It's Ridiculous that People Take the Grades Seriously (Rant)

atomicwit··35 votes·10,413 views

It doesn't take context into account at all. You can be camped for 5 minutes straight by 2 players and only die once but that lowers your grade. Cait can be so fed that her ult will take 2/3 your HP but if you die, that lowers your grade. You can play safe and be forced to give-up CS when your jungler gave the other player double buffs but that lowers your grade. Games are never in a vacuum where your performance is totally separate from the team's. I'd love to see someone tell the ADC that a 10-0 Karthus shouldn't impact his performance.

Stop asking me what grade I got in a losing game as if just because it's a B+ or whatever actually has any real meaning in that specific game. It's more for fun than anything else. There isn't a person actually thinking and judging you that particular game. It's just based on averages and statistics. If you've gotten graded on a champ 100x, then it would have some relevance but never in a particular game. The same goes for really high grades. Oh, your JG got you a double kill and then you proceeded to 3-shot everything as Vayne? No, it doesn't mean you're now Challenger because you got a good grade and KDA. You don't now get to talk down to teammates if you lose.

*These are made-up examples but the attitude is real. In the end, the only thing that really matters is how much you contributed to winning. That can't be judged merely by stats. I play Tryndamere and split-push hard - often using ult. while 3 are hitting me as I get an inhibitor. My KDA will be garbage but those plays win the game.

60 Comments

It Hertz When IP10 votes

I got A on my last game, and I played like a retard the whole time.

blueberrypancake2 votes

I got A+ as a Nunu support

Nunu support is retarded

Next game i start 1/4/24

Get B-

Apollocliptic1 votes

Because based on averages, most players do bad as him, so you did better than them, and therefore got an A+

ofart6 votes

Does it take into consideration me running around poisoning and distracting 4 members top so that our team gets a free Dragon?

Waffletimewarp1 votes

{quoted}

Does it take into consideration me running around poisoning and distracting 4 members top so that our team gets a free Dragon?

Ye gods I hope so. That shit's my wheelhouse.

Baron of Bread1 votes

I would be surprised if damage to champs wasn't considered.

Apollocliptic1 votes

{quoted}

Does it take into consideration me running around poisoning and distracting 4 members top so that our team gets a free Dragon?

Bard Nidalee Udyr also agree - Baiting ftw!

Byakuya Kuchiki5 votes

this is the same reason that trick2g and his fans will never have high ranks on those champs because no one makes a system that takes things like towers killed dragons taken etc. into consideration

atomicwit7 votes

{quoted}

this is the same reason that trick2g and his fans will never have high ranks on those champs because no one makes a system that takes things like towers killed dragons taken etc. into consideration

I remember MaRin teleporting and farming the wave mid when the rest of his team died (so the other team won't be able to push to the Nexus as easily). He died a gruesome death but saved SKT from certain defeat. They launched an amazing comeback from that and won. I'm pretty sure Marin's grade was lowered due to that death mid.

Just a few games ago, I used my Kalista ultimate and launched our brave Leona into the enemy team to stop the certain ace. Her KDA suffered but it let us escape with Baron almost unscathed.

The game's not so binary to be summed up in a simple champion grade. It's fun to look at but ultimately, your results will speak for themselves once you play enough games. That's worth a lot more than hiding behind a good grade while making selfish decisions.

Apollocliptic1 votes

I'd like to see Anirva with Kalista passive :D She is one of the best turret defenders in game, if she is alive, it's almost impossible to push... Assuming she has mana

I say this in the context that if you're about to lose a fight, Kalista Ulti Anirva so she can run away and hold the enemy back long enough for some respawns

Rinky Dinky2 votes

Actually it does :X

Spacesuit Spiff4 votes

If idiots are gonna look for something to criticize, eventually they'll find something. This is just one more potential target. No lie, I had someone look me up once post game and go "70% winrate? more like 70% suckrate noob!"

Adaelphon Delat4 votes

They might be implying that you have a tongue activated keyboard, and using it allows you to have faster reflexes than a normal player, giving you a huge advantage by using the "sucking" keyboard.

Spacesuit Spiff1 votes

+1 but... who thinks of things like that?

Apollocliptic1 votes

{quoted}

+1 but... who thinks of things like that?

ADAELPHON DELAT does ^_-

DeusVult4 votes

I hate to say it

but champ mastery and everything else that they ever make like it is for the bronze 5 COD players

who need their own existence recognized by everyone. My buddy, who is B5 does it all the time

"hey man, I went 15/8/25 last game, pretty awesome right?"

Me: "did you win?"

"No, noob team lost bot and top, but I crushed mid. But by that time it was too late, couldn't help them."

Me: "WHY DIDNT YOU HELP THEM EARLIER????????"

"idk not my job, but that KDA doe"

OxBaker3 votes

I'll always answer A+ no matter what it is.

RavenMagus3 votes

What a newb, no S rank, report for bad play

iamthegoatofwar2 votes

I don't like this grading system I went 10/2/13 as nocturne last game and our sona support got an S with 3/2/17 and I only got an A. It doesn't make any sense to me...

IcyPepper1 votes

Did you ward a lot? Take a lot of towers?

KDA isn't the only important factor in a game.

chipndip12 votes

I'm not sure what triggers it either, but 5/0/26 deserves an S imo.

I'm now done stroking my own ego.

Migrañaboy2 votes

Wonder how this grading system works, find it kinda suspicious, but perhaps the ultimate purpose of this is to motivate players to master something.

OP, now you have learned why metrics in LCS are crap. So many variables, team dependance, metrics favor certain play styles, best teams tend to get better results (collectively and not individually). This is no baseball :v.

Much dispersion.

Sona Ping2 votes

"winning team tends to get better results" Forgot a pretty big one. :P

But yes, what Migrañaboy wrote. League of Legends metric are crap and not worth paying any attention to. A K/D ratio doesn't count "dying from 3 players in a split push so your team can get Dragon".

PubgamerAU2 votes

Lol. It's nice to be recognized as a decent player for once. I can lose games and still get an S rank. Proves once and for all that I'm not the cause of our losses.

Illâoi Evê Siôn3 votes

I was liking your comment until you said the new and unpolished automated grading system proved you weren't the fault for your teams' loses.

PubgamerAU1 votes

Sorry, but Riot has determined, by telling me I played as best as I possibly could, that I am not at fault.

After all, if I didn't play as best as I possibly could, why would I get an S rank?

Adaelphon Delat1 votes

Unless you had a troll, everyone played to the best of their ability. The rank system takes easily measurable stats like KDA and CS into account. It doesn't take things like strategic decisions into account. If the tank stops the enemy team from engaging long enough to get baron, but dies in the process, they get penalized. If a support blocks a skill that would kill their adc, they get punished. If top gets ganked/camped heavily, leaving bot/mid to dominate with jungler because the enemy jungler is occupied, they get punished. If a tank never initiates because he doesn't want to hurt his KDA, he may never die and get a good score despite hurting the team. Same if top lane never leaves lane and just passive farms all game after getting a few early kills.

kiloechoesp1 votes

It’s based on the champion and role that you just played in a game. So, for example, we look at Annie mid differently to Annie support. We take a series of performance metrics and compare how you do to all other players in your region in your champion / position combination. It is percentile driven - so earning a high score means you performed in the top x% of players on that champ in that position. The grade itself governs the point gains.

-Champion mastery page

So the op is actually right in an aspect. His mechanics are probably master tier, so that isn't his problem. I'm not saying he's not to blame though. This is because teamfights and positioning("strategic decisions") are very important and probably hard to measure.

However, nowhere does it say that high KDA and high CS would get you S rank. There's clearly many more factors(team synergy etc.)

Angry Monster1 votes

I can promise you that

Unless you had a troll, everyone played to the best of their ability. The rank system takes easily measurable stats like KDA and CS into account. It doesn't take things like strategic decisions into account. If the tank stops the enemy team from engaging long enough to get baron, but dies in the process, they get penalized. If a support blocks a skill that would kill their adc, they get punished. If top gets ganked/camped heavily, leaving bot/mid to dominate with jungler because the enemy jungler is occupied, they get punished. If a tank never initiates because he doesn't want to hurt his KDA, he may never die and get a good score despite hurting the team. Same if top lane never leaves lane and just passive farms all game after getting a few early kills.

is true. The system does not have a way of reading intangibles. If it can not be tracked using a number system, it is not in the grade book.

However, nowhere does it say that high KDA and high CS would get you S rank

I can point you to some games where kills and CS is the only reason they got an S. They do not ward, they do not pink and and are exreamly greedy players that take everything they can so they can be strong and everyone else has their scraps. They were horrible experiences.

Drunk Rummate2 votes

The mastery system and grades are for self improvement and for-fun purposes only. Don't take them so seriously... +1 op.

FourVsFive1 votes

What exacly is the purpose of this mastery thing... is it just to promote people to play one trick ponies only? Hecarim

T RexHasLongLegs3 votes

Na it's too easy for that. I'm pretty sure my one trick pony (Heimerdinger ) would be max champ mastery level if you only counted games I lost, and maybe even if you only counted games I lost and would say I did poorly in. One trick ponies play one champ so much this will be completed too easily for them and is kinda boring. If you play a half dozen champs or something though it might be encouragement.

Maybe it is to get low elo players to focus on learning a few champs instead of changing champs every single game. Or to give streamers a reason to play every single champ :D

HouseCat011 votes

same here, I played Udyr for over 30 games in a row, and even when i didn't it was because I was trying out a champ

High51 votes

Both to expand champ pools and promote better play. Getting yelled at by another player for feeding isn't positive, even though the other player was right to be angry.

I hope the grades provide a positive critique to players that they need to play better. It's not a difficult game to learn. LCS isn't the be all ans end all, but watch 1-2 games and I guarantee you'll pick up aome good habits and learn a few fundamentalls along the way.

Sergeant Stephen1 votes

I went, like, 4/12/3 and got a B - I think the system's almost broken the other way. I did do the best out of my team thought (that game was kinda over by 5 minutes xD)

chipndip13 votes

Then it's also comparing you to the others in the game, who probably scored lower.

Phero1 votes

It's a shit system developed by idiots. If you actually do your job as a tank, your score will be LOWER than if you pussy around stealing easy kills... YEAH GG RITO SO SMRT.

Fluttershy XoX2 votes

{quoted}

It's a shit system developed by idiots. If you actually do your job as a tank, your score will be LOWER than if you pussy around stealing easy kills... YEAH GG RITO SO SMRT.

Ahhhh, and another piece of constructive critizism. You guys don't get it. People from Riot hired scientists and programmers that created a system to automatically analyze chatlogs and player behaviour and created a pretty awesome bansystem. Do you really think a company that makes hundreds of millions a year would base the champion masteries only on KDA? You guys have no idea what goes into the calculation of the grades. Noone can't possibly have insight into the system behind the masteries yet you think you can critizise it with such unreflected hatred.

If you'd say something like: man I am always getting grades that are too good, I really wanna earn that S only for games where I never die, score a penta or get legendary. Now that would be some constructive feedback. But all you do is hate on a System that is only a few days old and is tons of fun for many players. Riot even wrote on news of Legends that the game even takes itemization (eg. supp or midlane) into account. But how could you possibly know that. You are way to busy complaining about something than reading about it...

greez a fellow gamedesigner

Phero1 votes

[{quoted}](name=Fluttershy XoX,realm=EUW,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=3gmwxQ46,comment-id=000d0000,timestamp=2015-05-10T07:58:54.385+0000)

Ahhhh, and another piece of constructive critizism. You guys don't get it. People from Riot hired scientists and programmers that created a system to automatically analyze chatlogs and player behaviour and created a pretty awesome bansystem. Do you really think a company that makes hundreds of millions a year would base the champion masteries only on KDA? You guys have no idea what goes into the calculation of the grades. Noone can't possibly have insight into the system behind the masteries yet you think you can critizise it with such unreflected hatred.

If you'd say something like: man I am always getting grades that are too good, I really wanna earn that S only for games where I never die, score a penta or get legendary. Now that would be some constructive feedback. But all you do is hate on a System that is only a few days old and is tons of fun for many players. Riot even wrote on news of Legends that the game even takes itemization (eg. supp or midlane) into account. But how could you possibly know that. You are way to busy complaining about something than reading about it...

greez a fellow gamedesigner

Unreflected hatred is a good way of putting it. I have zero faith in their abilities. I think their matchmaking system sucks and has always done so, I think their "scientific" auto muting is total horseshit made by a megalomaniac douche bag. Why would I suddenly assume this new system of theirs to be well thought out when using it just for just a couple of hours will show me that it's definitely not?

The only good thing I've seen them do aside from balancing and adding / removing items is the teambuilder system. Something the customers wanted from DAY 1, something the customers screamed for them to make and they finally got around to it.

Rito hit a goldmine here in terms of timing with a DOTA clone but they've proven time and time again that most of their success is just that, timing and luck.

You're giving them waay too much credit. Also, opposed to you mr. game designer, I actually designed systems alongside other programmers for many many years. It gets easy to spot something half assed.

Fluttershy XoX1 votes

This is your subjective oppinion. If you have "zero faith in their abilities" then they are going to dissapoint you. It's simple psychology (might wanna look up the term "Rosethal effect"). But let me ask you a question. There are many MOBAs out there but what are you playing and even caring enough about to post online is League of Legends. So why are you playing it if everyone else can do a much less "half assed" game?

Shitty matchmaking is also your opinon too. I have 105/103 W/L this season. I would call that pretty balanced. And unless you are on the very bottom/top end of the spectrum you will have a 50/50 winrate too. It doesn't take longer than 1:30 min for me to find a game so no complaints there either.

Oh and tell me, how much did you pay for the champion masteries feature? What nice rewards did other players get that you didn't because of the introduction of champion masteries? How was balance affected since they implemeted this feature?... You see, if you don't like the feature just ignore it and it won't influence your game experience in any way. Or apply for a job at Riot if you are so good at programming and making everything better. I am sure they are in desperate need of your superior programming skills and professional "feedback"...

PS: also I think it is funny how you say "opposed to you" as if you knew anything about me. As far as I concerned my oppinion is exclusively based on what you post. But you probably just don't know better.

Phero1 votes

[{quoted}](name=Fluttershy XoX,realm=EUW,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=3gmwxQ46,comment-id=000d000000000000,timestamp=2015-05-11T11:11:06.226+0000)

This is your subjective oppinion. If you have "zero faith in their abilities" then they are going to dissapoint you. It's simple psychology (might wanna look up the term "Rosethal effect"). But let me ask you a question. There are many MOBAs out there but what are you playing and even caring enough about to post online is League of Legends. So why are you playing it if everyone else can do a much less "half assed" game?

Shitty matchmaking is also your opinon too. I have 105/103 W/L this season. I would call that pretty balanced. And unless you are on the very bottom/top end of the spectrum you will have a 50/50 winrate too. It doesn't take longer than 1:30 min for me to find a game so no complaints there either.

Oh and tell me, how much did you pay for the champion masteries feature? What nice rewards did other players get that you didn't because of the introduction of champion masteries? How was balance affected since they implemeted this feature?... You see, if you don't like the feature just ignore it and it won't influence your game experience in any way. Or apply for a job at Riot if you are so good at programming and making everything better. I am sure they are in desperate need of your superior programming skills and professional "feedback"...

PS: also I think it is funny how you say "opposed to you" as if you knew anything about me. As far as I concerned my oppinion is exclusively based on what you post. But you probably just don't know better.

Sure, and that's your subjective opinion. Anyways, I mistakenly thought you'd have anything original to say but that trite is entirely expected and boring. Good day Mr. Developer.

Desiderium1 votes

That's exactly why no one should give a shit about the grade.

It's there for fun. It's just something fun and cool. It's always going to be unfair and incorrect just like the Ranked ranking system, except Champion Mastery is actually fun.

BluePolarizer1 votes

how unfair and incorrect is the rank system?

do you think that a plat+ player could be placed in b5 and permanently stuck there?

Troy2426211 votes

Sacrifice deaths for dragon/baron lowers your grade. Go figure.

Apollocliptic1 votes

It IS possible to implement an accurate grading system, but would it really be worth it? Grades can first be calculated by averages just to get an idea. Then by technical applications (use of wards and where you placed them, burst / dps, AD over Armour pen, and other build optimisations). It's possible to implement a system that judges you based on an instance. When you engage how does the damage trade, your reaction time when under threat, number of times you fought to perfection walking away with 1-10 hp, and other times when your trade output was higher and a simulated scenario predicts your victory but you flash out or flee first because you lacked the confidence or game knowledge to continue (can also be weighed in with map awareness, last known position of enemies and potential ganks). Grading systems can be made for anything, but GOD they require so much effort, time and energy, not to mention they will actually slow down your game with all the background processes, so people with better internet and computers have an even greater advantage. Until a well thought out highly computational analytical AI is made and implemented to monitor all players at all times taking into account trends, averages and external affects (like how their game faired after losing a previous game, and how it faired after winning a previous game to test for emotional response and maturity) - see person of interest "The Machine" - ranking systems and grading like this will always be a mesh of averages out of context that give a very meagre idea of how good you were. Especially if you break meta (and therefore perform worse than others with your champ, but still in a way that impacts and wins the game) or if you do a trydamere split push like OP mentions. The same can apply to supports and jungles a lot, who often die protecting others from a bad play. Their death may have won the teamfight, but the stats say they shouldn't have died so much, even if it was the ADC out of position.... :/

LukaLightwood21 votes

12/4 ezreal, got B. Friend 6/8, less damage, got A... Got the feeling this system doesn't like me XD

Hello I am Bird1 votes

PLOT TWIST

It was a bot game ;))

Chef Pablo1 votes

Ok. So it averages out what other people play and that's how ur graded. So when I go Nautilus Support and I go 0-0-20 (So like, a perfect game), I get an A? I've done much worse on him and got an S+. Seems pretty broken to me. Can someone explain that one to me ? didn't think so. Also, was present for 2/2 of our dragons and 1/1 of our barons. Towers on the other hand, I was there for 4/8 probably, but thats because I walk away like a good support to give the gold to the other champions. DAMN, I'm a good support lol. I also used 5 or so pink wards, and had a pink sight stone, so ward coverage, not an issue. Also, ward clearing went pretty well too. What other factors am I missing... I really dont know.

ADepressedLeona1 votes

I've only gotten 1 7 token on Leona so far. I haven't been able to get anymore, no matter how hard I try :/

More from Gameplay

More by atomicwit