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Will you help make a change?

Someshta·3/31/2014, 3:18:23 AM·5 votes·555 views

We as a community need to voice our concern with how matchmaking functions with Disparate Duos. DD's destroy ranked game balance and make playing with a friend both frustrating and intensely demoralizing.

A DD is a duo consisting of players who are at least 4 divisions apart. Currently the major factor in matchmaking is equalizing both teams average MMR. When 10 solo queue players are being matched this strategy works and you end up with teams where every player is within, let's say, +/- 50 MMR of one another. To belabor the point, let's say I join the queue with a MMR of 1250 and get matched with 10 solo players. Everyone on my team and everyone on the enemy team will have a MMR between 1200 and 1300. The distribution could look something like this for my team:

P1 MMR - 1200; P2 MMR - 1225; P1 MMR - 1250; P2 MMR - 1275; P1 MMR - 1300

The average of those ratings (1200 + 1225 + 1250 + 1275 + 1300) / 5 = 1250 MMR. And I would then be matched with another team of 5 players whose MMRs averaged to 1250 also. The key thing here is that everyone on both teams stays within +/- 50 MMR of one another. This usually leads to balanced gameplay and reduces the chances of one or two players determining the outcome, either by carrying in excess or, shall we say, not carrying in excess.

When a DD is added to the queue, things change drastically. Take for example a Silver 1 player queuing as a duo with a Gold 3 player. Now, I am not privy to Riot's trade secrets, and I neither know the specifics of matchmaking nor am I claiming to know those specifics. But, for the sake of argument suppose there is such a thing as a Target Average MMR (TA MMR) and that it applies to duos. This assumption only serves to help convey the final point and in reality has no bearing on the matter at hand, so stay with me.

The TA MMR is the midpoint between the DDs individual MMRs and for this example the midpoint between a S1 player at 1450 and a G3 player at 1600 is 1525. The other 3 players are then filled in so that our team meets the TA MMR of 1525. Now comes the point: During this process the Great Matchmaker says to himself, "OK. I've got a duo with a TA MMR of 1525, let's match them up with ANOTHER duo that has a TA MMR of 1525. Hmm....oh here's one! Platinum 3, Bronze 1 duo! That will work nicely..." So the problem is that when you work with a system based on averages, that system completely ignores the individuals. And since a Platinum 3 at 1850 MMR and a Bronze 1 at 1200 MMR have a TA MMR of 1525, the Great Matchmaker has no problem with this.

Well, I have a big problem with it and I think I'm not the only one.

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summoner 6 Let's recap to make it easy:

Disparate Duos are duos whose members are at least 4 divisions apart (i.e. Silver 3 and Gold 4). When DDs queue up for matches the matchmaking system allows even more disparate DDs to enter the game, say a Plat 3 and a Bronze 1. When this happens, each team's average MMR is balanced but the individuals on a team become extremely unbalanced. It is my experience that the presence of one DD almost guarantees the presence of another. Using a Team Average MMR to balance a game means that the skill level of the individuals is overlooked. So even though the teams may look balanced on paper, you might disagree when your Bronze 1 top laner goes up against a Plat 3.

Evelynn As a side note: I can explain in more detail why the games become unbalance, but right now I just want to define the problem.

I know this has been a lot to read, and if you've made it this far I thank you. I won't try and say I have the answer to the growing DD problem, but I do know that a solution must be found. The majority of games which include DDs are extremely unbalanced and painfully discouraging. So we need to let Riot know, because I know they will find an answer if they realize how negatively this is impacting players. Let's talk about it!

12 Comments

Sir ArmaMalum3/31/2014, 3:35:09 AM1 votes

Honestly I think the problem itself runs into the same problem that appropriate team balancing (for tournaments and such) runs into. It all depends on where the higher and lower MMR players go. A Plat support in an all silver game can make some sick plays, but can't carry nearly as well as if they went, say, Mid. And the lower player will still be at a huge disadvantage and has the possibility of feeding due to lower skill, but depending on where they go that problem could be exacerbated or diluted. Of course this doesn't take into account for DD's consisting of a smurf, but I think that's a whole other kettle of fish.

Personally, I've played against Diamonds and Plats as a Gold IV player and won about just as much as normal. When it comes down to it, one great player does not make a team. It can help for sure, don't get me wrong, and it can be used as a huge advantage if positioned right, but the thing about averaging is that to have that advantage you have to bring a disadvantage as well (the lower MMR player), again assuming no smurfs.

Valon Durey3/31/2014, 5:22:44 PM1 votes

Greetings, Someshta. Valon Durey, here; your resident Heimerdinger player. I agree that this is a terrible issue. Before I go on, I feel the need to state that the ranking system is a breeding ground for low self-esteem and high insulting. Anyway. Back to the point. DD's are just a sleazy way to unjustly scale the ranks of a system at least partially designed to verify your personal skill and validate a part of your existence, thus diminishing the value of said system. That said, I propose a simple answer. Ranked Queue Duo Restrictions. Basically, you can only duo queue with a friend in the same division as you. So, if you're a B5-B1 the very highest with whom you can duo would be a B1. Also, if your MMR is too far from your duo partner-say you:1600, partner 1800 (I'm assuming that's a fairly large gap)-then the HIGHER of the two would be restricted from joining the queue. I chose to exclude the highest because, technically, they're the one proposed to carry the other, which is, essentially, the unfair part. I, personally, believe this restriction would, at least, limit the exploitation of the system.

If you appreciate my opinion, I have plenty more in my many idea posts, here in Gameplay & Strategy. Just click my name to find my posts.

Cheers!

Androud3/31/2014, 7:28:47 PM1 votes

Okay, just saying, there are a few things i would like to change in league of legends, first off, for the pool party lee sin skin, i think that we he smacks the ground for is e it should be water, and the little vision eyes he has above the enemies head's should have sunglasses. Lastly yorick's ult would be sooooo much better and cooler if, he still has the time limit and everything, but if he gets a kill or assist on the person who killed him, he gets revived and comes back to life with the amount of life the spirit had left. That goes for anyone yorick ults, this is because it wud just be awesome, and in the description of his ult it says the spirit gives up itself so that the target can excact his or her revenge on the enemy, so now that they have their revenge, they should come back to life. Just saying this has nothing to do with the discussion at hand but i cant find anywere else on the forum to post it so bare with me ok?

Rant Away4/3/2014, 2:48:53 PM1 votes

I honestly feel that Duo's in general are toxic to game play in ranked. You get two people who hop into games and demand bot spaces or just bully other team mates for not allowing them to play what they demand. I don't know how many times I've seen Duo's come in and be like "ZOMG IM A PLAT SMURFFFFFFF"