How is LP for a win determined?

Cavesloth·Jun 11, 2017·2 votes·4,822 views

I just played a game as Leona support, went 3/1/11. I bought pinks, got a sweeper (though i did forget to upgrade it) and participated heavily in getting objectives, and even had a ok CS, (68 in a 33 min game). It was worth 18LP. In the past, I've played games as Sona or Zyra that were worth up to 28LP where I bought sightstone late, and forgot to get a sweeper, but did similarly well on kda. So I have to wonder, does anyone know how I can make my games worth more LP?

8 Comments

Mysticman89Jun 11, 20172 votes

Your LP gains/losses depend on your MMR compared to the expected mmr for your current rank, and your in-game performance itself has no impact at all (other than if you win or lose).

So if you're in bronze 1 with a gold 5 mmr, you might get like 30 LP for a win and only lose 10 for losses, but if you're in gold 5 with gold 5 mmr you might gain 20 for a win and lose 20 for a loss, and if you were plat 5 with a gold 5 mmr you might only gain 10 LP for a win and lose 30 for a loss. (Those numbers are made up, but the general trend should be along those lines.)

CaveslothJun 12, 20171 votes

Ok so I guess I should be asking how is my MMR determined then? Because while playing Sona my mmr was silver/gold, but i was still losing games because its hard to carry in bronze as sona, yet i'm winning more games now as leona, but my mmr is bronze. So how does it determine my mmr? The grading system plus what your opponents mmr is? Cause while i'm up against lower MMR opponents than I was while I was playing sona, I am getting similar grades...

Mysticman89Jun 12, 20171 votes

Grading system doesn't impact mmr.

MMR goes up slightly for wins (by how much depends on the MMRs of those in the game, which can vary a bit due to random chance or premades), and down slightly for losses. Again, in-game performance in those games makes no difference.

CaveslothJun 12, 20171 votes

So if I keep winning, my wins should be worth more then. Such a bizarre system. Seems like it should be the more you contribute to the win, the more its worth, same for losses, if your the one that was feeding your face off, you should lose more LP than those who tried to carry you but couldn't.

Mysticman89Jun 12, 20171 votes

Well, your ability to facilitate wins in the long run is what really matters, not necessarily your ability to get good grades (which might lead to more passive safer play even when it's not optimal to do so in order to preserve kda, farming instead of ending, etc). Someone who is mechanically 'just ok' but is a great shotcaller or playmaker might end up with average grades, but win >50% of the time and hence have an MMR to reflect that.

Besides, the LP/MMR system has been around a lot longer than mastery grades, so while it might be possible to have a rank system that incorporates mastery grades in some how, it'd be very delicate to transition the systems without risking something relatively important breaking, and they'd have to be sure that mastery grades really were reflective of the right thing(s). That said, whether you win or not is probably the right thing, and the details of that aren't too important (maybe you're one of those alternative playstyle people who the mastery grades system wouldn't really work for), and ability to win is already captured in the current system.

CaveslothJun 12, 20171 votes

Well true, we've all seen that "How the hell did I get S?" or "How the hell did I NOT get S" posts were it seems that the system is rather wonky sometimes. CS is weighted so heavily IMHO, that in those games were say a Kat went 25/5/20 but didn't hit enough creeps she doesn't get an S is rather stupid. Yes objectives are the goal of the game, but if she killed all the people defending them so her team could hit the creeps, she really does deserve it, and you don't want encourage her in that scenario to go AFK farming just to get her grade back up. So yeah i see why they don't do it, but that seems more like a reason to fix the grading system to be better than anything.

That said however, it still does seem like you should get more for doing more, and less for doing less in wins, and lose less for carrying and losing, and lose more for feeding your face off. That would only be fair right? It seems the system is designed to keep you playing way longer than you need to in ranked to get to where you really belong in the first place, so you can spend your time getting better vs players that are on your level, or for those of us like me, go back to normals to have fun (ya know the whole point of playing a game?).