Boards›Player Behavior

Let's discuss Dynamic Queue and the new Champion Select

ModWuks·2/3/2016, 6:07:14 PM·50 votes·10,815 views

Hey y'alls, hopefully you’re having a fantastic Wednesday!

Season 6 has been jam-packed with changes - from the new Champion Select that was rolled out in 6.1 to Jhin’s release on Monday. If you’re just getting back into League following the end of pre-season, there’s a LOT for you to catch up on. Don’t worry; you can always ask us if you have any questions.

http://i.imgur.com/My66cgF.png

Today, the Arbiters would like to direct our discussions to your thoughts on the new Dynamic Queue and Champion Select, which is now live on all servers for Normal Draft, Ranked 5v5, (and soon™) Ranked Solo queues. We want to hear about your personal experience and how it may have changed the way you play League of Legends.

A few questions to kick off the conversation are:

Have you taken advantage of the ability to play with as many as four of your friends? How successful have you been thus far?
Between Dynamic Queue and the old ranked experience, what are your feelings on the differences between those experiences?
Now that you’re able to select your primary and secondary roles, what kind of queue times are you getting with those roles? How does it feel getting those roles?
With bans distributed between different players on the team, a pick intent feature, and the new “Lock In” requirements (which possibly leads to a longer pre-game period), what do you think about Riot’s push for more active engagement throughout the champion select process?

We’d definitely like to know what you think of the Season 6 changes, namely those to ranked and champion select, so please chime in below! And for our friends who are starting the ranked grind early, good luck. You’ll need it.

######JK <3 You’ll do great. I’m sure of it!

For the poll below, if you didn't vote for Dynamic Queue, why didn't you vote for Dynamic Queue? If you tend to play Normal Draft, do you go into games with parties/premades?

127 Comments

PinkxBlue2/3/2016, 6:27:19 PM19 votes

Dominion making a comeback! Lets go!

Vistha Kai2/3/2016, 7:06:55 PM9 votes

Have you taken advantage of the ability to play with as many as four of your friends? How successful have you been thus far?

If I wanted to play with four friends, I'd create a 5v5 ranked team.

Between Dynamic Queue and the old ranked experience, what are your feelings on the differences between those experiences?

The sole fact of Dynamic Queue existing is insulting. Just when I thought duos were cancerous for the state of ranked, getting matched aganist premades of 3+ made it go up to 11. Teambuilder-esque role picking on the other hand treated me rather well.

Now that you’re able to select your primary and secondary roles, what kind of queue times are you getting with those roles? How does it feel getting those roles?

Surprisingly, seems fine and after ~6 games I got my primary role in under 3 minutes every single time. On the other hand I played with Silver and Gold-ranked people, so it would be only logical for this situation to happen.

With bans distributed between different players on the team, a pick intent feature, and the new “Lock In” requirements (which possibly leads to a longer pre-game period), what do you think about Riot’s push for more active engagement throughout the champion select process?

Pointless. Pick intent means nothing. Only opening yourself to getting your champ banned by vile teammates.

Bans. Nothing to say, frankly. Neutral change.

Lock-in. I'm completely aganist it. It has no positive sides and only means people in a pinch with their picks or bans are getting punished. Doesn't affect queue times as people had the option to immediately lock their choices before the update.

On the side note:

Champion portraits are WAY too big and navigating the champion list window is highly difficult, because of that. I have ~90 champions, yet can only see 25 of them. This is the "feature" that prolongs pre-game phase.

If you don't come to the lobby knowing exactly what to ban or pick, you waste all the time you are given, scrolling through the window. It's nearly impossible to operate without the Search feature.

Hawkefire2/3/2016, 6:56:29 PM8 votes

Couple of things, I really love the new champion select, and I feel it stops a lot of people from arguing over roles.

However, I do feel that being first and second pick is kind of lackluster now, especially with neither of them contributing to bans. It would be fantastic if everyone was given an option to ban a champ.

On to dynamic que, personally adding dynamic que has only pushed me further away from playing ranked. When I get competitive, I want to measure my own personal skill, but dynamic que isn't really a measurement of personal skill, but more of who has the better pre-made. If I wanted to play coordinated ranked I would have simply done ranked teams

Some changes I would propose would be to reinstate solo que without duo que.

Then I would also change dynamic que to have 2, 3, and 5 man parties, with 5 mans being a ranked team. This would also remove being solo in dynamic que, which is generally an unpleasant experience.

Goosetard2/4/2016, 1:23:26 AM5 votes

Things I think Dynamic Queue does well:

Allow me to play ranked with 2 or 3 friends of similar elo
Eliminate situations which promoted toxic behavior in champ select
Help me avoid roles I don't want to play
Looks attractive

Things I think Dynamic Queue doesn't do well:

Functional design. All the relevant information was presented more clearly and easier to use in the old system.
Functional design. I'm listing this twice because I absolutely despise when functionality is sacrificed for aesthetics.
Forced engagement during queue is implemented poorly.
I can't play ranked 5s with my low-elo friends anymore.

I'll expand on some of that stuff below: Functional Design: All text is smaller and harder to read. Chat is now less prominent. Champ art on the sides is crammed into tiny circles when it looked better in squares. The champion list is narrower so it requires more scrolling. Bans are also less prominent and no longer list the champion name (at this point I can recognize them all anyway, but not as easily and holy crap poppy looks like trist). Menus for runes and masteries are smaller than they used to be, the text flows off the top and bottom when scrolling, and the scroll-bar is nearly invisible and is barely the width of the pointer tip you click it with. You can't buy skins form champ select anymore. Ward skins were missing for a long time. Countdown timer once all champs are picked is sitting awkwardly below a blank title area after champs are all picked. All this rearranging and downsizing was to make room for an obnoxiously large champ portrait and animation for picking/banning and a map. I know where all the lanes are; I don't need the map.

Forced engagement poorly implemented: You wanted people to be more engaged when picking champions. Okay... I'm sure there's a reason for wanting to do that. It'd be nice to know what it is. However, to accomplish this you resorted exclusively to the stick and no carrot (punishments for not locking), but the window doesn't steal focus when it's your turn to do something anymore. It used to be that the window would pop up in your face when it was time to do something. Now if I want to be alt-tabbed during select, the only sign that it's my turn is the ominous music and thumping noise, and I have to use your degenerated interface with its tiny scroll bars and inconsistent buttons to do something very quickly. Those situations are really unpleasant and never used to exist.

I can't play ranked 5s with my friends of varying elos anymore: This is simple. I know it's coming in the future. But you took away literally my favorite way to play the game and it sucks.

Look, change happens. Sometimes people don't like change just because it's change. Sometimes people are afraid. I get that and I try not to be. And I think a lot of the changes you're trying to make are well-intentioned. But this is the most popular video game in the world. It earned that title for a reason. It doesn't need to change "just to change." If it's going to change it should be exclusively for the better. Yeah, mistakes are going to be made. That's fine. I can't speak for everyone but I'm pretty forgiving in that regard. But just look at the list of criticisms in my post and the other replies. How the hell does something, for one of the biggest games in terms of player base and esports share, even make it to live with this many problems? Seriously? I don't want to be unkind, and everyone who worked on teambuilder did a really beautiful job with the art, but whoever's job it was to say "hey, wait a minute guys... is this better for the players to use?" really screwed the pooch on this one.

Billdo2/3/2016, 9:26:08 PM4 votes

As someone that really doesn't have a "primary" role, I started out thinking I would like the new fill option, since that is what I did most of the last 3 seasons. After hitting fill and going though about 15 games, I noted 2 things:

I have under a 5 sec que most of the time. That is if it doesn't insta pop.
They should rename "Fill" to "Support", because that is what you are going to be 85 to 90% of the time.

I don't like that I am going to have to start pigeon holing myself into certain roles, I liked the "what role am I going to play this game" feeling I got playing in the old que. And I thought I would get that out of fill, but that is just not the case.

As far as bans go, I banned the new guy yesterday since I don't think he should be played in ranked yet, got insta trolled by our person in ADC roll cause "Thats the only reason I qued up". He said congrats on the loss, locked in teemo and was worthless all game.

Oh and I have not qued up with friends since I really don't have any that play this game.

AlsoJinxBot2/3/2016, 6:55:18 PM4 votes

I think overall this new dynamic queue experience has defiantly been a lot more pleasant and enjoyable then the old solo queue one. Queue times (at least for me) have been much quicker then i would of imagined they would be considering your being able to get at least 1 role of your choosing. I'm an adc main and rightfully so i do want to be at bot lane if possible, however iv shockingly opened myself up to other roles in this new Dynamic Queue. Whenever i got my secondary i found that i wasn't even upset, in fact i embraced playing another role a lot more with this new system.

The only issues i currently have at the moment is defiantly just dodges with lock ins and lobby timers. Just a tad too long for pick intent, picking and possibly bans, which is why i think the new lock in feature isn't working so great. I don't mind having to lock in and after a day or two iv defiantly learned my lesson... however its really just getting to that point that any frustration stars occurring.

One of my favorite things by far is playing with friends on Dynamic Queue. Ranked 5's always seemed like such a commitment in so many aspects that syncing work times, when your friends will be free and for how long would always be a huge pain. With this i feel like if 4 of my friends are offline, i can always just play where i left off and continue the grind, rather then waiting to play with them again.

Overall this is by far the best update Riot has done and it really as shown these past few weeks. Also would like to thank you and any other arbiters who post/reply on here, its great to see you guys interacting with the community over such a heated topic as of recently. Thanks a ton ^^

Gapybo2/3/2016, 10:16:47 PM3 votes

I think there should be some kind of reward for picking support or fill.

KING OF MASKS2/3/2016, 11:15:25 PM3 votes

It sucks and I hate it.

Although dynamic queue/new champ select has plenty of practical problems that others will be quick to point out, my biggest issue is actually with the aesthetics. Personally, it is infuriating to me that rito felt the need to make champion select so unnecessarily flashy. I hate, hate hate hatehatehate, HATE how champion select is now this hugely epic thing, full of WHOOSHES and TANGS and annoyingly detailed animations.

Haven't they ever heard of function over form? Viktor

Happy Jack2/3/2016, 7:50:55 PM2 votes

Ranked Dyno Que is great (DQ). Que times feel about the same and even if they are longer, it's worth to get primary role (most of the time).

I'm torn about pure Ranked Solo Que (RSQ).

If RSQ is assigned inferior season rewards (as Lyte suggested), it will double the grind for players...

Desire to play pure RSQ

AND

Desire to obtain superior season rewards in DQ

I hope Riot uses their brains on RSQ. Either abandon it OR give it same rewards as DQ.

theArtifacts2/3/2016, 7:25:26 PM2 votes

_Have you taken advantage of the ability to play with as many as four of your friends? _<

Sure have. I try to play with 3-4 friends to ensure no trolls/afk/salty players are in my game. The 98% premade team of 5 v 5 is a bit of a turn off though since I don't really practice or use teamspeak with the team of 5 I play with.

How successful have you been thus far?<

Pretty successful. Moved up 3 ranking spots in the week following season 6 start.

Between Dynamic Queue and the old ranked experience, what are your feelings on the differences between those experiences? <

Anytime there are major game changes Ranked Queue struggles for a while as players adjust. People forget to set masteries, don't read the patch/update notes and get queue dodged for not locking, don't understand the changes. As we move into the new season these struggles should dissipate. So far I thoroughly enjoy Dynamic Queue over old ranked since I have more control over who I play with; less risk of trolls/afk/rude/abusive players.

_Now that you’re able to select your primary and secondary roles, what kind of queue times are you getting with those roles? _<

When I choose both a primary and secondary role I've seen queue times of 30 secs to 10 minutes, and I'm in high Bronze / low Silver. When I choose fill I have queue times of 30 secs to 2 minutes but more often than not end up as support. I can support. I do well with support, but enjoy taking other roles.

How does it feel getting those roles?<

As I am fine with filling any role it feels good to just get into a game quickly and play with people comfortable in their roles. This also leaves the problem of people taking fill as a way to avoid longer queue times and then not being able to play the role they get or blatantly ignoring the assigned position and taking one already filled. A third preference would be helpful or perhaps an "anything but ____" option. Another good feature would be to add a "role swap" button in the picking/banning/champ select room so that players can visibly trade positions if they get a hard counter pick against them or would feel more comfortable in a different position.

With bans distributed between different players on the team, a pick intent feature, and the new “Lock In” requirements (which possibly leads to a longer pre-game period), what do you think about Riot’s push for more active engagement throughout the champion select process?<

I enjoy being able to pick an intended champ and avoid banning someones intended pick. This again leads to the problem of "I intend to be this and I have first pick" .. "That champ is no good - banned". Perhaps these offenses could be reported for review? Also - Having to "lock-in" picks and bans was a negative feature. Causes unnecessary queue dodges.

Side note:

I don't necessarily need to see a large centered image of the champ the person is hovering over. It would be much more useful if I could still see my champion pool. Right now if I'm trying to pick and trade with the person who has first pick I cant without memorizing every champ I have or don't have. Would love for this to be a drop down menu I can search through.

Meanie402/4/2016, 2:27:46 AM2 votes

Let's discuss exactly when True Solo Queue will be available.

TeCoolMage2/4/2016, 8:44:52 AM2 votes

more people play dominion than Aram

Also you forgot twisted tree Line!!!

logana102/3/2016, 7:38:46 PM1 votes

So, Can something be done about it showing the champ you MIGHT pick right when it switches to you? Like, sometimes it shows that when I have ban and then my champ gets banned. This has caused quite a few issues with team synergy and champ picks.

TiniNinja2/6/2016, 6:00:41 PM1 votes

I want meh goddamn teambuilder back!

Or at the very least the ability to select ONLY a primary. I could care less about queue time.

Akesgeroth2/4/2016, 2:44:57 AM1 votes

Team Builder.

Seriously, the amount of griefing I've had to deal with in normal drafts is monumental. People banning what people say they want to pick, people troll picking like crazy, people being assigned to a position then going to another, etc. Dynamic queues are not a proper replacement for team builder.

Crys3s2/4/2016, 1:34:02 AM1 votes

{quoted}

Have you taken advantage of the ability to play with as many as four of your friends? How successful have you been thus far?

No. Not successful at all.

Between Dynamic Queue and the old ranked experience, what are your feelings on the differences between those experiences?

Big difference in player ability during placement. Dynamic que is definitely more friendly to groups until solo que is released. I also don't think the ranked experience in general has changed that much besides the new que and the placement win offset. The beginning of the season is always so rifled with changes, fixes, and errors with the ranked system I tend to wait to play ranked until later in the season when the dust has settled.

Now that you’re able to select your primary and secondary roles, what kind of queue times are you getting with those roles? How does it feel getting those roles?

Que times are short. Often times I get either role. Satisfying to know I will get one of the two. However I do miss Teambuilder in a sense I could pick the one champ I wanted to play and deal with the higher que time regardless. I was willing to wait to play a champion I really enjoyed.

With bans distributed between different players on the team, a pick intent feature, and the new “Lock In” requirements (which possibly leads to a longer pre-game period), what do you think about Riot’s push for more active engagement throughout the champion select process?

Personally, I don't care for pick intent. It goes against counter picking and does not make much sense to me personally. With the way the game is now, pre-game period decisions have less influence than balance or gameplay does for LoL at this point in time. Also, I think involving more interactions like locking in, pick intent, etc. is making it more difficult to be in a game where someone doesn't drop because they forgot to lock in or select something.

For ban distribution I think Riot needs to look at increasing it to 8 with the continued release of champions within the pool. There are some gameplay issues with several champions and some are beginning to get by simply because there are not enough bans in place.

For the poll below, if you didn't vote for Dynamic Queue, why didn't you vote for Dynamic Queue? If you tend to play Normal Draft, do you go into games with parties/premades?

I tend to play Normal Draft. No premades or parties, but end up getting put into a trio most of the time.