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

Ultima75000·Oct 9, 2014·2 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 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" 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

DarkDestinyOct 10, 20141 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.

SubdueOct 10, 20141 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.

Ultima75000Oct 10, 20141 votes

Well not everyone is lucky enough to get into PBE and I did say that good players can actually make that sort of situation work. There is a lot of champions to learn but I'm trying to lower the amount of toxicity and rage when players make the dumb decision of doing that. Especially when said champ has just been released and not enough time has passed for people to fully know how powerful he or she is.

JowsuffOct 10, 20144 votes

Ranked is specifically for people who know how to play the game; specifically in roles and on champions they are comfortable and proficient with. Sure, the professionals, and even some number of people are capable of testing a new champion (or a new role or build on an old one) with good results; but the general public are not professionals, or even /good/. I don't want to lose my game (or, conversely, win) because someone decided they'd like to try out Azir when they barely have last hitting down as a principle.

It just isn't fair to the nine other people in the game; your four team mates will have a much lower expectancy to win, and the five opponents gain nothing out of the experience, except maybe new ways to ignore the toxic behavior the AD Azir exhibited when he lost his first game as the champion against Ziggs.

I'm not saying some people aren't naturally talented; but assuming everyone is capable of competently playing a new or immensely different champion is not healthy. That's why 'free week' champions were removed from your available roster in ranked, and quite honestly why new champions and (massive/significant) reworks should be as well.

HDPixel1080pOct 10, 20141 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!

wolfaxOct 10, 20141 votes

Then how do you know how strong he is in ranked play? I mean, if we went off of this Yi would be massively nerfed because he does stomp in unranked play, but in ranked he's terrible. I could see keeping them out of ranked for a little bit, but no matter when you release them you're going to have people that just don't know how to handle the champion in a more competitive environment since all they've been playing is normals.

Honestly if they kept a champ disabled in ranked for half a year without major game breaking bugs being the cause I'd question the game.

Ultima75000Oct 10, 20141 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.

JowsuffOct 10, 20141 votes

It's not a matter of keeping them disabled for half a year (I don't know where you got that figure, no one here said it) It's a matter of giving people a chance to play the champion outside of a ranked setting, where the odds and likeliehood of people bashing you for that champion are much less likely. If you wish to learn a champion, Team Builder, Normals, Customs, or Bots will serve you.

You do not have to go into Ranked, which is a queue /specifically/ for people who are trying to compete in an environment which encourages top and improving play (Not that we ever really get that environment, but the intent is there), to test out a new champion, or a rework, or even a 'out of meta' build. Test it in any of the other numerous options you have, get familiar with mechanics and tech, and then proceed to ranked play when you can.

The problem is that people will not do that naturally. They will do what they please, and they need inhibitors of some sort. That's the entire reason free week champions were removed from ranked play; because if they do not own the champion how likely is it they know how to play it? If a champion is only available for a few days, how should we expect any semblance of competence out of people using it? Assuming they don't know how to use the new champion is more likely than them having an immediate understanding of it's mechanics.

I'm sorry, it just does not make any sense. Give them a small grace period (The most someone suggested in this thread is a week, which is not a terrible amount of time to play one of the other 120 champions, as opposed to the new/reworked ones) to learn the champion outside or ranked; if they insist on trying it in ranked, the week will not kill them.

SubdueOct 10, 20141 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?

JowsuffOct 10, 20141 votes

So what you're saying is, to the players who don't wish to encounter these champions and the immense likelihood of the toxicity involved therein, to simply stop playing?

Instead of Riot, within reason, making the champion(s) in question unavailable in ranked play, which given any reasonable argument, is not actually unfair? That, instead of a fair and easy fix, any number of players simply turn off the game they wish to enjoy or experience?

That makes no sense.

SubdueOct 10, 20141 votes

So what you're saying is, to the players who don't wish to encounter these champions and the immense likelihood of the toxicity involved therein, to simply stop playing?

Instead of Riot, within reason, making the champion(s) in question unavailable in ranked play, which given any reasonable argument, is not actually unfair? That, instead of a fair and easy fix, any number of players simply turn off the game they wish to enjoy or experience?

That makes no sense.

What I'm saying is, the problem does not exist with the people who want to play the new champion right away in ranked. It is with the people who act in a toxic manner. The act of playing a new champion in ranked shortly after release is not in and of itself a problem, and you can look at the win rates of champions their release dates to see this.

As I stated before, there are well over a hundred champions. A player could try a new champion a week for over two years before being able to say "I've played each champion for at least a week." And that's not even including the ones released during that time. Release date champions are no different, except that the act is visible.

Ultima75000Oct 10, 20141 votes

While players will always pull that type of "first time" behavior regardless of champion it should not be so obvious to provoke the toxic attitude in the first place. I've gotten plenty of first timer whatevers and although it bothers me that this person in going in without any experience at least said champion has been out long enough for at least the champions role and builds to define itself as well as have a couple guides ready. To say that the act of just going in "first time" is just more visible would just make people even angrier as there's really no excuse too losing a game because you have no idea how to play the champion and you willingly chose to play that champion.

SubdueOct 10, 20141 votes

While players will always pull that type of "first time" behavior regardless of champion it should not be so obvious to provoke the toxic attitude in the first place. I've gotten plenty of first timer whatevers and although it bothers me that this person in going in without any experience at least said champion has been out long enough for at least the champions role and builds to define itself as well as have a couple guides ready. To say that the act of just going in "first time" is just more visible would just make people even angrier as there's really no excuse too losing a game because you have no idea how to play the champion and you willingly chose to play that champion.

You continue to harp on "losing a game" over and over, but the numbers show that many new releases have actually come out strong in their first week after release, scoring above 50% win rates. Furthermore, LoL is designed in such a way that roles are generally homogenous. Aside from very slight variations, most champions in a given role tend to follow the same builds, and anyone who's actually read what a champion's spells do can figure out what order to level them in. As I said before, the problem is not with with those who choose to play new release champions in ranked. It is with those who choose to complain and act in a toxic manner.