Matchmaking overhaul needed
The community is crying out for this. With changes to the ranked league system a year ago and general positive feedback I've seen about it, most people seem to like the new ideas of several individual leagues of relatively small players in each division, etc.
There just remains one critical issue. The current ranked rating of a player (gold, silver, platinum, etc) does not seem to make any effect on who they play against. This means, as many know, that you can queue up for your silver division promotion series to finally hit gold, only to be surrounded by high gold or platinum players...
While I know a good matchmaking system is anything but simple, this is outrageous. What is the point in being assigned a particular rank in ranked play if this will make no difference in the difficulty and level of play experienced in our matches? I know that some cautionary measures must be taken to ensure people's experiences in the game aren't affected by rampant 'smurfing,' or a player intentionally being placed in lower brackets to have no opposition whatsoever (the current system prevents much of this by assigning MMR to assess a players skill level and placing them into matches of much higher ranked players once enough data has been gathered). This countermeasure in the MMR system has some good qualities like preventing highly skilled players from beating up on newer or lower skilled players forever.
You might say that's a good thing, and you're right! It is great that players who intentionally place poorly can't stay in matches with bronze players forever because of the matchmaking adjustment However, wouldn't it better help the integrity of the ranked system implemented by Riot to simply provide and enforce a way to MOVE the player to the appropriate ranked level if their level of play was shown to warrant this?
Personally, I'm tired of winning a couple of matches early in the season, inflating my MMR, and being placed against reasonable opponents, only to experience the inevitable 50% win rate and never actually move more than a few divisions into silver 1 or gold 5 before my high MMR prevents significant gains in LP. If I'm playing at a plat level in a silver, I SHOULD see more wins than losses, even if it means that accelerating my rise through the ranks is the solution to preventing this 'smurf-esque' effect.
What I'm saying is, I'm fine with you adjusting my matches to pair me with opponents at my skill level, but shouldn't this system adjust my opponents as fast as it adjusts my actual ranking? Why should there be a lag between my matchmaking and what ranking I am represented by. This is why the system needs to be overhauled. If I'm playing vs. Plat players and holding my own, why can't I be assigned a plat ranking? Either match me with people at most plus or minus one league division, or give me the rank that your MMR system thinks I deserve!
PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE Give this the attention it deserves Riot. The mismatch between the MMR system and the in game ranked divisions means that the ranked divisions mean little, if nothing at all when my opponents have nothing to do with my current rank.
