Why Team Builder New Champ Adjustment Makes Things Worse

There are a lot of people talking about how bad their game experience is when Team Builder "adjusts" for a champ they haven't played (in Team Builder) before. There are several popular theories as to why this is, like how it matches them to other players new to champs, or how it's malfunctioning in this way or that.

But the problem is deeper than any of that.

Team Builder's PROBLEM Is That It WORKS AS INTENDED

The reason Team Builder Adjustment often gives you a bad experience is that it's functioning exactly as they designed it. No, I don't mean they intended to make you unhappy, but that they didn't really understand the consequences of matching you with a lower Elo for your own teammates.

Say, for example, you're new with Yorick. It is my understanding that Team Builder Adjustment simply treats you like your elo is a bit lower, therefore matching you with lower-elo players on both teams. They seem to simplistically imagine that you therefore are more skilled than anyone else in the match, making up for your weaker mechanics with that champ.

But what else is different about lower elo players? What, other than grasp of their own good champ's mechanics, causes their actual (hidden) TB elo to be lower?

Slightly WORSE TEAMMATES

That's right, they probably have slightly more of these problems than your normal pickup team:

• They don't understand the game as well
• Are somewhat worse at cooperation / team play
• Are probably more negative
• Favor chasing kills over objectives more than you prefer
• Take relatively foolish risks
• Have less map awareness
• Give up more easily (second death, they're saying gg in /all chat and demanding surrender at 20)
• Are marginally more likely to take Clarity and Cleanse as their summoner spells

...and so on.

To whatever extent YOU understand the game, which may not be perfectly, at least you normally are used to playing with a certain level of comprehension in your usual elo. Now, suddenly, you are tossed in with a team that understands less.

Can Equal Much WORSE EXPERIENCE

This is a VERY frustrating experience. Far worse than the benefit of the opponents being marginally clumsier with their champs in order to even out your own champ newness.

So playing team builder with an "adjustment" often feels like a punishment, not a benefit. At best, it's a random hit or miss as to WHY the players are lower elo than you. Maybe this time your team has players who simply had recent bad luck...but next game, it's because they're toxic. Toxicity loses more games.

And how do slightly more impatient and immature players respond to your newness with that champ? Not with helpful advice, but with the very negativity that Riot acknowledges will snowball your struggles.

SOMETHING'S GOTTA GIVE

This needs to be fixed. At the very least, we need to be able to "opt out" of the adjustment. If we believe it will make things worse, then why force us to use it? Or what if we're expert at that champ, but simply haven't played him in TB? Just let us choose to skip the adjustment.

Better still, they could cut the elo reduction of the enemy team in half, but give your own team a corresponding mini-boost in elo, instead of punishing you with low-elo teammates. That would make far more sense.

Or maybe there's a third way.

But as it is, my fondness for being able to pre-choose a lane and champ is increasingly countered by my reluctance to play any more than the subset of champs I've gotten past the Adjustment punishment.