Leveling Up is Archaic, a new progressions system is needed
Recently, Riot halved the amount of experience required to reach level 30. Although this allows players to enter the end-game content quicker, it also increases the problems that already exist with the current leveling system.
The leveling system is intended to gradually introduce players to the game's mechanics through level-based unlocking which allows them to master that mechanic as they move forward. While that sounds good in theory, i remember playing Brand exclusively for most of my starting levels and never even used most of the mechanics as they unlocked. Additionally, i was largely unaware of what each mechanic truly offered until long after i was lvl30.
Another aspect is that the current system does nothing to introduce players to meta play. While Riot has in the past insisted that they don't want to limit the breadth of options that can emerge in play, they also just revamped their matchmaking to define meta-emergent roles. so there's that. Players should learn the meta very early on and only after they have a firm grasp of how games are supposed to be played should they be tinkering with or breaking the meta.
If we are going to allow players to enter ranked much sooner, then there needs to be a gameplay standard. This standard is the framework of knowledge that players should have in order to level out the skill level of new players in ranked. Understanding simple mechanics such as last-hitting, the roles and their respective jobs, what champions should play what roles, how team comp affects games, the basics of team fighting, etc, etc. If a player enters ranked, they should not have to be coached about proper uses of vision. They should know where to stand in a team fight based on their champion, their role, and their team comp (or at least a basic idea of it).
Proposal I propose a new progression system for new accounts which teaches players the mechanics of both the game and meta play. Firstly, leveling will be removed completely. Progression will be based on the completion of tasks. Each task acts as a miniature tutorial, of which the completion of it is prerequisite to advancement. Tasks will be split into quests and tutorials. more complex, situation-dependent tasks will be wrapped into tutorials where the conditions can be prearranged for the player to interact with. These tasks include, for example, team fighting, champion selection, itemization. Simpler tasks will be achieved through quests. Quests will take place during a normal game and players must complete them to advance. Examples include; "Accrue as many minion kills before the 11min mark. Advancement after XXX amount of CS among total of games."(teaches last hitting in the context of the laning phase), "Dodge X amount of skill shots while playing Mid lane."(teaches champion control and enemy observation), "Assist a teammate in lane under X conditions." (jungle ganking training), "Flash over a wall to escape a pursuer."(meta based use of flash)
Tasks will be appropriately tested across all 5 roles so as to provide the unique context for each role. This ensures that players have an adequate grasp on each position prior to entering ranked. How the progression tree is to be structured will all depend on what gets taught and how. Balancing tutorials with quests so as not to seem like a very long tutorial will likely help mitigate "tutorial fatigue", since quests take place during normal matches.
Conclusion We do a disservice to new players by not introducing them to the complex mechanics of League and it's meta play. The fact that players have to read/watch online guides just to learn that last hitting as the support is bad, or learn so from other players who may or may not be nice about it, is terrible for the community. Individual skill and competency should be the deciding factor in the outcome of a PvP scenario not knowledge. Knowing that poking your opponent out of farm will snowball you should not tilt the game. Had they known how to counter poke, they could have evened the playing field. This will also help with some of the hopelessness and defeated feelings some players feel when playing the game and getting overwhelmed by mechanics/gameplay most of us find basic.
Creating a standard of knowledge for players who enter ranked for the first time will improve the overall experience for everyone.