Hello All!

=============================================================== IF YOU JUST WANT MY PROPOSED SOLUTION SKIP TO THE ROLE SWAPPING SECTION

I'm sure by now anyone playing ranked, that doesn't main support, has probably come across the "Autofill Activated" implementation. Perhaps this has been around for awhile... however I'm just now noticing it being enforced if so. While I understand RIOT's decision for this, it is quite frankly a bit of an inconvenience when your stuck with a role that is not your optimal choice for climbing.

That being said, such is life, you either "Chaaaaaaange and adapt" to what you can't control for a better outcome; or you can piss, moan, and throw a gigantic pity party with others that feel the same and most often times accomplish nothing.

Most will learn to either deal with it for that round and look forward to being guaranteed their roles next round, and some might find themselves forced to learn a new role that they otherwise would shy away from.

The issue I'm personally having with this system, is when I run into a teammate that can't fill the role they are given. The team is then presented with a predicament. One person on the team can either swap and fill the role "Autofill" assigned, which gives up one of their turns in their chosen role, or they can say tough luck and hope that themselves or one of the other 3 can carry with a handicap. I wish I could say I was good enough to carry most games on my back, but that's simply not an honest representation of my skill level. Even in my most played roles / champions I'm usually only good enough to carry my own weight, not anyone else's.

What I'm proposing is that their be some kind of implementation to accompany this system that promotes teamwork without penalizing it at the same time.

My idea is to use have an option similar to ARAM's Champion Switching apply to role selection.

================ AUTOFILL CURRENTLY

Let's say Teammates 1 - 4 get one of their chosen roles but Teammate 5 is forced to autofill a role they are not as comfortable playing. The way it appears to work is 1 - 4 use up a "turn" counting down till they are forced to autofill, while teammate 5 has his "turns" reset after that round to play his selected roles until their next autofill requirement. Let's say Teammate 4 decides to switch with teammate 5, because 5 "... Doesn't have any support champions". Currently, Teammate 5 evades the autofill requirement and get's his requested roles for "X" amount of turns again, but Teammate 4 still eats up his turn of getting a selected role for being willing to be a team player and is one round closer to being forced to autofill.

Please understand I assume the system is not quite so cut and dry, as I'm sure those that queue as "Support" mains probably never see the autofill requirement, but this is very applicable to those who main the popular roles.

============= ROLE SWAPPING

Using the above example of Teammates 1 - 4 get their roles and Player 5 being forced to autofill, lets say through the course of Pick Intent / Picks and Bans, Teammate 4 agrees to swap with Teammate 5. Teammate 5 would send a request to switch roles to Teammate 4. Teammate 4 would have a final chance to agree to or decline the swap. If they decline, well... the game goes on as it normally would with everyone playing the roles they were assigned. If, however, Player 4 accepts the swap, their role title would change for clarity purposes, but most importantly, the imaginary "turn" counter that I mention earlier RESETS for Player 4 since technically they are the one "Autofilling". Player 5, on the other hand, would still maintain his "autofill" requirement the next game he queues for. Players 1, 2, and 3, go about the game as if nothing every happened as far as their autofill standing is concerned. If someone dodges / disconnects / whatever prior to the game starting and after the switch is made, all parties return to their queue as they would normally under those circumstances with their autofill status being reverted to its state prior to "Role Swapping".

This ensures that the number of "autofill" requirements isn't changing and leaving us with an adverse effect on queue times. This also rewards those who prefer their popular main role, but are willing to work as a team; rather than slapping them with consequences for giving up their preferred role.

========== CONCLUSION

Role swapping would allow you to switch roles under the required autofill system. It would encouraging teamwork by rewarding both swappers without penalizing the team players in the community.

Thanks!

PS. Feel free to comment whether or not you like the idea, or if you have suggestions / problems with my proposal.