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Can someone please explain the matchmaking system to me?

A Sealed Box·9/29/2017, 10:18:21 PM·2 votes·1,438 views

Genuinely curious about this: I'm level 15, and noticed that when I went into solo queue, I got placed with three enemy players who are level 30 and maxed out runes, while on my team, there were a minority of level 30 players and the rest were below level 20.

Playing against players who are maxed out and are experienced in the game vs. someone like me who has at most, enough to barely pick up the pieces and relearning how to play the game is completely unfun. I don't understand the matchmaking system. Is it completely random, and why am I not being placed with players around my level? It's completely unfun to get stomped on by a team that is innately better due to level differences; this is akin to a new player with starting gear getting beaten down and destroyed by an experienced and well-equipped player in PvP MMORPG's.

My last game had me going against two ranked Gold players and a high Silver ranked player, and an unranked level 30 player (based off of Lolking's mastery count), while on my team, there were only two unranked level 30 players, and the rest weren't even past the level 20 mark yet (myself included), This game right here is definitely skewed towards the enemy's favor, and I want to know why is it like that.

I remember back then it was based off of MMR and levels, but now, I don't know how Riot places others in their matchmaking anymore.

7 Comments

Khristophoros9/29/2017, 10:30:43 PM1 votes

There is a hidden MMR (match maker rating) for your account. When you win, it increases. When you lose, it decreases.

New accounts gain/lose more MMR per match, and supposedly there are some algorithms to detect potential "smurfs", players who are on an alternate account trying to stomp noobs. If the system thinks that's the case, it will boost the MMR more on wins.

Ranked also uses an internal MMR but it's separate from unranked games. So the rank is not taken into account in normal games. A lot of players don't even play ranked, but the system still needs to be able to place them with similarly skilled players.

Also, summoner level is not taken into account for matchmaking. It's 100% based on the MMR rating.

Another thing to note about MMR. The gains/losses are weighted based on the difference in MMR between the two teams.

It sucks to play against people who have a stat advantage, and that's why they are replacing the current runes and masteries with a system that is fully unlocked for all summoner levels.

The Bad Touch9/30/2017, 9:32:07 AM1 votes

[{quoted}](name=A Sealed Box,realm=NA,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=hOEA8WQv,comment-id=,timestamp=2017-09-29T22:18:21.018+0000)

Genuinely curious about this: I'm level 15, and noticed that when I went into solo queue, I got placed with three enemy players who are level 30 and maxed out runes, while on my team, there were a minority of level 30 players and the rest were below level 20.

Playing against players who are maxed out and are experienced in the game vs. someone like me who has at most, enough to barely pick up the pieces and relearning how to play the game is completely unfun. I don't understand the matchmaking system. Is it completely random, and why am I not being placed with players around my level? It's completely unfun to get stomped on by a team that is innately better due to level differences; this is akin to a new player with starting gear getting beaten down and destroyed by an experienced and well-equipped player in PvP MMORPG's.

My last game had me going against two ranked Gold players and a high Silver ranked player, and an unranked level 30 player (based off of Lolking's mastery count), while on my team, there were only two unranked level 30 players, and the rest weren't even past the level 20 mark yet (myself included), This game right here is definitely skewed towards the enemy's favor, and I want to know why is it like that.

I remember back then it was based off of MMR and levels, but now, I don't know how Riot places others in their matchmaking anymore.

It's a system. It matches people. Thus "matchmaking system."

SiffLort9/30/2017, 5:44:27 PM1 votes

No, nobody can explain matchmaking because Rito values clarity so much in their game. We don't know how matchmaking works, we don't know how mmr works, we don't know how report system works, we don't know how ban system works. All this because Rito and their constant pursue of CLARITY.