Shouldn't inting cover a wider variety of things done wrong as you get higher elo?

Snowman Arc··2 votes·259 views

Season 5: Silver Season 6&7: Gold Season 8: Currently Plat.

So, I've played in all elo brackets until Plat (even in a bronze smurf), so I kinda know how each elo works. I was thinking about things done wrong in the game, sometimes intentionally and I've come to this:

Penalties should be more strict to things done wrong, as the elo gets higher. Let me explain. So, let's say you are in bronze, where most people don't know what items do, how you are supposed to play the game, summoner spells to take etc. It feels "ok" for the support to not buy supportive items. Let's say we have a Taric support in bronze. It can be tolerated for the Taric not to buy Redemption, or Locket, which are extremely strong items, and instead buy Sunfire Cape, because it's low elo. People do not know any better.

Let's kick it up a notch now. Currently in Plat elo, where people are supposed to know more things about the game. In my opinion, it shouldn't be tolerated to buy a Sunfire Cape over a Redemption, especially if you are doing bad, as a support Taric. It is done intentionally (user intentionally buys the items), and puts the entire team in a big disadvantage.

I recently played a game, where I killed my mid lane opponent and he killed me back in return. At that point, there were cannon minions of both sides and enemy minions where outnumbering mine. So, by the time we would both get back, I'd have a big minion wave to pick up, while enemy wouldn't (was frozen in middle of the lane). My jungler comes mid, clears out like 3-4 minions (even after pinged not to do that), so the lane was then pushing to my enemy. By the time we got back, my opponent was greeted into a 2 stacked minion wave, gaining a big advantage over what should essentially be mine. All that, because my jungler decided to screw my lane even after pinged otherwise.

Sure, we won't lose the game because of this (or maybe we will), but now I have to work so much harder to generate an advantage that I was working all this time to create. These "more advanced" mistakes will cost you games in higher elo, where the teams know that you just fall behind if something like this happens.

If it was a bronze player, I can justify the action, maybe the guy greeded to get the cannon minion or something. But higher up, this shouldn't be go unpunished.

Thoughts?

8 Comments

BlueThingamajig6 votes

To argue against your point, let's take your example to the extreme. Let's ban anyone who plays anything less than perfect in challenger. Players are no longer allowed to buy items (items will be purchased for the player), miss CS, not juke skillshots, miss smite, etc. for intentionally feeding. After all, they had the option to play as perfect teammates, but didn't.

Then you realize that all of the above (item choices, CS, landing and dodging skillshots, landing smite on baron/dragon) are all part of skill expression in League. If a player plays a strategy that is less effective than optimal, then they will decrease in MMR relative to their skill. That is the appropriate punishment.

Snowman Arc2 votes

I'm kinda thinking about it this way: It's ok to miss some skillshots (challengers land / dodge more often), because it happens on the fly. Doing things that you HAVE TIME to think of before doing them (items builds / minion waves) feels different to me. Sure, it's all skill expression, but an opposite extreme to your good example is that the player who runs down mid could have been thinking "oh maybe I can outplay them", or the guy who is 0/3 top that keeps on fighting and goes 0/15, maybe they think that they can win, so you can't punish them for inting either.

It's a fine line to how inting is defined. Honestly, I'd like to see a more strict application of punishment.

To your point though, the punishment is the player that destroys minion wave control will eventually drop, but it will drag down 4 other players just a short distance. Maybe my problem should be directed more towards matchmaking (I was matched with a silver jungler, while in plat elo) though.

BlueThingamajig2 votes

For certain, matchmaking is an incredibly difficult thing to get right. I have a lot of complaints about the matchmaker (and so do many other people). The skill "displayed" in any given game is dependent on role (are they autofilled?), champion matchup, opponent skill in the matchup, other teammate interactions, tilt, and a level of variance that just happens.

Running down a lane with the intent to fight the opponent every single time is, quite objectively, a terrible strategy. But at a certain point, they'll reach opponents whom they can actually outplay often enough to win 50% of games. I would hate to have a teammate that does this and fails, but love to have such a teammate that succeeds. I'm not going to pretend that I would watch such a (failing) player and be happy. I wouldn't. I would go so far as to say I would be rather upset by such a player, and probably believe they are intentionally feeding.

As we've gone through two extremes, you can see why it can be so difficult to determine intentional feeding. I am of the opinion that, if a distinction between two things is made by an arbitrary metric, it might be bullshit. Trying to define intentional feeding as anything other than deliberately dying to the enemy to provide them gold is a dangerous proposition.

deathgod55 votes

But what if a player reaches diamond with a sunfire taric strat that nobody discovered before, is that a ban by default?

HaIlMonitor2 votes

On paper it sounds reasonable tbh, but it doesnt work because of smurfs.

If your plat top laner is vs a challenger top laner and get absolutely demolished why should he be severely punished for that? They first would have to fix the smurf problem...

Snowman Arc1 votes

Well, you can understand if there is a huge skill gap to identify someone's inability to actually play accordingly.

Slythion2 votes

Your proposed mentality interferes with Riot's current stance that they shouldn't enforce specific kind of play in the game. If someone wants to go Full Lethality Sion for the first time then they should be allowed to, even if it's perceived to be less effective than whatever the standard method of play is at that given time.

Venompaw2 votes

I've been to plat, how is it that diferent from Bronze?

(I spammed karthus bot lane like 4 seasons ago.)

Oh and regards to the wave: One fed player >>>> many "okay" players. The Jungler was in the right.

I'm kinda thinking about it this way: It's ok to miss some skillshots (challengers land / dodge more often), because it happens on the fly. Doing things that you HAVE TIME to think of before doing them (items builds / minion waves) feels different to me. Sure, it's all skill expression, but an opposite extreme to your good example is that the player who runs down mid could have been thinking "oh maybe I can outplay them", or the guy who is 0/3 top that keeps on fighting and goes 0/15, maybe they think that they can win, so you can't punish them for inting either.

Score doesn't matter on some champions due to a binary nature of the fight:

Do you land skillshots? yes or no.

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