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Can Something Be Changed To Assist Low ELO Climbers?

EgoGod·12/27/2016, 2:53:58 AM·1 votes·537 views

Hi Everyone! This is a long af post! TL;DR I'd like to propose some changes!

First let me clarify that the "low ELO" I'm referring to is Bronze and Silver. While I'm sure Gold does suffer from the problems I'm about to list I don't think it's as frequent.

About me: Last season I ended Silver 5, season 6 being the first season I've ever played League and fell in love with the game. As of right now I'm Bronze 4. I fully accept that I am not actually "good" at this game. However I have decent win rates (not recently though) and I believe I have strong potential to improve and am working very hard to do so.

My Concerns: The problem with low ELO ranked games is that it has an infestation problem: trolls. They are abundant. My most recent promos were lost by an autofilled support who demanded I switch roles with him or he'd int. Then by an ADC who AFK jungle farmed because our support accidentally took three cs. Now I know the whole "well you should be good enough to carry" thing and while I DO agree with that, at Bronze and Silver we just don't have that ability yet. People panic and get upset when it becomes a 4v5 and it's nearly impossible to get morale back. In my honest opinion (and I am NOT saying that it would be easy I know it won't) there should be a couple fixes to prevent toxic people from holding games hostage, AFKing, and losing games for other people simply because they can.

My Proposed Solutions:

Education: Low ELO players quite obviously lack knowledge in various parts of the game and I feel it should be addressed. For example, the different stages of the game. Nobody in low ELO knows what champions are early game winners and late game winners. Vayne gives up first blood, there is a huge chance someone on their team writes "GG" and tilts. Our Bronze LeeSin truly believes farming up as much as possible and waiting until the lane phase has ended to start fighting is the key to winning. Nobody realizes that Vayne is a late game monster and that LeeSin better get his blind ass throwing Q's from bushes ASAP because he's gonna fall off before the game ends. This particular problem I believe can be fixed in the Store in the new client. There is a pie chart whenever you look at a Champion, it consists of damage, toughness, CC, mobility and utility. What it does not include is WHEN that particular champion is the most useful. There are three stages of the game, early, mid, and late and there are three "rings" in each section of the pie chart. Simply add another slice to the pie, and knowledge will start growing.

A Cap: This could potentially be my most controversial statement within this whole essay and I completely understand any differing opinions to this matter. I feel that there should be a stipulation that allows new players to enter ranked games. That stipulation would be a win rate percentage in their normal games. My current win rate in normals is just over 50%, 298W 296L. I think 50% is asking way too much, but I feel that there needs to be something before ranked. You need to own a certain amount of champions before you play draft, you should own a certain amount of wins before you play ranked. This would encourage new players, (people who have just reached level 30) to really practice and earn their entry into ranked.

More punishment for the thrower, less for their team: Losing my promos over three cs is something I won't forget soon, while I laugh at it now, at the time it was incredibly frustrating. I wrote a report and I hope that person is looked into because that kind of behavior is abhorrent. A major problem however is the ADC and I are viewed more or less as equals in terms of LP loss and we shouldn't be. I played my best and gave it my all in a losing situation while they took Krugs, watched us die and spammed "GJ Sona "Double the average LP loss for rage quitting. Purposely losing a game for four other people just because you're mad at them isn't a good enough excuse to throw. Nothing is. A double LP loss system would encourage players to at least try to play accordingly despite their current mood and might even encourage them to fix their mood. It will force them to ask themselves if its worth to abandon a game over frivolous reasons.

ELO Hell is a real thing, and we definitely want some ice water. Everyone, including me, have an extreme amount to learn before we make it to Gold+. People purposely sabotaging games isn't something we should learn about, it's something that should be fixed. I believe League is an excellent game, I look forward to climbing, learning and experiencing everything it has to offer. Thanks to anyone who reads this whole thing! GLHF!

3 Comments

Purple Death12/27/2016, 3:04:17 AM1 votes

Riot Gave us win credits. Pretty nice tbh.

Ad Vitam Aeterna12/27/2016, 1:02:16 PM1 votes

http://na.op.gg/summoner/userName=EgoGod

You have a neg win rate in ranked and you occasionally build poorly (only looking at ranked games). There is no such thing as elo hell, you are not just playing against bronze players, you are also playing against ex-silvers of all divisions and possibly even low ex-golds. That is the start of the season, everyone gets dropped.

http://na.op.gg/summoner/userName=advitamaeterna

I'm almost back to where I was before the drop, and half my games were right after the reset when LP gains were incredibly low, often being like +16 LP for a win and -19 LP for a loss, despite having a 70 percent win rate at the time. Now I get +26 per win. There is no elo hell, build better, make better decisions in game and you'll eventually climb. I've gone on 20 game winning streaks on my smurf getting my friends out (they deserved to be low bronze, so they were a significant weight in these matches), and I would even win 4 vs 5's and matches where people intentionally trolled. I was tremendously better than the rest of them, so if you improve you will slowly win more often as well.

Scary Door12/27/2016, 1:28:57 PM1 votes

Many of your proposals already exist in one form or another.

The "cap" you speak of on the number of wins required to play ranked doesn't exist as such, however your account needs to be level 30 and you must own at least 16 champions in order to play ranked games. This is, by no means, a perfect system but it is a hurdle to overcome before players dive into ranked.

Yes there are trolls and unscrupulous types in this community and many of us would likely agree that punishments for these behaviors should be much more harsh, nevertheless they are not preventing you from climbing.

In sports---especially Major League Baseball, there's an old saying that 'after 50 games you are what your record says you are', and that is also true in League. After 50-100 ranked games, you are what your rank says you are. Anyone can have an unlucky stretch of ten games or so, but once you've played awhile you pretty much belong where you are... that doesn't mean you can't or won't improve, however.

So, you're Bronze 4 right now... looking at your match history and it is clear that you have work to do. Not trying to be rude here, but your builds are far from optimal. Example: You played a Morgana game where I assume you were mid against Azir.. You build swiftness boots, Luden's and Rabadons, you had no MR (abyssal sceptor), no Zhonyas (which is arguably Morg's best item) and no cooldown reduction or magic pen... so, I can see why you didn't perform that well and lost that match. Also, I wouldn't run exhaust on Morg mid, but that's just me. It looks like you barely ward as well and only bought ONE control ward for the whole game? what?

I notice you play a fair bit of Morg and build Grail on her for some reason. You want CDR and mana? Go for Morello, Morg just doesn't synergize as well with grail as other champs who have a higher uptime on their shields like Ori or Karma.

Easy advice to climb out of Bronze:

#1 : WARD MORE! My God, looking at these games it's not just you but your peers in Bronze basically ward less than 10 times in 30-40 minute games, how is that possible?

#2: CS MORE: Outfarming your opponent and focusing your laning phase on farming more than harassing or killing your lane opponent will help you greatly. Take advantage of your opponent's mistakes, sure, but try to focus on last hitting more.

#3 : Itemization matters! Build properly and you'll be amazed at the difference it makes. I didn't even look at your runes/masteries, but I would suggest you look at some guides from high Elo players and try to follow what they're doing.