User blog:Bachoru/Leavers, ELO and more

So, I got to level 30 a few weeks ago. Played a ranked game, and won. Then there was a rotation that I didn't feel suited me well (couldn't play any of the champions there), also I didn't feel that competitive etc. So I play my second ranked game yesterday... In the champion select, nobody said who they'll be. Our bans were Nocturne and Rammus. Our captain picked Xin, I took Amumu and there were some others too, of which I only remember a Pantheon. We play... I carry out a few successful ganks, the game is going pretty well for me; far from that can be said about the side lanes. Our solo lane is doing OK, bot has died twice to Evelynn and mid has fed one or two kills to the enemy. They kill our mid again (no MIAs called of course) and decide to push. I'm left alone there to defend, which I manage pretty well. Our team, however, decides they wanna push a side lane. Solo. So we get killed several more times, each one noobier and could've been easier avoided than before. We loose a few turrets. We feed Eve to the extent that she can just tower-dive anyone and run out unharmed. To top it off, our Pantheon disconnects. My second ranked game ended as a loss, and there was NOTHING I could've done, other than going to queue a different time. Even my pro skill can't win a 1v5, and with the teamplay my team showed, it might as well have been a 1v5 (I admit they helped a lot, and their combined efforts even exceeded mine, but they fed enough to compensate for that). The game after our Warwick never said anything and dc'd a few times; luckily the rest of the team was great and we won that game.

Now to point out a few things:

The first game I lost ELO (although I can't see my rating yet, I'm pretty sure it's already there), while I arguably did better than members of their team, who gained ELO

The second game I gained ELO, but so did our WW who fed, dc'd, didn't help in teamfights, tanked towers in a 5-man push etc. (just the epitome of failed n00b who should uninstall, get a life and gtfo). The enemy team, however good one of their players was, lost ELO to a player whose skills are worse than those of my 8-year old cousin at level 12 (seriously, he at least dosn't feed).

Now, ELO, I hear, was designed for chess. That's awesome. Really, great. Too bad chess is a game of personal skill, while LoL 4/5 is just luck about your teammates. I know there is no good alternative to our current "Ladder" ranking system, other than manually reviweing each match, and K/D, or Turrets, or Assists etc. are all a factor just for a certain group of champions. I know it's much easier to keep this extremely inaccurate record of matches and create new OP champions instead of working on a better system. I also know that I'll get used to it over time, and won't want a change once I do get used to it. It still pisses me off. Also, the lower my ELO drops, the lower skill my teammates have, and I drop even further. I'm not going to suggest anything better, I'm just raging here.

A second thing that has been bugging me for a while now are bots and their difficulty, but mostly just them in general. Now, I'm completely satisfied with the level of gameplay beginner and intermediate bots have, beginner being just strong enough for most noobs to be able to kill, and intermediate also performing some skill moves etc. What bothers me is their gold gain: mostly the intermediate ones' that is. Bots seem to gain gold on a completely different principle: I suspect they just gain 5-10 gold every second or w/e. For comparison:

In the end-game stats, our Fiddlesticks had 22 kills and 8 assists. Cho'gath bot had 8 kills and 6 assits. They both had farmed cca 110 minions. In the Grid stats, however, Chogath bot had gained 16,000 gold, while our Fiddle only got 14,000. It was a game of about 35 minutes, very inaccurately. Now, although this would be possible, it's very unlikely (the reasons this could happen is that Cho might've shut down 8 legendaries, while fiddle only killed ppl with an 8+ death streak, only getting 100 gold per kill. Also gold items, and Cho might've killed jungle monsters, and dragon and turrets and whatnot). In this game this did onot happen. And this was just an example: Similar things happen almost every game. Just try it: Play an intermediate game, and at about 20 minutes into the game, you'll get completely wiped out by a MF with an IE, PD, and absolutely no kills, or an Annie with a RoA and Rabadon's. Bots will have almost full builds, and untill your team starts filling up their builds, they will likely completely remove any pushing advantage you had, and push you to your inhibitors, if not past. Now, I don't know why Riot did this, whether bots also gain gold for last-hitting and champion kills, but it's definite that bots are, in fact, cheaters. And I don't like this: Because although their skill level is pretty low (nothing compared to the ones seen in the bot trailer vid w/e), they still have an advantage thanks to their unfair gold. This should be adressed, because my noob friends aren't ready for player games, and whenever they want a "hard" game with me, we go against intermediate bots. Well, we would, if they were defeatable. Which they really aren't.

Another issue about bots is that you can't have them on TT. I know there was a tme you could; and I can imagine Riot removed them because of IP farms crap. The problem is, lots of players play the TT only: They either don't have the time for SS, or just like TT better. And the only way to try if a champ is any good on TT is to find a custom game and make your side loose if you don't like him, or even worse, a normal game. I'd gladly have TT bots for no IP, just to see whether Jax is really that good, test Renekton's double dash through walls and figure out when exactly Trynda can solo dragon. I'd like to, but I can't, cause I can't add bots. And although you can play 1v0, you often want to learn the actual strengths and weaknesses of a champion in a duel, or teamfight. Which 1v0 doesn't allow.

A third thing I'm irritated with is the extreme amount of noobs, even on this level. I don't know how Riot's system works, but every 2 out of 5 games has a leaver, and more often it will be my side. I prefer to win, or at least loose fairly, and whatever Riot is doing to stop leavers and sort the good grain from the weed (funny pun, I know), it's failing.

This probably belongs to the LoL forums, but those suck and last time I tried posting, I waited in vain for and hour, then my computer crashed. I'm not gonna risk again. Thanks for reading. If you didn't read, thank you for not bothering my thread. If you did bother it, the Grim Reaper is coming for you and you'll inevitably die. My 2 cents.