The sense I get from the latest Socrates post is that Dynamic Queue has created a lot of work that gets in the way of other projects, like the return of Solo Queue.
But for the past how many years Riot has been able to balance Ranked 5 and "Solo" Queue without a problem. I mean we even lost Dominion.
If Dynamic Queue is getting in the way of the ability to keep the game running, isn't that a sign to move on from Dynamic Queue?
Lost R2 votesYou hit the nail on the head without realizing it.
Why can't you support two ranked queues?
The key word there is SUPPORT. There's barely enough supports or people who actually INTEND to play support (and not conscripted like the people who couldn't say "yasuo mid only or feed" fast enough) for one queue, let alone two; that's why your lobby times end up being longer than the game itself. Releasing Solo Queue, as they implied earlier today, might actually make the situation WORSE. They know they can't tell people explicitly "Play support more, you bastards!", so they're trying to push every other alternative as far as they'll go.
Funny enough, I think the issue with Dynamic Queue is causing the exact same problem that contributed about half a dozen nails into Dominion's coffin. With not enough players, the system tries to expand the range further into other ELOs and divisions to attempt to find someone, ANYONE, that will fill the required roles. If that's the truth, we're in some real deep shit.
Minarde1 votesYeah, as you mentioned, Solo Queue is currently following the same sequence of events that ranked Dominion did.
The parallels are actually kinda amusing to me. Although ranked Dominion and ranked SR would have clashed for balancing, Solo Queue and Dynamic Queue outright compete for the same playerbase. It's somewhat cathartic to see Riot (mis)treat SR players the same way they did Dominion players.
Lost R1 votesIt's not a matter of "mistreatment". Riot tried to remove the issue of people fighting over their respective roles by creating a system that matched you with people from other roles. It's not mistreatment as much as it is misplaced idealism. It expects that there's a perfectly or near perfectly even amount of players wanting to play every role in every elo and division. And... well, it's idealistic. There's no shortage of players overall (unlike Dominion), but reality has shown that there's such a massive disparity in numbers, if you aren't a support, you're probably going to have an extraordinarily long wait time. If you ARE a support, you'll find a match in less than a second.
It goes without saying that there's a problem when one group of players have such a grossly disproportionate wait time than another, but what the hell is Riot supposed to do? Are they supposed to go back to an older, more inefficient system where people will throw down the ultimatum of "Yasuo mid only or feed" and potentially threaten your games? I know from personal experience that it just being ranked or a person supposedly being from a higher division won't stop players from being a massive shitheel made of permaban material just because they didn't get the role they wanted.
Riot's new Dynamic Queue is a more efficient system on paper and partially in practice, but the matchmaking only works in an idealistic environment because of the player diversity, or lack thereof. Introducing Solo Queue might make the issue worse, but the old system was not only uglier, but it was also more inefficient, and you had to deal with the ultimatums like I previously mentioned. There is no ideal outcome; Riot, and us by extension, are damned in every circumstance.
Minarde1 votesYou're confusing Dynamic Queue with new Champ Select. There's no reason those two specifically have to be paired together. New Champ Select would work just as well with the old Solo/Duo Queue system; similarly, it'd also work fine with the new Solo Queue system. Riot focusing on Dynamic Queue over Solo Queue is simply Riot choosing to cater to what they think the majority wants, at the detriment of the minority.
Furthermore, "queue fragmentation impacting the quality of other queues" is specifically one of the reasons Riot cited against ranked Dominion. If anything, it's even more relevant in this situation, since Dominion could potentially appeal to a different audience than SR. In contrast, Dynamic and Solo Queues both draw from the same playerbase.
In any case, I'm not commenting on the practicality of new Champ Select. I'm merely pointing out that Riot's current handling of Solo Queue is amusingly reminiscent of their handling of ranked Dominion in the past.
Niyumi1 votesWelcome to the wonderful world of F2P design philosophies. Doing more than the bare minimum is ABSOLUTELY not allowed, and doing so will result in you being fired by your producer.
Isn't it fun? But no, all the fucking "casuals" had to go and destroy gaming for those of us who actually care about the industry.
Maximum Morde1 votesIsn't it fun? But no, all the fucking "casuals" had to go and destroy gaming for those of us who actually care about the industry.
Why don't you go kickstarter your own game and show us how it's done then?
Niyumi1 votesAs much as I'd love to, it'd be a big waste of money, since no one would play a game that requires you to use your brain and do more than mindlessly click on things (and has the real possibility of losing). Gaming just isn't meant for gamers anymore; instead, it's been twisted into this weird thing where insecure kids can go to feel better about themselves for "winning" and all that -- and, of course, we can't forget about the "casuals" who are too lazy to even play a video game, and expect everything to be handed to them on a golden platter (and they're more than willing to pay for that platter).
So, yeah, while I'd love to make a game, it'd be a failure, since it wouldn't pander to either of those groups.
Maximum Morde1 votesI disagree that people won't play things with a real possibility of losing. FTL was a pretty good Indie hit when it released. I think what you mean to say is that a game won't be mainstream popular. That's fine. Niche games have their place and there are plenty of gamers who love a challenge. Darksouls seems to be doing pretty good as a series :).
Niyumi1 votesFirst off, Dark Souls was not, in any way, challenging. I don't understand why people say it was.
Secondly, while starting a game studio and developing games has always been a dream of mine since I was a kid, I just couldn't make a living off of that. The games I make would be just that, niche games, and there just wouldn't be enough of an income to do anything. And since I refuse to bend my knee and appease all the fucking brats who destroyed the hobby I used to love... there's just not much I can do. I could make the best game the industry had seen in years, but it wouldn't mean a thing if no one played it because it didn't give instant gratification, and required real mental effort on the part of the player, not just twitch reflexes and pattern memorization (Dark Souls).
Gaming just isn't what it used to be, and passion has no place in an industry of greedy, sleazy suits.
Uiraya1 votesRiot1: We kind of fucked up this otherwise decent idea and now there's a huge divide caused by the rift between people who want to play support 100% of the time and those who don't
Riot2: Did you say to fuck up the only non-Thresh supports that have an impact anymore so as to make them even less desireable to play?
Riot1: No, but that sounds fantastic, go do that instead of fixing any of the dozens of other priority issues we're ignoring
Riot3: Man I can't believe we get paid for this
