Reminder Riot's Ranked Placement system is Illogical

Does it bother no one else that this game's ranked placement system for all queues is illogical and extremely inconsistent? League of Legends is the most popular game in the world yet their ranked system has many flaws. Specifically in this post talking about the ranked placement system. Before I start, yes I am salty about my placements but not because of "get good scrub" just the fact that the system works the way it does.

Look.... I have played this game for many years. I have never been close to great at this game never will. I am not writing this because I think I deserve plat/diamond/challenger/ whatever. Only because I am sick of how this system works and how inconsistent it is. If you are a new player just jumping into ranked you would have no idea how placements work and it takes years to see the system's inconsistencies.

So for any mode (right now flex queue, solo/duo, flex 3v3) you play 10 placement matches. After those matches you get a starting rank. Placement is based off your starting mmr, the players mmr you play, and your record. We also know ranks reset at the start of every season. Naturally, with rank resets players are expected to drop in rank. That's fine.... I have no problem with that as it is expected. My problem with it is this. The drop is VERY INCONSISTENT. How.... how.. can the game mess placements up so badly? We already have our prior season mmr how can there be a literal TIER (5 divisions) or more difference in starting ranks after 10.... ONLY 10... games with players who have the same starting mmr? Its just illogical and here is why.

This games ranked system is a literal ladder. Unlike other games... you can only be placed up to gold tier if you are on a new account. And plat 1 is highest placement rank at the start of season for challenger/master high diamond players. So basically each season the game expects you to climb. This makes sense as seasons are a year long. It is a common expression in League you need to play a few hundred games to find your true rank on the ladder. OK. So now that we know that. Why the hell are placements so damn inconsistent and f'd up?

Since we know it takes literally hundreds of games to find your true rank then why the hell does 10 "magical" placement games decide our starting rank so much? I say "magical" because that is all it is. You don't get to decide who you face, but the game judges you based off your opponents mmr. Yes... if you win you should face higher mmr people but that's not guaranteed and also is extremely flawed. Anyone who has played a few seasons knows the first what? 2-3 games are most important? After that... rest don't really matter as much. If you lose your first few your f'd. Nothing you can do. Game pegs you as lower mmr players so basically you going to drop more than compared to someone who wins their first few. You both could literally have the exact same record but someone who has same starting mmr and wins their first couple games will start higher on the ladder than you just because they won a couple early games in their placements.

Forgetting for a second that placement games are pretty irrelevant for bronze players as they just placed bronze anyways. Same as high elo players as they are placed plat 1 (at least at start of the season). But placements get really damn crazy in like plat-gold. Maybe part of diamond? Not really sure never been diamond and I won't consider silver since it generally not as much of a difference. But gold & plat (sounds like plat more than anyone) can get really dang screwed in just 10 games.

**My Personal Experience: ** This is my personal experience of why League's placement system really makes me mad. I have recently seen players who were the same rank & mmr as me in season 6 be placed a LITERAL TIER higher than me because of 10 "magical" games. I was gold 3 at the end of last season and after doing poor in my placements (2-8) I dropped to bronze 1. Now for anyone who thinks this is justified... your not understanding the big picture. Meanwhile I am sure these other players did really well in their placements so they start silver 1 instead of bronze 1. NOW why this is such a big deal. YES I understand if you deserve a certain rank you will work your way up there eventually. And yes I am also aware of high starting mmr and increased lp gains. BUT lets talk for a second about motivation. Now... if I am someone who tries hard, gets lucky (definitely luck involved in placements) and you do well in placements and don't drop too far from your prior rank how is that going to make you feel? Pretty good I would assume. Now you are playing with players if you do really well who probably were higher rank than you at the start of the season. Good motivation to try and play well isn't it? Chance to prove yourself verse these other players. Meanwhile you could have someone like me who doesn't get lucky in placements and drops farther than he ever has in placements before. Now playing with lower elo players than you used to. How does it make you feel? Well I can tell you frustrated and unmotivated. Did I and do I know I can get back to mid gold? Yea.... I did it 3 fucking times last season. I have other accounts if I want to f around in bronze and climb many divisions then I would do that. Is that what I wanted to do this season? NO. So pretty much ruined my season right there. Before it even really started. You know the other part that is insanely hilarious and proves their system is a joke? My bronze account from last season (fine it was silver 5) started placements with a Silver 5 mmr. Guess what? IT GOT PLACED IN THE EXACT SAME SPOT AS MY MAIN ACCOUNT! Yup... S5 to bronze 1...... https://na.op.gg/summoner/userName=king0fbr0nz3

Now if that was your main account you would probably be super happy only dropping one division. For me? I was pissed! I was looking forward to that account dropping into low bronze since that is what it's for. I was pissed because WTF is an account that has over a tier higher starting mmr doing in the exact same division as this one? Like... honestly wtf Riot.

Another thing about motivation quick. My buddy last season hadn't touched League in like a year. He waited until the fall to do placements and got placed in gold from like silver 2 (season 5 rank). Only reason, HE ADMITS THIS, he played season 6 was because he started in gold. He grinned his way with his fresh placed high starting mmr account from gold 5 to plat 5 rocking some support. Now am I saying he didn't deserve to reach plat? No that's not what I am saying. Just saying the only reason he even tried and was motivated to keep playing IS because he started in gold. He said if he started in silver he wasn't going to play because he hates the silver to gold grind. AND THAT'S WHERE I AM AT!

And it's the same bs with the other queues as well. Do well in your placements get placed somewhere in gold and never touch it again. Or don't and be forced to grind your life away in some other queues trying to get the extra rewards. I don't think there are many people out there who don't realize what a joke flex queues ranked variance is. But seeing as how I magically also ended in bronze in that and knowing how shitty those games are going to be no way I am playing that queue except to f around with friends.

Riot also ruined 3v3 flex for me. I was super excited about it, knew I could reach gold in it easily. For some reason I trusted Riot when they said "if you play matches now during preseason your reset won't be affected as much". Or w/e bs they said. So after getting placed like S3 in 3v3 for preseason I ranked up to s1 really quickly. I stopped because I couldn't get rewards anyways since it was preseason. I redid placements literally couple days later and dropped to silver 5..... Now the reason this made me mad is because THEY LITERALLY PUT SHITTERS IN GOLD ALL THE TIME that don't even know 3v3 at all. How do I know? I STOMP THEM ALL THE TIME. Meanwhile I am supposed to grind 100+ games to reach my actual elo in a mode because? Magical bs? Yup... NO! Not this time Riot. I used to waste my life on doing this shit but I am over it. Maybe I make it back to gold in solo/duo for your laughable victorious skin reward. Maybe not.... all I know is this game has a serious problem when it comes to placement games.

TL, DR. Placements are dumb. No reason anyone who has a prior season rank should be placed more than 3 divisions (and that is a 10-0 vs 0-10) than someone who has the same starting mmr just because of 10 "magical" placement games.