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Ranked matchmaking is the cornerstone of a MOBA like League of Legends.
The rank of a player is not just a bragging right, but also the deciding factor before they are selected for a professional team. Players ranked Diamond and above are considered the best within the game while those who manage to reach Challenger are the most elite demographic within League of Legends.
This means that a very small issue with the matchmaking system can prove to be a decisive factor when it comes to ranked games. To combat this, Riot Games have planned some quality of life changes in order to make the ranked scenario a little bit better.
Changes to ranked matchmaking in League of Legends
Players have often complained about several areas that require improvement when it comes to ranked matchmaking in League of Legends. One such major issue is related to getting autofilled within the game. This is a state where players get filled into a role other than the one they might be searching for. This leads to an inability to perform at the best possible level and it can result in losses.
According to Codebear from Riot Games,
“Position popularity fluctuates throughout the day, but our current algorithm isn’t performing to the standard we want it to. Early testing indicates that by improving the way we calculate position popularity, we can potentially reduce autofill rates as low as ~0.6% of all games, down from the current ~2-5%. Not only are we expecting to see large autofill gains, we’ve also seen strong signals that this will reduce queue times by up to 10% across all MMRs.”
Apart from this, another issue that affects several players is rank decay within League of Legends. This is something that happens in the case of higher ranks. A player ranked Diamond or above, who might not have played for two weeks will see a drastic drop in rank, leading to a poor experience for everyone.
Diamond players will feel out of place and the players who face them will get frustrated and Riot Games plans to introduce changes to address this as well.
As mentioned by Codebear,
“Apex tier (Master+) and high Diamond players that take a few weeks off from League are decaying further than we’d like, down to visible ranks that are extremely off from their skill level. This creates an odd mismatch type purgatory that can be demotivating to play in. Though the intent of decay is to ensure that only the current best players are represented at the top of the ladder, it isn’t the intent to send those that have decided to take a few weeks off down to a place that they don’t belong. We’re looking into better options for decay rate that we can roll out in a low-disruption way before the end of the season”
League of Legends also plans to improve social interactions through the implementation of a social leaderboard. Riot Games dev further adds that,
“Ranked leagues with people you don’t know, and almost never see in games, are hard to feel a connection with. We’re experimenting with a more personal social comparison leaderboard right where you need it—directly in the ranked lobby. You’ll see the first iteration of Social Leaderboard show up soon where we can then evaluate any additional improvements to make to it based on player feedback. We’re excited to see the competition between friends and acquaintances heat up during the climb.”
Improvements in ranked matchmaking have long been awaited within League of Legends. The sooner these are brought into the game, the better it will be for the entire community around the game.
