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PSA: "Playrate" has NOTHING to do with experience on a champion

vOmvbrawfU··8 votes·1,129 views

10,000 people could have played the champion 1 time, giving the champ a 10% playrate (not real #). 1 person could have played the champion 10,000 times, giving the champ the same exact 10% playrate.

Average games played by playerbase tells you the average experience level of people playing the champion, not playrate. I see so many arguments, "well the champion has a high playrate which means that people inexperienced with them are playing them" and it's completely false. Likewise, "this champion has a low playrate, meaning only mains play them" is equally as wrong.

So when people say, "50% winrate is OP because their pickrate is high" is completely illogical. Ok, cool, their pickrate is high. But that champion is still #1 in terms of average games played. Meaning that champion's playerbase is more experienced with the champion than any other champion, and you think 50% winrate is too OP? That's pretty far off from your thinking that noobs playing the champion is why their pickrate is so high. Makes no sense whatsoever.

I'm not sure why the community has gotten on this train of thinking. But it's just wrong. And we need to stop.

Tl;dr: Pickrate has nothing to do with experience.

17 Comments

Fiasco33 votes

Champion.gg shows the win-rate by experience as well. If they are making that argument they may not be totally off. For example, in Plat+ Sion has a 55% win rate overall, but a 61% winrate for players who have only played him 5-15. Ironically it's 48% for people who have played him 50-125 times.

The stats most people refer too are often either by patch or on a weekly/monthly basis. So your point isn't really that great because if a champion has a high pick rate, it's unlikely one person, or even a small group of people, are responsible for that. They just don't have enough time to skew the numbers in the way you suggest.

Slythion3 votes

I know I'm gonna get a lot of hate for this, but Lee Sin is a perfect example of this:

Avg Win-Rate: 49.9%

Pick Rate: 33.49%

Player-base average games played: 79 games

and it's incredibly important to note that Lee Sin doesn't reach a 50% win ratio until the player has nearly 30ish games under their belt. There is no statistical proof that Lee Sin is op, despite what the boards think. Sorry guys

It's just a lot of actually experienced players having mild success on Lee Sin. New players aren't just picking him up and winning (he has a *42.84% win rate for people with 1-5 games of experience lol). He's a popular champion with a large, dedicated playerbase. And despite that, they still win only about 53.5% of the time, which is hardly great for a 125+ games of experience playerbase.

venomous frost1 votes

This is true, however you also have to look at the extremes.

Like in aurelion sol's case, the avg player wasn't even hitting 50% winrate. But if you look at the dedicated mains, they consistently hit 65%+, which isn't healthy either.

(this post is in no way related to lee sin)

vOmvbrawfU1 votes

Exactly. Just because a champs pickrate is high does not mean in the slightest that the people playing the champ are new to the champ. I'm seriously confused as to why people think this.

But about Lee, the bitching is because of the average games stat. Since Lee is what, top 5 for experience in the jg, a lot of the Lee Sins you face are going to be experienced on him (but about 0% of them on your teams will be lel). So people generally see an experienced Lee Sin. So he is going to preform well. So people think it's just Lee without realizing it's actually just people being experienced with him.

Slythion1 votes

Indeed, Lee has a very large and experience playerbase. Something I find curious is that even players with 125+ games on him only have a 53.57% win rate, which is hardly a good win rate for 125+ games in comparison to other popular champions.

Syndra: 64.37% (holy...lol)

Shyvana: 61.9% (...)

Lux: 57.36%

Vi: 57.63%

Ahri: 55.34%

now lee's 53.57% isn't terrible, it's just...not exactly "op" material lol

vOmvbrawfU1 votes

You want to see amazing. Go look at experienced Ryze top players.

But according to the League community, Ryze must suck since his winrate is only 45% and his playrate is only 2%, so obviously only mains play him lololol.

Ralanr2 votes

Of course it has nothing to do with experience. It's mainly used in arguments to point out that a champion is too strong because they are winning a lot of games despite having a lot of people play them in the 1-5 zone of games played.

vOmvbrawfU1 votes

Except that is literally not what it means at all. Playrate does not determine that a lot of people are playing them in the 1-5 zone relatively to other experience levels. No correlation at all. Average games played would tell you that. Thresh's pickrate is extremely high. BUT, his average games played is also extremely high. So while you think noobs are playing Thresh because his pickrate is high, it's actually completely the opposite. That's the point of this post.

Of course it has nothing to do with experience.

Not to mention you said this, and then said this a couple sentences later.

despite having a lot of people play them in the 1-5 zone of games played

So, you agreed that it says nothing about experience but then claimed it actually does say something about experience.

http://images.memes.com/meme/363136

Ackelope1 votes

What he means, I think, is that people assume that if more people are playing the champion, more people that have never played the champion before are playing the champion, and growing at a rate larger than the mains are, so I think people just find it logical to assume that the higher an amount of people using one thing is, there will always be more people new to it than seasoned people. Frankly, though, it seems like a bit of a logical fallacy and definitely one I've been victim to on a few occasions.

vOmvbrawfU1 votes

I completely agree with you there. Which is why I made the post lol. He just confused me because he agreed, but then disagreed.

venomous frost1 votes

the sentence "playrate has nothing to do with experience" is just as false as every other sentence you stated here.

There is definitely a correlation between the two, granted it does not explain the whole picture.

Given the average game time of a game of league, it is actually correct to assume a 10% playrate leans closer to 10000 players playing 1 game, rather than 1 player playing 10000 games.

vOmvbrawfU1 votes

Except there is no way to tell the difference. I mean, look at a couple of champs with high play rates. Thresh ranks 3rd for playrate, yet ranks 5th for average games played. Meaning people that play Thresh, on average, are extremely experienced with the champ. Jihn ranks 5th for playrate, yet ranks 133rd in terms of average games played. Meaning people that play Jihn, on average, have no fucking clue what they're doing with the champ.

So no, there is literally no correlation between the two.

venomous frost1 votes

You just can't compare 2 champions that were 3 years apart in release.

Those champions might have the exact same average games played per month per person. Champion age is a big factor in average games played.

vOmvbrawfU1 votes

Ezreal ranks 5th in playrate yet ranks 94th in average games played. He is pretty old.

Age doesn't matter because it resets every season. (champion.gg's stats may even reset each patch but I'm not sure bout that).

Again, playrate is NOT related to experience.

Athenes Lulu1 votes

So you're telling me my 250 in s4, 500 in s5, and 200 in s6 games don't tell me that I'm a Lulu support main?

Your thread makes it seem that way.

What if it's a champ released in s6 but that player plays nothing but that champ since release? Does it mean he doesn't "have experience" with that champ even with 1.4 million points?

vOmvbrawfU1 votes

That's not what I'm saying at all. I'm not sure how you got that, but ok lol. This thread literally says nothing about an individual player at all lol.

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