Player Expectations and the Autofill Outrage: Improving the Ranked Experience
#Warning, Long Post (I'd love it if you still read everything <3)
#But First, A Bit of History
Anyone who's been playing this game for a few years will know that in the old ranking system, all players were expected to know how to play all five roles, four minimum. That was the expectation and everyone knew about it before even pressing "Play". If you didn't know at least four roles, you'd be told to get the fuck out of ranked and train some more, you hackee nooblord. (and if you were a one-trick, you better have been real goddamn good at that champ)
Then came new champ select. This new system allowed for players to choose exactly two roles, or fill ALL 5 roles (there was no in between). As players fiddled with the new system, they became immediately aware that if you picked any primary role plus "Fill" or "Support" as your secondary role, you would get Support a little too often. The first day, you would get support maybe 60% of the time, which some players were not happy about, namely the players who played support as their secondary role, as well as other players who were trying to fill Top/Mid/Jungle/ADC (but not support). So those players picked exactly two roles that did not include support and abandoned the others along with Fill. As the days progressed, increasing numbers of players abandoned Fill up to the point at which, about two weeks into new champ select, Fill players would get Support nearly 95% of the time because there was no one playing the role. Yet no one was playing the role because you would get Support nearly 95% of the time. With Fill/Support not being a viable option for players wanting a fair distribution of role variety, player adaptation in favor of two and only two roles was all but inevitable.
#Ranked Expectations Today
The new champion select system has caused a rapid and drastic change in player expectations in ranked. With new champ select only requiring players to pick two roles, paired with the fact that most players opt to only play exactly two roles, it is really no surprise that players would feel uncomfortable, anxious and angry when they are forced to play roles that they neither queued up nor trained for. Even considering a player who has been playing ranked since before Preseason 6, it is very likely that it has been over a year since they have bothered to keep up with any but two roles. But why should they? Fill still gets you only Support a large majority of the time, and the game's own role selection heavily discourages you from playing three or four roles. Yet the new ("new"?) Autofill system forces players to occasionally play a third role.
Therein lies the problem. Autofill forces players to play in a highly competitive environment while using champions that they may be unfamiliar with in a role that they are unfamiliar with. Not only that, but you very well may be asking them to compete against players who almost exclusively play that role (until they, too, are forced to fill). The difference in skill and training is clear, and it shows. Players who are autofilled commonly end up with scores like 0/9/0, 1/7/2, etc., especially in low elo. The worst I've personally seen was I think a 2/22/0, if I recall correctly. I don't even have to offer proof to these scores. So many of you have already witnessed this yourselves, in such a pervasive manner that I can imagine most if not nearly all of our games have someone being forced to autofill (either on your team or on the enemy team).
Autofill greatly contributes to many of the huge problems that League of Legends players face today. Let's begin with some light math. Based on my own experience, autofill starts to take effect every five games or so. Depending on your luck, you may get autofilled immediately or you might go another five games before the effect takes place. So let's just say that on average, autofill triggers every eight games or so. That's still a LOT. (Of course, I'm not using any hard data, but please, tell me if my numbers are horribly wrong. I'll be glad to change them.) Players are queueing up for ranked expecting to play at their best, using champions they are familiar with in roles that they are practiced in. However, there is a huge disconnect of expectation vs. reality every 1 in 8 games, or about 12% of the time, as they are tossed into a different expertise of the game (more than double what would be considered material, so a significant percentage of their games). Already, the player's expectations have not been met, as they were asked by the game to pick two roles but were given neither. On top of this, they are being asked to play on equal grounds with someone that is very likely playing their main role (7 out of 8 times, so about 87% chance). Conversely, every teammate and opponent is expecting to play someone who is going to perform at a similar level of play as they are. When someone is randomly forced to play a different role, it is obvious that a large portion of players would not be able to perform at their supposed skill level. So you get some games where the enemy ADC stomps your ADC, and others where your Mid stomps the enemy Mid. Games are pretty much decided in 10 minutes, and no one, no one is happy. And when no one is having fun, that is when a game truly fails. But one then must ask, what is it that we want from a ranked game, and how do we achieve it? For me, it would be ten people of similar skill battling in a well-matched game, not only to test their skills but also to have fun. And autofill throws all that out of the window.
It must be noted, however, that it is not completely autofill's fault. If we as a player base were to communicate effectively during champion select, all of us would be having a much better ranked experience. But that won't happen without some assistance. Clearly.
#A Proposition
Do any readers remember the old days of ranked? Where players would frantically type in their role and, in the case that one role was contested, would communicate to each other to make sure that everyone, or at least mostly everyone was comfortable in their role? Since every player was expected to play at least four roles, it wasn't hard to reach a conclusion, and though many of us wouldn't get our favorite role all the time, we were content in knowing that for the most part, we would be able to play something we at least knew a thing or two about. Of course, this is assuming you weren't a stubborn one-trick. If you compare the old days of ranked to our newer experiences, you might agree that the chat box stays relatively empty. I want to bring that communication back. It is one of the aspects of the game that tied us together as players. Beginning with that short exchange of words at the start of champ select, we became a short-lived five-man team, who didn't know two things about each other, but we knew enough to realize that everyone was willing to work with everyone else to increase our chances of victory.
At the same time, I don't want to completely undermine and overthrow everything that Riot is working on. Because that is just silly. Obviously most every suggestion including mine will include varying amounts of extra work, but that's to be expected. I want to find a way to fix this problem in the simplest way possible, and after reading my suggestions, I would like to encourage you all to come up with your own ideas. Let's work together to make League great again^TM.
With that said, I think a possible solution could be as follows:
Players can choose two, three, four, or five roles as their "available" roles, basically whatever roles they are comfortable with actually playing. With this change, players can expect to play an expanded list of roles on their own accord. Naturally, players with a greater selection of roles are rewarded with lower queue times, but you would actually have to be able to play the roles you sign up for. If you queue as 5-role fill, but absolutely refuse to play support when you get it as a priority pick, that is easily identifiable and reportable.
After players select their roles, Matchmaker's job would be to create as evenly balanced of a team as possible with a valid combination of roles for each team. Each player would be assigned a "priority" selection that everyone can clearly see. Then the game would show everyone's available roles. Players can then ask to switch according to everyone's priority selection. Of course, the player with "priority" selection would be the final judge of whether he will switch roles.
Let's run through an example.
#Champion Select Chat Example
The item pictures are there to help you easily identify each anonymous player.
Player 1 can play [Top / Mid / Jungle / Bot], from most proficient to least, in that order.
Player 2 can play [Jungle / Mid], in that order.
Player 3 can play [Mid / Jungle / Support], in that order.
Player 4 can play [Jungle / Top / Mid / Support], in that order.
Player 5 can play [Mid / Bot], in that order.
I'm not good with computer logistics, but I can imagine that Matchmaker would be able to offer its best suggestion for priority selection within these combination of roles. Here's what it might look like:
Player 1: [Top / Mid / Jungle / Bot]
Player 2: [Jungle / Mid]
Player 3: [Mid / Jungle / Support]
Player 4: [Jungle / Top / Mid / Support]
Player 5: [Mid / Bot]
At the beginning of champ select, every player would have access to this listing. Meaning, everyone on this team knows that even though Player 1 got Mid, everyone else can also play mid. I'm not sure if releasing the roles in the order of proficiency would be beneficial, because there is a possibility that such a feature might shoehorn players into certain roles even further (e.g. Support mains). Let's assume for now that no one is given those details. For the curious, here's my matchmaking logic (just for the example). Between Player 1 and Player 5, I arbitrarily decided that Player 1 would be the Mid laner. From there, Player 5 must be Bot and Player 2 must be Jungle, then Player 3 must be Support, then Player 4 must be Top. However, note that Player 1 could actually switch roles with Players 2, 4, and 5. Let's say that Player 1 really wants to play Top.
: Yo can I play Top? Top is my main.
: Mm I'm not the best at Mid though. can you play Mid and I'll play Jungle?
: Sure I'm good with both. xd I kinda wanted to play 
though
: I promise I'll carry <3
: If I got a nickel every time I heard that one...
: wait goddamnit guys 
and 
are all banned. I don't have any other ADCs to play. can you go Bot and I'll go Mid?
: Serious? Damn, fine. Nvm guys I'm going bot.
: Thanks :D
It's not fool-proof, and sure, if people really don't want to talk (or cooperate), they won't. However, I think giving players the tools and info they need to get started in forming a coherent and reliably performing team is a great step in providing a better ranked experience for everyone.
Because no one likes playing as autofill.
No one likes being on the same team as a feeding autofill.
And stomping on autofilled players is not as fun and rewarding as outwitting a team of 5 coordinated players, eager and ready to play at their very best.
