for shit, Im not used the positioning and vulnerability, trying to last hit with only autos while also trading in a 2v2 lane, ... If i try it on my main i just get raped by the enemy team and flamed to death by mine while not learning anything. On my smurf i can learn it slowly and at my own pace since the role doesnt come naturally to me.

I mean, you could just practice in normals, that's what they're for.

Zone of Endless8 votes

Do what dota2 did http://blog.dota2.com/2017/04/matchmaking-update/

Lux Is Mai Waifu9 votes

linked phone number

This is a great idea, but Riot would probably never copy it because of the loud minority backlash.

FioraWillCarry6 votes

That phone number idea is horrible. I for one will not go through all that trouble. I'll find another game to play if all that hassle ever comes to pass.

However, what caught my attention was that their developers are specifically addressing volatility of games on a match by match basis and are attempting to address it. Seeing that alone made my interest in Dota go up substantially. I'd have never considered ever playing Dota, but just reading that makes me want to give it a try. That phone number thing is kind of a deal breaker but if League continues evolving in its current direction, I don't know.

The most frustrating thing about League is the frequency at which I end up on teams with rabid feeders that make even the easiest games impossible to win. Now, I don't believe the matchmaker has anything to do with it in League. I just think players are given way too much gold for a single kill. If kill gold were reduced, it would make the experience more pleasant as feeders wouldn't have the high level of impact they do now. At least the Dota developers are attempting to address it. League developers are pushing to make games even more volatile with these ridiculous snowball mechanisms, the latest of which is this new Rift Herald.

Lux Is Mai Waifu4 votes

If you're a normal person you just type your phone number once, then type what you got in the text. It's not like it's before every match. You can buy a burner and card for like 25 dollars if cell phones scare you. Streamers that rely on smurfs for income will probably do this, but it will deter a lot of others.

crippler386 votes

I do not own a cellular telephone because I use google as my phone, what about me?

Xilixer1 votes

i already made a post about this. (it got downvoted)

note: the linked phone number only applies to ranked gameplay. you can do whatever else you want except ranked. if you really take ranked matchmaking seriously then this wouldn't bother you.

crippler382 votes

I assume you know then that there will be outliers of people who do not own a cell phone and want to play ranked, but cannot because of such things.

Dota does this now, and it's not a bad idea, I just want to point out that I personally would be one of those outliers.

Xilixer1 votes

yeah there will be outliers. which always sucks. just like when companies make a game console exclusive.

the only thing is this will help the ranked community alot more than it will harm it. you can buy a cheap used smartphone for like 60 bucks.

Roaranor1 votes

$60 isn't cheap for everyone, especially for a F2P game.

Mech0p1 votes

I think 60$ for this game is extremely cheap but I look at it like this... A normal console game is 60$ and just the story mode alone on average your gonna get about 12 hours of game play " not counting games like skyrim or fallout" which comes to about 5$ an hour... Now take that 5$ an hour and multiply it with the hours you've played of league..

Roaranor1 votes

Therein lies the point we're making. $60 seems extremely cheap to you personally, but not everyone shares that sentiment. Everyone has different financial circumstances, and spending $60 for a game can be unwise for some given their circumstances.

I, for example, haven't bought a console game in almost 2 years because most of my money goes towards school, bills, food, or taking care of my grandparents. There's a load of games I'd love to buy or pre-order, but I don't have that kind of money, and I probably won't until I graduate and get a better job.

Some people, like you, may have that kind of money and the financial freedom to invest it into a game but that isn't the case for everyone.

Bronze Demon1 votes

cellphones have more utility beyond registering for a game. $60 is cheap for most people considering the other tasks they can do with a cellphone. people who cannot afford it will just have to stick to non-ranked. they probably have more important things in life to worry about than being able to play ranked.

Rexxiee6 votes

{quoted}

Do what dota2 did http://blog.dota2.com/2017/04/matchmaking-update/

What a terrible idea lol.

NineTailedMystic3 votes

Or not. I don't own a phone, I'd be fucked.

David Xanatos6 votes

I am still seriously heated from my last game. I'm trying really hard to get out of silver for the first time and I went on a fairly impressive winning streak. I lose a few in a row. No big deal. I lose 2 more in a row only to see my next game has a Jax player in 24 games with a 96% rate. He obviously proceeds to bitch slap us.

So let me get this straight? Not only do I, a silver 2 player, must lane against Gold 5,4, and sometimes 3 to get into Silver 1, but now I have to go against smurfs along with said gold players? My teammates are rightfully salty and one gets reported because he tells that jax to piss off. I know I'm just venting, but it's seriously frustrating, unfun, and a waste of 25-30 minutes.

Karfuss6 votes

Smurfing creates a toxic experience for the enemy team, and pollutes the entire matchmaking system by inflating MMR. It is not harmless. Selfish would be an understatement.

Honestly don't get why pro players smurfing gets so many views and hits. Pro beats noobs? Next you'll be telling me the sky is blue, grass is green and pigs can't fly. What skill.

ModKnightsKemplar5 votes

Nice truth telling. I think it's worth pointing out, even if no one changes their behavior...

Unload On Me4 votes

[{quoted}](name=Fed by Snu Snu,realm=EUNE,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=0ZyyE22s,comment-id=,timestamp=2017-05-05T23:18:28.035+0000)

Not a permanent one like some would like to claim, but an elo hell nevertheless.

People of higher skill are not supposed to be a constant force in lower MMRs. This is achieved in many possible ways, like MMR snowballing. (probably the only part of the tier system that is functioning properly) A person of your caliber is not supposed to spend that much time within those tiers.

Likewise, there's also one more parameter. The baddie friend of yours that benefited from this. He is also not supposed to spend time in higher MMRs. And going down is not as well tuned as going up, so he is going to spend some time there, costing games for his teams.

So by proxy of those two factors, your smurfing creates an unnecessary disparity of wins/losses that should have been the opposite outcome. This in turn inflates the time someone takes to reach their true tier, with the exception of those who are already at the top and can keep on doing it over and over again.

You and subsequently your friend losing games outside of his league are turning a 100 games venture into a 200 one for a part of the community.

Just my 2 cents as someone who has also helped friends of mine in the past and decided to stop.

TL;DR: Your smurfing is not harmless.

That's actually a brilliant perspective. Unfortunately this isn't just a ranked issue either. RIP new players.

Elikain2 votes

##In my opinion, there's both good and bad kind of smurfing.

Good smurfing

  • Is when a player with a certain skill level makes a new account and has the intent on climbing the ladder like he usually does, on a regular basis. You can't simply circumvent a part of the system that's always calculating your ELO. It's how the entire system works. The calculations are pretty minor when you're on your main that has a heap of ranked games under its belt, where the system has already confidently placed you somewhere and you're only gaining a few points up and down when you win or lose.

  • However, the system needs to estimate your ELO if you have a new account and that's being done in provisional games. And then, your jumps or dips for wins or losses are big because after the initial estimation, there comes proper "calibration". The more ranked games you play, the more accurate your ELO will be.

This account i'm writing from is my ex-main i haven't played on for over 3 years. I had it for 8 years already and that's pretty early in League's days. I made a smurf 3 years ago because i wanted to move way from my dirt cheap ELO (where i was experimenting on how to properly play ranked) and my new main account's ELO has been steadily rising from Gold to Plat to Diamond 4 last season. And i'm not getting back to my forgotten accounts to ruin someone's ranked games, i am using this account only for the forums while i use my other account for everything else.

I consider myself to be a good smurf. I see no reason why i should have to be stuck to just one account but i acknowledge the fact that if i make new accounts, i am responsible for them as they were my mains. And in my opinion, i only want to have 1 account i play on regularly. I don't want to have side accounts or "troll" accounts for any reason or purpose. I'm not trying to stockpile them for the future when i get banned because i'm not toxic and i don't have to worry about this problem.

Bad smurfing

  • Is when a person has a second account (or more) that he uses for experiments in Ranked games or is purposely keeping his ELO low so that he can stomp lower ELO players (because he loses on his main or he is circumventing a punishment because of his toxicity on his main). Essentially, his ELO is higher on his main and he usually plays there but every once in a while, the urge to stomp some noobs or troll people is too great so he switches accounts and doesn't really care what happens to his side account if he ever crosses the line and gets punished.

  • Bad smurfing is also trying to carry your lower ELO friend by making a fresh account that has ELO equal or less than his but that allows you (a higher ELO player) to influence his games and manipulate wins that he likely didn't deserve.

Dreadlocks2 votes

But i thought all bronze and silver players were being held back because of their teammates? Not that someone on the other team is good :)

Ungrateful Thug1 votes

[{quoted}](name=Ńø Çígâr,realm=NA,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=0ZyyE22s,comment-id=000f,timestamp=2017-05-06T15:46:18.720+0000)

But i thought all bronze and silver players were being held back because of their teammates? Not that someone on the other team is good :)

"When I get stomped, it's because of smurfs. But when I stomp, it's because I'm just that much better than my opponent exdee"

Dreadlocks1 votes

LOL so tru :)

YoureSquiddingMe2 votes

Put in my neighbors number on a smurf Put my parent's number on another Put the local McDonalds number on another Put that law office I pass on the way to work's number on one too.

Sanctimonious2 votes

I'm a diamond Kayle one trick pony. I hit diamond 5 on my main, then on an alt (this account), and then started smurfing. I can't really play other champions to their fullest extent. It doesn't matter how much i try to learn and play Fiora or Xayah, or Gnar at a diamond level i just can't. I need to practice, and that's what my gold smurf is for. It's not immoral whatsoever to smurf. It's immoral to pubstomp smurf, in which you will end in your true elo anyway. (Duoing imo is immoral, but you can't stop that)

grug

I have no problem with people smurfing as I believe it raises the bar for lower ELo players to get better, I still believe it is an impetus for improvement. Realistically, everyone that has seriously climbed has been stomped mercilessly by smurfs on several occasions. The smurfs are also needed to keep people in check such as the people who think tank veigar and zilean jungle are good ideas.

More from Gameplay

3 Refunds per season, upvote if you want 3 refunds per season.
Gameplay764 comments
7,167
votes
3 Refunds per season, upvote if you want 3 refunds per season.
Gameplay156 comments
3,510
votes
UPVOTE FOR URF
Gameplay606 comments
2,440
votes
Yes plz.
Gameplay456 comments
1,721
votes
3 Refunds per season, up vote if you want 3 refunds per season.
Gameplay114 comments
1,716
votes
When is ANYONE at riot going to address the awful new player experience?
Gameplay634 comments
1,383
votes

More by Fed by Snu Snu

I'm getting really tired of the "better jungler wins" meta
Gameplay107 comments
105
votes
You know skillshots have gone a bit too far when:
Gameplay39 comments
90
votes
So Kalista's "weakness" is one of her biggest strengths
Gameplay98 comments
81
votes
This Lee never hit a Q the whole game other than his R-Q guaranteed ones
Gameplay148 comments
77
votes
When did creep aggro become so erratic and random?
Gameplay28 comments
76
votes
Riot's excuse about Lissandra's base mana regen holds no ground after Xerath's rework
Gameplay100 comments
65
votes