League of Legends players frustrated with smurfs taking over their solo queue games will have to be a bit more patient.
League lead gameplay designer Mark “Scruffy” Yetter explained today that the ranked seeding changes for new accounts are being pushed back to the 2021 preseason patch.
Gameplay Thoughts for today
-Tahm Kench (guest appearance from @riot_captain)
-Autofill improvements
-Ranked Seeding pushed backhttps://t.co/r7eDFxjMKg— Mark Yetter (@MarkYetter) June 26, 2020
“We’re seeing a few more challenges than expected translating normal MMR into ranked MMR due to the nature of the two queues,” Scruffy said. “We’re going to do the necessary work to correctly translate between the two MMRs so we’re seeding ranked players much closer to their skill level—the core goal of the project.”
Riot previously explained that players are all given a “fixed placement” toward the bottom half of the solo queue curve. But a smurf account starting from the same rank as a beginner is problematic and causes matchmaking quality to suffer within the “highest-populated skill level.”
This new ranked seeding feature would use matchmaking rating (MMR) from normal queues to provide a ranked MMR for a player’s first competitive matches. So if a player performs well in normal games while leveling their account to 30, they’d be placed in a higher solo queue rank.
But translating normal MMR to ranked MMR proved difficult for the devs and Riot is postponing it until the preseason. Players can expect division promotional games to be removed then, too.
New accounts and smurfs frustrate the player base because they create uneven teams. A beginner may be incorrectly placed in a higher elo and get destroyed by the opposition. Smurfs, on the other hand, create a one-sided lobby and waste time and LP for players trying to climb. Riot is “exploring systems” to better handle these occurrences.
The second half of 2020 will be dedicated to fixing a few community complaints that hinder the ranked experience. Many players feel like League has grown more toxic in recent years, with players intentionally feeding, griefing, or raging and facing little consequence for their actions. Riot is working on better detection and punishment for those types of behaviors, as well as giving more frequent feedback to players who report an unsportsmanlike player.
Devs are also reassessing the promotion system, which can often cost players multiple days of heartbreak and anguish.
“We know that too many promos have become a source of frustration,” Codebear said. “We’re seriously examining the current promotion system and will be making changes to shift the role it plays in our competitive ecosystem.”
And the restrictions for forming a group in flex queue will be loosened up to make it easier to play with friends, while still creating a competitive experience.
