Am I the only new player in this game?

Seth Sonson·1/31/2018, 6:04:13 PM·4 votes·443 views

I just started playing.I've played Dota and Heroes so I have a sense of the game. So I'm level 15 and all people talk about is thier "Mains" rank. At what point do i get to play with people more on my level of skill? Playing with people that are doing ranked kind of wrecks this game for me just starting out at level 15,and while I'm sure playing the best gets me better faster I feel like I'm not really playing a game just being there while elite players play around me.

Also,while I thin k I do alright we lose anyway(i could guess because another new player goes against a ranked player). Is this just the way this game works?Or does it ever get better?

Lossing 75% of my games is getting a bit old and the robots are too easy to be fun.

13 Comments

Der Lindwurm1/31/2018, 6:20:10 PM4 votes

I have trouble believing you're actually new and not trolling. I was pretty sure there haven't been any actually new players since 2014 or 2015.

I contacted Riot support recently about the prevalence of smurfs and how they are either having fun at the expense of genuinely new players who feel bullied out of the game, or are boosting other players, which is wrecking matchmaking and elo boosting is supposed to be a reportable offense. Or so they say. This is the response I got:

I understand how frustrating this is, and while I can't speak for any future plans, know that smurfing is not against the rules as players are allowed to make a new account whenever they wish. That said, unfortunately, I'm not part of the design team, so I can't make use of your concerns. However, I would recommend you share this concern on the boards and see what others think about it. We often have Riot employees visit the boards to see what the community is talking about.

I can't say I've ever seen any evidence that Riot employees pay any attention whenever anyone broaches this issue, and I certainly haven't ever seen any of them comment on concerns such as yours.

Ori On A Grande1/31/2018, 6:48:44 PM3 votes

Yes you are the ONLY new player. You uncovered the first part of Riot's plan.

Proxy3451/31/2018, 6:47:40 PM2 votes

Most likely yes lol

This game is mainly filled with smurfs and post level 30 players lol

spidey2711/31/2018, 8:20:49 PM2 votes

Its a free to play game so naturally you will come against a lot of smurfs. I started playing back in December and was getting beat around a lot as well but have reached the average skill level recently. Just got a put a bit of time into it.

Rayjay Redfang1/31/2018, 6:39:36 PM2 votes

I recommend trying out arams until you get comfortable with the games mechanics, items, and champions. Aram is a mode where you are all in one lane and battle the whole match. Same objective of destroying the Nexus, but you don't have to worry about farming. Generally arams are a lot of fun too because you are randomly selected a champion that you own.

Twisted treeline is also a good place to play.

Once you know what items do, and what a lot of champions do, summoners rift matches should be better.

Besteau1/31/2018, 8:31:20 PM2 votes

Yeah surfing can definitely be frustrating. I want to say 5 man queuing would help your invisible mmr but I have also experienced playing on a team with a silver-gold average and the enemy team had 2 diamonds a plat player, unranked and a bronze 5.

Good luck.

Enselus1/31/2018, 10:34:25 PM1 votes

There's two pre-30 MMRs, basically: smurfs and actual new players

You're way better than an actually new player because you're experienced with the mechanics of MOBAs, so it places you with smurfs.

lolibus1/31/2018, 9:42:16 PM1 votes

Solo Ranked is more balanced or should I say the only somewhat balanced thing in this game, the pre 30 experience is terrible.

HalcyonDweller1/31/2018, 10:14:26 PM1 votes

If you're new to the game but not new to MOBAs then you will get matched with other people who are also familiar with MOBAs. Riot's matchmaking systems are really good at spotting experienced MOBA players so that it can match them together and avoid ruining actual new players' experiences by getting matched against them.

League has a large population of players who make alternate accounts, so you're bound to run into them if you're already skilled in playing MOBAs.

FrankSauce1/31/2018, 10:23:51 PM1 votes

I've been on and off with this game since beta and I can say that the community in general is just comprised of a stronger pool of players now. Like 2 years ago I was a Gold 3 player, now a days I'd be lucky to make it out of Silver. It's just a rough game to get into right now because it's been out for so long. You can get decent at it if you're persistent but honestly IMO your match making will get better in ranked. Even if you end up at Bronze V, you'll still have a better chance of getting matched up with players around your skill level than if you play normals. In normal draft sometimes I get matched up w/ plat and diamond players on their plat/diamond accounts. They got the border on the load screen and it's like "wtf is this matchmaking???" So just tough it out and play ranked when you hit 30 and I think you'll find the matchmaking a little more balanced.

It seems like in normals the matchmaking is just all over the place.

vimaid1/31/2018, 6:31:52 PM1 votes

I'm new