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Anyone else play Normals cause you dont like the League system?

gatchi··108 votes·4,714 views

Everyone is talking about how they quit ranked cause of dynamic queue. And honestly, im in that boat. But even if solo q comes back, im not sure i'll return with the League system there.

Leagues, as far as i understand it, were supposed to break up the monotomy of climbing -- the grind -- by having neat lil flashy milestones you could show off. It also is more intuitive to say to someone than a number. I still kinda like the latter about the system.

But..... i dont know about you but i feel like its done the opposite. Made it all about being a grind fest. When i played rank, i started to only care about getting LP. Even if i won, despite how i won, despite how good or bad the game was, my mood post-game was based on my LP loss/gain, and my place on the division ladder. Even if i got max LP, it was never enough.

Maybe if i played ranked when ELO was still here i would have the same complaints. But at least ELO was just a measure of who you were matched against. The League system is weird and does weird math to your LP and MMR in order to try to keep you in your current League. In ranked, i just want 1) to be matched with people close to my current skill level and 2) have an accurate, simple indicator for where i am on the ladder, for when i want to share that info with someone. What ever happened to the KISS method?

EDIT: I mean the ranking system since removing ELO, NOT ranked in general. Of course lots of people dont play ranked, for all sorts of reasons. But i mean specifically this one.

84 Comments

CoolMike12729 votes

I'm the type of player that only plays ranked to hit gold 5 and stop, just so I can receive the rewards at the end of the season. Who else does this?

gatchi3 votes

Ive certainly heard people say this. Thought about doing this, but i started this season in b5 again and its just.... taking too long. Theres only so many times wanna punch myself.

When new season starts every year, where do you usually get placed? Im guessing below gold, but how far?

Slythion4 votes

I've been going through my placements verrryyy slowly (2/3 so far) as a solo player because when I found out that your placements are influenced by last year's ranked I've been afraid lol. I'm sure I could hit gold 5 if I wanted to grind, I just don't want to see how far I have to grind yet lol

CoolMike1279 votes

I can understand your pain, and I wish you the best of luck on your climb in ladder!

I'm generally placed around Silver 2-3, since I normally stop in Gold 5. I've been playing since season 2 and realistically could climb higher, if I wanted to, but just don't want to commit both the time and effort into something that I don't see much purpose for. (Ik I must sound like a complete douchbag and think I'm better than everyone and everyone sucks, I swear I'm not like that!) I just dislike the atmosphere of ranked itself and just want to play for fun and enjoy myself :)

gatchi1 votes

I'm generally placed around Silver 2-3

Oh! Thats not too bad at all! Maybe i'll at least try for Silver V this season and then stop, and then next season try for Gold (if im still playing), and then just do that every season.

Pheron2 votes

Well, if you are really that serious about ranked, try to get as high as you can at silver this season, otherwise the "soft reset" of the new season will punch you back to low bronze again -.-

FantasySniper3 votes

I kinda feel the same way. I don't think it's even worth it trying to get past Gold, let alone Plat unless you're serious about it. It's just that now it's hard to take this game seriously when you can tell how the game will end 90% of the time just by the first 10 minutes.

Midder Scray1 votes

I feel

Last season I did way worse in ranked, I'm talking like 5 wins and 13 losses. Got Silver 3

This season I won 15 games and lost 7. Got Bronze 3

Really just doesn't make sense to me. I haven't even been trying to climb, I played enough to get to Bronze 1, was gonna try and at LEAST get out of Bronze, just so I wouldn't get made fun of for being Bronze, but goddammit it just isn't worth it

I've come to realize I don't give a shit about a title that only matters to the rest of the community

Maszii1 votes

How long you been playing for?

Midder Scray1 votes

About 1 and a half, 2 years. Not exactly sure. I think I started at the very end of S4, but didn't play ranked then

Maszii1 votes

So there you have your answer. Last season you got to Silver 3 because thats basically where everybody starts when they go ranked for the first time. Now when you go into the next season you usually end up a tier lower than your final rank (in my point Silver 5 even though i went 9-1 in promo's). You should gain a bit more LP than usual now though so you climb faster.

SlaktarTasken1 votes

{quoted}

I'm the type of player that only plays ranked to hit gold 5 and stop, just so I can receive the rewards at the end of the season. Who else does this?

I really want to hit plat this season, but games feel so volatile and variance so extreme so I doubt I will, alas I'll just float around gold 2-3. Simply put, if I get to plat I get to plat, if I drop down to gold 5, I've decided that I'll end my season there to ensure I don't drop further due to some massive tilting spree.

That is if I don't get fed up being filler fodder for premades first.

TheVishual8 votes

{quoted}

Everyone is talking about how they quit ranked cause of dynamic queue. And honestly, im in that boat. But even if solo q comes back, im not sure i'll return with the League system there.

Leagues, as far as i understand it, were supposed to break up the monotomy of climbing -- the grind -- by having neat lil flashy milestones you could show off. It also is more intuitive to say to someone than a number. I still kinda like the latter about the system.

But..... i dont know about you but i feel like its done the opposite. Made it all about being a grind fest. When i played rank, i started to only care about getting LP. Even if i won, despite how i won, despite how good or bad the game was, my mood post-game was based on my LP loss/gain, and my place on the division ladder. Even if i got max LP, it was never enough.

Maybe if i played ranked when ELO was still here i would have the same complaints. But at least ELO was just a measure of who you were matched against. The League system is weird and does weird math to your LP and MMR in order to try to keep you in your current League. In ranked, i just want 1) to be matched with people close to my current skill level and 2) have an accurate, simple indicator for where i am on the ladder, for when i want to share that info with someone. What ever happened to the KISS method?

EDIT: I mean the ranking system since removing ELO, NOT ranked in general. Of course lots of people dont play ranked, for all sorts of reasons. But i mean specifically this one.

League system was put in by Riot because bad players had "ranked anxiety" and were scared of losing ELO, so they made an imaginary badge (league) over a person's real MMR to boost people's ego and made it very hard to drop from division V so people always kept their border.

No but really that's why

The Voids Call6 votes

I've always played normals instead of ranked, because people make way to big of a deal of ranked imo. I've played league since, 2 weeks after launch.

News flash people, you're not LCS, your rank doesn't mean shit half of the time anyway.

It's an anecdotal example, but back in season 3 i played ranked for 1.5 weeks, with a new router that would cut out for about 10 min every 2 hours. In that time i went from having never been ranked, ranking into silver 4, then ranking up to gold 5. (Wanted the free elise skins).

The system has always been a joke when it comes to non-pro level players. It gives the illusion of skill based on rank, but a lot of the mid-tier ranks was literally just a question of time investment.

Knoyle2 votes

I choose to invest my time playing normals or anything else more enjoyable than getting flamed by 12 year olds trying to skip out on homework.

Noctillio5 votes

Honestly I stopped playing ranked because the amount of tryhard and toxicity. As dumb as it sounds, I've been playing League for 3 years because I think it's fun. I don't play it just so I can put a badge on my shirt that says "i'm diamond look at me give me attention i'm so good at games", I play it for the fun times with friends, the off-meta picks and builds that make it more interesting, the gamemodes, the few teams you'll get that are actually positive and make the game more enjoyable by being funny, etc. And I might be taking it a bit far, but I know I'm not bad at the game. Realistically, I could probably get to gold 1 or 2 if I tried. I just think that playing a game simply because you want something to say that you're good at it, is pointless. I've heard people say before that "ranked is the real goal of league, normals is like practicing or warming up before ranked" which made me kinda cringe tbh. If you say shit like that, then you're most likely the crybaby tryhards that everybody makes fun of like nicktron and tyler1. If you play a game just so you can say you're good and don't have fun playing it, then just don't.

Eh knowing this community though I'm going to get at least one reply saying that i'm a bad bronzie who has no idea what they're talking about.

LordGeovanni2 votes

its a competitive game the point is to try hard.

Noctillio1 votes

I didn't mean tryhard in that way. My point is that I personally don't want to tryhard, it gives me anxiety and I don't have fun when I'm constantly worried about going positive and winning the game. In normals, I don't care about winning. My goal is to play the game/have fun, and I don't mind losing as long as I did good.

LordGeovanni1 votes

No matter what you play the objective should be to win but thats not to say you cant not win and still have fun. I was really happy when the preseason came around and riot made it clear the objective of the game is to push the nexus not get kills. but that what you play where and how you play it thats all you if you see something you want to try go ahead and try to make it work. hopefully not in ranked unless the situation calls for it. the point of normals is to try and get better in a place where it does not yet effect your rank. that doesnt mean that you cant try fun stuff out but in no situation in any game mode besides custom should you not be looking for the win. personally i dont give a rats ass about going positive because if you are trying to feed certain members of your team and some of them have 600-800 damage crits there is no way the low damage super nerfed tanks can keep up with those kills every game.

Noctillio1 votes

Didn't say that I don't try to win, I just don't care about it. I get your point tho.

LordGeovanni1 votes

not careing about winning shouldnt happen if you actively trying to win but i think you mean you dont care if you lose which is different as not careing if you win would mean that you arent actively trying to win while not careing if you lose means that you could be trying to win but if you lose you lose oh well which isnt the best attitude to have but its not the worst

Noctillio1 votes

You can try to win but not care about it too...I have schizoid personality disorder, which is basically a disorder where you don't care about much of anything at all and don't socialize. My point was that I try to win because obviously I'm not going to purposely try to lose simply because I don't care, but when I do win, I don't bounce in joy about it, I just move on to the next game. Telling me I have a bad attitude just because I don't care about winning makes you look like yourself to have a bad attitude. I don't know why you have such a stick up your ass about it.

LordGeovanni1 votes

Like I said you should always be aiming for the win not saying you have to get up and squeal every time you win but that is the objective of the game not trying to win is basicly the only concrete trolling there is. Not caring about winning is concerning can cause you to not do your best to win which in it self isnt actively trying to lose but it isnt actively trying to win either i get team after team of people who wont push or do anything fight breaks out they already in the back of the fight completely safe but they run instead of helping out despite not being in immediate danger nor is anyone comming for them. Then they bash people for being feeders but they dont bring anything to the team they abandon every objective and run from every fight that isn't an obvious kill for them to steal then brag about their high kill score while pushing no towers securing no objectives and doing nothing that helps win the game. I just hope you aren't like those types of people comparatively people who try to make plays and end up feeding are preferable to them as you can see them actively trying to make plays and get the win

A Top Bard4 votes

IM A SOLO PLAYER

gatchi2 votes

Why of all places..... to make your first comment..... you make it here? And as that comment? Wha?

Shiroi Kitsune1 votes

I too am a solo player. What of it?

LaserDeathBlade4 votes

I used to play ranked because I didn't like the normal system

but now they're like the same thing

ParaBellam4 votes

I find I go up against/with consistently better players in normals than in ranked.

It's honestly ridiculous. I'm playing normals, and I get competent teammates and enemies most of the time. The moment I go into ranked, suddenly everyone is instantly several times worse. To make it worse, every single ranked game there will be one insanely good player in the game that definitely doesn't deserve the rank he's in. Whichever team he's on, wins.

arcinex2 votes

Agreed.

Although, that one "insanely good player" might just be supremely fed because of your shitty teammates.

gatchi1 votes

Its really easy to snowball in lower divisions, so i believe it.

gatchi1 votes

I feel this too! I thought it was my imagination.

SociopathFriend4 votes

I personally have never really cared about Ranked. My friends are trying to get me more into it- if no other reason than they do love a Support Main on their side- but I still honestly don't care about it.

Online pissing contests have never been my thing. I can play the same exact game- unranked- and have the same experience with less toxicity. Know how many AFKs/DCs I had in my provisionals? 3 out of the 10 games (One of which was 2 AFK- that was just stupid). One of the same friends who wants me to play Ranked said he had 7 AFK games in a row.

That crap simply does not happen as often in unranked games. Someday there's going to be a skin for a champion I actually use that requires rank- and on that day I will give a damn- but until then I'll stick with my normals, ARAM, and whatever weekend event is going on.

LiveYiOrDieHard4 votes

{quoted}

Leagues, as far as i understand it, were supposed to break up the monotomy of climbing -- the grind -- by having neat lil flashy milestones you could show off. It also is more intuitive to say to someone than a number. I still kinda like the latter about the system.

Nah, they actually increased the grind in order to make climbing ranks more addictive. All they really care about is how many people are playing and buying skins, and if people are less happy while playing because of it, that's just too bad.

Same reason they added dynamic queue tbh.

HEY GUYS HEY3 votes

I quit the game entirely until there is a return of the ranked solo q

TonyTonyMordecai2 votes

I only do ranked to have the cool border. That's it.

I don't take the game seriously enough, nor do I believe I am that good, to do ranked on a daily basis.

Just my take on it, I like doing normals because it's a more casual environment.

Knoyle2 votes

I'd love to have a silver border because I like the color and material Silver. I just don't have the motivation to deal with all the annoyance ranked makes you sit through.

elon wątroba2 votes

Platinum borders are prettiest for me, they look awesome on green champions.

Knoyle1 votes

I honestly feel like I would barely make it to gold let alone platinum.

63536895_DEL2 votes

I can't stand the rigged LP system, +17 for a win and -21 for a loss, fuck that shit.

KnivingDude2 votes

Normals is the real ranked.

arcinex2 votes

And ranked is the real normals

Karfuss2 votes

I'm of the same mind.

The whole concept of a hidden MMR is bizarre to me. Zero transparency. You either know it's below your current rank by receiving less LP than lost or above your current rank by receiving more LP than you lose. Why not just show the MMR and the MMR boundaries for divisions? Is "big number confuse dum dums" a general consensus at Riot HQ?

Winning 2/3 and 3/5 is nothing more than an obstacle to slow the climbing process. "Oh, you've won the last 10 games in a row but because you lost two here... HA!" It serves no other purpose beyond making climbing tedious and more time consuming than it already is.

With that said, I don't believe the League system is bad per se, it feels like it has been in its beta phase for the last few seasons. Simply an unpolished system.

gatchi1 votes

severely underrated post

Dar Raksada2 votes

I've been complaining about the league system hit, now with the removal of ranked teams ranked kinda died for me (played a bit to finish placements and help a friend)

célo2 votes

hey guys late season 2 vet here and i'll be honest the league system is crap but that's not why I don't like the game in its current state. what really turns me off is this meta, just something about it that just frustrates the hell out of me and turns me off from spam queing league

hhaavviikk2 votes

I play normals because draft is long and boring

EMeta1 votes

I prefer normals so I play mostly normals. There are lots of reasons for this, but if you have a reason for doing this, I'm not sure why this is a problem.

The Ranked system is really there because it lets Riot dissociate rank MMR from bragging rights Rank. So if you behave badly---say you drop out of champ select every other game until you get a team you like--your rank drops. But you still want players of equal ability to play together, so Riot split these up.

KarKzz1 votes

My friend's team who participate in the dreamhack tournament have to play in normal game to train , because of rankeds limits.

gatchi1 votes

which limits?

KarKzz1 votes

in diamond + elo, you can't queue with people above 2 divisions. D3 and D1 can't queue together for exemple.

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