Revamped Ranked Queue
Hello everyone,
I am creating this topic to discuss the possibility of revamping or upgrading the current ranked system, and to discuss my personal thoughts on it. I have played League for about three years now, not a terribly long time, but not short either. In the time that I have played League, I have noticed it steadily improving its gameplay, graphics, character roster and balance, and various other parts of the game. One of the parts about League that has yet to change drastically, though, is the ranked system. Now, I know that some may consider the current system good, or infallible, but I believe that there are severe flaws in the system that could be rectified with a simple revamp. As such, I wanted to share my thoughts and hope Riot could get some good ideas from myself and the rest of the community.
Before I continue, I would ask that anyone who has anything other than constructive criticism not partake in this discussion. I understand that some people may very well love the way ranked is, and if so that is great. I would, however, like to primarily focus on the potential ways to improve the system. Riot may decide to keep things the same way, but if they want to consider changing things, this board should help them out.
Now then, in ranked, there are quite a few flaws that I believe are easily fixable. To name a few:
-It is often the case that you will be playing with those who don't really sync up with your style or needs as a player. Sometimes, those you play with just won't be at a level you need them to be at, or they might just have severely different styles from you in general. -Another flaw is the ease of falling behind, but difficulty in advancing. Besides the easy loss of lp versus the slow gain, I have had several friends go from high silver rankings to low bronze rankings simply due to the season resetting. It would not be such a bad thing if not for the fact that it takes an incredible amount of time, skill, and luck to continue to gain new rankings. -The biggest flaw, I find, is that ranked is simply not fun. That's not to say you can't enjoy playing the game while doing ranked, but it does mean that the struggle of trying to rank up is, for many, draining and a chore.
These are three of the biggest issues I have noticed in ranked play, and I believe I have come up with a concept that could easily change the game entirely for the better. It would impact not only ranked, but every player who does not play ranked, and allow everyone to have more fun together.
The Gameplay
In my proposed version of the ranked queue, the system of lp will be, for the most part, entirely removed. Instead, the game will focus more on teaching you how to be better while helping you enjoy moving forward and achieving that. It will not be a draining experience, and will make you want to play even more League.
The first step to this is to provide objectives to complete, rather than a system based solely on whether you win or lose. Basically, you would have to achieve each of the requirements set in order to move forward in rank. They would not only be a more fun system to work through, but would also teach you how to play even better. I have provided examples below as a start point.
-Place three wards in popular bushes over the course of the game. -Maintain a positive KDA over the course of five games in a row. -Be honored at least once by other players over the course of your past ten games, not including from those on your friends list. (This would change depending on rank) -Do not get reported by others for abuse of any kind in more than 3 of your past 10 games (again, just an example number). -Get dragon at least x number of times in your past 10 games. -Get baron at least x number of times in your past 10 games. -Help your team claim objectives at least x number of times in your past 10 games. -Help your team claim objectives at least once per game.
These are just some examples, and at the end of meeting all of them, you will have to win two out of three games just like how they have it now. But it wouldn't be based primarily on if you won those games or not, just if you acted as a team player and did a good job to help achieve the best result possible.
I believe it would also be good if these requirements could be met in normal games, outside of perhaps those specifically tied to your skill at winning or losing. This would help encourage other players who never play ranked to join in if they felt like ranking up. It would also help keep the ranked queue that decides your next rank from being too clogged with casual players, and make it so that people who wanted to actually move up really worked for it when they decided to play ranked and try to win their 2/3 games.
Quartz Rank
I believe that there should be a rank specifically made for those who were acting toxic in games, trolling, or just not trying to make the game a fun enjoyable experience for others. This rank would help make each of the other queues much better and more enjoyable for those who are trying to take things seriously. You would be placed into this rank if you met the following requirements:
-Reported an extremely high number of times in the past 10-15 games (in 70% or more of the games you play, perhaps a lower or higher number than that) -Consistently maintaining a very low KDA, but only if it was fairly drastic, such as, for example 0/0/10. This number would have to be really experimented and played with, but it would help keep those who try to feed or troll from staying in the actual ranked divisions.
I'm sure there are more ways that you could be put into this division, but I think it would be good to help sort people out based on if they want to make the game a great experience or just want to upset others. Also, this rank is not one that you would start out in at all. You would start at Bronze, and only be put into this rank if you met the requirements to be put into it.
Ranked divisions
Finally, I believe it would be good to make the divisions such as "Hecarim's Commandos" or whichever you might be put into matter a little more. These divisions would specifically help keep players who have certain strengths organized. That way, the queue could help organize these players into teams that might work a little better for their personal playstyle. For example, if you are a great support, but don't like playing other roles, you'll be put into Soraka's division. If you queue up into a solo queue, you'll be put with people from other divisions based on their strengths and weaknesses.
And that's all she wrote (hah). I think this would be a great step forward, and could be a change that will severely impact the League community in a positive way. Ideas to improve on it are welcomed, as well as of course any feedback from Riot if possible.