Some thoughts on Dynamic Queue as a true Solo Player since day 1.

Hey guys, I originally wrote some stuff on Reddit, but I figured this is a better place to voice our concerns since it's the official Riot Boards.

I've been playing this game since around season 3 ( Jinx or Lucian release, don't remember which came first) and I don't know if it's just the nostalgia, but the game was so much more fun back then.

I enjoyed learning about the game, playing the game myself, observing how people carried games, watching streams, even carrying myself on odd occasions.

It felt like a unique and rewarding challenge, queue'ing up to grind some soloQ.

When they first announced Dynamic Queue I figured it would be like teambuilder, or the new type game mode that people play in place of normals.

I didn't think that Riot would actually remove the best part of their game, its competitiveness.

We were constantly reassured that Riot would do no such crazy thing and here are the communications from Riot on the issue (credit to Reddit user /u/baberg for compiling the sources);

• January 19th, Riot Lyte said "a few weeks after the season start" Source)
• February 4th Riot Lyte updates it to "a month or two" Source)
• March 3rd, a Tweet from @RiotSupport said it was "a month and a half" away Source)
• March 22nd from Riot Socrates, it became "...we're concerned about the impact solo queue will have on matchmaking as a whole, and we’re assessing how to best proceed. Once we've fixed match times and position selection, we’ll have a better update on other queues." Source)
• And in a reply to that March 22nd post Riot Socrates confirmed (emphasis mine): "We'll be honest: there's definitely a world in which solo queue doesn't return, but we'd rather keep it on the table as we work through these issues before making a final decision." Source)

Now, a couple days ago, a video from Riot Korea hit the frontpage, and we saw a Rioter saying that he feels as if they've lied to the players.

I just want to say that I feel the way Riot has handled this issue is very sad.

Here's a comment summarizing my thoughts when the Korean Rioter made his statement;

This is sad as fuck.

Like I would have been pissed either way, but I would have respected Riot much more if they had just said from the beginning; "This is how it's gonna be, deal with it or just quit."

But this, this treating of your probably most dedicated player group (the soloQ grinders) as if they're 5 year old children and you're just waiting for them to forget about the chocolate you promised them.

It's disgusting.

Not even gonna go in to the fact that pretty much every single person who actually matters, who knows how to play the game and who knows how this game works (the pros), have said it's a terrible decision.

And all for what?

To appeal to some casual fucks who log on once a week on saturdays to play a game with their buddies, and to let them have a false sense of ranking/achievement.

Something they're not putting into the equation though, is that the top 1%, the pros, the ex-pros, the streamers, these people are the ones who drive the masses. They're the ones doing your advertising.

And every single one of them hates Dynamic Queue.

Keep pissing them off, and you'll eventually get them to quit, taking their viewers/fanbases with them.

Of course, no constructive critisicm is complete without offering some solutions.

I'll add one more comment which contains what I think is the best solution, and after that I'd be very happy to hear what you guys think on this issue.

Some of you may know, this topic is now banned from being talked about on /r/leagueoflegends.

I severely disagree with the effort to silence people, when many people actually do want to talk about this very major change to the game we all enjoy.

Here's my solution;

How do you measure skill in a team game with 5 members?

Logically, if our end goal is true competitive integrity I see 2 ways;

#1) Measure the team as a single unit, AKA Ranked 5's.

If we win as a team and lose as a team, then it does make sense that we are an addition of all our skills and weaknesses and need to be measured as a collective 5.

The problem with this is that very few people have 5 friends all within the same skill level, all who have time schedules which are compatible with each other and actually want to constantly play with each other.

#2) Every man for himself, AKA SoloQ.

The old system was indeed flawed, as it allowed you to bring in another person of your choice.

While this did mess with the fairness of games (as admitted by Riot, since in previous seasons they made the opposing team of duo queues slightly higher in MMR to compensate), it was of a small enough impact to be negligible. It was a tolerable flaw.

True SoloQ on the other hand, is the only way individual skill can be accurately measured in a team game.

No duo's, no friends, every single person starting the game under the exact same conditions, being randomly matched with 4 other players at the same MMR level.

Playing enough games, and being the only constant of all your games, this system will give you a true represantation of your skill.

Now enter Dynamic Queue;

Think of all the possible variations between 2 teams.

1+4, 2+2+1, 2+3, 1+1+1+1+1, 3+1+1, I could go on listing but I'm lazy and bad at math so I'll probably forget some anyways, but you get the idea.

So the system has to assess all of these variables, make sure both teams have equal amounts of premades and same conditions if possible(for example a 3 man premade and 2 solo players on both sides), also take into account MMR ranges, and then check to see if one of their preferred roles are available.

Given the size of the League of Legends playerbase, theoretically, after a long enough wait, the system will find a suitable matchup.

But how long will the queue time be?

30 minutes? 50 minutes? 70 minutes?

Recieving complaints all day every day about queue times, Riot will of course choose to decrease the system accuracy in exchange for finding quicker matches.

It will broaden the acceptable MMR gap exponentially as time starts stacking up, desperately trying to just find 10 people to put in a game together, and that's how you end up with situations like this.

Riot could potentially be able to implement fair matches into Dynamic Queue, but it would come at the cost of staggeringly long queue times.

Ain't nobody gonna wait an hour for a game of League.

What do I think the best solution would be?

1) Make Dynamic Queue the new Normal Game Mode. Let'em have a Party MMR or whatever if it makes them happy.

2) Implement True SoloQ, no duo's, every man for himself.

3) Bring back ranked 5's.

By bringing back Ranked 5's as well, people who actually want to compete with their friends and be measured as a collective unit, have a way to do so.

SoloQ makes the dedicated soloQ grinders happy.

The Casuals have their own Party MMR as well, and can play with as many friends as they have online at that moment, whenever, wherever they like, and they get something to show for it. (Party MMR specific borders, icons, wards, whatever the season rewards are.)

Please, don't refrain from talking about this issue, and whether you support SoloQ or not, contribute to the discussion.

The moment we stop talking and just leave everything to the flow is the moment we've given up on the game we all love.