The Current State of Ranked
Let me start with this: I am in bronze at the moment. I say that to start because there are many out there who think that bronze player's opinions are not worth anything. That said, I wanted to have a discussion of the current state of Ranked. Prepare for a wall of text..
Autofill - Personally, it doesn't have a huge impact on my own choices of position as I can do any role. Are there roles I prefer, of course, but it isn't a huge deal to play another position. I have noticed that the toxicity levels have gone up since auto-fill was always on. People get a role they don't want and either lock in a different role and just go there causing issues in the game, some will lock a terrible pick in with the hopes that someone else dodges so they don't have to have a dodge penalty. Others will dodge champ select or spend the whole match typing about how they didn't get what they wanted. There is another group that the boards do not seem to mention: those who do their best in whatever role they get assigned. They may not always do great, but they give it their best. I believe it helps that auto-fill is on in norms too because it gives exposure to varied positions. Overall, it seems like it is hurting a whole lot more than it is helping. Perhaps Riot can turn it off for a 'trial' period and see how the queue times are after said 'trial' period.
AFK'ers - This is becoming an increasingly larger issue. I touched on a possible issue with it in the auto-fill section so I will not go through that again. I am not sure if there is a connection issue lurking somewhere in the game that is causing some to lag out and then not be able to reconnect but that seems to be an issue for some who AFK/DC. The main target of this section is those who just quit. This includes AFK'ing until the game DCs you as well as standing in the base either flaming people or just standing around being useless. There is no good reason to leave a game. If you are having a hard time, go on the defensive. If other players are giving you a hard time, mute them. It is quite annoying to lose a game because someone threw a tantrum and stop playing turning the game into a 5v4. I think riot needs to figure out a way to penalize just those players LP scores when they are punished. I cannot see a reason why I should lose LP for a teammate giving up. Yes I can try harder to carry in their stead but that is not always an option. Example, had a match a few weeks ago where the top laner kept getting himself caught out in the enemy jungle (he just kept trying to chase kills) and flamed the team for not being there. He died a few times, then said some choice words to us and quit. He was laning against a Nasus, who then had free farm time. We tried to spread our meager resources out but to no avail. I really would like to see this sort of thing stop much sooner than later.
Trolls - Ah the trolls. Seems like 4/5 matches have at least one. The kind of person who flames the team non-stop (why did you die? are you autistic?????). The drama queen. The spoiled child (everyone has to help me me me..). The intentional feeder. The ping-spammer. These kinds of behaviors are simply unacceptable. Oh, by the way, I seriously question if half of those people even know what autism is. Not cool to talk like that kiddies. Yes, I am aware of the mute button, but still, one shouldn't need to preemptively mute everyone. Riot should re-examine their process for dealing with these issues because it seems like it is getting out of control. One thing that I would like to see is everyone that reported someone getting a little notification that action has been taken. It's a simple thing but it reinforces that the system is doing something with those reports that we send post-match.
The "clown-fiesta" that is the bot lane - In the current state of the game, the bot lane is the go to spot early and hard if you want to win. For the ADC and the support they can only hope that they got a jungler (as well as a mid if they are lucky) that will get in their lane early and kill the opposing laners and get the tower. It has become a necessity for your jungle to live in the bot lane to secure that sweet first tower gold and dragon pit control. There are numerous suggestions on how to deal with this issue on the boards and I think the best is that the towers need to gain power. As they are, it is far to easy to melt a tower. Make em hurt more, give them some better resistances, something.
Those are the major points I am seeing as of the moment. I want to say that there are still many great people that I meet and play with every day, I do not want that aspect to be overshadowed. This is just some of the major points that are an issue (to me at least). I still enjoy League, and I believe with the proper care and attention it can remain fun. That is about it. For those of you who read it though, thank you, go have yourself a cookie! If you skimmed it and caught that line, and have a cookie anyway, for shame (jk :D). Feel free to add your 2 cents, I'll try to respond to replies.
Stay safe out on the Rift, Summoner,
