PSA: Elos dont really exists to Riots system, its all about MMR.

AFilthyCaitMain·Jul 6, 2017·3 votes·374 views

MMR decides who you play with. Just because theyre lower elo doesnt mean theyre bad, heck they may even be smurfing.

8 Comments

TerozuJul 6, 20172 votes

? Isn't your mmr your elo? I think it's just different names for the same thing isn't it?

AFilthyCaitMainJul 6, 20171 votes

Riots system is weird, although its effective (most times). If your MMR is plat, youll play with plat players.

SlythionJul 6, 20172 votes

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------MMR:----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

MMR is the internal ranking system that isn't shown to players, but it's what matchmaking is based off of, hence the name "Matchmaking Ranking" (mmr)

Think of it as overwatch's system: https://www.boostards.com/overwatch/news/overwatch-competitive-rank-system-season-2

where your "score" between 1-5000 determines your actual skill-rating and you are matched against people with similar scores. Scores adjust as you play more games, and I'm not really sure how many games back it considers though.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------ELO----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

One's "elo" or ranking-tier as basically a categorized "mmr". Once again, similiar to overwatch, your tier is based upon how high your mmr is. So like, someone with say 2345 mmr would be considered "gold-tier" in overwatch.

An average "plat" player will have a platinum-level mmr, which is the average mmr of the platinum tier. There are some plat player with diamond+ mmr, and those are the ones climbing. Similarly, there are plat players with bronze-gold level mmrs and that's why they are dropping.

The difference between league and overwatch is that one's rank isn't directly based by your mmr in league. We have the "lp" system where, in theory (because you're supposed to be matched with players of similar mmr's rather thank ranks) you will win about 50% of your games.

The LP system is kinda confusing and I don't really want to get into it, but the summarization is kinda of like this:

You earn more LP than you lose if your mmr is higher than (or equal to) your rank's average mmr. Aka: if you have a plat mmr but you're currently gold-tier, you'll earn more LP than most people in your league. You'll be playing against plat-level players, but you'll be earning more as well. Assuming you'll have a 50% win ratio as the system is designed, you should be climbing, granted it will be fairly slow.

There are obstacles such as promos and series, but overall the LP system is fair although complicated. In my personal opinion, it's sorta needless as well, but that's just my opinion.

That's pretty much the gist of it lol

TerozuJul 6, 20171 votes

That... is actually a very detailed explanation and very helpful, thank you.

Mysticman89Jul 6, 20172 votes

ELO isn't actually a thing that at all exists in this game, it's just the system that MMR is based on. Many players will use the terms ELO and MMR interchangably though since ELO is the more familiar term for many.

I think you mean to say that your rank doesn't impact matchmaking at all (...beyond who you can queue with), but rank is a thing that is different from elo/mmr.

AFilthyCaitMainJul 6, 20171 votes

yessir

RewtJul 6, 20171 votes

Elo is the System originally used for Professional Chess to determine skill rating (Still used today)

Its used interchangeably with MMR as they essentially mean the same thing. (there are nuanced differences)

And Ranks DO mean something

Lets say you are B4. With Gold MMR. And your freind is B4 with B1 MMR.

You will gain more LP than your friend.

While MMR is the be all end all Rank paired with MMR helps to determine the LP gain you get from a match.

Also Its easier to give someone an indication of skill through saying "Im Gold 2" vs "I have 1300 MMR" so thats why they use the ranking systems.

Also a fun Fact Riot used to use The ELO system with some minor edits. Then they built their MMR system from the ground up.

donger b0tJul 6, 20171 votes

Honestly I do not think riots MMR system is effective. Specially in modes that are not ranked solo/duo. They should somehow tether all MMR to your rank. It is frustrating for me as a silver player (who doesn't like ranked and plays norms/arams) to be playing with mid/high gold, even plat, without getting any of the benefits of playing ranked(skin, border). IMO the grind towards gold/plat is itself a huge skill indicator, and I have not done this, I should not be playing with gold/plat, regardless of MMR. Rank shouldn't be everything but currently it seems like it means nothing for matchmaking. And this poor matchmaking is I think very clearly the biggest contributor to toxicity, seems RIot should have dealt with the matchmaking before rolling out their honor system.