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Can we please be rated on some performance curve?

AtheistGuy1·11/25/2015, 9:57:24 PM·1 votes·662 views

It's been suggested before with the common retort being that it would encourage selfishness, and that games can be won a variety of ways. But why? Everyone agrees you don't just go on massive kill streaks to win every game, but we also agree, for example, the tank should take as much damage as possible and keep lots of people CC'd as long as possible. There are definitively positive moves that help you win no matter what the game is. Don't tell me a ward revealing a fairly large chunk of fog and a couple champs isn't helpful, because we all know it is. We can all imagine situations where doing damage to towers does more harm than good, but we struggle to imagine how daisy chaining the ADC with stuns in a team fight would.

We already grade people's performance in games. And with the new Ranked queue coming in soon, it'll be easier than ever before to tell whether that's AP Nunu being beaten to death or Tank Nunu. If Tank Nunu is doing his job brilliantly (By taking damage, CC, slowing people, etc.) why should he suffer full LP losses because Fiora decided to 1v1 Mundo the fifth time in a row? We all agree you shouldn't be able to gain LP after losing games, but can't we also agree you shouldn't lose the full amount when, as far as the grading system would be concerned, you're performing above your team's average?

11 Comments

Deep Terror Nami11/25/2015, 10:50:21 PM3 votes

If you know certain match statistics improve your LP or MMR gains, that's what people will focus on instead of killing the Nexus. You already said that using KDA like that will encourage selfish play, but so will any other stat;

Taking damage? Just go take damage for no reason and heal it up

Healing? Spam heals on a high HP tank instead of saving the carry

Warding? Just drop a ward on CD wherever you're standing at the time

Dealing damage? Focus tanks

CC? Just hit whoever is closest. Usually a tank.

Objectives? Ignore your team as they lose every 4v5 because you want to take a tier 2 tower

This is a team game, and the only point that matters is the Nexus kill. You can argue little things about how getting more of each is good, but if it isn't actually helping win the game then you are being greedy and harming your team. Giving people Rank bonuses for their in-game stats would single-handedly ruin the game.

Sightless6611/26/2015, 3:13:42 AM2 votes

can't we also agree you shouldn't lose the full amount when, as far as the grading system would be concerned, you're performing above your team's average?

If the system could judge that fairly, then sure, but I don't think our current ranking systems are even close to being able to do that.

The big problem I see with introducing LP modification based on this kind of ranking is that you have to start making a bunch of arbitrary judgements about the relative value of each stat to each champion, and that's practically guaranteed to be unfair to certain champions. I mean, think about someone like Bard. He can do good damage if he's in a game where he is fed, but if he's not fed, he can play amazingly, make great saves, have great initiations, have great magical journeys, and still have absolutely atrocious stats. He could play twice as well while having half the damage, because that's just how Bard works. Is it really fair to screw him out of more LP than other champions just because his playstyle doesn't achieve the same numerical results? How could we possibly fairly measure his performance in a way that doesn't dick around a lot of players?

The basic idea is, numbers don't capture the essence of who was playing best. Qualities like who properly engaged fights, who avoided being caught out at important times, who managed to pick off that really fed enemy, who peeled enemies properly, etc. These are all extremely important in determining performance, but they can't be accurately measured numerically. For classes who rely on these types of mechanics, ensuring that different champions are fairly treated and that skillful play is accurately recognized is pretty much impossible.

Losing LP because of an AFK may not be very fun, but at least it's fair to every champion and playstyle. No one is getting the short end of the stick just because they played something that a ranking system doesn't like.

So, yeah, it would be really nice to get LP or lose LP based on our preformance, but first we have to find a way of fairly measuring performance. Right now, the problems we would introduce by just slapping the current ranking system would heavily outweigh any potential benefits.

AtheistGuy111/25/2015, 11:25:29 PM1 votes

Except people who go AFK. And ignoring the fact that the average win rate is less than 50%