Proposal to reduce "toxicity" in ranked playlists; simple idea that is guaranteed to improve ranked

Vizzo·May 11, 2016·5 votes·627 views

I have a simple change that I believe will reduce what players perceive as "toxic behavior" in ranked games. I don't think I need to spell out how the term toxic has evolved into a loosely thrown around response to anything not puppies and rainbows in chat.

My proposal is to make Mastery grades at the end of a match determine your LP gain/loss. Think about how many times you have done really well in a game, got an S grade, and then lost an absurd amount of LP. With my proposed change instead of losing say 20 LP you only lose 5 LP. In theory this immediately solves the problem of players giving up after the early game goes sour in a lane that is not their own. Everyone has had a game where a teammate feeds and you want to get out asap and into a new game but you have to wait until at least 20 minutes to even "attempt" a surrender. With this one simple change you incentivize players to keep playing for a high Mastery grade so they minimize their LP losses. This puts a huge emphasis on individual performance in solo/DQ. Right now the Mastery system is completely worthless as the only thing it shows is how often you play a particular champion, not how skilled you are at that champion. Riot pitched Mastery as a system designed to show off skill with a champion so why not make this change. Riot would need to give players a clear cut explanation of how the system works in terms of how it grades each role. This would lead to so many positive things for players, informing them of what they need to be doing in their roles in general, how to improve their play, what they are doing well, what they are not doing well, etc. The tutorial system is out of date and beyond 3rd party sources Riot does a terrible job of teaching players how to get better at their game.

TLDR: Tie Mastery grade at the end of matches into the amount of LP you gain/lose in ranked matches based on a metric set by Riot for each role in the game.

Please give an honest opinion of this proposal because I believe it would solve a lot of the problems faced by players who focus on primarily ranked playlists.

9 Comments

YumScrumptious96May 11, 20163 votes

The one problem is, and I've heard this solution before, people will just play for their KDA when they start to lose. Instead of taking risky plays that could win fights if it works, they will take the safest option to preserve their grade. Instead of risking your degree of LP loss for the potential win, they will just go the safest way.

DrCyanideMay 11, 20163 votes

Champion Mastery is a terrible way to go about what you're wanting to do. Want an S? Play Ezreal as a Support. You'll get an S because no one else takes Ezreal Support.

VizzoMay 11, 20161 votes

Ezreal isn't listed as a support so you wouldn't be graded based off the Support metric but rather you would be graded based on Marksman and Mage metrics. The champion's established roles as determined by Riot would be the metric you get graded on. Yes this would detract people from messing around and playing a champion outside of their intended roles but let's be honest for a second, no one should be playing Shyvana support in a ranked game. If you want to play a champion outside of their role there is a normal playlist for doing so.

Deep Terror NamiMay 11, 20163 votes

This is incorrect. You are graded according to the champion you're on in the role you're playing. If I play Nami in mid, I won't be graded against Support Nami's, I will only be graded against Mid Nami's. You can read more on the Champion Mastery Q&A.

As for the OP, basing your LP gains on your score is imo a really bad idea. People will focus on getting points instead of actually winning the match. While a Shaco that is 20/0/0 generally has a better chance of winning than a 10/10/0 Shaco, it's the one that kills the Nexus that actually mattered. The true objective of every match is the Nexus, and it doesn't matter how you accomplish it. A player might contribute zero measurable stats to a teamfight, but the Mastery score can't know that he was zoning 3 carries just be being present and blocking them, winning the game. If you don't win, nobody cares what your stats are.

Focusing on getting a high mastery grade is actually extremely detrimental to the game as a whole. This isn't Call of Duty Deathmatch.

Atlas The BirdMay 11, 20162 votes

It was an interesting idea when I first thought about it, but it would ultimately reduce team cooperation. Everyone would be looking out for their own mastery score. Don't think Riot would ever want that.

aj502 OneillMay 11, 20161 votes

TLDR...

Paragraphs are cool!

VizzoMay 11, 20162 votes

TLDR: Tie Mastery grade at the end of matches into the amount of LP you gain/lose in ranked matches based on a metric set by Riot for each role in the game.

Just for you <3

aj502 OneillMay 12, 20161 votes

Thx bro...

I have nothing to add unfortunately. :(

Colgate GatorMay 11, 20161 votes

Yasuo mains are the bane of my existence, they flaunt their mastery icon to the point of spamming right before they get destroyed in lane and rage at us for some forsaken reason, how would your suggested idea fix that?