I don't quite understand this LP crap...

Captain Marvel x·Jul 21, 2014·4 votes·807 views

So, I've had a bit of a HORRIBLE bad luck streak.... AFKs, D/C's, People who refuse to use wards, people who like to chase half way across the map (no vision) for one little kill (that they never get because their team shows up), people who can't play their role, feeders, people who don't care, and trolls. So I lose a game, and I lose like 17, 19, 21 LP. Then I get into a game, our top D/Cs at level 5, and we win the game versus' a team with a higher MMR, I go 7/2/14 with 1 inhib to my name... and what do I get?

15 LP. We are 4v5 for 80% of the game, and I go 7/2/14 with inhib vs a higher MMR team... and I GET FIFTEEN FREAKING LP?! I LOSE more LP when I lose when MY team has a d/c or MY team feeds, or we're the lower MMR team... I DO NOT UNDERSTAND.

Usually I get 22-24 LP per win, but this... After ALL of that.... that's what I GET!?

7 Comments

FantasySniperJul 22, 20143 votes

It really shouldn't be based on yes/no principles for how much LP you lose/gain. If matches become or already were inherently unfair, there should be a reasonable change to the LP gained/lost, even if less than the "reasonable amount" so things become more satisfactory considering your circumstances.

OrinneJul 22, 20142 votes

LP gain is based mostly on your MMR in relation to your current tier and division. If your MMR is about Silver 4, but you're in Silver 2, you should be gaining less LP and losing more. Inversely, if your MMR is about Gold 4, but you're in Silver 4, you should expect to gain more LP than you lose.

Not endorsing the system (I dislike it myself). Just describing how it actually goes.

Amethyst AsheJul 22, 20141 votes

I don't see an issue with the system, save the fact that there was no hard reset on MMR at the end of last season. Starting a new season should also be the start of a new ranking on the ladder, which the lack of MMR reset did not. Although I would agree that having some correlation of your individual game play on MMR game, it should not be substantial as it would askew what the system is doing.

The reason you gain less LP when your rating is lower than your current standings is to give you the ability to balance out and equalize the two statistics. This is the same reason you can skip tiers in ranked as well, because of substantial gaps in MMR / Tier standing.

OrinneJul 22, 20141 votes

The main issue with hard resets is that most people who play League of Legends ranked pick solo queue, which pits five strangers against another five strangers, which throws together a hodge-podge of skill and synergy versus another hodge-podge of the same deal. Hard resets work great in systems where there are either individual competitors or consistent teams of people. It's not so great in a "team game" where you meet your teammates for the first time, 99% of the time.

There really isn't anything to justify the system, in my eyes. The system suffers from a lack of transparency to the general player base, and it assumes that the player cares more about being #3 in Bronze 2 of Garen's Knights than they do about being #523,763 on the ladder. In general, most players probably like the first value more, it just doesn't make a whole ton of sense when players aren't rated by LP to begin with.

LneacxJul 22, 20142 votes

It's always been that way, even during the age of elo.

Riot refuses to give you compensation benefits because of the potential for exploitation. Convince them that a practical compensation system exists, or else develop one - and only then may they implement one. If you have a suggestion, I'll play devil's advocate.

How do you know that the enemy team is higher MMR, anyways?

epicgamer5000Jul 22, 20141 votes

They don't give you bonus LP when you're on the lower MMR team because they assume that the purple side (where the higher MMR team is always at) is a "handicap" for them. I admit this is a pretty big flaw, but Rito refuses to flip the map due to little differences. Also, it makes a lot of sense that you don't gain as much LP after losing multiple games; your MMR was probably average for the division before and is now too low for even gains/losses.

Sneak DogJul 23, 20141 votes

The system is based on two ratings: An invisible matchmaking rating (mmr) and a visible league/division/lp rating (lp). Your mmr will change significantly each game with the ONLY statistic that is important: did you win?

You cannot take k/d/a or buildings destroyed into consideration, you could have been carrying by distracting the entire enemy team and dying for it. You cannot take leavers into consideration, you'd tell people to go and make others leave to lose less mmr/lp (even if they got reported for it, there'd be this perfect balance of flaming/trolling which doesn't get you punished yet does get the most players to leave to optimize lp/mmr gains).

Your mmr will change significantly each game, even if you haven't improved significantly. If you get an unlucky 5-loss streak, your mmr will drop like a brick. This is where lp comes in. Your lp will try and follow your mmr, but it will lag behind. So when your mmr drops due the 5 games, your lp will follow, but slower. Then when you get the 5-win streak because you were better than those with whom you played due to your loss streak (your skill never changed), your mmr will rise back up to the same value. Your lp will follow your mmr once more, slowly. Your mmr will now have gone through a significant drop and rise, but your lp not so much, nor did your actual skill level. If you then go on with 100 games where win and loss streaks happen all the time due to the rng, your lp will stay relatively stable even though your mmr fluctuates significantly.

Now, if you have improved, you will suddenly win 6 out of 10 games. Your mmr will slowly rise and keep rising. Your lp will lag behind, but when it's too far behind, the lp gains will improve more and more. This means your lp will be following your mmr not too far behind at any given point. Your mmr will resemble your actual skill level before your lp does, but not by too many games.

This means that your lp is more accurate in total. It will not fluctuate too much during random streaks, but it will resemble your skill level if it improves.

The only thing stopping it from doing so are promotion series. Promotion series are horrible for lp accuracy because they just hold you up until you get a random win streak at which point they let finally let your lp through while your mmr was just steadily progressing all this time getting quite a lead on your lp (which is then inaccurate).

So if your lp gains are low, it probably just means your mmr is lower than your lp. If it doesn't accomodate for leavers, it is to not promote bad behavior. Just stop caring about any single game, it's about the bigger picture, improve your skill and your winrate will be over 50% over 100 games, this is the most efficient way to improve your lp.