Short Queue times usually means unhealthier matches
To the folks at Riot and to the people of the community, I know you are all well aware of this issue in League of Legends right now. I just wanted to post something about the topic myself to make my voice heard to you all. And since I'm not exactly making the most original point here ill make it as brief as possible while still fully expressing my concerns and perspective.
I just finished a match of League. It was normal queue. I queued sup/mid. Queue time was only ten seconds. I got support, which is fine because I love support. When we got in game it became quickly apparent that the entire enemy team was substantially better then us and It was frankly a miserable experience.
My concerns:
1.) Queue times vs healthy match: This is partially my personal opinion but I believe many people would agree. When I queue up, I am perfectly content waiting a few minutes to find a good match; I actually expect to wait about three minutes (I'm silver so there are a lot of us). I don't mind waiting upwards of ten minutes to find a game as long as that game is going to be relatively fair. Longer queue times are acceptable in a game like League of Legends because matches are relatively very long compared to other multiplayer games and if a player leaves other players can not join to replace them like other multiplayer games. After matches like I just had, I am now going to associate short queue times with bad match quality. And I am asking myself, "should I start declining matches at the AFK check if the queue time is less than two minutes lest I am placed in a game of such poor quality?" Personally, I am content waiting an extra ten minutes in order for the following possible forty minutes to be more enjoyable.
2.) Importance of match health even in Normal Queue: I am also asking myself "Is match health less esteemed in Normal queue compared to ranked queue?" Match health in ranked queue in undeniably important, but match health in normal queue is important also. I don't have any statistics to back this up but I'm going to make the bold assumption that most people who play normal queue are looking to play enjoyable games and I would think the best way to ensure these players have an enjoyable experience is to match them people of their skill level. And upon this logic, assuming it is correct, match quality in normal games is important.
3.) Queueing support: I am also asking my self "Was my match quality in any way hindered because of my queueing support? Perhaps there were four other players in queue for twenty minutes in need of a support so as soon as I queued up I was matched with them, even though we were of different skill levels." Understandably, support is the least favorable position amongst all players and it is understandable how impossible it must be to constantly be finding matches for all players even though there are different amounts of players queueing up for different positions; honestly if I worked for Riot, I wouldn't know how to solve this issue. So I understand that this issue must not have an obvious solution, but speaking from a players perspective, assuming my match quality is affected negatively because I queue support, this is demoralizing. Maybe this is just and illogical feeling that I have, but it already seems that riot neglects the support position at least alittle bit as far as ensuring they are having an enjoyable experience and now, in addition to that, my match quality might also be negatively affected because I queue support. I have no eveidence to support this claim so maybe I'm wrong; I hope I'm wrong. But if there is truth to this then this makes me sad :( even though I know it must be a seemingly impossible problem to solve.
Anyway, despite my concerns, I also want to say I love League of Legends and if anyone at Riot is reading this, you guys and gals have created a great thing that is, in many cases, a very significant part of many peoples lives. I care about this game.
I always slike to say this because I think you guys don't hear it enough. you mostly just get people like me who only write on the forum when we have concerns and complaints. Anyway great job. Keep up the great work and keep us informed on your shinanigans :D Thank you so much