Auto-Fill Rant

Recently I got a little series of games, where people were auto-filled into roles, usually 1 case per game. Needless to say those people got steamrolled in lane and games ended up extremely one-sided. After cooling off a bit and shaking all the salt off me I started thinking about the auto-fill problem in general. I decided to share my thoughts here and see if the community has similar opinions. So here goes.

First of all I considered the fun aspect of being auto-filled. It does present opportunities for trying something new out and maybe finding that one thing we may unexpectedly like. But to feel comfortable in a new role you need time to get used to it and practice. Well auto-fill does not give you this option. Especially in ranked games, where you tend to feel some pressure on yourself and want to perform your best experimenting with a new role may end up just causing more stress and in turn worse experience. Problem - Unnecessary pressure and stress when there are some stakes on the line (ranked games). Possible solution - disable auto-fill for ranked games?

Ok, but what if we actually do disable auto-fill? Well the queue time will get a hell of a lot longer. So how much is inconvenience is it? That one is very difficult to evaluate, because it depends on the player him(her)self. I personally wouldn't mind waiting 10 minutes for a game if I knew I'd get assigned a role that I feel comfortable playing and knowing my teammates got my back with their comfy picks. On the other hand a friend of mine gets impatient after waiting for 2 minutes. So... Problem - Long queue times if auto-fill is disabled. Possible solution - Players can toggle auto-fill on and off, depending on whether they're fine with waiting longer or not?

Well why don't I learn to play all the roles and be confident in any position? Well the higher up the ladder you climb the better you need to perform, since your opponents are also stronger. So for example going from Gold to Platinum requires a substantial amount of skill and experience in game. So focusing all your effort on one role will get you improving faster than splitting your focus across 5 roles. Basically a Gold Mid-exclusive player will reach Platinum 5 times faster than someone improving all roles at once. Problem - Being forced to split focus across 5 roles. Possible solution - Choose 3 roles (Primary, Secondary, Meh-But-Fine-ary) instead of just 2 (Primary, Secondary)? Or choose 2 roles you want to play (Primary, Secondary) and 1 you don't want to play (Not-At-All-ary).

So there are my thoughts on the subject of Auto-Fill function. I'll be glad to hear some feedback from the community. Keep in mind these are all just my personal opinions.