My Explanation of DQ and A Message to Premades
Here was a response I sent to someone who argued that premades are balanced with their 50% win ratio. I apologize about the long read but I think I accurately covered the flaws and strengths of solo queue, although I admit I was a bit biased.
50% win ratio doesn't mean anything and here's why:
Because to compensate with premade player's having the obvious advantage of communication, Riot's response was to match them against higher skilled solo players. Now, this may seem great in theory and obviously looks great in the big picture, but individual experiences and overall "fairness" got even more trashed by this reaction.
Now you have an even more clear difference in player skills in a game where not only do you have golds in a premade with silvers and plats, but the enemy solo players now can be diamonds and plats. I don't care what the excuse, in absolutely no ranked game should there be silvers/golds playing with/against diamonds. It's ridiculous! Imagine the frustration of a silver getting his ass kicked by a diamond in lane, or a diamond who has to play with people significantly worse than him simply because...why?
Because Riot wanted players to be able to play with friends in ranked...
Lets take a look at another issue with Dynamic Queue and an inherent problem with premades with ranked. This time it doesn't have to do with the inherent unfairness and the flawed philosophy that you can counter one group's unfair advantage by simply giving the other team an unrelated unfair advantage. No, this problem has to do with the very core of Ranked.
Rankings:
Since the dawn of ranked, it has always been about assessing an individuals score. Playing with friends was always for normals, and if you wanted to be competitive about it you could have a 5-man premade. That's how it is with most sports anyways, if you don't have a full team then you can't play, right? But now, Riot has been using a solo ranking system to assess the skill of premades. I can't be the only one to see a problem with this, right? How can anyone judge a players skill off of purely win/loss when they have the same team every game? It's impossible! The system is giving individual player's a ranking by treating several players as a single entity. That's not fair for real solo players who are trying to achieve their real ranking.
But no, thank god that the very essence of ranked was trashed so that 3 and 4 man premades could join ranked. It wasn't even for duos or 5-mans, seeing as they were both allowed to be in ranked. No, all of this trash was allowed to give a small portion of the community (3 and 4 mans) to join ranked...wtf Riot.
And for those who are happy about the "separate ladders" thing for next season, please understand that this only solves 1 of the problems with Dynamic Queue. Unfairness in games due to clear advantages being given to both sides in an effort to counteract DQ's communication advantage will still exist, causing many clear problems on the micro aspects of the game. Sure, it may not effect that perfect 50-50 ratio that Riot seems to only care about, but the actual game is still under stress and is inherently unfair.
And for those of you who enjoy the benefits of premades, I have no hard feelings. I understand it's more enjoyable to play with friends, but I just ask for you to understand the damage that is being caused for your enjoyment. I don't blame you for enjoying DQ, that's what it was meant for! I do, however, blame you if you see no problem and have decided that your enjoyment is more important than the millions of players and a system's integrity being destroyed.
So go enjoy DQ, but please don't support Dynamic Queue. There is a difference
Thank you again for reading guys, I would love to hear your responses/opinions. Please note that I have/had no intention of insulting anyone, I was simply speaking my mind about DQ and what it is through my eyes. If you have a different opinion, I'd like to share thoughts and see where I could be wrong.
Thanks again! Slythion