I don't think it'd really fix everything as you say.
What is stopping this payed for smurf account from getting into challenger as well? If they made it so you cannot do that then what? Are they stuck at Diamond forever? They're likely to just make games feel more one sided.
Which takes us to the next problem. Smurfs are not just a problem at low levels. Facing someone who clearly shouldn't be at your rank makes the game pointless for your own team. I'm sure no where near the number of people who claim to be smurfs are. But you're asking Riot to make it easier to flood Silver/Gold games with Diamond+ players.
Unranked to Challenger streams are bad for the game. And honestly teach you nothing anyway. Watching some Riven main pub stop his way to higher rankings isn't teaching. By Riot allowing this, they are saying that it is OK for a challenger player to rampage though lower ranked games.
Botters may end up going down. But they wont stop. They'll just be cheaper. Or find ways to offer more. What would this $15 account come with? A botter can set you up with 100k+ip if they want. Riot would have to be careful about what they put on the account.
I'd agree something should be done. Easiest one IMO would be to make other modes actually worth doing.
3v3 lacks a solo Q ranked
Dominion needs a lot of fixes, and is honestly a very fun mode.
ARAM is always interesting
New permanent game modes would also be welcome. Best one for this I can think of is to add a survival mode. Waves of monsters/minions. Why this would work is that it doesn't require your team's MMR to be amazing. A new player can play with a challenger.
Another option could be to create a guidance system. Where lower levels can join games with high leveled players and be taught the game. A coaching system basically. It could let them spectate the game with no delay. But they can only see what the player sees(no moving the camera around) and can only see their team's vision.
There are other options for these players. There's nothing Riot can really do about their queue times without making them face lower MMR players. I understand these players often play this much because they love the game that much. It's not fair they seem to be "punished" because they got good at the game.
Perhaps new systems to show off their skill? There have been posts about creating special boarders around your champion when you select a champion you have won a lot with. High skilled players with a bunch of free time can go play something like Garen for 100 games and get the gold boarder or something. Or collect the boarders of their favorite champions. Or go learn a different champion and get the boarder they want by playing other modes.
In the end though. Riot REALLY cannot do anything to fix the problem. They can create options and content. But that doesn't mean it'll get used. But adding the ability to get a smurf wont fix the problems. It'll just change them. And could even create more.
