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Season 5 Ranked System and the Eternal Struggle Bus

Cleon Peaches·2/3/2015, 11:35:00 PM·2 votes·662 views

Riot,

We need to have a talk. I first started playing League in January of 2014 and immediately fell in love. Aside from over 1,000 hours of playtime, I have given you my blood, sweat and money.

I began playing ranked shortly after hitting level 30 and landed in Bronze 1 with 4 wins/6 losses. Although I was unhappy with the rank, it was both fair and reflective of my skill as a player.

Hundreds of hours later I climbed from Bronze I to Silver III, and felt like I had specialized in my role and grown both mechanically and tactically as a jungler. However, after winning 7/10 Season 5 placement games, I dropped from Silver III to Silver V.

After seeing several of my gold and silver friends drop to bronze, despite winning most of their placement games, it became clear that the ranking system currently in place is driven by business, not skill. By placing players in a low rank that isn't truly representative of their skill, you force them to log more hours just to climb back up to the rank they had originally earned, in hopes that they'll buy more half-dressed Katarina skins while they're at it. On top of neglecting the hard work put in by Bronze, Silver and Gold players, it seems that you shield the high ranking players from having to deal with this issue- we don't see any pros drop several leagues after winning 7 placement matches, seeing as they generate a lot of interest in League via Twitch.

I understand that Riot is a business, and your F2P game comes at a price. Yet the arbitrary ranking system of season 5 exploits our devotion to the game for the sake of money. The shady nature of this business tactic makes me feel like you don't value me as a player, and that I'm just another pocket ready for the picking. I am compelled to take a prolonged break from the League, I might even play some RuneScape. Because while it may be an inferior game, at least it's upfront about wanting my money.

Regards, Cleon Peaches

3 Comments

Grimmrock2/3/2015, 11:52:02 PM2 votes

I think that the ranked system currently depends on luck, teamplay skill, and then lastly individual skill. I do not think that the system is rigged against low elo. rather there are simply very few differences between a bronze player and a gold player. Its an interesting concept that splits gold-silver-bronze, we're all pretty trash at these levels and I find the difference comes in frame of mind versus actual skill. At least, thats my understanding of how lower elo works.

As to ranked system, until there is a more effective way to measure individual skill (damage done across the map ratio'd with kills, assists, deaths, wards placed, objectives controlled ect) there wont be a more effective system, and I highly doubt they bring back the MMR ELO system back.

Bob Saggit2/5/2015, 7:38:10 PM1 votes

While it does suck to get placed below where you ended up S4, if you truly belong at that elo you will very easily climb back up. The thing most people do not understand when they see they dropped several divisions (tiers) is that the system is based on mmr, not the shiny badge that riot assigns to players. A lot of Silver V or Gold V players are being dropped into bronze because their mmr at the end of placements was at that level, or very close to it, which is due to the system preventing drops from those divisions. If you were dropped that much but have a healthy mmr, your lp gains per game should be huge and again you should be able to quickly climb back to where you were. On the plus side, you only dropped 2 divisions, so provided you have a healthy mmr, you will very easily get back to silver III and hopefully beyond that!