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Ranked: Provisionals, how does it work?

KjPOPsicle·2/13/2017, 5:41:51 PM·2 votes·19,270 views

So when you set out to play ranked matches for the first time in a new season you have to play 10 provisional rank matches to get placed in your "rank" where you are queued with and against players of/around the same elo. But I have never played ranked matches ever. I really wanted to try competitive gameplay because I believe my skills improved quite alot from when I recently started. So I decided to try solo/duo queue where I found myself in queue with players who had Gold borders. Further more, the opponents were overly aggressive and my adc never communicated with me leaving me utterly confused as to when to engage or back off.. I was blamed for not reacting fast enough to many half second situations that took place. oh. not just blamed. Raged at, given nasty disgusting insults even after I know I did my best. I was so appalled at the inhumane reactions from the players on my team who didn't seem to care that I didn't have the same skill level as themselves.

I feel so conflicted cause it's really not my fault that riot queued me with players who have skills build up of from years of playing (I only started 7 months ago), but at the same time I feel horrid for messing up a match for those same assholes I queued with because they deserved a game with people on the level as them.

Flexed, however, seemed so much less toxic and easier to handle.

I need more clarification on the mechanics of provisionals. => How does the queuing work during provisionals? => Were these players in provisionals too or did I get queued with players who were already ranked? => If it was the latter, then why would riot do that? Wouldn't that make the ranking unfair for experienced players and new players? => Also, what's the difference between flex and solo/duo, is one more competitive than the other?

Lastly, how do I survive playing with and against experienced players and their cocky nasty attitudes? That is, how to play with them and satisfy them.

8 Comments

Mysticman892/13/2017, 6:28:15 PM2 votes

If you've never played ranked before in any previous seasons, you start with a low silver ish MMR.

You are matchmade with others around that MMR, which will include others doing their initial provisional matches who are not yet placed, people who are legitimately low silver ish MMR who've been playing ranked for awhile already this season, and people who are more likely gold-ish skill level but still have low silver mmrs due to the end of season soft mmr reset.

Matchmaking in that MMR zone can be tricky, because there are the new to ranked players with silver starting MMRs who may in fact be bronze skill level, but theres also new to ranked players who actually are gold skill level (and also also smurfs who may even be higher skill level). Most people are low silver statistically speaking, which is why the starting MMR is there instead of elsewhere.

Matchmaking based on ones 'skill' as represented by their mmr is probably the fairest route despite the hiccups I just mentioned. There are a lot of extremely experienced bronze players out there who have hundreds or even thousands of games played without leaving bronze, while theres plenty of people with relatively few ranked games played who would just destroy bronze level players. It can be a little rocky early one when your MMR and your skill level aren't necessarily in line, but most people will be roughly where they belong within 100 games (although most people won't agree they belong there).

Flex is a new queue that replaced ranked 5v5 and is basically the same as dynamic from last season if you payed attention to ranked at that stage. Basically you can queue as 1,2,3, or 5 players (no 4's), and in theory there will be a bigger emphasis on teamplay rather than individual skill, as people can in principle be coordinated with voice comms and similar. It's a new queue this year though, so it's a super clown fiesta of MMR mixing, where diamond level players and silver level players can find themselves in the same match. After a season or so things will roughly shake out with flex MMRs and actual skill levels being closer, but for now people tend to not take it very seriously due to the matchmaking being all over the place (note your flex mmr and your solo/duo queue mmr are different).

Solo/duo is the standard ranked queue, where you can at most queue with one other person, is probably the best measure of your individual skill (since it's harder to be boosted), and probably the main 'rank' people will care about.

There will be an extra reward for players who manage gold or higher in both solo/duo and flex queue at the end of season, but if you only care about the gold+ skin you can use either queue.

As for dealing with ranked, muting people can help, but realise that you probably are a lot worse than you think you are. First time ranked people can sometimes come in feeling pretty confident because they do well in normals and figure they'll get gold no problem, but when they actually get into ranked (where unlike normals, everyone is usually playing their main role and best champs and trying their hardest) things get pretty rough. Try not to get too tilted if you first bunch of games go poorly (and your teammates may be a bit salty), and just try to focus on things you could improve in your own gameplay. Eventually you'll get to a point where matches consist of people all your own skill level, so it comes down to improving your own skill level to climb higher.

LostFr0st2/13/2017, 5:55:51 PM1 votes

It's your first placement game, so being with a few golds is normal. The next game they'll probably still rage (you'll find that there's ragers no matter where you end up) but there will probably be less gold borders. The system is just trying to find out where to place you.

It's hard to always place someone in a game with all new players, since that would take a long queue time to gather and there would still be a mix of new and smurf players.

You'll see stuff settle near the end of your placements usually.

Flex is a completely new queue this year, so it's more of a mixbag of ranks. Some people don't treat it like a hard-core ranked queue, so there tends to be less rage for now.

As for "playing with them and satisfying them," accept that you never will be able to. Just do your best and try to learn something from every game. You'll never see most of those players ever again.

Survivor20181/23/2018, 1:33:22 PM

I don't know, but i had 7Wins and 3Defeats in promotions and I'm Bronze1 rly now ? Riot why ??