Riot is sending a mixed message with Dynamic Queue, but there is hope (NOT a DQ qq thread)
I just finished reading Hyrum Graff's post found here: http://boards.na.leagueoflegends.com/en/c/gameplay-balance/YlTcjEEf-dq-has-problems-so-did-the-old-system-introducing-club-ranked Definitely worth the read. As I was reading it I was thinking about how backwards DQ's current state is. It encourages and incentivizes players who team up as premades, but rewards and penalties are a solo assessment. Winning or losing a game is purely a solo reflection in the League system. This was not something that was directly addressed in the Round Table Video and should have been.
There needs to be a system that treats premades as an entity. You win and lose as a premade and it reflects your premade score. This can also have the added benefit of reducing premade toxicity which has become a hot topic on the boards. In such a system you have to be trusting of your teammates because they will be a reflection of you. If a player you invite to games constantly harasses other players, gets reported several times, and eventually gets punished (all while in your premade, not in their own solo account), then the whole premade will be punished because it is treated as a team and should be. This could be a negative though because a player could have a lot of power in deciding the fate of a team, but isn't that what being a team is about: trusting your teammates.
There is a lot of power given to premades right now which makes solos players (myself included) feel powerless. Graff mentioned something very important in his post: friendly vs. competitive premades. Friendly premades are those that met in various games in their ranked experience and play casually but don't utilize voice chat and they don't know each other as well as some other premades. Competitive premades are ones that do utilize voice chat, practice together, have a gameplan, have a close bond, and play extremely competitively. I don't want to be guilty of the all-or-nothing fallacy and say that these are the only types of premades out there, but this example is just for the sake of the discussion. There can be a mixture of friendly, competitive, and other sorts of premades.
At least in my own experience I have come across these two types. I have seen the friendly premades get crushed by higher tier players that they were matched against, and I have seen competitive premades smash friendly premades who didn't have the same synergy. The problem, other than the lopsidedness of these matches, is the effect on solos which Riot says they don't have an answer for as of yet (at least according to the Round Table Video). I don't know if the following would be fair, but maybe there could be less of an lp loss when you lose with a premade and a regular lp gain when you win with one (just an idea there may be a way to take advantage of it).
In the same vein, premades should be rewarded for their success when they win and treated as an entity when they lose. This might help phase out some the mismatching of premades vs. premades. But this system also requires that they be judged separately and possibly be contained in a different ranking system while still playing with solos in Dynamic Queue. We can have the same queue, but premades should be assessed and treated differently than solo players.
I understand Riot's move in implementing Dynamic Queue and as a solo player I have definitely seen the negative side of it. There is room for improvement and something needs to be done, otherwise they might lose some solo players. Stay positive guys and continue to urge Riot to move in a direction that doesn't lump the assessment of solo players and premades all into one chaotic mess.
