Last month I had finally hit level 30 and wanted to play ranked. The only thing stopping me, was my friend who has played only 3 ranked games saying its a bad idea and I should wait. He also told me about how toxic people can get over small mistakes and as a jungle main, I'm already getting called out in normals. Just wondering if there are any veterans out there who have been playing ranked and can tell me if its a good idea to start now or wait.
Hiya!
It's a personal choice, and you should hit up ranked whenever you feel confident! I've been playing since 2010, and I didn't hop into ranked until 2012.
My recommendations are similar to what others have mentioned -
Good luck!
If you're not sure if you're ready for ranked. You're not ready for ranked.
As a person who jumped into ranked the moment he hit 30...DON'T DO IT! Play A LOT of draft-mode normals. And I mean A LOT. Take them as seriously as you would ranked. Just make sure you learn about a bunch of the different strategies.
Ranked is never a good idea
[{quoted}](name=An4l Balloon,realm=NA,application-id=cIfEodbz,discussion-id=5ik3dskX,comment-id=,timestamp=2015-04-08T16:24:48.777+0000)
Last month I had finally hit level 30 and wanted to play ranked. The only thing stopping me, was my friend who has played only 3 ranked games saying its a bad idea and I should wait. He also told me about how toxic people can get over small mistakes and as a jungle main, I'm already getting called out in normals. Just wondering if there are any veterans out there who have been playing ranked and can tell me if its a good idea to start now or wait.
Hey there. Everyone will tell you their own personal beliefs but it's really up to you on when you want to decide to play it.
If you wish to place higher there are SOME things you can do to help you succeed:
Runes and Masteries, we all thought we were good. Check out what the pro players use on the champions you play. I remember having pages that were horrible and just a slight change helped out a ton.
/mute all. If you get bothered by anyone saying things to you, intentionally trying to hurt you verbally do this. You can always unmute. By hitting "o" and clicking the chat box to the right of there name.
Don't play if you are having a bad day or a few losses, take a break and play normals.
If you want to really try for super high placement do like I did with my smurf. I waited until right before the new season started and did my 10 placements and ended up going 10-0 in them. Placed Platinum 2? I think. Then when season rolled around i did my 10 placements again, won half? and was placed platinum 1. (I was playing against challenger/master for the first few games). This will help in getting placed higher but obviously if you aren't at those levels, itll be rough for you to compete there.
Just enjoy the game and don't get upset man, live life to the fullest and do what makes you happy. Don't let anyone bring you down.
I've been taking what you all have said into consideration and I have decided to try one match and see how it goes. If it seems like i'm not ready, then i'm not ready. Thank you all for the feedback, it really helps. Have fun and good luck on future matches :)
I'd recommend a thorough knowledge of how draft pick works first, if you haven't played much of it yet. Learn what other players will expect to happen during draft pick, which largely involves picks, counterpicks, analysis of the enemy team comp, and other things.
Once you actually get in-game, things are essentially the same, except with the stress levels dialed up a notch. Players are more likely to get on your case if you do something horribly wrong, which is an unfortunate fact of the community in its current state. Even if you end up being on the receiving end of some pretty nasty abuse, make sure you don't sink to their level and dish it back out to others. Strive to be better than the other players, in both skill and conduct.
Wait for sure. You will need 3 champions that you feel you have "mastered" in every role. and probably a ton of other concepts you havent even heard of yet.
freezing a lane slow push understanding the pressure system vision vision denial map control how to trade properly how to cs under turret
and probably a bunch more
Are you ready for Ranked? You don't know, and that's OK. Some people will say yes, some people will say no. That's all speculation since we really don't know you as well as you know yourself.
Point being, play some Ranked to give yourself some perspective. Maybe it'll take a few games, maybe several.
The most important thing to keep in mind is the distinction between Normal and Ranked, that being YOUR OWN PERFORMANCE IS NOT HIDDEN FROM YOURSELF OR OTHERS. It's all out there, the good, the bad, and (most importantly) the ugly. And it all follows you throughout the season. Manage your exceptions accordingly.
I really have to place emphasis that "all stats follow you, good or bad" because this is where a lot of people lose it and why they shy away from Ranked or get bitter about it. You have to understand that for every LP (or more accurately MMR) lost, you will at some point have to regain in order to progress forward. For every death suffered, you will need to make up for with a kill/assist to raise your K/D/R.
That being said, don't dig a hole for yourself. If you lose 20 games, you will have to generally win 20 games to JUST BACK BACK TO WHERE YOU WERE (you didn't actually move forward). So how do you know if your ready? Simply put, you are winning more than you are losing. If that's not the case, then you are not ready. Switch back to Normal and practice there, don't accrue loses in Ranked that you will have to win back later. Just win in the first place. Sounds simple, but so many people overlook this.
There's a lot of concepts, mechanics, and strategies too. People can talk their heads off, but in actuality there is too much to talk about. So don't worry about it, go into a game with what you know. You will know what you need to work on because... YOU WILL LOSE A GAME TO SOMEBODY THAT DID IT BETTER. That's OK, that's literally how everyone loses. Take note of it, practice what you need to work on in Normal, then take what you learned to Ranked and beat other people with it. Surprise someone do something better then you again? That's fine, repeat the process. You will get better, and eventually not many things will beat you anymore. If something does, that's great cause it's something you can assimilate and use against other players (and they can't use against you). This is the Ranked mentality, this is how you become the best.
It is up to you. People aren't necessarily more toxic in ranked. They are just more serious about winning. I didn't play ranked for the first month or two after reaching 30 (but that was mostly because I didn't really know about it). No matter how long you wait, you will not be "pro" enough for people to not get mad at you. If your team is losing, everyone will be looking for someone to blame.
So if toxic people are the reason, I say just go for it.
Make your first concern Rune Pages. You'll want at least one full page of level 3 runes or you'll be significantly handicapping yourself; you can worry about maximizing them later, but you do want at least something.
Ensure you are at least sort of comfortable in all roles. There is no ranked team builder right now. You are in no way guaranteed to get the role you're good at... or even a role you want. For those times, having at least a rough knowledge of 1-2 champs in that role and the basic expectations of that role will go a long way towards making games not suck.
Do it when you feel comfortable and reasonably confident (not absolutely confident - if you think you're amazing, you're likely so bad you're not even aware of what you could improve on yet). Some people are ready for Ranked right after hitting level 30; some people aren't ready after several hundred normal games, even if they think otherwise.
Finally, be ready to lose. I mean it happens with every mode, you absolutely will lose Ranked games. Save yourself the frustration. Go in intending to win, but don't go in expecting to win, because Ranked can be hella frustrating.
Play ranked when you no longer have fun with the game. Play normals until then.
More seriously... make sure you can play at least 3 relatively well. Make sure you know more than 3 champions for your main role(so you can't get banned out) and at least 2 for each of your off roles. Make sure you have at least a basic set of level 3 rune pages for the roles you plan to play. I'd also recommend playing Normal Draft games for at least 1-2 weeks before stepping into ranked so you have a better understanding of the drafting process in case you're put as the first pick on your team.
And read this: http://boards.na.leagueoflegends.com/en/c/miscellaneous/Xp3EhQMY-advice-for-enjoying-and-succeeding-at-ranked-play
It's a bit arrogant of me to toot my own horn, but I've received a lot of really good responses to what I wrote in that thread. It contains the best advice I've ever written, and if you can take it to heart it will help you both in ranked and even in normals/other games.
