Regarding Ranked queque changes - In favor of the changes

This is a very important time for LoL history: the decisions that will be made in these weeks will shape the philosophy of the ranked season if not for the following ones too. If we love this game and want the best for it we must be honest and share our feedback, and keep in mind that everything we evaluate is opiniable - everything can be discussed, we must have brilliance in exposition.

I have seen many posts regard the faults of the queue, some that talk in depth and criticize the faults and others that go up to faking quotes from Riot, and very few stating the opposite. I think that it is not progressive, so while i do not fully agree on the decisions of Riot I am here to listen the benefits and the goods of the system from another point of view.

A disclaimer: i am a solo player, i have friends but rarely play duo ranked with them and i have no expectations to join them in future partial premades if not a 5v5.

First thing: many point out scenarios where you are a solo with a 4 man premade, let' s call it a 4+1. Many argue that being in that scenario will find the solo player bullied by the other 4 and forced to their bidding. Point is: if that happens it' s not the system fault - it is the premade that is composed by jerks. And Riot added special reporting measures for premades that go around to bully people.

If the the problem is mere communication, then think about it this way - we have the exact same scenario now, when you are matched with 2 premade duos ( a 1+2+2). Also, since it is ranked, it is in the player' s interest to keep the communication going from any member of the team: when the solo tries to communicate with the duo for example its effectively communicating to 2 people at once, actually optimizing the communication process, while the duos can communicate more easily with the solo. There can be a scenario where a duo is so dense that does not want to listen, but even in that case the solo is in advantage again, because if one member of the premade is more prone to listening then it can be of help to the solo player, like i do many times with my few premades. Then again people can keep not listening, but that' s pretty much their fault at that point. This gets highly amplified while in a 4+1, just to say.

Second thing: many regard it as a "not true solo experience". Which honestly it is true, but is also true that one of the main properties given to the solo queue is to test the versatility of the solo player, the ability of it to adapt to different scenarios and players, which i agree on and it's admirable. But isn' t that enriched even more when we allow different levels of premades? A solo player has already to face different compositions ( 1+1+1+1+1, 1+2+2, 1+3+1, 1+1+1+2 ) so it should not be such a problem to add more variables, to keep the challenge and the game more interesting. Remember that any way, this is a team game even if you are a solo player, and communication, leadership or fellowship skills are to not be denied.

On the other hand, this shows up that our current queue is already not a solo queue, because there are duos. If players just want to get rid of flexible ranked premades, then i would like to see begone even duos to keep that philosophy.

Third thing: this might soft cap how much solo players can reach high. This is kinda true, but it is that bad? As i said, LoL is many thing other from mechanical skill. The reason of this queue is to not be so demanding so you don' t have to create and upkeep your own team ( which requires even more skills, social skills that go beyond a single match and that act on permanence ) but it also denied pretty strongly variance on the communications between players. This system enriches it, allowing people to show off skills that they had but could not use properly, while at the same time not denying the mechanical ones that a solo player seeks. Still, this will soft cap how much a solo player can reach probably: reason is, communication is stronger in premades as i said, and with stronger communication comes better performance. Even the premades however have to deploy mechanical skills that maybe they did not get yet, since the members focused more on team communication. There are very natural soft caps for both parties because, to be good at LoL, you have to be good at both.

This then opens up questions: solo queue won' t express anymore only pure mechanical skill, but is that good if that is not the point of the game?** what' s the meaning of a rank if that does not reflect what' s in the game**? Are some of the high elo players, deep down, just afraid of losing the ( well deserved ) bragging rights about their rank? Or maybe at the end of this all there is not such problem?

I guess i posted enough, there are other goods to debate on but i think those are the ones i feel most proficient to carry on.

In my opinion a good solution for both parties, if flexible premade does not work out, would be making a pure soloq and a flexq that share the same ranking but where one matches you only with a similar queue. I know, populations issues and so on, just dropped one think about more than put on practice.

Remember: be honest about this. Don' t let the fear or the anger of the masses dictate that the masses wants.