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Season 5 Ranked System and the Eternal Struggle Bus

Cleon Peaches·2/4/2015, 7:24:55 AM·2 votes·887 views

Riot,

We need to have a talk. I first started playing League in January of 2014 and immediately fell in love. Aside from over 1,000 hours of playtime, I have given you my blood, sweat and money.

I began playing ranked shortly after hitting level 30 and landed in Bronze 1 with 4 wins/6 losses. Although I was unhappy with the rank, it was both fair and reflective of my skill as a player.

Hundreds of hours later I climbed from Bronze I to Silver III, and felt like I had specialized in my role and grown both mechanically and tactically as a jungler. However, after winning 7/10 Season 5 placement games, I dropped from Silver III to Silver V.

After seeing several of my gold and silver friends drop to bronze, despite winning most of their placement games, it became clear that the ranking system currently in place is driven by business, not skill. By placing players in a low rank that isn't truly representative of their skill, you force them to log more hours just to climb back up to the rank they had originally earned, in hopes that they'll buy more half-dressed Katarina skins while they're at it. On top of neglecting the hard work put in by Bronze, Silver and Gold players, it seems that you shield the high ranking players from having to deal with this issue- we don't see any pros drop several leagues after winning 7 placement matches, seeing as they generate a lot of interest in League via Twitch.

I understand that Riot is a business, and your F2P game comes at a price. Yet the arbitrary ranking system of season 5 exploits our devotion to the game for the sake of money. The shady nature of this business tactic makes me feel like you don't value me as a player, and that I'm just another pocket ready for the picking. I am compelled to take a prolonged break from the League, I might even play some RuneScape. Because while it may be an inferior game, at least it's upfront about wanting my money.

Regards, Cleon Peaches

1 Comments

TSM Hai2/4/2015, 7:49:00 AM1 votes

Perhaps you aren't aware of how the new season system works (You started S4, so you aren't). At the start of every season your MMR is "reset". What this means is that it goes down. You will still get matched with the same people, because everyone's goes down, but you wont be in the same division. Also, there are many sites - op.gg , lolking.net etc. - that allow you to see an estimated MMR. Although, I agree with you when you say MMR shouldn't be hidden. I prefer the old ELO system tbh.

A Diamond 1 MMR will get reset to high Diamond 3, or Diamond 2. This is to avoid mass change in the higher end, where it would create a lot of chaos. Lower MMR, however, can be reset more harshly to allow players to climb better. Trust me, it really helps.