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Fixing Solo Queue (long read for a good cause)

Yekzunno·4/27/2017, 10:14:38 AM·1 votes·412 views

I've been a League of Legends player since the end of Season 2. After my first ranked season in season 3. I was able to climb to Gold 1 every single Season. But a series of unfortunate events and just bad games in general happen. And I get stuck with Gold V Gold IV.

I'm going to cut right to the point here. The current system of "MMR" is awful. The fact that I lose games that are out of my control. more often than just bad play individually and I get punished for losing those games the same as if I play poorly does not accurately depict my Solo Queue skill. The fact that i now lose 20-22 Lp for loss and gain 14-16- Lp for win, no matter how I played individually.

Riot introduced a grading system for how well you do in the game. But it really means nothing. it's just for a shiny emote saying look at how many games i played on the champion. It does not make you good. (Because the amount of rank 7 zed's I've seen who lose lane every time.. proves the emote means nothing.) It definitely does not show the enemy how good of a player you are. It doesn't depict that you're good. It just said that you played so many games that you eventually got an S two times.

Anyways... Why not actually put this grading system to work. Why not look at the players in the game and depending on their grade they get, give them the respectful amount of lp loss or gain for the match. Example to use this game. is the match I just played. I played Kha'Zix jungle. and without warning or any communication of some kind. our support picks rengar takes tp and ghost. and the entire game feeds intentionally. he ended the game 1/15 picking up a random kill in a team fight at the end of the game. where I was 7/3/4. was in 11/17 kills on the team. and was actively trying to win. I received a B that game(which i definitely think it should have been higher, but that doesn't matter right now.) So given the fact that I got a B in a game that was basically 4v6 because of one players decision and lost on top of that. So, Instead of the current MMR system where if you lose 4 games in a row your MMR is Tarnished and you're in hell now because of it. You get Lp and lose it by how you just played in the game. Not based off of what you played before. there's hardly any reward for improvement with this right now. So back to what I was saying... I received a B that game. I can only imagine the awful score Rengar received. Let's pretend right now that the MMR system is not a thing. So looking solely on the performance of the individual play or each player. I should receive a handicapped loss of Lp. Since I was above an Average score (which I'm assuming is a C+ as average?) I should not lose the normal amount of Lp since I played well that game. Where as this Rengar should lose more than the normal amount of Lp since I could only imagine he received a grade lower than C.. if their was an E, I'd believe he would have received it. So given that information. This Rengar should lose More Lp than I did for one. And more Lp for playing under the average grade.

The same system works for winning. Let's look at the game prior to this. I played Lee Sin. I was 10/0/6. I had 230 CS in a 46 min game, Almost 100 CS over the enemy jungler and more CS than their mid-laner. And my top lane Darius was 3/7/8. with 251 CS in a 46 min game. So I received and S- that game. If I had a bit more damage than I probably would have had an S, but since I started to build tank items I started to get out damaged by my other teammates. anyways. I'm just going to assume that the Darius received like a C or something low. I should receive more Lp for winning since I was above the Average grade(again set at C+ for these examples) So I receive more Lp than the average player would. And this Darius should not gain as much Lp as the Average since he was under the threshold for being Average. He still gains Lp, just instead of getting carried and having a free win and free Lp, he earn's less and the player who played well and performed well individually should receive more. easy as that.

So, how does Riot determine how much LP to give out. Well, make 20 Lp an Average gain and 15 Lp and average Loss. Let's say the grading system goes from S+ to D-. Which would make a B the average for grading. (yes it's different than what i was saying earlier but this is more concrete.) So, the way you gain more Lp for winning than average would be to earn anything higher than a B. So earning a B+ earns you more Lp than 20. earning an A- earns you more than a B+ performance. and so on and so fourth. This way each grade above a B earns you more Lp for your individual performance. When you win the game but you do not perform above Average and instead perform at a lower skill than what you should be. well you earn less Lp, So You earn a B- you will now start earning less Lp than Average which is 20. So now same system applies the lower the grade the less and less lp you earn. again you still gain Lp, just now it's received based on how you perform as an individual. Now for losing same system is applied. Average performance for losing is the same set a B. So earning anything above a B earns you less Lp loss. So instead of losing 15 Lp you lose less for earning a B+, and Less than that for A-. And again, so on and so fourth. and for losing and performing worse than the Average B performance. You start to lose more Lp than the Average. so starting at B- you earn less Lp than a B performance and each grade lower you lose more and more. so all that summed up. IF you win you gain Lp, and now if you perform above average you earn a bonus of Lp and if you perform under average you earn less than average. and same for losing. you lose the game but perform above average, you lose less lp and if you play below average you begin to lose more lp as the grade lowers.

Easy concept, and in my opinion a fair concept. You're playing solo queue for a reason. Because you want to show your skills as a single individual. your rank and Lp should not be solely reliant on the 4 random players you get put with to win. Yes you still have to win to get the Lp, but you no longer get punished for playing above average and losing the same 21 lp because you had a 1/15 Rengar "support" on your team. This concept allows for player growth and rewards you when you play well. Which will help the solo queue mentality a lot I believe.

So using this concept. You now having a player base who needs to win, but actually play well or else they will not go anywhere, because if you play below average every game win and lose. you will at times gain 0 lp. because you aren't playing individually well. So this now is going to make solo queue a more individual competitive game mode, which is what it should be. I don't play Solo queue to match up with 4 random players and become North America's greatest team. I play it to prove my individual skill. If I wanted the other I'd play ranked Flex or if Riot still had it Ranked 5's. Where this was where winning was the sole goal. not an individual goal to get better but a team goal to win and improve as a team. So Now you have players seeking to improve their own game-play every game because they want to get the most Lp possible.. or if they lose to not lose so much Lp because they were still playing above average.

Now of course you can't just take the grading system as it is now and use it, and expect it to depict the perfect grade for everyone. It would take some tweaking. but everything in this game is just a number. It isn't too difficult to make the grading system more advanced for each player individually. So Riot tweaks the grading system. test it out finds out it works great. and boom, now just make the grading system determine the lp gain and loss.

This is something I believe needs to be implemented somehow. Because the current system is awful. The fact that I can lose a game because of one persons decision and i lose 21 lp for it because i lost and my MMR is just that bad currently. It's just not right lol. So basically Solo queue should be a place to test individual skill. Not the luck of the draw... and prayers that you don't get the troll. I want to see something happen. I want to see progress in Solo queue lol. At this stage, it's all about getting the team without the troll. Hopefully something happens. this is something I would love to see changed. and brought into the system. The game just needs something better for Solo queue. And I think this is it. Or at least a start for something greater.

See you on the rift

6 Comments

DarkRitual4/27/2017, 11:24:08 AM2 votes

There is a few flaws with this. First, it rewards greedy playing, and punishes selfless playing.

If you're Malphite and ult into every teamfight, only to die in exchange for getting an ace, you will not get a good grade with a bunch of deaths. You are playing for the good of the team and for the win, but are punished with lower LP gains.

So, now that you see this, you decide you need better LP gains. Time to main Riven. Ignore team, steal all the kills, and try to carry everyone. Sometimes it works, sometime it doesn't. Don't care though, you get good mastery scores, so you win more and lose less. You're climbing faster by being selfish and disreguarding team dynamics.

Nextt example. You're 6/1/0, but the rest of your team is combined 3/20/5. You're probably going to lose. So again ignoring your team and just playing for your own grade is most beneficial to you. Helping them will likely only cause you to lose more LP than if you just splitpushed and avoided fights. I'm not going to give up more LP for these feeders.

Blizzard has had issues with that sort of thing in Overwatch's competetive. Supports got royally screwed with rating increases compared to DPS heroes. The idea looks good on paper, but there are definately flaws that make it less than ideal.

I'd rather see a system like the Mobile App- Yu Gi Oh: Duel Links has for it's ranked system:

Players always start at the lowest tier, and have to work your way up. You always get matched against people in the same ranking as you. (this would need adjusted though, and would not be used above a certain tier, likely Platinum) Win X games in a row (lower number needed at lower tiers), and get promoted. Lose X in a row, get demoted. Every season, everyone is reset. Anyone who was Silver and above gets put at Silver 1 (they go 1-5, instead of 5-1 like League). Everyone else gets put to the beginning lowest tier.

The matchmaking could still be utilized at the high and lower spectrum. Instead of always being matched with/against equal ranks, it could allow some flex to be within 1-2 ranks. As for Diamond+, the current system is probably fine, with maybe some tuning depending how many more players move up/down from the system.

MysterQ4/27/2017, 2:19:39 PM1 votes

The simplest solution. Wins give a set high amount of LP. Losses give a set slightly lower amount of LP. None of this MMR business; none of this grade business. If you are winning you should be allowed to climb regardless of any other factor.

Your grade method is also unfair. Not always, but sometimes. I had a game recently with a friend where I was a terrible 0/8/0 Janna. But my entire team was losing, there was very little I could do. Sure I wasn't playing very well at all, but the game was over. And the grade system probably doesn't take everything into account. If your team is losing every lane, even if you win your lane you will die just trying to protect your base. And the system won't take those into account.