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ELO Doesn't seem to be cutting it.

Ryis Stearns·10/17/2014, 3:52:44 PM·1 votes·882 views

I've been bouncing around Bronze for a while now. I feel like I've learned a lot more about the game since I started playing ranked and feel I'm finally on my way to Silver. However, as I climb higher in Bronze, I started to notice a trend of "smurf accounts". Typically starting to pop up around Bronze III but more common Bronze II & I players often comment that they're actually gold, platinum or even diamond players playing on a smurf account (each of them with their own reasons of course). Normally, I just shrug off the comment thinking something along the lines of, "Yeah, right, another person trying to claim their superiority over their teammates instead of taking responsibility for their misplays and trying to learn from them. Typical Bronze." However, being that I have a smurf account to play with friends under level 30, I understand both how easy it is to make a smurf account and the desire of using one so you don't invite bigger challenges to your newer friends. In one of the recent patches, the ranked system changed so that you could only duo with friends in the next highest or lowest league (silver can only duo with bronze and gold, gold can only duo with silver and platinum, etc.). I'm guessing this was an ELO related issue where higher ranked players where carrying lower ranked played out of the ever so famous "ELO Hell". Along with this patch was an increase of claimed "smurf accounts" and I've been assuming it's because of the same intention to carry friends out of ELO Hell. Is that fair though? Now gold and higher players are playing smurfs in bronze to carry their friends, but they're being recognized as having a lower ELO than their main account. Is it fair for a player in his promo from bronze III to II or from II to I to be pinned up against potential Gold or higher players because the game recognizes them as equals? Wouldn't that ruin the experience of the game for newer ranked players?

6 Comments

tTops10/17/2014, 4:10:26 PM2 votes

Overall, I would have to say no, it is not fair. Coming from the SC2 community and having been in LoL for a few years now, I understand how frustrating smurfing can be. Unfortunately, there is no easy way to simply say "you aren't allowed to smurf", or even safely say "we know for certain this account is a smurf account", so it's a touchy subject and can be hard to address.

Looking at things more analytically, if you are only playing solo (no duo), there is an equal chance that you get placed on the smurf's team as there is being placed on the opposing team. If the smurf is duoing, and you're also duoing, well you can't be on the same team.

Something to realize is that if the smurf is consistently winning, they will eventually begin playing with silver then golds and if they want to remain at a bronze account level, they would need to throw a bunch of games. If by chance, you are on the opposing team of the smurf every game, over the course of many games, you will regain the lost lp (and yes, I realize how absurdly unlikely that is). Because of this, looking at LP gains or win-loss, smurfing doesn't actually have a big effect on the player spread or community as a whole.

So even though there are smurfs, and feeders, trolls, afkers, given the seemingly randomness of match-making, they actually don't have a game breaking impact on ladder progression. Just focus on playing the best game you can every game and I assure you, you will climb (and if you don't climb right away, you *will improve as a player and climb eventually).

FB: /ifmAries YT: /tboi3000

Aithos10/17/2014, 4:17:54 PM1 votes

To keep it simple: they aren't smurfs, they are insecure about their skill level and they want you to think they are there by choice and they are actually good. People don't smurf in bronze that are gold+, it takes too long to level so unless you're a streamer doing a climb challenge (bronze-challenger) and someone gives you an account you're probably not smurfing.

The simplest way to tell is to look at win rate and number of games. A real smurf will have very low games played and a high win rate, if someone has over 50 games and is bronze they aren't a smurf.

I've seen plenty of people in silver claim to be smurfs too, then they play like a silver player and even if they have a decent game it's obvious they aren't smurfing. I'm a platinum 3s player and I've played ranked 3s and 5s on teams against diamond 1 and challenger players, I know what high MMR play looks like and it's really obvious when you have seen it first hand.

Aithos10/17/2014, 4:27:30 PM1 votes

Oh, forgot to mention: even if they were smurfs it's totally fair. You aren't going to run into players like that consistently and you're just as likely to get one on your team. If you're facing people better than you it's the fastest way to get better. When you notice someone destroying you, pay very close attention to WHY and HOW and then use that information.

Last season I was new and cocky, I tanked my MMR down well into bronze and was silver 5 at least 25 games under 50%. Then I started focusing on mastering my champion pool, learning to farm and dying less and got back to 50% super fast and got to silver iv. I was playing better but I hovered at 50% for most of the season (although I didn't play a ton of solo queue games).

I had been watching a streamer since early s3 (Mahyar) and he was diamond solo queue and challenger 3s. I started playing 3s and the team environment, faster pace and less forgiving style of gameplay really helped. I was routinely facing gold and platinum solo queue players in silver and gold 3s teams and my mechanics and laning improved tremendously. Once I locked in gold rewards (this was the last week of the season) I spent the last few days of s3 climbing solo queue. I had a win rate over 70% and I went from silver v (where I decayed on accident) to silver I in a little over two days. I'd have made gold but clamping and the season ending stopped my push.

I haven't played much this season either (focused on 3s and playing other games) but I'm making a push again and this year I'll easily make gold and hopefully platinum. I attribute that mostly to just playing people who kicked my ass and being forced to be better.