User blog:KazMx/Forum Threads: Your Solo Queue MM is broken.

I like this post on the forums by Elementz, and I thought I could share it with the Wiki community.


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 * Now let me explain myself. I've been going up to the 1920ish Elo area and then dropping down to the 1750ish Elo area. This keeps happening. Why do I fluctuate almost 200 Elo constantly? I'll tell you why. Duo queue.

Usually when I duo queue I win. Doesn't matter who it is. Just as long as the player I am with is a level-headed dude that won't feed in his lane and do stupid stuff. I duo queue with 1650 players to 2000 players. The point I am making here is it doesn't really have to do anything with their Elo. Just generally when I duo queue I win quite easily compared to if I solo queue. I'll usually get slaughtered in solo queue.

Now this isn't myself getting slaughtered either. I will win my lane by a mile but it doesn't matter. Because dragons dead, we've lost bottom tower, and the other solo lane is dead too. How it is possible that when I solo queue the majority of my games have almost all three other lanes (including jungle) losing. This does not make sense to me.

This isn't something that I find uncommon either. When I sign up for solo queue without someone I fully expect to lose. I can almost predict how every single one of my games will go based on picks, who I am vs, and who's on my team. Isn't the point of MM supposed to not let this happen? Shouldn't it try and make a 50/50 game chance of winning for either team? This isn't the case. You can artificially boost your chances of winning massively when you duo queue with another high elo player because it will screw over the high elo solo queuers on the other team with a lower elo duo queue team. IE - Creating a skill gap between the two teams at high Elo making it generally a very one-sided game.

When I solo queue I lose I'd say around 60-65% of my games. Why do I lose 60-65% of my games when I solo queue? Because the team I am vs is a duo queue of people who play together, work well together, and will carry their game together. Playing with someone you know and enjoy playing with makes winning that much easier. You can communicate on vent. You can gank better, you'll lane better etc.. etc.. Everything is better with duo queue. Another thing. When one person tries to lead a team, some people like to do what they want and try and take the lead from you and it sometimes creates conflicts. If you have 2 people calling all the shots, telling people where to go, etc.. It's much easier control the team and get them to follow you around and group up for ganks, baron etc..

Duo queue at high Elo is how you win games. If you don't duo queue at high Elo you will get paired up vs other high Elo duo queuers. Except your team will have a lower Elo duo queue pair + you, aka making up the difference in Elo. I am sorry but the inflated Elo of the duo queue pair + my Elo does NOT = the same skill and coordination a high Elo duo queue pair will have.

Duo queue completely ruins high Elo. You either Duo queue and wait 20-30 mins for a game, or solo queue, wait 5-10 mins, and lose. It's extremely bothersome losing games that I have no control over.

I literally have ZERO control over these games. It blows my mind that when I solo queue whatever lanes I am not in will feed the majority of the time. Then there's the games I have a bad game + I am solo queueing. Games over incredibly fast. The only control I have to turn the tables is if I duo queue with someone. That is when I will consistently win games. If I solo queue chances are I will lose. I either go beyond godlike super carry, or lose. How can that be. How can I be the deciding factor if we win based on how well I do? Why do I have to carry every single game in order to win? This isn't a fair system. All players should be of somewhat equal skill. This is quite literally never the case. Games are generally a 25 min blow out 18-5. This NOT fun at all. Even when I win like that it's not fun.

All you guys have to do. Is take out duo queue. It makes playing this game very frustrating and gives people a higher Elo then they should be. A lot of 1800+ players I shake my head and wonder "How the hell did this guy even break 1400?" People have mind boggling bad play at 1800+ Elo. Why can they get away with this? Because they duo queued with someone all the way up there and now it makes a massive skill gap when Elo tries to balance teams.

This is the summary of the last 1-2 months of my LoL solo queue experience.

The problem is. I don't want to duo queue all day long and wait for someone I know and trust to get online just so I can win vs other duo queuers. I don't want to wait 20 mins for a game. I want solo queue to be exactly what it is. Solo queue. Not duo queue. I want a fair playing field. Duo queue makes games completely one sides at high Elo and you guys should take it out come Season 2.

This is most likely the case for all Elo's. A higher Elo'ed duo queue team will win. This is most likely why people believe they are stuck in "Elo Hell" is because they don't duo queue. If you don't duo queue at all Elo's you will most likely lose. That + most lower elo players think they are better then they are. Just like all my RL friends who play this game. They are all brutal and blame MM. When really they're just 1200-1300 players. So I know Riot says "But our stats say Duo queuers vs Solo queuers is about the same!" That's only because the bad players at low elo will lose because they are bad. Duo queue and solo queue has zero effect on someone who was most likely going to lose anyways. When it comes to truly experienced players in this game. If you duo queue, you will most likely win. This is a fact I've experienced first hand.

TLDR - Duo queue makes very one sides teams at high Elo. Two higher Elo players will usually have the superior team because Elo will take the other high Elo solo queuers and match them up with a lower Elo duo queue pair. Thus making it balanced for the "Elo" difference but it leaves a massive skill gap making for extremely one sided games.

Edit: For those of you who are getting caught up on my title.. I don't care in the sense that they say duo queue is fine. Aka, I don't believe them when they say it's fine. You're taking the title too seriously. Look past the title and read the post. Don't judge a book by it's cover.
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