First time ranked, matched against all Gold players.

Captain150·Jun 10, 2016·8 votes·2,904 views

Why, can someone tell me why, when the three of us queued up for ranked for the FIRST TIME did we get matched with two silvers against an ALL GOLD TEAM. No amount of communication can overcome that skill gap. Why the hell would a three person queue warrant that big of a difference in our FIRST RANKED MATCH EVER!?!?! Why do I have to beat Gold and Plat players to make it into bronze? Despite the fact that Normals shouldn't have an effect on ranked, I don't do that well in normals either. The goals riot stated say "1: protect new players." I feel pretty damn let down on that front.

19 Comments

redniwediSJun 10, 20166 votes

I guess matchmaking really believed in you.

jaymc1130Jun 10, 20164 votes

If you queue as a premade in placement matches it will pair you with already ranked players for all 10 matches.

If you queue as a solo it will match only against other players in placements themselves for the first 2 matches and sprinkle in some already ranked players in the 1000-1500 MMR range (roughly bronze 1 to gold 5) for the remainder of the placement matches. Usually as a solo you play mostly other players in placements with just a few already ranked players when the system starts to feel they are a more appropriate match (like if you win your first 5 in a row it thinks you are more skilled than most new players and will start to pair you against high silver and low gold talent, if you win your first 9 matches as a solo it will start to pair you exclusively against gold players and no longer against other players playing placements.)

This was always true in previous seasons as well, so the problem is not exclusive to DQ, but it is exacerbated by the existence of DQ.

Its usually best for newer players to queue as a solo for initial placements (by initial I mean an accounts first ever set of placements, not the season reset placements which work differently) because the pairings will generally be more fair and even and you will have a much higher chance of having a random high level player smurf in your match to help carry your team. Of course the bit about having a high level smurf will also be true for the opposing team as well, so RNG is a factor here.

SlaktarTaskenJun 10, 20161 votes

{quoted}

If you queue as a premade in placement matches it will pair you with already ranked players for all 10 matches.

If you queue as a solo it will match only against other players in placements themselves for the first 2 matches and sprinkle in some already ranked players in the 1000-1500 MMR range (roughly bronze 1 to gold 5) for the remainder of the placement matches. Usually as a solo you play mostly other players in placements with just a few already ranked players when the system starts to feel they are a more appropriate match (like if you win your first 5 in a row it thinks you are more skilled than most new players and will start to pair you against high silver and low gold talent, if you win your first 9 matches as a solo it will start to pair you exclusively against gold players and no longer against other players playing placements.)

This was always true in previous seasons as well, so the problem is not exclusive to DQ, but it is exacerbated by the existence of DQ.

Its usually best for newer players to queue as a solo for initial placements (by initial I mean an accounts first ever set of placements, not the season reset placements which work differently) because the pairings will generally be more fair and even and you will have a much higher chance of having a random high level player smurf in your match to help carry your team. Of course the bit about having a high level smurf will also be true for the opposing team as well, so RNG is a factor here.

Doesn't work that way for my brother.

The only match he had an unranked in was his first placement match and the unranked was on his team.

He's been facing premades in 2 or 3 out of 4 of the placement matches he's played so far while having 0 premades on his on teams. In all his matches his team has been at an mmr defecit or at the least, rank defecit.

He's had two opponents as high as gold II, so it doesn't cap at 1500 elo, this was in his last game like just an hour or so ago.

If you're wondering why I bring up premades it's because premades are 10% more prone to win games statistically, which is pretty hefty.

Perhaps the game is using him as the balancing lever, but that wouldn't make sense since he's still unranked. So I don't really get this system and it doesn't seem to always work the way you describe.

I'd say he's pretty close to my skill-level and I'm sitting at gold 2.

He queue'd solo in all matches.

Source:

http://www.lolking.net/summoner/eune/20660403#matches/1438335620

jaymc1130Jun 11, 20161 votes

{quoted}

Doesn't work that way for my brother.

The only match he had an unranked in was his first placement match and the unranked was on his team.

He's been facing premades in 2 or 3 out of 4 of the placement matches he's played so far while having 0 premades on his on teams. In all his matches his team has been at an mmr defecit or at the least, rank defecit.

He's had two opponents as high as gold II, so it doesn't cap at 1500 elo, this was in his last game like just an hour or so ago.

If you're wondering why I bring up premades it's because premades are 10% more prone to win games statistically, which is pretty hefty.

Perhaps the game is using him as the balancing lever, but that wouldn't make sense since he's still unranked. So I don't really get this system and it doesn't seem to always work the way you describe.

I'd say he's pretty close to my skill-level and I'm sitting at gold 2.

He queue'd solo in all matches.

Source:

http://www.lolking.net/summoner/eune/20660403#matches/1438335620

I'll admit, that has me baffled. I've never seen anything like that before over 6 years of playing and placing 15 accounts. I have not yet done initial placements this season on a smurf to test things out so this is a mystery to me. It's not supposed to work that way.

SlaktarTaskenJun 11, 20161 votes

{quoted}

I'll admit, that has me baffled. I've never seen anything like that before over 6 years of playing and placing 15 accounts. I have not yet done initial placements this season on a smurf to test things out so this is a mystery to me. It's not supposed to work that way.

Ok, but do Riot have particular guidelines on how placement matches should work? Because they definately don't seem to be working that way. At least not for him.

At this rate we're just waiting to see him face of against premade plats with a full pug silver team and the pie will be complete. :P I've adviced him not to bother lolnexusing the rest of his matches as he'll probably just pre-tilt himself. :D

jaymc1130Jun 11, 20161 votes

{quoted}

Ok, but do Riot have particular guidelines on how placement matches should work? Because they definately don't seem to be working that way. At least not for him.

I'm not sure they have that information available some where. I only know because I extensively test various things about the systems each season and make new accounts to test new things. What I outline is the way it worked for every single one of the 15 accounts I have placed. This is the only season where I have not done a brand new account in ranked play yet (I'm a few weeks away from it being ready still).

At this rate we're just waiting to see him face of against premade plats with a full pug silver team and the pie will be complete. :P I've adviced him not to bother lolnexusing the rest of his matches as he'll probably just pre-tilt himself. :D

That's actually not the best advice. You should always use op.gg or some other third party site to check out your teammates prior to a match and the opponents. There can be valuable information there that you can use to increase your chances for success. I get why it might be frustrating though.

SlaktarTaskenJun 11, 20161 votes

{quoted}

I'm not sure they have that information available some where. I only know because I extensively test various things about the systems each season and make new accounts to test new things. What I outline is the way it worked for every single one of the 15 accounts I have placed. This is the only season where I have not done a brand new account in ranked play yet (I'm a few weeks away from it being ready still).

That's actually not the best advice. You should always use op.gg or some other third party site to check out your teammates prior to a match and the opponents. There can be valuable information there that you can use to increase your chances for success. I get why it might be frustrating though.

Ok.

He's playing with high gold/lower plat now and getting his face bashed in, he's not very happy about it.

jaymc1130Jun 11, 20161 votes

{quoted}

Ok.

He's playing with high gold/lower plat now and getting his face bashed in, he's not very happy about it.

And all as a solo player?

SlaktarTaskenJun 11, 20161 votes

{quoted}

And all as a solo player?

Yes.

Lol, that last game was fun to watch, he's so extremely tilted he looks like he's gonna explode. Told him to take a break but he's gonna keep playing anyway. Sounds like a recipe for disaster imo. :D

71883083DEL1Jun 10, 20161 votes

MalfiniJun 10, 20161 votes

Maybe you have high MMR?

jaymc1130Jun 11, 20161 votes

Have him send in a support ticket with all the relevant screen shots and also post all this stuff to the boards. That type of thing needs to be documented.

SlaktarTaskenJun 11, 20161 votes

{quoted}

Have him send in a support ticket with all the relevant screen shots and also post all this stuff to the boards. That type of thing needs to be documented.

Well, he's kinda screaming with joy right now so I don't think that will be nesessary, thought the matchmaking was awkward but he won 8 of them and placed in gold 3 so I think he'll do fine the lucky bastard, won't have to grind all the way from bronze like me. :P

You don't think maybe it's a sideeffect of DQ? With the greater mmr variety in matchmaking and all? I'd like to believe Riot is fully aware of how placement matches are functioning atm and that it's intentional.

jaymc1130Jun 11, 20161 votes

{quoted}

Well, he's kinda screaming with joy right now so I don't think that will be nesessary, thought the matchmaking was awkward but he won 8 of them and placed in gold 3 so I think he'll do fine the lucky bastard, won't have to grind all the way from bronze like me. :P

You don't think maybe it's a sideeffect of DQ? With the greater mmr variety in matchmaking and all? I'd like to believe Riot is fully aware of how placement matches are functioning atm and that it's intentional.

Well if he won 8 of them its working as intended and that's what happens. When you win a large percentage of the first 5 (like 4 of them) it starts to match you with gold talent. Winning 8 will place you in gold 4-2 depending on the order they were won in. Now that I hear that it means placements worked fine for him.

SlaktarTaskenJun 11, 20161 votes

{quoted}

Well if he won 8 of them its working as intended and that's what happens. When you win a large percentage of the first 5 (like 4 of them) it starts to match you with gold talent. Winning 8 will place you in gold 4-2 depending on the order they were won in. Now that I hear that it means placements worked fine for him.

But if you check his match history as in the link I posted, he was playing golds from the get-go.

jaymc1130Jun 11, 20161 votes

{quoted}

But if you check his match history as in the link I posted, he was playing golds from the get-go.

That's usually not normal, but they could be gold "ranked" with totally tanked MMR that's closer to silver 3-4. Which is the entry point of the ladder. I'd have to do some serious digging to uncover the MMR for those players at that particular time. The increasing skill trend is normal for a player who wins 8 of 10 though.

L0ve Is BlueJun 11, 20161 votes

To be honest if you queue as a premade you could be matched against 5 challenger and I wouldn't bat an eye lol. At least this time matchmaking did put more skilled players on the enemy team to compensate the fact that the majority of your team was premade for once.