Dynamic Queue and Teamwork

In case you're not already aware, Riot has taken an official, no-holds-barred stance on the Dynamic/SoloQ issue, visible here. I am somebody that read through all that there was to read and watched the video from beginning to end, and -- in all of the time that I have played, before Mordekaiser was even added to the game -- Riot has not yet put forth an official stance that has turned me off from League as much as now.

We agree dynamic queue standings don’t reflect pure individual skill as well as a solo ladder, but they also don’t inhibit competitive team experiences, and that’s a trade-off we want to make.

It's not "it's a trade-off we're willing to make", or "it's a trade-off that we have to make", but one that they want to make. I have rarely ever queued up with friends and -- when I do -- it's usually because I was coerced into doing so rather than what I genuinely want; I have been a solo player from the very beginning, and now League of Legends has taken a stance that my expression of skill is nothing more than collateral damage that they're willing to sacrifice for the sake of bringing a more teamwork-oriented experience.

There's also this point of the video for even further reference, specifically "[...] the meaning of ranked in League of Legends includes team-play, and that's the world we're in, that's the world that we're going to stand by."

It's galling. It's alienating. I don't like it... but I can acknowledge it, at least. If that's the direction to take, then I hear it and I suppose ranked just isn't for me anymore.

But has it been considered that DynamicQ doesn't gracefully improve upon that teamwork-oriented experience? That "the meaning of ranked" -- emphasis on teamplay -- deteriorates with the inclusion of 2/3/4-mans?

When you have five people of SoloQ players thrust into an unfamiliar environment, it's a situation of necessary mutual trust. You don't know them, they don't know you, and that's part of the glue that binds everyone together throughout the match; there's no reason to suspect that a person on your team is of lesser capability from the onset unless they demonstrate it in-game... and then you adapt. You want to win and you likely won't see them too often again anyway in circumstances that matter, so you roll with how things unfold and win the game.

But premades are not like that.

Premade groups are miniature teams within themselves. The binding force that brings all of the teammates together in a purely SoloQ environment does not exist between them, because there is no longer "us (friendly team) vs them (enemy team)", but "us (premade) and them (friendly team) vs them (enemy team)". It is no longer one team against another team, but a loose coalition of smaller (premade) teams aligned towards similar goals, and I can say rather certainly that -- while the experience for the premade teams was likely improved when they queued up together -- I have rarely if ever found my gameplay enriched by the experience, and I never feel so distanced from my "team" -- never felt as removed from teamwork or team-play -- as when everyone but me is in a group of their own.

I honestly don't care if I get matched up against a team of Ranked 5's. I don't really much care about what goes on on the enemy team, and I even find it rather interesting to get constantly ganked and see the kind of coordination that comes from it from a group that is so well-rehearsed, even when my team doesn't display the same measure of coordination. If you can toss a group of five solo-players against a group of 5's, I would gladly put myself on the group of solos. Please understand, then, that my upset about DynamicQ is not that I have a slightly lower chance of winning against premades, but that I have to put up with the experience when they're on my team. When I am considered expendable dead-weight before the game even begins because I'm little more than a random picked up from the street to fill out a roster. I'm not even talking about toxicity. Some of the worst games I've experienced gameplay-wise have had zero chat-based communication; they're all chatting in voice-chat and I'm not a part of it.

This isn't a plea to bring back SoloQ or anything -- clearly the decision's been made, and I just have to live with it -- but it would be appreciated if the negative impact premades have on teamwork -- the goal moving forward -- was considered and addressed. Premades -- at least those below a full 5-man -- only superficially promote teamwork, incentivizing and emphasizing the established group at the expense of the team's whole, and I am concerned that this is not always immediately obvious in analysis.