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Idea: Disabling New/Relaunched Champions Temporarily for Ranked on Patch Release

Ultima75000·10/9/2014, 11:58:59 PM·2 votes·1,369 views

TLDR Version: Disable new released champions on only the Ranked queue for a short period of time so players can't just go and make the bad decision of "First Time Ranked insert name here"

I'm sure everyone knows that there usually is mad hype for a new champion whenever there is a teaser/reveal posted online. And of course everyone who can get on that day rushes online and clogs the server for several hours hoping desperately go through the shop, buy the champion and instantly start playing him in game, custom, normal, co-op etc.

One issue that has come up time and time again is the fact that many people tend to buy the new champion and then go into a Ranked Game before trying him out. In the worse case they haven't even READ about his skills or even watched the Champion Spotlight. Already I've heard read dozens of posts about people going First Time Sion Sion in a Ranked losing the game for the team. While I don't want to say that the people who do this are bad players but entering into a serious Ranked Game with a champion that you have not ever played before is usually a ticket to defeat. Especially if the enemy team doesn't have a teammate doing the exact same thing.

Granted I have seen plenty of very good players get away with it, but the big issue is a lot of people get extremely upset about this and it's understandable why. I wouldn't be very confident if someone auto-locked in Gnar and said "First Time Gnar" Gnar right after. It's really not something you want to see or hear in a Ranked Game and definitely not when playing in your Series.

Now one solution is just to BAN him but I really find that a waste as many players would rather ban a champion they know is too risky to leave selectable rather than a new wild card who at this point of his (or her... or its) release is an relatively unknown factor. I honestly believe it would be better to simply disable new released champions on only Ranked for a short period of time. (like 3 days too maybe a week) That way many Ranked games won't be totally thrown because of that one guy who went in without thinking and allows people to actually play some Normal games before going in head first.

13 Comments

DarkDestiny10/10/2014, 12:10:21 AM1 votes

I actually like this idea. It kind of helps reduce the toxicity of ranked. It could go in line with the "x Champion is more expensive for first week" thing Riot has going as well.

Subdue10/10/2014, 12:25:11 AM1 votes

In a game with over a hundred champions, most people can find a champion they don't know how to play from the existing pool. Besides, some people may have been practicing with that champion in the PBE, or may just intuitively have a solid grasp on how the champion plays conceptually. Often times we see new champions have solid win rates as evidence of this.

HDPixel1080p10/10/2014, 12:50:53 AM1 votes

Yeah, that's a great idea. Especially if a new champ ends up OP or UP.

In Dota 2, new heroes/reworked heroes are withheld from ranked and un-ranked captain's mode (essentially draft mode in LoL). But, they're usually withheld for months at a time, until they're considered perfectly balanced. Legion Commander was considered too strong by some, and too weak by others, so she wasn't allowed in for half a year!

Subdue10/10/2014, 2:15:52 AM1 votes

The idea is a short and temporary hold before letting them loose in Ranked. I'm not saying keep them out for half a season but keep them out long enough so people can't go "I main insert name" despite the fact the champ came out roughly a few hours ago. This won't totally stop people from still pulling a first time stunt in Ranked but it would definitely help out during the release hype.

Given that new release champions have in the past experienced immediate success upon release, wouldn't you agree that the problem with new-release champions is less about the champions being new and more about the negative, blame-shifting attitude of the players involved?

If so, rather than denying the players that want to play with/against those champions the ability to do so, would it not be better for players who do not want to run into newly released champions to simply avoid ranked for whatever time period they feel necessary for themselves and others to get accustomed to the new champion?

For me, the incubation period necessary to learn a champion well enough to play that champion in ranked might be a week, while for you it might be 1-2 games. Why should you and I be held to the same waiting period when we both capable of making the judgment call ourselves of when we're ready?