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What exactly is the difference between ranked and normals?

L Psy Kongroo··1 votes·4,015 views

I see so many people place such a high emphasis on rank. But if you compare the skill levels of someone who has played 3000 normal games vs. a diamond player (assuming they're not boosted), will you really find any noticeable difference?

People harass me all the time for not having a rank. But I just don't see the point in playing ranked when it's the exact same game with the exact same rules. It's just that in ranked, if you win enough times, you get a shiny border around your name. But if I go out and play 3K normal games, learn all I can about the game, improve my skills on my own, etc., are my skills really inferior to a high elo player?

I'm using 3K as an example because I feel like that's the number of games you need to play to truly have a grasp of every single dynamic this game has to offer. Maybe not to the extent of an LCS player, but definitely enough to achieve the status of "high elo".

What's the deal here? Is it the fact that people in ranked have PROVEN their skill? If so, does the number of normal games played really mean that little to people? Besides, just because you have a high rank doesn't mean you're good at the game. You could, as mentioned before, be boosted. Or maybe you play a single role exclusively and, while having an expert grasp of what that role entails, you'd be dead weight if placed outside your comfort zone. Or maybe you just got exceedingly lucky during your climb and/or know how to game the system.

My point is, there are plenty of reasons why a high ranked individual might not deserve their rank. In that case, is the individual really more skilled than the person who just plays normals all the time?

20 Comments

Mysticman895 votes

If you've played 3k games at a diamond level, then sure, you're probably functionally diamond even if you don't play ranked.

However, theres plenty of people who'll play 3k games at a bronze level, and remain oblivious to all the depth and complexities to the game, and think various strategies work (and they feel certain since it's from experience) but they don't actually work at higher levels of play.

There also people who people who'll play 3k matches, including hundreds against diamond ranked players, and then fall into the trap of thinking they're playing at a diamond level, which doesn't actually follow in normals. Theres loads of people who screw around in normals, and hence aren't playing their best role/champs, so despite being diamond ranked, they're actually playing at a gold level in normals for example.

To a 3rd party who only sees that you have 3k normals under your belt, they have no at a glance means of knowing which of those 3 categories you fall into. They can try to assess the validity of what you're saying directly (and people probably always should regardless of ranks involved), but in some cases unless the reader is themselves diamond+, they might not actually be able to tell if the gameplay discussion is actually sound and meaningful, or if theres some subtle things that make the points less valid in practice, or if it's a 'true in bronze, not at all true in diamond' thing, or what. (It's hard to know even yourself which category you really fall into, given the nature of normals where people aren't necessarily ever tryharding.)

If someone sees a diamond (or ideally master/challenger/pro) player state something about gameplay, it can sometimes be reasonable to accept what they're saying as true, and if it doesn't seem to be at first, to dig into a bit and try to figure out why it is true, since less experienced/skilled players may not see all the pieces at first glance. Of course, theres plenty of kinda trolly arrogant diamonds (esp diamond 5s) who should probably be ignored, but as a guideline, rank should correlate with game knowledge/skill.

Sometimes people will be boosted and don't deserve their rank yes, but the higher the rank, the harder it is to actually get boosted there, and besides that there is a certain skill to letting yourself be carried. Some people who are actually kinda decent just can't stand to stand by and let themselves get carried, and instead go for personal glory which costs them the game even if there is a god trying their hardest to boost them. Similarly there are probably people who are pretty awful at the game who are good at listening to someone trying to boost them, and they might actually make it higher since they could listen to the person calling the shots.

Nothing short of master+ really confirms that someone is truly skilled and knowledgable about the game, but ones ranked rank is a reasonable at a glance check is all, while it's hard to tell what one has learned from normals.

(Also, consider what one might learn from playing co-op vs AI. It's still the same game, with the same champs, with the same abilities, and same rules but I'm pretty sure almost everyone would agree that PvP is an entirely different experience and no amount of co-op vs ai games would make you a diamond player. The difference between normals and ranked can be thought of as similar.)

oSEXYPLATYPUSo3 votes

you can play normals and be a good player and not care to play rank... but those who are higher diamond and up for the most part are just more skilled in general then MAJORITY of the player base...

i am ok at this game... if im focus and play well i can hold my own depending on the role vs high golds and some plats . i dont play rank cuz i dont care about it... but i have many friends i do play with who are diamonds and there is a difference and they are better at the game then most... but i know what fails me in on wanting to improve to that point is attention to detail. im not great mechanically due to some physical issues with nerve damage and dexterity. im usually pretty good with game knowledge, objectives , etc... i could improve on all that...

but sometimes i just wanna mass buttons on a fuckin video game and have fun... so i leave rank to those who think it matters... and i just enjoy the casual play of normals , fyi i have over 2500 wins in normals.

venomous frost3 votes

If you play both norms and ranked you really notice the difference,

normal has a more casual atmosphere, with people trying new champs, different items, new strategies, just messing around and throwing games on purpose,..

Ranked is a bunch of people just tryharding.

Your argument makes sense in theory, however in reality they are a world apart.

Also, you could be playing 3k norms in a silver level with 50% winrate, whether you believe it or not, you won't understand a lot of things unless you play in higher elo

oSEXYPLATYPUSo1 votes

id like to interject if i may... on a point stating that if you are lower MMR you cant understand higher level complexity of the game ...

let me offer an example if you will allow...

professional football *NFL /AMERICAN FOOTBALL * majority of the coaches in the nfl arent former pro players... some are. some played in college and were ok and worked through as a coach to make it to top level... but the point is not just cuz you arent as skilled or gifted /talented as other people dont mean you cant understand higher complexity of a sport. theory, game, etc .

and to stay with that example the current coach for the dallas cowboys is jason garrett he did make it to pros as a career 3rd team back up quarter back and he backed up a HALL OF FAME quarter back TROY AIKMAN... aikman is by far the superior player... played the game at the highest level and won , but garrett played at princeton and his highly educated and very smart but he just isnt as gifted or talented as aikman but with out being at the HIGHER ELO of pro football garrett still would understand and know enough about the game

L Psy Kongroo2 votes

[{quoted}](name=venomous frost,realm=EUW,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=zwhEaT2d,comment-id=0002,timestamp=2016-12-17T22:59:37.251+0000)

you won't understand a lot of things unless you play in higher elo

This only makes sense if you are able to recognize your own mistakes. If you lack that skill, you'll never learn, no matter if you play against silvers or diamonds. A silver player can watch a diamond player execute a bunch of complex tactical maneuvers all he wants, but if he doesn't understand how and when to apply them AND why those maneuvers are preferable to other options, there will be no progress.

This is where spamming normals games is good. Because eventually, given enough practice, the person who plays a lot of normal games WILL reach the same skill level as a diamond player. He just won't know that he's a diamond level player until he plays ranked.

BluePolarizer3 votes

Sure. He could've played 3000 games vs. bronzes.

L Psy Kongroo1 votes

{quoted}

Sure. He could've played 3000 games vs. bronzes.

3000 games vs. bronze level players vs. 30 games vs. diamond level players.............it's all the same. I'd rather player 3K games in bronze any day because there are more opportunities to learn from my mistakes.

BluePolarizer3 votes

If you have 3000 games vs. bronze players it means you are specifically not learning, otherwise you wouldn't keep playing against bronzes.

let me put it this way, to give you an idea of how good diamonds are. I'm plat 4 right now, was plat 2 before reset.

The difference between me and a bronze 5 is the difference between me and a diamond 2. A diamond 2 player, nominally only 1 tier higher than me, can stomp plats and diamond 5's like they were bronzies in a plat game.

EndlessSorcerer2 votes

Ranked is competitive while Normals are for practice/casual play.

In ranked, players are far more likely to stick to their main roles and champions rather than randomly practice something new.

Irelia Bot1 votes

level of tryhard

L Psy Kongroo1 votes

[{quoted}](name=Irelia Bot,realm=NA,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=zwhEaT2d,comment-id=0001,timestamp=2016-12-17T22:53:40.283+0000)

level of tryhard

See, people say this all the time too, but I don't think it's really the case. People may care more about a ranked win than a normals win, but the level of effort invested will still not exceed the skillcap of the player. You can only try so hard before you reach your limit potential-wise, and after that anything extra is wasted effort because you're handicapped by your amount of game knowledge.

A person who accrues copious amounts of game knowledge through playing normals will have an easier time in ranked trying to climb. That's just common sense. So it stands to reason that a person who does the same thing but DOESN'T play ranked will still be just as good as a player who does.

UltraGigaNiga1 votes

I regret reading this thread. OP have me cancer

Breaku1 votes

Why not just play ranked and see the difference?

UltraGigaNiga1 votes

{quoted}

Why not just play ranked and see the difference?

He's going to give a list of reasons such as not having time, not caring enough, etc but in reality he's just a delusional pussy.

Breaku1 votes

I mean, in his past few normals, he's faced a challenger player and a few diamonds.

I'm just wondering why he doesn't just play ranked rather than asking what the difference is.

L Psy Kongroo1 votes

{quoted}

I mean, in his past few normals, he's faced a challenger player and a few diamonds.

I'm just wondering why he doesn't just play ranked rather than asking what the difference is.

I don't play ranked because I don't give 2 fucks about the competitive aspect of this game. In my mind, ranked and normals are the same game mode. There's no real difference between them, aside from one giving you a border after a certain number of wins. I don't care for competition, I find it pointless and asinine. I have nothing to gain from playing ranked that I can't get playing normals.

I asked this question because I wanted to get the input of others on what they think about the ranked vs. normals paradigm and what makes people favor ranked over normals. I want to know why other people don't see things as I do. I'm not looking for arguments that will convince me to play ranked, because I will never, no matter how long I play this game, EVER play ranked. I just don't see the point.

It's like, why try and play basketball at a professional level when you're having just the same amount of fun playing pickup games with your friends? I play League because I enjoy the game, not because I want some digital slip of code telling me I'm X amount of points better than all these other guys. I find the whole idea of competition to be antiquated. I'm not so vain as to require self-gratification by means of social comparison on a daily basis. Ranked is a waste of my time.

Breaku1 votes

Okay, well here's the difference-

3,000 normal wins means nothing other than you've played a lot. There's no way to gauge if you've learned anything nor who the opposition was. Saying a basket ball team is 50-0 doesn't mean anything if it was a college team playing against little-leaguers. Ranked also guarantees that everyone in the game was playing their best - something that I never do in normals.

But from a gameplay standpoint, there's no difference. It's the same game, one mode just has visual scores while the other mode has the score hidden. I very rarely play normals because I enjoy seeing if I'm actually improving or not, though if I do play normals, I'm probably playing with a friend who isn't good enough to play ranked with and I'll probably be playing Soraka ADC.

Faie2 votes

AS A GENERAL RULE In Normal games, people aren't necessarily playing their best, they're having fun, learning new champs/roles, messing around, etc.

In Ranked games, everyone is playing 100% their best, and their only goal is to win. It's not to get an "S", to learn something new, no, it is to do everything in their power to win the game.

Normals and Ranked games have a world of difference.

EpicMusic1 votes

Normals - Trolls Ranked. MORE TROLLS.

/thread

xXCrashTXx1 votes

let me answer your question even though it's 3 years later,

I was also a tryhard normal player and most people in my normals are also trying hard to win it's like ranked

and then I joined ranked and got up to diamond 3 instantly in season 3 without much struggle so yeah there are high elo normal games players I just couldn't be bothered with ranked until I started playing it, that's all

nowadays I still prefer normals over ranked cause I know im high elo even in normals and that's what counts no idea what a challenger border should prove really, I can get it easily if I want to but there is not much motivation behind it or drive people in ranked play worse than in my normals just saying so I don't understand how people are praising ranked more than normals, really and as soong as I hit diamond people played like in my normals and there wasn't much of a difference

play whatever you feel like if you think you're high elo as a good normal player then you might be, yeah I also thought that all the time until I destroyed the ladders

and yes I have also 3500+ games played

a shiny diamond border proves nothing to a high elo normal games player they can have their borders for all I care I'm just at the same level as them but without border

edit: also I don't understand how people are saying the same stuff as "in normals people try stuff and have fun" they also do the same in ranked so no big difference

first time yasuo normals is like first time yasuo ranked and no, in my high elo normals they're NOT trying new fun stuff out unless you're really low elo there

have you guys ever been to high elo normals? they play better than challenger players but can't be bothered with ranked like me how else did I get up to high elo in ranked without much struggle? I was always high elo even in normals (especially in normals)

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