Smurfing is a real issue man

Zelectric·Mar 15, 2019·24 votes·10,779 views

Just trying to play the game and teach my friends how to play and every game there is just one or two guys on the other team that just abuse their knowledge and skill of the game to make it unenjoyable for new players to learn. I understand they could just play bots but bots are not anything like real players. I also know I could easily do the same thing but then they also don't learn anything about the game and I want new players to have the opportunity to learn things about laning and teamfighting instead of just dying over and over again to somebody that has played the game forever. I know its a hard thing to fix but riot needs to do something if they want their game to survive and have more new players join the game. Gotta do something so new players can play against other new players instead of people that just steamroll games because they made a new account so they can just kill noobies. C'mon riot.

34 Comments

JamareeMar 15, 201916 votes

"I can't smurf with my friend because other smurfs are stomping them?"

[sg-lux-2]

If you want them to stop playing against smurfs, you have to stop playing with them then, as long as you play with them, they will play against others smurfs, if you don't, they won't.

DarkTree1Mar 15, 20196 votes

{quoted}

"I can't smurf with my friend because other smurfs are stomping them?"

[sg-lux-2]

If you want them to stop playing against smurfs, you have to stop playing with them then, as long as you play with them, they will play against others smurfs, if you don't, they won't.

^ exactly. if you're duoqing with someone who's a much lower skill level/mmr than you then you're going to get imbalanced matches & wide player skill gaps lol

Horse GrenadesMar 15, 20191 votes

I literally LOL'd when I saw the OP. LIke.. he's mad about smurfs while he's smurfing

HeeroTXMar 15, 20191 votes

Not saying this to rank-shame, but OP is Silver (if that's his main), so .... Just saying, it's entirely possible for a low elo player to try to (badly) teach NEW people how to play the game without smurfing. You're making the probably erroneous assumption that the guy is smurfing just beause he's played the game before and is trying to help friends that haven't.

Meteora707Mar 15, 20192 votes

the difference between a player with 10 games and a silver player is massive, OP is stomping noobies and crying about getting stomped when he faces other smurfs.

JamareeMar 15, 20191 votes

{quoted}

Not saying this to rank-shame, but OP is Silver (if that's his main), so .... Just saying, it's entirely possible for a low elo player to try to (badly) teach NEW people how to play the game without smurfing. You're making the probably erroneous assumption that the guy is smurfing just beause he's played the game before and is trying to help friends that haven't.

But you are smurfing, I’m not rank shaming but if you are a player who is plus 30 with ranked experience playing against new players, you yourself are a smurf.

You have far more skill and general know how then new players, thus smurfing

Sinister AnubisApr 11, 20191 votes

{quoted}

"I can't smurf with my friend because other smurfs are stomping them?"

[sg-lux-2]

If you want them to stop playing against smurfs, you have to stop playing with them then, as long as you play with them, they will play against others smurfs, if you don't, they won't.

He is trying to teach his freiends how to play on a low level account. Wtf are you even talking about.

JamareeApr 11, 20191 votes

[{quoted}](name=Reckless Anubis,realm=NA,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=owwZVL6f,comment-id=00020002,timestamp=2019-04-11T03:00:51.173+0000)

He is trying to teach his freiends how to play on a low level account. Wtf are you even talking about.

25 days? Also, that is called smurfing?

Sinister AnubisApr 11, 20191 votes

{quoted}

25 days? Also, that is called smurfing?

I understand what its called. The real question is how do you determent who is smurfing and who isn't?

JamareeApr 11, 20191 votes

[{quoted}](name=Reckless Anubis,realm=NA,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=owwZVL6f,comment-id=0002000200000000,timestamp=2019-04-11T03:21:35.349+0000)

I understand what its called. The real question is how do you determent who is smurfing and who isn't?

They have a system that determines it, that said, why does it matter, how is he able to take the high ground...while continuing the problem?

Sinister AnubisApr 11, 20191 votes

{quoted}

They have a system that determines it, that said, why does it matter, how is he able to take the high ground...while continuing the problem?

I'v never heard of it. Whats its called you got a link of riot saying they have a system?

JamareeApr 11, 20191 votes

[{quoted}](name=Reckless Anubis,realm=NA,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=owwZVL6f,comment-id=000200020000000000000000,timestamp=2019-04-11T03:40:12.392+0000)

I'v never heard of it. Whats its called you got a link of riot saying they have a system?

https://comicbook.com/gaming/2017/05/10/what-league-of-legends-does-when-they-detect-a-smurf-account/

HawckeyMar 15, 20196 votes

yea they need to stop perma banning people into making new accounts. on top of that the people on multiple accounts tend to care way less about bans/punishments. just lower the sensitivity for PERMA bans ffs

TheBlackArrowMar 15, 20191 votes

YoU ShOuLdNt HaVe GoTtEn BaNnEd (Every league forum user ever) [zombie-nunu-bummed]

I agree though would help, i mean the sensitivity definitely stopped me from being toxic, so in that sense it worked but at the same time i don't feel like it made me less toxic for the right reasons.

HawckeyMar 15, 20191 votes

and whenever I say it they think i'm triggered cause i got banned, nah i had my account since s3, but every time i have a friend that comes over to league they quit because of how cluttered pre-30 is with smurfs and toxic people that got banned, riot seems to be completely blind to this

Corvin0716Mar 15, 20193 votes

I do not support smurfing but your reasoning seems flawed to me. The better the player you play against the more you can learn from the game. Even if he stomps you, you can watch the replay and analyze his gameplay and your mistakes as well. Playing vs a better player improves you the most because you can learn something new from him.

BackdoorPrincessMar 15, 20197 votes

Unless you're new and all of what you are watching means little to nothing to you because you can't interpret it

DisulfiramMar 16, 20191 votes

The skill gap is extremely important for what you're saying. A Diamond player facing a Challenger learns a lesson because they have the skill to understand it, they can see what they did wrong. But what would a player that barely knows what a lane is learn from it? How could he possibly learn something from mistakes he has no way of recognizing?

Also, people don't play a game to learn it: they play because they enjoy it, and are willing to learn more about a game they enjoy. And very few enjoy getting stomped by much more experienced players while just starting out.

Luckily RIOT impelemented a system that is extremely fast in flagging smurfs and mostly puts them in a separate low-level queue; this though also means that if one smurfs to play with a friend who is genuinely new, he'll drag his friend into smurf-match after smurf-match.

terderserceMar 15, 20193 votes

Believe it or not, naysayers, smurfs aren't simply there because you duo'd with someone stronger than you. Smurfs do things like create a 5-man premade with 2 gold players and 3 "new" players, then they ravage your team for 50 minutes, only winning because finally the minions can destroy the nexus. (Which, how do you end up vs. a 5-man premade when you solo-Q'd? And from all you can deduce, you might have one duo on your team. Like, what?)

It's not accidental. It's not all permabanned accounts. It's people trolling because they must have it hard in their main account games. So they're in that match to make you feel their pain.

I create new accounts from time to time, but that is usually when I am trying to learn a new champ or lane. So while I may know the mechanics better than newer players, I am still terrible at my role/champ, and if I do have an advantage, I just play to win. I don't grief the person who can't keep up with me.

These smurfs this post is addressing are doing what they do intentionally. It's abusing the system. And it doesn't stop at the new player level. You see this huge imbalance in matchmaking even through Gold, if not past Gold.

Der LindwurmMar 15, 20193 votes

In every single questionnaire that I've got from Riot in the past 3 or so years, I have told them that smurfing is the main reason why the game inaccessible to new players in its current state. It's one thing if they act like they can't do anything about it because it would pose problems for the business model when players are annoyed over what smurfing does to matchmaking. You'd think they'd be more concerned about the competitive integrity of ranked gameplay, but if that's more than they can afford to worry about, then... okay. Alright. Whatever. When it comes the fact that new players INVARIABLY have a, horrible, disgusting experience thanks to them, however, they need to get off their asses and do something if they want to save their game.

SillaeMar 16, 20193 votes

Your MMR is screwing with theirs.

NadiriMar 15, 20191 votes

I mean if your friends are new of course other players will be more experienced like wtf

BigFBearMar 15, 20191 votes

Yeah this season there is something wrong with matchmaking. In no season I had so much Smurfs in my games like in S9.

If they are in my team (which is, for some strange reasons, very rare.. idk why) we win 90% of the time. If they are in enemy team we lose 90% of the time.

And when I am talking about smurfs I mean Players around 70-90% winrate. That are almost everytime smurfs.

I am Plat1/Plat2 atm and often I have Gold1 Players with 80% winrate or in one of my last games a Plat2 with 75% winrate.

AatroxKinMar 15, 20191 votes

ur post being downvoted is the real issue man :)

The23rdGamerMar 15, 20191 votes

Generally speaking brand new players will not be placed against people who are smurfing all that often because their effective skill levels are quite different. However by playing with them yourself, you're essentially asking for more smurfs to be placed on the other team to offset your skill being added to their queue.

It does kind of suck, but being fair from the other team's point of view you're doing something very similar to what you're saying is an issue in this post.

If you want them to learn against players of their own skill, have them play pvp alone. If you want to try and teach them in pvp, be ready to face a team with a wide variety of skill. :P

xDogMeatxMar 15, 20191 votes

{quoted}

Generally speaking brand new players will not be placed against people who are smurfing all that often because their effective skill levels are quite different. However by playing with them yourself, you're essentially asking for more smurfs to be placed on the other team to offset your skill being added to their queue.

It does kind of suck, but being fair from the other team's point of view you're doing something very similar to what you're saying is an issue in this post.

If you want them to learn against players of their own skill, have them play pvp alone. If you want to try and teach them in pvp, be ready to face a team with a wide variety of skill. :P

new?

DrippyBrownHoleMar 15, 20191 votes

Permabans are why smurfs exist. All permabans do is make people create a new account where they won't spend any money

KnyronMar 15, 20191 votes

To be honest it sucks for the smurfs as well. I made another account to play in a different server and it's the most depressing thing I've ever witnessed while playing this game.

Sometimes you get matched with people who clearly are new to the game, well then, since they got matched with players with thousands of games they obviously feed and get flamed for no reason. The amount of toxicity there is ridiculous, I haven't seen something like that in ages. Can't tell if it's because people just don't care about their lvl 10 account or just that they were toxic fucks in the first place and they got perma'd for that and they still won't reform.

Then you have to play over a hundred matches to get to lvl 30 to do want you want to do in the first place. The runes and summoner spells just don't let you play as you want to, also if they got a jungler and you don't the game is done. Smurfing sucks for everyone.

ROYALR3IGNMar 15, 20191 votes

You're literally doing exactly what you're complaining about. Sounds like justice.

ZelectricApr 7, 20191 votes

I literally PvE'd for most the game because I understand that new players have a tought time especially in a game like this with a huge learning curve. I sat in lane with some of my friends just to protect them so they could learn to CS and learn their abilites. I dont losing to a team that has low levels and they just played better but its the people that have no business being in that low level of a game and completely shitting on making it impossible for new people to even learn cause they're dead 99% of the time.

Meteora707Mar 15, 20191 votes

stop perma banning people for r%%%%%ed reasons and I'll stop smurfing n selling : ^)

5050BSMar 15, 20191 votes

Its been a huge issue if you were in S1-S2 of any past seasons.

Its now an issue that everyone sees because they are in Iron, Bronze and Silver at all levels of them.

Riot REALLY needs to make you link accounts.

OH and they need to do away with DuoQ

If you want to play with friends that is what Normals and Customs are for. Ranked should be 100% SoloQ

JedenVojakMar 15, 20191 votes

Everything I've seen about high level competitive play looks super boring - low ranks are the only people who are able to have fun.

That's probably why people smurf.

MathgodpiApr 7, 20191 votes

The question I have is, when I lose because a smurf or smurfs are on the other team, why should I still be hit with full LP and MMR hits? When I'm the best performing member of my team, there's honestly no reason why my LP/MMR losses shouldn't be mitigated.

The current system doesn't distinguish between the person who had say a 2.5 KDA and put down a lot of wards and put pressure on objectives, and the person who had a 0.25 KDA and didn't do ANYTHING besides feed.