Why the hell does LCS get special treatment?

AbstracT Theory··108 votes·6,037 views

LCS has some skins banned because they make it harder to play against and the skins somewhat buff your champion, LCS has new champions temporarily banned, LCS has changes halted before those changes went into worlds in season 4.

Where is our special treatment? If it wasnt for the community this game wouldnt even be here right now. You guys need to start treating normal ranked games as if they were the LCS.

I cant wait to not play ranked for 2 weeks on tahm release because nobody knows how to play him but they are going to pick him anyways. Ban him right? But what about sejuani gragas and nunu? just a waste.

99 Comments

Phoenix Kotori 37 votes

Because the LCS has hundreds of thousands of dollars at stake in it's matches, while ranked games do not have any money on the line.

Though they should still block new (or heavily reworked) champion from ranked for 2 weeks anyways, while asking them to ban skins wouldn't happen and would draw huge protest from people who brought it.

ProfDrDeath13 votes

Or require Mastery level 3 for newly released/reworked champions to play in ranked in the first two weeks.

Level 3 means you've played at least some games with the champion, and have at least a decent understanding how it works (level 3 = 5+ wins with good ratings).

T RexHasTinyArms11 votes

Mastery rating doesn't reflect skill with a champion though or it would just read win percentage. The biggest issue is that require ring mastery would limit champion pools for ranked: I don't mind playing a restricted pool, but I'm not leveling 16 champs to rank 3 just to play ranked.

Edit: My bad didn't realize you said only required in the first two weeks. As long as you don't need to have mastery points on a champ to play ranked w/ them you can just wait a week or two and save the IP cost when they drop after week one anyway. Still worth noting that mastery still is not reflective of skill so it's setting up for disappointments.

Gavran2 votes

A champion having been purchasable for a while is no better indicator of skill with them, though.

T RexHasTinyArms2 votes

Which is kinda my point. If neither is a good indicator of skill why require the additional time or mastery points to let someone play something in ranked? Just let people play stuff right away, or if you do this to cave to people complaining the make it not a permanent requirement, and we can have the same issue 2 weeks in.

Gavran2 votes

I largely agree. Most of these people ought to realize, if they're as good as they think they are, they'd be higher ranked than the kind of person who plays a champion in ranked for the first time.

T RexHasTinyArms2 votes

Eh, I play a bots game to read the skills and have an idea what the hotbox on skills might be, but all the champs I've picked up recently were learned entirely in ranked. Might be why I haven't made it past low gold but I'm pretty sure it is just that I'm not good enough to carry past low gold.

Gavran2 votes

The thing is "not good enough to carry past low gold" is 100% the same as "I'm a low gold player."

Nothing wrong with that - almost certainly better than I could do - but it is what it is.

T RexHasTinyArms3 votes

Yeah, that's what I was saying though. Stuck in low gold bc I'm a low gold player, not bc I play champs in ranked that I have never played pvp before.

OyddAWqJ5r2 votes

He never mentioned anything about skill. Just that they had to be level 3 which typically means they've played 5 or more games with that champion and have a grasp of what they're doing.

If you had to be a certain skill level with a champ to play it then Bronzes wouldn't be allowed to play ranked at all due to not having 16 champs they are skilled with.

Hawkefire2 votes

Its not like Riot would lose any money by preventing people from playing new champs in ranked for the first week or 2.

TheXtractor2 votes

I guess the millions of paying players of league of legends have no money on the line right :P. Why do you think Riot can even afford to pump so much money into esports? because of their paying playerbase.

Vistha Kai22 votes

They don't have new champions banned. They are entire patch behind.

DrCyanide1 votes

Only 1 week behind, then new champions are banned for a week or two after that (can't remember which). The change was made this season.

ChaoticPinecone4 votes

actually, its the other way around - it used to be that champions were autobanned for a while after the patch went to the LCS stage, but they changed it so it isnt.

http://na.lolesports.com/articles/changes-2015-lcs-official-rules

"In the past, the delay between the live patch and LCS play was two weeks, while new champions and reworks were disabled for one month. After consulting with teams and in an effort to make competitive play align more consistently with what’s available to all players, we are shortening our new champion/rework activation cadence to two weeks"

And the 2 weeks isnt an additional two weeks after the patch hits the stage. Ekko was released 5/28/15. He was first played on 6/13/15.

DrCyanide2 votes

OK, so 1 week after the patch goes live for everyone the LCS plays on it, then the week after that the LCS can play the new champion.

TehNACHO18 votes

[{quoted}](name=Eye Of Godzic,realm=NA,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=vOAowKfE,comment-id=,timestamp=2015-07-08T20:07:28.574+0000)

LCS has new champions temporarily banned, LCS has changes halted before those changes went into worlds in season 4.

This is because the LCS is lagging behind by an entire patch, contrary to what your tin foil hat is telling you.

Jabs aside, did you really think new champions are banned from the LCS for a short amount of time?

Angry Monster6 votes

actually they are. they are disabled for 2 weeks after the patch hits tourny realm.

Jeddy0172 votes

2? Isn't just for 1 week?

ChaoticPinecone4 votes

no they arent. they are disabled for 2 weeks from general release. Ekko was released on 5/28. TL (iwilldominate) played him on 6/13.

Rinky Dinky2 votes

They literally are but ok

Retillin2 votes

They are behind a patch to check for bugs. Hence the argument OP was making.

Mandang02 votes

If Riot wanted to have the players play on the most recent patch, they could certainly arrange it. They don't push for this because it's gimmicky to throw the new champ into competitive play before the pros have had time to learn it on live.

Durzaka9 votes

The skins are far more for the crowd than the players.

It isnt any harder for them to dodge an iBlitzcrank hook or Underworld TF Q, but it is A LOT harder for the crowd to see.

Champions shouldnt be allowed in ranked on their release week, we have been saying that forever. But the only reason they arent allowed in the LCS is because they are playing a full patch behind. As soon as the go to the patch that has Tahm Kenth enabled they will be allowed to pick him just like we can as soon as he is enabled.

Linthe7 votes

You didnt lose because of iBlitzcrank. Your ADC would have been grabbed by BoomBoom a dozen times also.

LaceUp235 votes

I agree with the skins part. The rest is just bullshit though lol.

Oh, and they need to ban champs from ranked until you reach level 3 mastery with them. Would stop people from playing Tahm, or any other champ that they have 0 games total with, in ranked.

Narasimha9 votes

Oh, and they need to ban champs from ranked until you reach level 3 mastery with them. Would stop people from playing Tahm, or any other champ that they have 0 games total with, in ranked.

Unless they make it retroactive, hell no. I've been playing since s2. I know almost all the champs (still not very good with adcs..). I have absolutely no desire to go back and play them all just so I can use them in ranked.

Sinlaire2 votes

im thinking he meant to say ban NEW champs from ranked unless you're mastery level 3 from them in normals.

that way you can play them in under the 2 week ban but after you've had time to learn them.

When Ekko was released on his second day i entered into ranked and a guy insta locked ekko. He was 3rd pick and we already had an adc and top.

So he said "well i'll just jungle Ekko."

When we asked why the hell he was going jungle with Ekko when he knew we had a top a an ADC his literal words were "because i want to play him and everyone else has him insta locked in normals."

So this jackarse came into my ranked game and locked my jungle with an Ekko because everyone beat him to the draw in normals.

We won, but he didnt do so hot and the rest of the team carried.

Make master 3 on a NEW champ, or go cry in normals I say.

The Soulforged2 votes

Doesn't help with people not knowing how to play against them though.

Silents4294 votes

Because careers, the public, the money players are making etc. There is an actual stake in comparison to casual players playing ranked.

Stop feeling entitled to more then you deserve.

hitborn6 votes

But why wouldn't you want the game to be equal on ALL levels of play instead of making the best seem like they're playing their own different game?

Llanite4 votes

People watch LCS. They don't watch your 'ranked' matches.

Since no one watch your games, it's one 'you' vs other players, who also have the full right to use their newly acquired skin or champs. Did I mention that acquiring skin/champ also brings income?

TLDR: 'YOU' don't get the special treatment due to being low on level of importance.

SuperJediNinja3 votes

TREAT BONZE GAMES LIKE LCS PLS

kynysallop3 votes

To everyone suggesting that people should just need a mastery level 3 for newly released champs in order to play them in ranked, its not just about how well the person playing the champ knows how to play, its about how others know to counterplay.You also run into the problem of, with someone like tahm, an adc not knowing what his ult does, and then wasting tahm's ult.

I do agree that riot should keep people from playing new champs in ranked, but not for the same reasons. People that have Pbe accounts end up theoretically having an advantage until people learn.

LCS gets special treatment because there's a lot more than just a small amount of LP at stake.

Lucifer3 votes

Fun fact, if you're color blind, underworld TFs cards are almost impossible to see.

HateDaddy3 votes

Tbh, that's why riot increased the IP price on new champs to 7300 or whatever it is now for the first week, to discourage people from purchasing them right off the bat and waiting to save a boatload of IP by getting them the following week. It is honestly effective, it's not nearly as bad as it used to be tbh. But to be fair, back when this was more problematic, champions were much easier to play.

I don't think they should ban them from ranked play, honestly they get their best feedback from ranked completion and ranked is the highest level of that outside of LCS. It's why you shouldn't really focus on winrates for the first week or two (unless they're incredibly high, then you know there's a problem) because it takes people forever to learn how to play them, play with them and against them. The truth is, at its highest level, that's how we learn about new champions and their capabilities so quickly. Sure, people will spam them in blind and normals galore but that's nota very accurate assessment because we know a lot of people don't take blind pick or even normal drafts seriously. So ranked data from the first two weeks alone is going to give you a much better perspective on a champions power level, difficulty to play and play with/against assessment than normals will, even though in all probability there's twice as many notmals played than ranked.

It's a double edged sword but it's a greater good for champion balancing, and after all we are in an ever changing game. Balance changes happen every patch, item changes on occasion and game mechanics even change. Do you want riot to disable all the ap items for a week after this? What about devourer? What about ADCs when the attack move command changed? This is an ever changing game that is patched every two weeks, you need to expect change and you can't exclude new champions from that because then you'd need to start making exceptions for other major changes, which is hilariously stupid to do and it would be hypocritical as hell to say you can't do that with other major changes but you can do it with champions.

In short, get over it. It's a part of the game and I'll give you a piece of advice: ban it. This stops your teammates from picking it if you're worried about them feeding with it. It can be frustrating because other bans might feel more important but it's pretty important to understand winning and losing too and if I think my teammate first timing a new champion in my ranked game increases my chances of losing, well, I dont chance it. I ban it and tell them to eat shit if they complain.

TotalJerk2 votes

No, they increase the price for the first week to encourage you to get them with RP if you want them THAT BAD.

Gavran3 votes

You guys need to start treating normal ranked games as if they were the LCS.

Is this satire? This has to be satire.

But sure, I'll play.

Under the new rule of ranked = LCS you need to get way the hell better than you are or you're not allowed to play anymore. Also, I don't know how you've been playing without a 5 man premade but this ends now. By the way, you're going to have to come on down to California every time you want to play. Oh - and you'll have to wait in line - Riot only has so many employees you know and there's a lot of staff work to do for each game!

Mandang02 votes

Yes, because equating everything about pro matches and our matches is a core part of the OP's argument... eye roll

Look, if you're going to have a sport/esport/game/whatever be played professionally, it does your fanbase good to have the game be the same fundamentally as the one they're playing. We're talking about one specific example of which patch gets played on in this thread, but it's true in general. If Riot decided tomorrow to take away all bans from the game, but left them in for pros, it would be equally suspect. You don't see this type of discrepancy between professional and casual scenes of other sports/esports (well, except that basketball allows travels and flops, but I digress).

If Riot really thought such an environment was healthy for their competitive scene, they could easily have LCS games on the newest patch. The reason they don't (bugs, poorly balanced releases, worse games when pros don't know how the new champ works) is just as valid for our games. The fact that I'm not a pro doesn't change any of this. The chief argument against is just "but I want it noooooow", it's nothing deeper than that. (And the champion just happens to cost more IP the first week it's out - I'm sure that's just a coincidence, right?).

Tryhard Mittens3 votes

Why does the NBA get to use planes when my highschool team had to take the bus? ... ... item 3070

diamondlight2 votes

Seriously. It's about time I was invited on a private jet for watching the NFL. I mean shouldn't everyone get to go to Super Bowl for free since we pay for cable?

DrCyanide2 votes

I can understand why they don't freeze the live ranked environment at the end of the season. It'd bascially have everyone downloading two versions of League (or the current League and the changes to revert it back to the old), and it'd be too big of a mess.

The rest? Yes please!

rockdalian2 votes

Actually saw a vid a few skins do give an advantage/disadvantage all the skins with sunglasses takes 1 less damage from leona's solar flare lol rest is just slightly smaller or bigger champs(hit boxes stay same) cause miss aims on skill shots rarely

EndlessSorcerer2 votes

Differing skill animations can also have an effect.

For example, I believe that iBlitzcrank's Q is harder to see than the default skin (though I may be misremembering).

All-in-all, any differences are so minor that they won't actually have an effect at most levels of play.

Zahz2 votes

but if everyone picks him then both teams will have one that do not know him so it would even out anyway

Solaxo2 votes

Because $$$

Biffolo2 votes

Because we suck at the game? We aren't good enough for those skins to matter. The new champ thing im whatever towards, seeing as it's 50/50 to how that goes.

Joe Dredd2 votes

What skins are banned

diamondlight1 votes

Are you out of your mind? LCS is a pro-circuit. It's the NBA/NFL/MLB of League.

Why doesn't Robert Goddell come over to my house to talk about NFL player policies? Uhhh, hmm I wonder. Why does the NFL influence college football and ultimately little league? I wonder.... hmmm. No instant replay and coach initiated "challenges" in college? Wrong, NFL did it, and guess what, college ended up doing it too. Should they take a vote from all the football fans that buy hotdogs, tickets, cable to watch it, buy fan gear, jerseys, bobble heads -- that all end up making money for the NFL? Nope, they don't take a vote.

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