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Ranked gameplay Idea

googlemuffin·8/5/2015, 12:46:27 AM·1 votes·591 views

Ranked Changes

Greetings Summoners,

This post is hopefully not going to be too long and I would love to hear some feedback on this idea I had. I, like many others, have had many ideas about ways to improve or change the ranking system in League of Legends and in this post I want to highlight what I feel are a few issues with the current system and changes I think may improve these issues.

Issues: In League right now I see there being 3 primary issues that need to be addressed in some way shape or form. I will briefly discuss these issues before diving into my idea for changes to the system.

  1. Competitiveness- I really feel that the ranking system in League has always been lacking a level of competitiveness, especially at the tiers below Challenger and Masters. One change I would love to have is making each division just like Challenger and Masters in the sense that you have to keep playing in order to maintain your spot or move up. All too often people seem to make it into a division and call it quits (myself included). This, “alright I made it to (insert division)” mentality kills the competitiveness of the game because people are no longer trying to achieve something or maintain the position they achieved. By having you position always in jeopardy and being able to see how you truly measure up will make people strive to keep playing but also improve their gameplay.
  2. Rewarding Gameplay- I truly feel that League does not reward people for actually doing well in games. I have brought this up in past posts and always met with one similar argument “you should not reward losers”. This is simply not true. Should you be able to easily climb the ladder by losing? Of course not, but you shouldn’t feel completely let down after a great game. This leads me into my discussion of how I would overhaul the ranking system.
  3. Shrouded in mystery- the ELO system before and the LP system now are both shrouded in a sense of mystery as to how they work. With the transition to the LP system Riot gave us a deeper insight into how our rank is calculated but there is still a barrier between the player and what they placement is. How exactly did the system decide to place me where I am? Why did I get (x) amount of LP for that game? These questions can create a level of frustration in a player when playing ranked. New system:
  4. My first step would be to drop the LP system and bring back visible ELO. By having the visible ELO like before people will be able to see how they match up to other players. We can keep the divisions (bronze V-Challenger) as the cosmetic divider that they are now. Players can then see where they are placed and understand their special relationship to other players on the ladder.
  5. The next step would be to address how you gain or lose ELO. Currently it seems that ELO gains and losses are based on two things, did you win or lose? And was your team MMR higher than the enemy teams? While these factors are important they should not be the only deciding factor in if you gain or lose ELO or how much you gain or lose. There is an entire grey area that is ignored that should not be. The new system would ask three basic questions in an order; 1. Did you win? 2. Was your team MMR higher than the enemy team’s? Did you perform well? The last question is important because it will reward players for doing well in a game while not rewarding players who have performed poorly.
  6. Use an ELO calculator to handout the ELO after a game. This ELO calculator would take into consideration what the answer is for the three presented questions. After calculating the total based on those answers it hands out the ELO to players just like LP is handed out now. The difference is that players will understand what that number is, how it was calculated, and what they need to improve on.
  7. Introduce a Performance Score (PS). This would be similar to how Riot already calculates a fantasy score for a player but with a few tweaks. A kill would be a +1 score, a death -1, an assist +.5, and CS +.01 per cs. This will help minimize the reward but still reward players for playing the best that they can.
  8. Calculate the bonus. The system starts by asking the first question. If you win, +10, if you lose -5 from your original ELO. Then it asks about your MMR. If you won and your MMR was higher than there is no reward because you were expected to win, but if your MMR was lower you receive a bonus, +10, because you were expected to lose the game. If you lost and your MMR higher than you receive a penalty, -10, because you were expected to win and did not, but if your MMR was lower than there is no penalty because you were already expected to lose the game. The last question asks how well you did in the game. This goes to the Performance Score. This total can then be added to your score after the first two questions. Example: You start a game with 1200 ELO. Your team MMR is lower than the enemy Team’s MMR. You win the game with a score of 3/2/5 150 CS. Question 1, did you win? Yes +10 Question 2, was your MMR higher? No +10 Question 3, how did you perform? PS +5 Post-game ELO-1225 You start a game with 1200 ELO. Your team MMR is higher than the enemy Team’s MMR. You lose the game with a score of 3/2/5 150 CS. Question 1, did you win? No -5 Question 2, was your MMR higher? Yes -10 Question 3, how did you perform? PS +5 Post-game ELO- 1990 This type of system will allow players to fully understand the changes that occur to their ELO following a game. Allowing more players to see where issues in their gameplay may be. Having your position constantly contested will keep you playing and striving to be better. It will also allow you to truly see yourself progress up or down a division rather than a cosmetic overlay of tiers with no true meaning behind your position within that tier. Feel free to critique and comment, I’d love to see feedback or ideas about this type of system or the current system.

2 Comments

Minarde8/6/2015, 3:24:39 AM2 votes

A major issue with including game performance into ranking changes is that game performance is a hugely nuanced topic. KDA and CS only reveal a small part of the game and tend to heavily favor certain positions. For instance, in slower, less bloody games, supports will have atrocious scores simply because no one ever dies. Even in your example of 150 CS, that's a decent number for a jungler, but it's horrible farm for an ADC.

Unless there's a massively convoluted formula, including game performance into ranking just forces optimal play to be selfish. Everyone will want to, and should, be playing a carry because "Hey, I get more when I win and lose less when I don't. Why would I ever play a tank or support?" If there is a complex formula including more than just KDA and CS, then rank changes have become obfuscated again, and there is no practical difference with the current system.