The true reason behind DynamicQ, why it currently wont work, and how to fix it for everyone!

I will try to keep this as short as i can.

First, the true reason behind DynamicQ; An increase in playerbase and increase in $$ and making it easier to climb the ladder as a competetive player.

Makes sense right? But why, and why now? Well as many of you already know Riot's aspiration is to create an e-sports which lasts generations, ok cool we can all dig that right? Getting more money involved, never a bad thing for a bussiness more competition more money more rewards for good players/teams all the good stuff.

But why now? Well simple, and this is something not all of you might know, or have realized yet. League's playerbase has been in decline the last 2 years. After growing exponentially for several years League reached its peak in 2014 with 67 million regular players. Currently, 2016, It has 64 million regular players. Which is still ALOT, however it has been declining in the past 2 years.

But how does dynamicQ fit into this, well it makes it easier to play with friends and climb the ranked ladder, And hopefully will draw some players who left back and have current players drag some more friends into the game. If just 5% of left players return and just 5% of current players get a friend to start and keep playing the decline will not only have been halted but will turn into an increase in players compared to their peak numbers. If these new players also get new friends to join then the game will start growing again.

However this has a high probability of failing because of a number of reasons.

The largest part of the playerbase prefers to play soloQ and current dynamicQ is alienating this playerbase. But why does this happen? There are 2 reasons which stick out, Nobody likes to lose right? And in a competetive game where players lose things often get a bit toxic why? well because nobody wants to lose, so people start flaming each other(granted this doesnt always happen) whilst winning a game will cause players to pad each other on the back praising each others good work, It is just human nature right. But at the same time nobody wants to flame at their friends, because well, you will have to see each other again and nobody likes to lose friends. But this venting of frustration will have to go somewhere. So while overal toxicity does not increase, toxicity towards solo players will. Often you get ignored, excluded, trolled or just flat out flamed.

And the second reason and this is probably the biggest reason. The game is no longer competetive for solo players. This is one of the biggest gripes solo playes have with current dynamicQ. Playing with a group of people often with voice communication has a HUGE advantage. Good teamplay > individual skill. Where solo players previously would climb the ranks by increasing their individual skill this no longer happens. You are completely at the mercy of premade players.

For DynamicQ to succeed more players will need to join then it will alienate, and make leave. And at the same time it will need to keep enough solo players around. Lets not forget that Solo players are the glue which holds dynamicQ together, Without solo players dynamicQ cannot work you need them to fill the gaps. Yet with the current iteration of dynamic Q there are no reasons to keep playing solo.

So as it currently stands dynamicQ is doomed to fail because either too much players in general leave.

Or more players will join then there are leaving, but the joining players are mostly premades and the leaving players are mostly solo players. In which case the ratio between premades and solo players will favor premades and there simply wont be enough glue(soloplayers) to hold dynamicQ together because queue time will drastically increase and cause more players to leave.

** Tldr; The current iteration of dynamicqueue is pretty much doomed to fall flat wont accomplish the goals Riot wants it to accomplish.**

The fix. I know its been a BIG WALL OF TEXT already but bear with me.

Yes i have a solution, and its really very simple actually. Make playing as a solo player more rewarding. Simple right?

Ok might need a bit of explaining, As i stated earlier individual skill doesn't matter as much as teamplay. So make it matter as much.

But how? Well make losing a game as a solo player vs premades less punishing and make winning against premades more rewarding. Balancing out the the fact that you will lose more often and win less when not playing with friends. So how to go about this? Well that is also quite simple really. League has an mmr system, you win and you gain mmr you lose, and well, you lose mmr.

So to demonstrate my idea im going to throw some numbers around, don't get hang up on them its just an example ok. For the example im just going to use 10% a nice round number.

You lose and X% less mmr for each premade player on the other team lets say the other team is a trio and 2 solo players and your team is just solo players. once you lose this game, you will lose 30% less mmr then usually. Now what if your team hasa 3 man premade and theirs has too? same deal you lose 30% less mmr. Obviously this holds true for the solo player on the opposing team too.

For winning things are a bit different. If you win you gain X% more mmr for each premade player the opposing team has more then your team. so if it is a 3 man premade and 2 solo players vs a 5 man team and you win, then you will all gain 20% more mmr.

What will this system accomplish? Well 2 things really. First it makes your individual skill worth alot more so its should even out with teamplay skill when climbing the ladder. So the game becomes equally rewarding for solo players. This will also mkae the ranked ladder show a better representation of your skill. A good teamplayer will win often and get a good rank a good solo player will win less because of the inherent disadvantage but still get the same good rank.

Secondly it makes premades coop better with the solo players on their team when facing uneven numbers (premade wise ofc) Because there is a reward for winning against the odds. This will decrease toxicity and ignoring of solo players in the 3-4 premade groups.

** Tldr; Make losing a game as a solo player vs premades less punishing and make winning against a larger amount premades more rewarding. **