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AutoFill decreases the QUALITY of competition in Ranked games

Iriya·1/2/2017, 11:26:20 PM·64 votes·3,721 views

Since the solo/duo queue system has changed, many people have taken up mastering two main roles. While AutoFill does shorten queue times, it completely ruins the purpose of why anyone would queue for a ranked game. The quality of a ranked game drops severely whenever ANYONE on both teams gets autofilled into a role that they are completely unfamiliar with.

Now you could argue: "Just learn to play all five roles". Put this into perspective. When someone has reached say Plat++ on certain roles that they have been mastering over a season or two, it's unreasonable to expect them to somehow play at the same level they were playing at on other roles. In many competitive games, it's not uncommon to see people master certain aspects of the game instead of being a jack of all trades. The argument that everyone just needs to learn five roles may have been valid 3-4 seasons ago when everyone just had pick order, but it's undeniable that many people in higher elos have developed mastery over two main roles and when forced into a completely unfamiliar role, the quality of the game drops severely.

The people who have obtained their rank from playing their chosen roles are there because they can play those roles. Many people simply don't understand that you can't just put someone into an unfamiliar role in a RANKED game and expect it to be just fine. There is a reason why many people play ranked games. In order to compete with other players who have also mastered the roles they have chosen to play. You cannot expect an autofilled support/adc/jungle to compete on the same level as a main of that role.

Not only does autofill make a team prone to tilting, it just completely defeats the point of why anyone would queue for a ranked game in the first place. Personally, I get my role most of the time so it's not too much of an issue for me. But I honestly feel bad for my lane partner when I get autofilled to bot lane and I'm sure many other people would also feel bad for their team mates as well when forced to play a role they are completely unfamiliar with. For the quality of competition, please either remove autofill or flex queue. tl;dr

People play normal games in order to practice unfamiliar roles or new things.

Ranked games are there however to test players against others of similar skill. Autofill completely defeats this purpose.

80 Comments

xReadyPlayerOnex1/2/2017, 11:33:14 PM13 votes

Agree completely.

Autofill is completely unacceptable in a competitive environment.

QUALITY > QUANTITY

Shame RIOT doesn't understand that simple concept.

Surfer Ashe1/3/2017, 11:54:29 AM6 votes

I don't remember ranked being "bad" in S4/5 where you had to go by pick order, meaning someone was the autofill support equivalent.

Seems like it's too bad you've been conditioned to only learning about 3-4 champs because you were guarateed one of two roles.

Corrupt Bliss1/3/2017, 9:29:15 AM5 votes

Yo. Diamond + gets auto-filled, they play and don't complain. When you have queue times of 15+ minutes I'm pretty sure you could care less what role you have. Regardless, most of diamond + are at least competent enough at the game to perform decently in any position.

If you've got a problem with auto-fill, what you you rather have? What is your solution to 30+ queue times?

Iriya1/3/2017, 12:48:12 AM5 votes

AutoFill as a whole should have probably never been implemented in the first place. I just like my games being competitive. :)

Stephen The G1/3/2017, 2:58:53 AM4 votes

if we have auto fill so should pros that would make riot think twice because of their preious balance teams boner for the pros

Woook3r1/3/2017, 12:23:03 AM3 votes

can we just get rid of support please? its REALLY obvious we dont want to play that role as much as the others.

Titanium701/3/2017, 4:53:29 PM2 votes

No it doesnt, it fillters out toxic one tricks before they can reach a presentable elo. On my way back to some skill I met a few auto-trolls in silver, those who QQ and adapt in Gold and now I'm curios about Plat. (guessing the QQ will end until Plat1-D5 surely people will still ask for switches, but they dont mind playing the role they dont want in the end if there's noone to swap with. Just like they did in the past.)

How to get a good Rank: Be a one trick! How to become a good player: Play each Role! How to become a Challenger: Play all roles like a one-trick!

Autofill encourages exactly that, and that's good. I wouldn't even mind going back to Season 5 matchmaking because being Dia meant to play with Dia attitude (let's ignore boosted monkeys for a sec) and not with an idiot who thinks KDA is important, Supp can't carry and doing Baron against 5 is A GOOD IDEA!

S6 was a mistake, and I'm gald I didnt play back than. It spoiled the wrong people, encouraged childish behavior and caused problems for the actually good players. it might be better from a money making perspective... but in a sport in a ladder, you dont get spoiled. You either work to get good. Or stay bad. Dont expect to be treated like the Messi if you never done anything to deserve this.

MonkeyMadness1/3/2017, 8:44:40 PM2 votes

When will you people learn that riot gives LITERALLY 0 SHIT ABOUT GAME QUALITY, ESPECIALLY IN RANKED? They proved this when they spent literally an entire year justifying Dynamic Queue despite it's obvious design flaws. If you want competitive gaming, play Overwatch. At least Blizzard is trying to preserve competitive integrity, albeit there are still some issues. Regardless though, the game is still quite new, and they are actively tweaking based on community request, unlike Riot.

Iriya1/4/2017, 1:02:07 AM2 votes

It seems some people may have misunderstood the point behind the OP, but autofill does not simply effect the person being autofilled, but the other 4 people on their team as well. This is what I mean when I say it's lowering the quality of ranked games. You simply cannot expect the autofilled player to perform on the same level as a person who has mained the autofilled role. For all of the players who are repeating "just play all five roles like 1/10000 case has", look at the top players of the ladder. Many of them have focused on a singular role or even two roles at most. It's actually more uncommon to be a jack of all trades. Especially in a type of environment which encourages many lower elo players to simply focus on fewer things in order to climb than play everything at once.

Leetri1/3/2017, 12:21:37 PM2 votes

So then League has never been a competitive game ever? Season 1-5 had what's basically autofill, except you're never guaranteed your best role. Season 6 had dynamic queue and everyone circlejerked about how premades make a team game less competitive. Now we have what's basically season 1-5 but you're guaranteed one of your main roles in a fair number of games.

nergalsfang1/3/2017, 2:42:37 PM2 votes

i know the perfect solution to this "autofill" problem. play sup/fill role when your protection runs out. its really not that difficult a concept to wrap your head around.

Ðreamdate1/3/2017, 3:16:53 PM2 votes

I totally agree with you put out there.. to me it feels like RIOT is shoving dog poop down my throat when i get autofilled. I play the game to enjoy myself playing my role. When i'm forced to auto fill (forced fill) i'm not having fun at all. For those that like autofill, cool but make it optional. Put a checkbox instead of force it. A diamond player said its better to lower que times in his elo. Ok thats cool with a checkbox then your elo still can get faster ques if people opt to autofill. I dont mind waiting 8m to get jungle mid top my pref roles

GiantEnemyShaco1/3/2017, 3:59:28 PM2 votes

Man, the by-role queue system has brought out some of the most entitled people in the universe, I swear...

"Autofill is ruining the quality of ranked games"

Okay, in what universe does this make sense when the game was played for over 5 years before that with the pick-order routine? First pick got their role and it was all up in the air about what you played. Last pick was more than likely the support in every game.

At that point, we had to still deal with the "mid or feed" bullshit that plagued the community. It's literally the same problem, only now people are blaming the system for their inability to play a role rather than blaming other players for taking their role, so I guess that's a step forward.

Pre season 6, you didn't get the option of setting your role in a predetermined way. You either learned how to play all roles to at least a useful level or you struggled to climb.

In fact, the new system has improved the quality of ranked games by letting players get their preferred roles more often. Autofill is a necessary artifact from the past that is required to keep queue times from being obnoxious.

TL;DR - Autofill is literally no different from lastpicking before the draft changes. If you're bitching about autofill, it's probably because you didn't play before then.

drakuIa4211/3/2017, 4:09:47 PM2 votes

thats why i started playing support in ranked. if i queue as support primary, that almost ensures that everyone on my team got one of their main roles so they play better.