I don't particularly care about SQ or DQ but...

So I don't want to come off as just whining or hating Riot as a company. I don't. I do think they have made a poor decision that I truly disagree with though. With the announcement that solo queue isn't coming back, I've grown rather disappointed in Riot, because I also suspect ranked teams won't be returning either.

I have a group of friends I used to play with regularly in ranked 5v5s. Our skill levels all varied from low silver to high plat. We enjoyed playing in a competitive environment that allowed us to gauge how well we were doing as a team. Were we improving? What did we have troubles against? And it allowed us to give each other friendly feed back so we could all improve our game! It was great!

However, that queue no longer exists. DQ was supposed to reduce toxicity (I think it has honestly) and to promote playing with friends. This is where I think i fails. Ignoring all other complaints about DQ (I do have a couple more that I don't want to get into), DQ does not encourage me to play with friends. It does the opposite, it DISCOURAGES me. A couple of them I can't play with in ranked at all anymore because of our rating difference, while the others I don't want to play with, for fear of ruining our personal ratings and getting upset at one another.

I would love if SQ, or some other similar system came back. But I can live with it being gone. What I really want is for ranked teams to come back. The removal of ranked 5s has been very frustrating for someone who WANTS to play with friends. We used to go up against like minded individuals which was fun.

The other concern is, I'm not sure how LCS will get their teams next year, if there is no ranked 5s and past D5 you cannot group paat 3 people any more.

I would love if a rioter could give some insight. Is it a big issue being talked about? Am I a minority here? Even if there are no plans for it, acknowledgement would be absolutely amazing. Anyway, I know I'm not alone in this situation, but I hope not too many others are in the same predicament.