Dynamic Queue Opinions. Don't worry, no pitch forks & torches here.
Dynamic Queue, love it, hate it, don't care for it or having a secret affair with it, we all know about it. It's a pretty big topic nowadays in the League community & I just felt like throwing my opinions out there about this whole situation. I know it won't mean much & probably get downvoted if I'm not having a giant hate boner for it. But yolo, I see no reason not to.
Introduction I guess I should get started by talking about me a little. Give you an idea of where I'm coming from. You could skipped this section if you want too. I started playing back in the beginning of 2014. The reason I gave League a shot was because I heard it was a free-to-play game & saw glimpses of it's diverse cast of characters. For the 1st half of 2014, I was just playing the game & didn't follow any of the community aspect surrounding it. I didn't read the patch notes or follow the updates to the game, I never watched a single Esports game nor did I know who the pro-players were, I never visited any online forums or social media related to League & most important for this topic: I did not give a rat's ass about the competitiveness of the game at the time. That isn't why I was 1st interested in the game nor is Ranked the thing keeping me tied to the game When I first learned of Ranked, hell was all I could think. It was a toxic & stressful environment where you were constantly presented with trolls, AFKs/DCs, flamers/toxic players & your teammates were more likely to fight each other than the enemy. Now, I was willing to dive into that hell on a number of occasion. As much as a hell it was, I couldn't escape the thoughts of climbing to gauge my individual skill & thinking Gold would be a nice place to get to. But those thoughts quickly dwindled in the face of reality. Not the reality of the Ranked life, but the reality that I was a naive fool who didn't know much about the game. While I do play Ranked on occasion, most of my League playing time have been put into normals to learn, improve & have fun. Do I have a desire for playing more Ranked & trying to climb one day? Yes, yes I do. Will the state of Ranked stop me from playing the game? Hell no, which brings us to Dynamic Queue.
*** Me & Dynamic Queue*** Let's get this out of the way: ** I personally don't care if it's Solo Queue, Dynamic Queue or a Nasus's Q, it's still freaking Ranked.** I honestly don't care if I'm playing with, against or in a premade. Players says having premades in the same ladder as solo ruins the competitiveness of the Ranked & muddies the value of the Ranked. If that is the only way you use to gauge yourself as a player, then yeah it sucks. But I don't solely rely on the Ranked ladder to gauge myself, I gauge myself from game to game. I'm not trying to "git gud" at League just so I can compare myself to others & tell lower ranked players to get on my level, I'm doing it so I can say, "I was useful that game" or, "I helped my team have a good experience". Climbing the ladder just present more challenge when doing this. Of course, I'm not like this all the time. I get salty, tilted & become a Negative Nancy sometimes too. Anyway, Premades are like AFKs, DCs, or trolls, aspect of the game I have no control over. So I see no point stressing too much over that when I could be looking at myself as a player, the one thing I can control. So Dynamic Queue is cool with me even though I mostly play solo, unless friends invite me to play with them. Of course, this is just how I feel about DQ & how affects me. The rest of the community have a different view.
Dynamic Queue controversy Regardless of anyone's opinion, one thing is certain: Dynamic Queue shatters the foundation of the League Ranked system. The old system was one the playerbase used for years, it was the one players all became adjusted to (flaws included), the one that the competitive value of League centered around & the one players based their Ranked views on. Riot not only removed the backbone of most players views on Ranked, but they also replaced it with something else that goes against the values player placed in Ranked. Yeah, there are problems with queue times, matchmaking, the frustration of playing with & against premades, but I believe what I stated earlier to be the main reason for people's discontent with Dynamic Queue. Dynamic Queue is too big a change for a vast number of the playerbase to accept even if Riot says it's for the better & that they'll work on improving it. Those players just want to return to the old system they lived with for years because it's core to their Ranked views & lives. Dynamic Queue changes what it means to climb, it changes what to means to be Bronze, Gold, Diamond or Challenger & it will likely changes what it means to be a pro player. I mean imagine what it will be like for future pro players to grow up in this new system compare to those who grew up in the old. As for Riot, they are determined to stick by their change despite all the backlash from the community. They are holding out because they believe with time & updates to Dynamic Queue & Ranked, they can make it the best system for players in the long run. I'm sure they are aware that DQ is frustrating in the present, but they believe it will offer a better future for League than the old system. That's why they're not bringing back solo queue nor will they revert Dynamic Queue. They taking the saying "no pain, no gain" seriously. I don't know if any of you know this, but Marc Merrill, aka Tryndamere, made a post on this subject & he compare it the lore retcon back in 2014. Riot made a bold decision & retconned the Institute of War from the canon lore. It was met with backlash from a number of lore followers who believed the IOW was the backbone or center piece of the lore & the retcon ultimately changed what the lore is. Yes, it was frustrating in the short term, but Riot held out for the long term benefit. Those benefits took time for us to see & there are still much more to come in the future. Is it perfect? no, but nothing is on the 1st go. You could argue the lore & the ranked system are on 2 different levels of importance to the community & they deal with 2 different aspect of League, thus shouldn't be compared. Point is: Riot aims to make it better even though it's a pain for players right now.
Closing Thoughts League of Legends & the Ranked playing community are at a turning point in this path. Whether or not this turning point leads to a bumpy, rough & dark path that will eventually to smooth out & clear up or off the side of a cliff, only time will tell. Players have to ask themselves whether or not they will stay with Riot & whether the uncertain future is worth the pain now. As for Riot, they already made their decision. They will follow this path until the end. Everyone have their own opinions, but for me, I already stated my opinions on it. Now I will just sit back, eat my popcorn & see where this crap goes.
