MMR and Ranks not created equally
So I went through a period of games where my play was a mixture of decent, good, and bad, and my MMR suffered for it. When I placed this season in B2, my wins and losses stayed above and around 50%. Then I got a series of games where just nothing went right. Bad plays, bad games, trolls, arguing teammates seemed to increase in frequency (I was warned to not play ranked on the weekend). Mostly I started seeing the latter two the further I dropped until I was in B5 again and every other game had either very angry and selfish players, or a troll, or an afker. So I went into a negative win/loss which is something I haven't had an issue with in awhile. So I put my nose to the grindstone and dealt with it and eventually got out of B5 into B4 where you see people at least trying on average to climb out and the worst elements are less available. Then I noticed that I was only gaining 13 lp per win. It was easy to carry those games out as long as I didn't get a troll or an afk. Even the occasional troll would not stop me from winning. I would win 6-7 games in a row, then lose 1, then go on another streak. I got into B3 and now gaining 12 lp for a win and lose 22 on a loss. I lost one with another arguing team (all b5 and seemingly new to the game) and am at 2 lp. I play another and Our adc silently goes top and feeds, then afks and ignores any input/feedback. Not only that, but the team insists that grouping and chasing fights is the way to win. Forget objectives... who needs those? My problem is that when my MMR is high enough to get more serious ranked players, you can tell they are at least trying and have at least a fundamental understanding on how to play a ranked game. If your MMR drops low for any reason, you have reached "ELO hell" and both sides seem to randomly run around trying to kill each other, and a win isn't necessarily on their agenda. If you are much better (which I consider myself to be at that matching level) then I should be able to make the difference up... and for the most part I can... Until the aforementioned example shows up. There is not much I can do to overcome that. I know that eventually your MMR should reach your skill at some point, but at the bronze level, I feel the curve is way too slow. If I am going on win streaks with only the occasional loss, then 12-13 lp wins and 22 lp losses seem really skewed. I feel the system treats all tiers as if they behave the same. This may seem easy, but Riot either fails to recognize the difference, or ignores them altogether. I've never reached gold, platinum, or even silver, but when in my placements, I match with those and find my skill level to keep me in the game. I even feel I play better than a lot of the silvers I match with/against and also find the game more enjoyable, as people are communicating, responding, working together, warding. All those things that are needed to win a game vs an opposing team of relatively equal skill. In bronze 5, there are none of these elements. I feel I am judged on a different basis than if i were closer to 50% win/loss. I am at 47 % last I saw (I was 56 % for a decent time after placements). I feel that as a B3 matching consistently with all B5's, I am expected to perform miracles in order to justify my placement (even though I have been legitimately higher before) let alone climb. I feel after you reach a certain rank above what your MMR says it should be, the curve should not be so slow to catch your position. I have noticed my lower LP gains in the last 20 games (of which I was 65% win/loss ratio). If you take out two afker games (for some reason my team refused a vote for remake with a clear afk on our team) and not consider the other losses due to troll, I did well in those two games as I had before and I should be 75%, but that is conjecture. My point is that after 20 games and according to op.gg, 2 losses have dropped my MMR by more than 60 points, regardless of the recent 20 game history. Hidden MMR makes it impossible to judge where you really are skill wise. I know I play skillfully with high bronze and silvers, and that I lose minimally when I get stuck in low bronze, but for some reason the system does not seem to take any of that into account, and since it is hidden from me, I have no idea on it's validity. I feel that placement and skill arguments/confusion could be mitigated were we able to see how our MMR adjusts as we win or lose. Why does Riot feel it so important to keep it hidden? Please feel free to chime in with "constructive" input. Any comments that drink the "Koolaid", derisive in nature, or just plain mean will be ignored.