Dynamic Queue (Oh Strap in!)

Alright, so here we go!

I am not the greatest player in the world. Let me reiterate. I AM NOT THE GREATEST PLAYER IN THE WORLD!

And I completely understand that. I am, "okay" with ranked systems judging me on my individual performance and stating that I am not good at this bracket of play going against these other individuals of should be equal or better skill. What I am not okay with, is Riot saying, "You know what, we're not here for you. We're here for team oriented players who will/can/want to play with their friends and rank up as a team."

Well Riot, to you then, my question is "What happened to ranked teams on SR?"

Do not get me wrong. I am not attacking Riot. I have been an on again - off again player for awhile now. I won't shove out there, "Well I've been around since alpha and had to buy the game physically to actually play it. :P" No. That's not me. I got into this game at a time before ARAM was a thing and when all of my friends were gold or higher ranking and there was no master ranking system. Challenge was all there was and the best in the challenger ranking system was met with an assload of, "Woah this guy is mechanically sound, I can see why he's the BEST because he plays at such a high caliber consistently."

Dynamic queue is not there. It will never be there.

Recently I watched the Dynamic queue 'round' table debate/debacle, and noticed something. No one. Not the players. Not ex-coaches/LCS players/ not even developers felt comfortable saying, "We're rewarding singular players for a team based effort and calling them the best."

I played DOTA and DOTA 2 for awhile. Starcraft and Warhammer are there as well. In the long list of competitive games I've played, including FPS, MOBA rip offs and competitors, and just card games and table tops - NEVER has a single player been highly rewarded or revered because they got somewhere with a team.

Why is this suck a big deal to me? "Zeke you're only silver, stfu and take what they give you, " Because I am actively trying to climb. I am actively trying to improve. I actively went out, did every Razor/Alienware/Nvidia competition there was to get a better computer so that I could have less lag due to shoddy graphics systems to play this game. I'm the player who watches LCS and knows, "I might not get there but maybe I can hit gold this season..." I'm the player that actually, despite flaming when I do have a bad game, and the occasional "gj" when I pull off an amazing play still enjoys this game. But not a single person stepped up to the mic on what may be the only grand stage we have and said....

"Why is League neglecting Solo players in a competitive game to uplift group teammates but only exalt one of them?"

When is that okay? If I go play Battleborn right now and beat a team into dust because at every/most points of that game I actually played better than them, of course they tell me "G'Damn you did a good job, here's some shit." Because I earned that. If I go play Overwatch and get play of the game, of course people add me to their friends list because, "Hell I wanna see that guy kill it again." But that's the extent of that. There is no in game reward system for climbing and seemingly doing better than others. Why? Because at any given time you can meet someone better. You can meet a better coordinated team. You can be beaten. Your reflexes can diminish, your knowledge of the game and understanding can warp. You will not always be the best. Period.

So why is it that I am currently forced into a system that, due to the roles that I am good at and choose, to play Higher Gold players, while I'm grouped with Bronze players trying to climb. Because a 14-44 game in ranked is so much fun, especially when everyone recognizes, "Well this teams shit, let me pad my KDA on these plebs before I go to the next uncertain circumstance."

Why did not a single person on that panel feel comfortable enough to say, "This isn't fair for solo players or team based players because eventually one will stand among the rest and he may have been carried harder than others."

Hell in LCS we don't even encourage this. Dyrus was bullied in top lane, solo, for 3 seasons. SKT plays as a team, and yes the Korean scene may be better at exploiting player weaknesses and a plethora of things I'm not capable of understanding. But you know what. LCS and Ranked are two different things. That's like holding little league football to the same standard as the NFL. And what's more you're not making it much more difficult for teams and PLAYERS to be discovered.

So let's say, oh hell you found a 4 person group of people ungodly skill and, holy shit you're the next C9/IMT and you're gonna shoot for that perfect/near perfect NA LCS record, and g'damn not a single person in the challenge/master tier is even coming close to stomping you. Then there's an LCS team that's looking at the top 3 players on the rankings in those lists and going, "Ya know what, we need a solid mid laner, offer him a contract. Fuck his team."

Do you see where I'm heading Riot? Do you read what I'm saying.

There have been tons of players, (at least in NA LCS) that came from high ranked SOLO QUEUE PLAY to make it on to successful LCS teams. (Let me just remind that the reason I'm going so hard on LCS drafting right now is because LCS is the standard everyone is FORCED to live by because it is what matters.) But yet, here we have Dynamic Queue. The of the rift and yet we're forced to eat them shrooms.

I have so much more to say and this is probably not all that coherent but ya know what. It won't matter. Just needed to vent. Thanks.