I think i know the fix for the Solo/Dynamic Q duality problem

And i think Riot is already working to implement this. I'll explain that part near the bottom.

First off, i hope this is in the right board. Feel free to move/have me remake!

Secondly, id like to share a quote from another thread that really got me thinking:

"Remember how if you had that absolutely perfect team in solo Q? Everyone was on point. Everyone was funny, fun to be around and overall, you all just played in sync. The thing I wished for the most in soloQ, was to get that exact same team again! And when I found that you could in DQ, I was excited. Finally I could have fun in ranked!"

This is a good point, and something i think a lot of people looked forward to. It was a great solution to a problem. But not for solo queue. For teams.

Remember how Riot briefly talked about ending team 5v5s? I believe they mentioned that the two reasons for this was 1) dynamic queue made team 5s "redundant" and 2) not that huge percentage of the playerbase played/cared about team 5s queue. They acknowledged that people wanted to play together, but didnt participate as much in the Ranked 5s queue as they should have been. It didnt occur to me until now that dynamic queue was the answer, which is why so many of us were surprised solo queue was to be shut down at its release. In retrospect, Riot was most likely worried having both would ruin New Champ Select and Dynamic Queue's launch. But if we think back, solo q and ranked teams existed in harmony for quite a while..... so why not solo q and _NEW _dynamic queue?

So here's what im proposing. Since Dynamic Queue is basically the team queue, lets treat it like that instead of The One Queue To Rule Them All.

Add Back Team Tools Going into Dynamic Queue without 5 people allows you to form a team despite having enough, reducing the barrier to entry into team play. Basically, you are using an advanced system for finding temporary replacements. You know those features in place now that allow you to easily add people youve played with back into queue? Add something like that for team captains to add new people quickly to their team(s) roster(s). And of course, bring back team rosters and the creation of teams.

Add Pure Solo Q Yes, this will hurt Dynamic Queue times a bit, although MUCH of the queue time problem is with New Champ Select. Ignoring Champ Select problems, with New Dynamic/Team Queue, this problem should be resolved by encouraging people to add people they enjoy to their team rosters, so they dont have to rely on solo people playing Dynamic/Team Queue. Making it easy to add people to rosters, and introducing more Team rewards, should encourage people to communicate with their roster members/friends and get play groups together. While solo players have the option to either play in New Dynamic Queue (give them perks for doing so) or stick with Pure Solo Q (no duos). Playing is Solo Q will allow them to rank themselves accurately and enjoy quality solo competitive play, while playing in New Dynamic will give them game rewards and allow them to play ranked with their friends (even before Dynamic Q, Solo Q players were found on Ranked Teams. They can co-exist).

Ranking Outside Solo Q Because Dynamic Queue will be affirmed as a team rank ladder in the proposed system, you must be part of a roster to have a rank. But this will be made easy by allowing the minimum amount of players on a roster to be two. In New Dynamic/Team Queue, there are two buttons: free solo and team. Team is greyed out until you join or start a team. If you want to play team, you only need two members of your roster to queue up -- Dynamic Queue magic does the rest. If you are not on a team yet, or havent started one, are just a Solo Q player who wants those sweet Free Solo rewards, or just dont have any roster mates available, you hit Free Solo. Free Solo does NOT depend on your team and therefore does not impact your New Dynamic/Team Queue MMR. The only exception for this if you havent finished your provisionals. In that case, Free Solo will determine an MMR the same way Dynamic Queue currently does.

Why Riot is Likely Working on This Already Around the time they removed Ranked 5s (i think it was right before the launch of the League social app) Rioters implied that team tools will be re-added to the game via integration with Dynamic Queue in season 7, including team rosters. It's possible that they DO want Solo and Dynamic/Team queues to co-exist, and that team tools are the key, but theyve held off on saying anything because they arent sure just how to implement the team tools, and how to fix New Champ Select. Theyve vaguely mentioned that they are currently trying to fix "problems within dynamic queue", which by that they probbably mean New Champ Select, which they must either heavily tweak or, more likely, rework. Once they solve that problem, they can work on the Solo/Dynamic/Team queue problem. And despite our chagrin, they believe radio silence is better than sharing a bunch of loose ideas that WILL change over time, possibly even dramatically. Ever have someone ask you to explain a problem you still havent fully fleshed out? Or a project you just started piecing together? It's kinda like that.

Despite that, i thought id share my ideas to 1) see how the community likes them, 2) maybe help Riot a bit, and 3) do something with this radio silence. Share your critique, ideas, and questions below, and thank you for reading! I hope i didnt write it too poorly, haha.