What's up with Ranked provisionals?

Shroom Junkie·4/17/2015, 2:02:01 AM·1 votes·326 views

I mean, I played my first Ranked provisionals not too long ago. I won 4 and lost 6. I got sent to Silver V. However, my brother, who undoubtedly did better than me in terms of KDA, as well as won 6 and lost 4, only got Bronze III this year.

I just want to know how it works. I mean, I didn't want to be in Silver V; I'm in it, I'm sucking, and I'm the least valuable player in almost every match. I won two games by pure chance of a good team, and lost two because I fed my lane. I WANT TO BE PUT DOWN A FRIGGIN DIVISION! I DON'T LIKE THIS! AND WHAT THE HELL IS UP WITH 4:6 GETTING SILVER V AND 6:4 GETTING BRONZE III?!

RAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH

6 Comments

NoMonku4/18/2015, 5:37:29 AM2 votes

There are a lot of variables going into it. Since this was your first time ranking, your first few games matter the most in terms of where you get placed. They determine most likely what division you will get placed it. The later ones (game 5+ or so) usually help determine what tier because the later games in your promotion series will have you playing against people closer to your "ideal" level. In your case, I'm guessing you won a lot of your games early on and for your brother, he lost early on then won. Also another thing that RIOT added to this season I believe is that they take into account your past seasons MMR into account more heavily, so if you had a bad run (lost early games but won later ones) then it won't impact you as negatively as it had other seasons. If your brother played last season and if he was already in bronze, that could explain it.

Also how much LP are you/your brother gaining/losing when you win/lose? If you are getting an equal distribution when you win/lose, that means you are in your "ideal" level of play. If you are losing more LP then what you gain, it means you belong in a lower tier/division and vice versa.

Goujian4/17/2015, 10:30:56 AM1 votes

As far as I understand the system, it ranks you not just by the number of wins and losses you had, but also the skill level of people you played against. So if he mostly got paired against weaker players (or maybe even in a team with stronger players) that influenced his positioning downwards.

If he was ranked at any point previously and was in Bronze, then that is an even higher factor. I ended up in Silver V for the first time this year, whereas my girlfriend was placed in Bronze I, because she had fallen to Bronze from mid-Silver last year due to inactivity, despite playing her qualifying series better than I did (and, frankly, being quite a bit better and more experienced player than I am).

KDA is NOT a factor at all, for all I know.

Goujian4/17/2015, 2:59:47 PM1 votes

Play duo games with your brother, that way you can both play with opponents similar in skill, and, since most people gain and lose different amounts of LP per game (depending on whether you're climbing to your 'true' MMR or falling to it), you should eventually find yourselves in the same league :D