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Autofill and the Support role

Malicious Metal··39 votes·8,152 views

We all have heard it by now; Riot is enabling Autofill PERMANENTLY in every Draft type game.

This means even in ranked you may just be put on a role that you have: A) No Idea how to play, which is often the case with Duo lanes and the Jungle B) Have no real champion pool, Hell, I don't own nearly as much Marksmen as I own Fighters C) Puts them into a position and play style that they're not experienced in (Squishy<->Tank<->DPS<->Burst<->Mobile)

Now I get that Riot wants to decrease Queue times but with the new autofill agenda the match quality has dipped into a new low. Trolling, Dodging and other unpleasant experiences are way more common with match quality IN GAME even being lower as I often get people on roles they have no idea playing.

Now, I'm a decent support as Nautilus is one of my comfort picks and he can flex as a support but most other people don't like supporting and frankly suck at it.

Which is the main problem right now, and it has been a while.

SUPPORTING IS NOT ENJOYABLE FOR THE MAJORITY OF PLAYERS.

Let's face it, you can reward queuing as support as much as you want, as long as playing it isn't generally seen as enjoyable people are not going to bother playing support.

Now, I know a lot of support mains that like playing other roles. Hell, my brother "mains" Bard, Jhin AND Mordekaiser but I have yet to meet some mid laner who also likes supporting.

People want to be the CARRY, they want to do PLAYS, they want to be the MVP Supports do a ton for their team but they won't have those fancy scores like a mid laner. It's a problem with their low gold income and generally only having utility.

I feel the support role as a whole needs to get a ton of adjustments before we'll finally get a somewhat equal spread in people queuing for certain positions. We already got mage supports like Zyra and Brand, utility tanks like Nautilis, maybe we need some other types of supports as well as a change to support's gold and experience income to fix this long standing issue of support being the least played role-

68 Comments

tigernick19 votes

I am the only who enjoys to play support here?? :(

Rozzeta1 votes

You are not the only one, and that is a stupid question. But it's pretty clear most players of this game would prefer to have their balls nailed to a wooden plank than play support.

tigernick1 votes

{quoted}

You are not the only one, and that is a stupid question. But it's pretty clear most players of this game would prefer to have their balls nailed to a wooden plank than play support.

I make this question because in many games especially in ranked i find many people who cannot even play support i am low elo player and in bronze (i am b1) many dont even know what means to be support... my mains role are top adc support and it feels bad when i am adc and i have bad support so now i prefer to go support than adc

ThePartyLeader3 votes

{quoted}

I am the only who enjoys to play support here?? :(

I was a support main until I started playing with a irl friend, who was a support main. I then only got it sometimes. Then we started playing with a couple friends of a friend. Who were both support mains. Then there friends started playing with us.....

I'm now an adc main.

ImmortalBloodCY2 votes

Back then i was a mid laner then i become a top laner then i played jungle then i played ADC and then and only then i found my true calling in support role.

Since then i stayed with support role no matter the nerfs/buffs we got, so no its not just you :) there are many of us who enjoy and love playing as support.

blueberrypancake4 votes

I love how i can get carried as support :)

Edit: For some reason i really liked Zeke's Harbinger before the rework

I don't know why, it just felt right.

Erractic Eick2 votes

I have never related to a person as much as you.

Hinu Hyuga2 votes

I know that feeling all to often.

Erractic Eick1 votes

JOIN TOGETHER SUPPORT MAINS. LEND THIS MAN YOUR POWER.

For the record, yes, Jax Support is a thing.

Hinu Hyuga1 votes

SUPPORT for Life.

Hinu Hyuga1 votes

Nope. I'm a support main.

Borbland1 votes

I like it too. Not just every single game.

EndlessSorcerer9 votes

It gets worse when you realize that ADC is probably the next most susceptible role to be autofilled. You can easily get two players autofilled into bottom lane matched against a pre-made duo in their main roles.

That can easily lead to a complete and utter stomp (especially if the enemy team doesn't have autofilled players).

Ralanr4 votes

So basically season five whenever I filled in blinds?

Lovely. Support I can more or less do. ADC is a role I'd like to avoid heavily. Even on marksmen I like such as Jhin.

EndlessSorcerer1 votes

I mostly play tanks and fighters, so I'm accustomed to having the ability to initiate fights. Lacking the ability to do so (and relying on my teammates) can be a rather frustrating experience.

I think Ashe, Varus and Tristana were probably the only ADCs I really enjoyed playing due to this. While Tristana may not be able to initiate, I just love the character and she was one of my early favourites (and mains) back in Season 3.

Jhin's ultimate is great for starting fights and catching people out, so I'd probably enjoy him if I tried him.

Ralanr1 votes

I probably should learn more engage marksmen. I've noticed that I feel really comfortable when I can just start teamfights.

Been trying to learn Draven. Boy do I get salty with him. I should probably just pick up Ashe and another engage marksman that isn't Varus (I can't play Varus for shit).

Tha Light1 votes

Draven makes you a Draven XD

Azoph5 votes

Anybody remember the days when you had to play any role in ranked? A good league player is good at all roles. I have friends in high diamond and masters who completely stomp every lane at a diamond 5 or lower level. As a league player, it is important to have you main role but you still have to be able to play anywhere on the map. In the end, we are getting less time to wait and more time to play some good old League of Legends!

[slayer-pantheon-thumbs]

tigernick2 votes

yes man especialy if you play ranked you must know to play all the roles i hate when people autofilled in a role that they dont know how to play and dodge the game.. especialy in my last game one teamate autofilled in jungle and he wanted top because he doesnt know how to play jungler my teamate was top dont let him.... i was filled adc so i asked him if he wanted to change roles but he doesnt want adc and then he trolled in the game...it wasnt fun at all...sry for my bad english

SGT Dingle Berry4 votes

You know supporting wouldn't be that bad if people just grew to except it. I've seen some funky support picks this week and you know what? Nobody cared! If you're an auto fill support that has 0 experience in that role then just pick your comfort and do your best. I guarantee that your best on a comfort pick but shit support champ would be 1000x better than an inexperienced Braum 1st timer.

JQKAndrei1 votes

There are easy supports as well, and yeah I don't mind a poppy, sion, gragas. But if you're picking Azir, Ahri, Zed supports you're just losing the game on purpose.

SH Azykan2 votes

I've actually been carried pretty hard by an azir support. Went full tank and just engaged beautifully with his ult and the passive tower was good for stalling. Won lane for our adc (enemy adc had like no farm) Invaded and killed the enemy jungle at their blue twice.

If I see an Azir support I never immediately discount it because of how much this guy showed me the champ can do when dedicated to it.

50000000000000004 votes

Isn't that more of an Azir main having good Azir mechanics than Azir support being good?

SH Azykan2 votes

{quoted}

But if you're picking Azir, Ahri, Zed supports you're just losing the game on purpose.

is what I was replying to. Just as an anecdote on how it isnt necessarily Azir support "losing on purpose" when an azir main is able to make the pick really work for him because of how well he knows the champ

HazyCloud71 votes

Azir's early game is awful even in midlane. Can't even imagine how rough it would be with a support's gold income.

Tentacle Advisor3 votes

I enjoy the Support role more than I do any other role in the game. The other role I queue up for is Mid. But when I Mid, I play champions like Morgana, Lux, Brand, and Annie. [Notice how they all can fit the Support role with ease.]

No matter what role I am given, I also shift into the Support role, because that's just my style of playing.

If I get autofilled to either Jungle (rare case) or Top (my usual autofill location), I pick a tanky, yet somewhat bursty champion. (i.e. Nautilus, Cho'Gath, hell, even Rammus and Amumu)

I never understood the mentality of a carry, nor have I ever had it. I've never played a game with an intent to be a carry. This includes games like Call of Duty, where I always geared up with an SMG (primary) and Sniper Rifle (Secondary) with utility equipment (Trophy System, Hacker-thing, etc.). It includes games like Diablo, where I main the Crusader and Monk (soon-at-least) classes, while geared for tanky up-front damage soakers. I have literally played every game I've ever played as a Support.

The problem with Support is definitely not the role, but the players. There are way more players in the League Community who both have, and prefer, the mindset of Carry. Because of this, it is difficult to get them to Support, because they will either:

A) Play the role as though they are the carry, and engage in unnecessary fights because they are used to having the damage to pull it off or B) Pick a champion that isn't truly a Support champion (by way of their kit) and literally leave their adc with little to no peel (sometimes even ditching bot lane completely)

Though I wouldn't say the Support role 100% needs better gold income and/or exp gain, I will say that the support role itself needs to be a little more engaging. Seriously, give us some end-game stats to look at. I'd honestly be totally fine with zero recognition from my team, if i were able to see my entire game breakdown in the post-game lobby. Even the little things, like Teammate Heals given, active item casts, etc. If I bought a Mikael's in a game, let the post-game lobby tell me how many times I freed an ally from CC. Small things.

Ravenhale3 votes

They do have healing as a stat to look at. Whenever Soraka gets strong, you'll see lots of screenshots displaying her "broken" healing. You can also check your match history to find the number of your wards placed (though I wish that was displayed in the end game stats).

I think damage shielded would be a neat thing for Shield Mages like Janna. I think that stat is entirely lost. It would be a stat shared by Orianna, Lux, Karma and Lulu. It would also pick up Locket's shield and Morgana's Black Shield. That's a lot of numbers that I never get to see.

Another Stat that I think even Carries would like to see is Lockdowns. Number of Enemies Snared/Rooted/Stunned/Knocked Up/Terrified would be a good thing to track for supports looking to improve their CC game. Maybe even include Blinded/Silenced even though those aren't technically Lockdowns.

LightIsMyPath3 votes

but I have yet to meet some mid laner who also likes supporting.

Hi! I'm a poor bronzie main mid. I like supporting and Nami is probably my 3rd favourite champion, I love her. Guess what? I have to queue as mid/everything else, or I will get support in 9 games out of 10. This is increasing the problem because like me there are actually many people who don't mind supporting at all, even like it. But we just can't queue as or we would not be able to play our main role anymore. They think Qtimes would be longer but I think they would be shorter instead if they limited the % of games you can be put into secondary. Personally I would even be fine with 50-50, and boom, you have one more support avaible in half of my queues. Right now I'm just contributing to make queues longer by selecting roles I don't even like.

Meanie401 votes

Have you tried mid/supp since the patch? A few other people I've seen have commented that mid/supp gives you support only ~30% of the time since the patch, with autofill taking up the slack.

LightIsMyPath1 votes

Gonna try and hope for the best :)

Aptest1 votes

this has been corrected. i have been queueing as bot/fill since last patch and am getting bot enough times to justifiy choice.

LightIsMyPath1 votes

OHH going to try again so maybe I don't have to end up jungle and screw the game for my team if they don't let me swap :p Well, tho is this is due to people getting autofilled without even selecting support while I selected it there is another problem going on... but I'll just profit for now :p

Meanie401 votes

It's intentional.

Let's say my number above is true, and you get support while selecting mid/supp ~30% of the time, and you (and players like you) are satisfied with this ratio and continue to make those selections.

This means for every 10 games that you play, there are ~3 less games that have to rely on autofill to fill the support position that you took. And the player supporting is of higher quality, because you are willingly doing it and have a basic idea of how to do it competently.

This increases the overall queue quality, and makes everyone happier.

LightIsMyPath1 votes

Sadly it seems this doesn't apply to euw.. I tried 10 games, got support in 8 of them. Sad life :c

Saianna2 votes

Let's face it, you can reward queuing as support as much as you want, as long as playing it isn't generally seen as enjoyable people are not going to bother playing support.

Considering how slow Riot learns on their fuckups, I'd say they will realize of this divine wisdom somewhere in late 2030.

S H A Y C 02 votes

Let's face it, you can reward queuing as support as much as you want, as long as playing it isn't generally seen as enjoyable people are not going to bother playing support.

On the nose my friend. So going forward, what can we do to make it enjoyable. Riot mentioned some acknowledgment events like announcing "double kills" and such for support Penta-Assist!!!!! <---hilarious btw, but needed to be sure.

But what else can there be done to glorify baby sitting? Should the support get a "killing spree" when he kills 4 wards, lol?!

Personally id like to see the duo lane die entirely, and let the 1v1's be glorified.

Double jungle - there are two sides with mirrored buffs that if looked at in a certain way could be considered "lanes in fog of war" Instead of "invading" its now more like "laning in fog" for the junglers, we have 5 people getting solo XP, CC utility tanks can easily jungle with cinderhulk and the game would get much more fun and creative with more people being in fog all the time.

Im not sure how to make people shift the meta this way, but one idea would be to nerf the duo lane experience sharing enough to discourage the idea entirely. It would be a forced meta, i know, and for those who enjoy supporting....support style jungling with cinderhulk sightstone could easily be your new thing, and you can now have an actual income, be allowed to get kills now and then, and still get your support on.

there are quite a few problems with this...soraka jungle could be REALLY hard, but revert the starcall back to the aoe wave clear version and we have something.

Flyinguillotine1 votes

I want to try this right now.

Tha Light2 votes

Remove K/D/A and gold for last hitting champions. That`s the first step. Second is for Riot to stop act like supports should be victims for everybody else.

FourVsFive2 votes

As a support main, what makes it no fun is the lack of gold, with so little gold you feel you can not make much of a difference in game, thus no fun. As every one has 4 fully made items you only have like 2.

Stecher2 votes

That's the beauty of supports though. They're ALL utility. Even with your 2 items, you're still wildly useful.

Baby Ghoul2 votes

Autofill supports are worse than longer queue times.

GeneralHugs2 votes

I hate having an autofill support that doesnt know when to and when not to do things.....

Kabbez2 votes

I absolutely hate it when u queue up for 2 roles and u get a role you didnt queue up for. i'd rather wait 2 extra minutes to find a support rather to be stuck as support for 20-50 minutes depending on how long the game is. and theres no option to get rid of autofill

MegaV78G871 votes

Lately when I fill in normals I do not get put in the support role that often. This is more common when I queue up with a friend. I seen to get filled into jungle more often than support. I am okay with it since I currently main jg, but sometimes I like to kick back and support someone to let them carry instead of having to carry myself. At this point I can play any role, but I still am not that great of an ADC, but I am not that bad at the role.

kamikazephyr2 votes

Are you suggesting supports do less work than the damage-dealing roles? L m f a o

HazyCloud71 votes

People want to be the CARRY, they want to do PLAYS, they want to be the MVP Supports do a ton for their team but they won't have those fancy scores like a mid laner. It's a problem with their low gold income and generally only having utility.

This is why support will ALWAYS BE the least popular role. Most people don't want to set up others to carry, they just want to carry. It doesn't have to do with being unable to impact the game in the support role. If you are good at support, you can climb just as high as someone in any other role.

No thanks on increasing gold income for supports. Their items are already super gold efficient and incredibly cheap. There are suppose to be a limited amount of resources on the map and supports getting the least gold is a product of letting the adc get all of the cs, and if you give them more gold support will just become a 2nd mid lane for people who don't want to actually lane one on one and earn their gold from cs in mid lane.

Like, we have literally seen supports (Brand, Zyra) outdamage their their other laners in competitive games for crying out loud. Vel Koz is fully capable of doing it do. Give them another exp catch up method so they aren't so underleveled from warding, but don't cheapen the role by turning it into a 2nd mid lane. Their item prices are tuned with their gold generation in mind.

If anything I think adding more AP to mage support itemization would be a step in the right direction. Janna/Nami/Lulu's utility all scale well with AP. Maybe even give supports the penta assist thing lol

Swaid1 votes

While I do enjoy playing support, I dislike playing jungle; too much responsibility and its hard to please all the lane whiners demanding ganks because they fucked up and want an out, not understanding gank is privilege, not necessity.

Flyinguillotine1 votes

I am terrible as support. You do not /want/ me playing your support. Hell, I can barely manage as my main roles and you want me to play the most radically different slot? What were you thinking riot?

Nightcrow Teo1 votes

I just want autofill to be removed from the game. In ranked especially. People who got "forced" to support will either use a non support champ like "lee sin" or they won't build support items. (sightstone and redemption). I rather wait longer for a queue than to lose a game because ppl being negative because they are autofilled as support. For my case, i was a support main back is season 3/4. I don't mind supporting. Am in plat 4 right now and a lot of ppl still do this kind of thing where they don't feel like supporting.

Liquid Poro 1 votes

The autofill is fine and protected (me) and I play supp at all times and I can't get my secondary role.

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