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Matchmaking for new players

Deso1aced··2 votes·2,350 views

I had recently lost the password and such for my league account and was gonna get it recovered when some people form my work mentioned wanting to learn to play so I figured I would make a new account and just go through the process with them first had since it had been so long for me. When i started the process so much about it didn't make sense to me at all. The tutorial doesn't explain much and even leads them towards bad practices like trying to duo top lane or pushing towers with almost no minions or building items that are not really useful on the character they are playing. I was able to explain that to my coworkers at least to try and get them to not make those rather simple mistakes, but the problem comes with matchmaking. Ignoring myself, my 3-4 coworker friends in my party are all level 20 or below at this point and the randoms we get if we queue as not a full 5 queue are also usually around that point when i check on sites like op.gg. That is all fine, the problem comes with the matchmaking finding people for the other team, the queues are really short, but never match around their skill level, even if i do not queue with them.

We have playing 15 games together across the last few games and the disparity between the skill levels of my coworkers vs the people they get match against is astounding. One game was literally no level 30+s on our team and a gold border and 2 silvers borders on the other team. Those are not SUPER high ranks, but for people who are still learning how to ward and last hit its just an insta-lose. I do not understand how this is fair to any of the new players, I'd get it if it was cause of me being tagged as some "smurf account" or something if that is a thing (even though i myself and not very good at the game, maybe average at best), but even if they queue alone or just the 3-4 of them without me and i spectate them they get matched with much higher people. Is it really that difficult to find even a few new players for them to be against? Just seeing the games go on with our team being 1 experienced player and 4 noobs vs (best case so far) 4 experienced player and 1 noob hurts and i can tell they are getting frustrated. They want to learn to play this game, but when they try to anything and just get destroyed for trying to learn (0/15+ style games) over and over again, it hurts to watch. Especially knowing that I got them into this and I can't help them in anyway. Shouldn't a game company want new players to feel welcomed, not just bullied.

P.S. To anyone asking why we don't just play bots, it is because even intermediate bots don't offer them good chances to learn. How do you explain to someone that when they push up top they should ward tri-bush and river so the don't get flanked when, even the highest level bot, always come down lane anyway? Or explain to them that if they play top normally they won't be in 1v2 every time even though that is always the situation with bots. when your team has a jungler. Bots just infuse bad habits into new players that effect them well after they start fighting normal players.

5 Comments

Deso1aced1 votes

TL:DR Matching for new players is so bad that is makes the new players feel almost hate or resentment for the game since they get punished for trying to learn against real players.

Leetri1 votes

When you play games with them you raise their MMR over time. Since you're smurfing you're gonna get tougher opponents, so if you win those games your teammates gets more MMR than they'd get if they only played on their own against equally new players. This means that even if you're not playing with them they still have higher MMR than they really should, which results in them losing games until they fall back down to their real MMR. The only "real" way to avoid it is to play really passively or bad so you don't get tagged as a smurf in the first place. Kinda ironic you're getting punished by the system that's there to help new players not being matched against smurfs.

And technically you could get challenger players in Normals if their MMR is low enough. Ranked and Normals are completely separate, meaning that if the challenger player started playing only ranked the second he got level 30 his Normals MMR would still be the same as when he hit level 30. He'd gain MMR insanely quick though, so it'll even out in a couple of games.

Deso1aced1 votes

Thanks for the reply, you make a good point. It is still very sad to see it is set up that if someone who has played the game for awhile tries getting new players into League gets them punished by trying to play with them though.

ZephyrDrake1 votes

how do you want a matchmaking system that is literally made to self adapt over time to instantly be able to match NEW people with the right opponents? also the tutorial is there just to teach you the basics, not stupid advanced things. You are meant to follow the recommended item builds until you get a grasp of what your champion is capable of and then diverge your build depending on the situation which only comes from experience. There is nothing more frustrating than watching someone build stuff just because "X site says this is the best item" even though the item would do absolutely nothing in the current situation of the game. Also it doesn't help that you are playing with them, you yourself are the reason they are being matched with stronger opponents than they should be since well... you are increasing their MMR way more than it should due to your particular MMR being so much higher than theirs.

Deso1aced1 votes

I dont expect it instantly, but after more then 10 games i would expect it to at least adapt some. As for the item builds, people can build whatever they want on a character and still do good if they play it well enough, but seeing a new player blaming themselves for not getting kills when the level 6 tutorial character had 3 full items or seeing a guy build Infinity Edge first item because the tutorials and as well the bot MFs he fought build it almost first item is a problem. As for the MMR, you make a good point, it is sad though that if a more experienced player gets some new people into League that he pretty much punishes them by playing with them.

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