Ranked Solo Queue Rant: Not Worthwhile When You...

[quote=1337azn]When ranked games were first implemented in the LoL community, I'm sure most of us were at least somewhat curious. I for one thought finally there was a way to distinguish the skill of the ubiquitous level 30's. Ranked for me though, started out terrible. Just as in the beginning, as it is now, there are a lot of people, who aren't serious about winning. These "nubs" or "trolls" are probably why many of us cannot consecutively win many games in solo queue. There is just too much luck involve in getting to be on the good team. Doesn't it seem like in many games, one team has a not-very-helpful teammate while the other bonds cohesively? Needless to say, I stuck to my luck and my rank steadily decreased until it hit 817. I stopped playing ranked starting from then until quite recently. On the contrary, a friend of mine, who recently began playing ranked had a good stroke of luck to begin with and was able to rocket out of the lower elos to a rank of 1500+. About two weeks back, I began to try my luck again. This time, I duo queued, and to be honest, it helped tremendously with the wins. For 11 straight games, I was able to win with my friend. However, friends aren't always online and there aren't always people you can duo queue with. So, I was able to get my rank up to a cap of almost 1100 before I started wavering back and forth between 1050 and 1100. Now, I've been stuck here for about 30 games. It's making LoL less fun to play. In fact, insomuch that I'm deciding to take a hiatus from the game to be away from those, who contribute very little to the team when I play ranked. Anyway, I'm sure many of you have experienced this before when you maybe carry really hard for your team, but it still ends up losing because only 4 players on your team were present at every team fight against the opponent's team of 5 and wasn't able to come through. Now, I'm not proposing change to the system because we cannot get rid of every person who won't cooperate. However, it has shown me that I will be fighting for a lost cause by playing ranked games in order to bring an elo up. I've also seen really good players in the lower elos, which surprised me at first, but also shows that the ranked matchmaking system and elos are not always very reliable in determining the skills of a player. Thoughts?[/quote]

[quote=Zeprido]Duo queueing is successful because it allows you to rely on another person besides yourself. There are a few things you can do to increase your chances of winning. 1. Be the team "leader". Direct your team, inform them that when you ping it means "x", if your team is getting snowballed by a single champion (AD or AP) inform them to grab the proper item counters. Some may not listen, but when they do, it will greatly increase the performance of your team overall and improve their morale, but you gotta be nice about it, don't bark orders. Early game if either team has a jungler, make sure to inform your team not to auto attack minions and only to last hit. 2. Wards. Map awareness is everything, even if you are the only one buying them, they are DEFINITELY worth it. Learn proper ward placement. 3. There are 4 types of champions that can help improve your success. Hard carries, Support (ofter underestimate/overlooked), Tanks, and junglers. Learning 1-2 of each of these well can only be a good thing when it comes to ranked play. A zilean ult can completely turn a team fight around, junglers give your team an edge up with 2 solo lanes, and tanks... are well... tanks. 4. I know I already said this, but be nice! TreeEskimo is a great example of a player who constantly helps out his team, and is always willing to give advice. 5. The ELO system really does work, it usually will bring you to around 100-200 above/below your true ELO, and the only way to climb the ladder is to improve yourself both mechanically, and technically.[/quote]

[quote=hypershatter]most people say it's luck, but in the end it's about personal skill. i think it was bigfatjiji who had 5 smurfs account, and all of them are now 2000+ elo. he didn't duo queue with anyone. the bottomline is, if you really have 1337 skills, having a sub-par team shouldn't be a problem.[/quote]

[quote=Trojan995]There's also a post in which a player who played during beta, and has close to 1600 games but only 1100 ELO, queued up with top players like bigfatjiji, treeeskimo, and elementz, and most of them, upon evaluation of his skill claimed he was worthy of 1600-1700 elo. Also, I'm entirely lost on these AFK'ers, queue dodgers, and all the other 'elo hell' complaints. I haven't had one of those since level 10. Granted I only played 2 ranked games, but I imagine the concept would apply even less so in ranked than in normal. The first 3v3 match I played I queued with friends, but hilariously enough my 5v5 ranked team was more competent (poppy forgot to stack MR against an all-magic damage team in TT). My first ranked game produced a few great allies, one being a yi who got a quadra kill and won us the game, and an anivia who knew how to fight (but didn't know where golem was? I had to point it out for her). All in all, I'm sort of appalled that elo hell even exists. I'm also appalled that people can get to level 30 and not know where the damn golem is.[/quote]

[quote=Riggsinator]I was down in the 900's at one point. Stopped blaming the baddies and just decided to play a handful of champions that I know very well and voila, got back up around 1400. Now I'm back down in 1200's because I can't seem to get a team that knows how to pick good last picks. Which is why I prefer picking last to picking first. Don't bother playing support. Most the goons in Solo Ranked aren't worth supporting at the lower ELO. One way I got out of the ELO hell was I started playing champions that had great map awareness. Nidalee, Teemo, Shaco, Ashe, and champions like that. People that are hard to gank. If you buy wards you can easily push lanes without fear of being ganked because you can set them all over the side of the map that you want to push. Buying 3 wards for 150 gold, then pushing a lane and probably making over 500 gold easy. My experience in Ranked has made me realize that there are a lot of selfish players out there that refuse to buy wards because buying 75 gold items isn't worth waiting 1 more minute to finish their 1337 item that will make them an LOL superstar. Furthermore, dont play easily countered champions like: Galio, Katarina, Eve, Jax, Soraka, Taric, ect. They're just too easy to be countered and you cannot rely on your team to make up for them countering you.[/quote]

[quote=Jet]If you're telling people to not play Taric, you belong at 1200 ELO, probably a lot lower. That said, when you say "ELO hell" and you're stuck at the same ELO for 30+ games, that's considered your "true ELO" If you truly don't belong in your ELO range, you should be able to carry regardless of circumstances. If you think your team at your ELO is bad, the enemy team will be the same. If you say that the reason for losing is that you have a leaver or a feeder - stop making excuses. I've seen plenty of people at 1200-1300 range carry their teams in 4v5 situations and even 3v5 situations. I've personally carried 2 people that afked because I picked Gangplank right off the bat. There aren't "good" people in low ELO. They might be good at their ELO but they still belong there. I don't know any single person who doesn't belong down there that hasn't carried out of it.[/quote]

[quote=Considereth]Everybody wants to be a bodybuilder but nobody wants to lift any heavy ass weight! - Ronnie Coleman With that said, you win some and you lose some. I found that if I do not play a jungler or solo lane my winning percent is decreased by a lot. As such, I call for solo top or jungle at the very beginning lol.[/quote]

[quote=Madmack][quote=Considereth] Everybody wants to be a bodybuilder but nobody wants to lift any heavy ass weight! - Ronnie Coleman With that said, you win some and you lose some. I found that if I do not play a jungler or solo lane my winning percent is decreased by a lot. As such, I call for solo top or jungle at the very beginning lol. [/quote] Great reply to this thread. I am in a similar boat and usually do the same as well.[/quote]

[quote=PFP]Take mid & boss everyone around. Call MIA for EVERYONE and every lane. Ping repeatedly, and type vigorously. You have to expect your teammates to be retarded and you have to expect to carry them. And by carrying I don't just mean player skill, but also leadership skill and even typing skill. Always tell them what to do, but don't be too mean about it. Be effective and constructive. Instead of saying "Why are you over there?!!! you fucking noob!". Say: "It would help more if you came mid and pushed with the team." Leading your team to victory comes in many different aspects, not just pure skill. You can't complain if your mid with 15/0/0 stats and you're still losing. There are major differences that can be considered minor between a player in 1100 range and 1600 range. Mainly map awareness, positioning, and never making mistakes. (For instance I NEVER gank a lane from mid unless I'm 99% sure I will get the kill, the time wasted leaving the lane means lost EXP and lost gold). These factors combined with how well you can farm must be perfected if you want to make the leap between a casual player that thinks he's good, or a competitive player that is actually good. These are just a few tips I can give, I'm still stuck in mid 1600s trying to break into 1700s, and I hope to hit top 500 soon :) Good luck getting out of your "hell".[/quote]

[quote=Considereth]I just want season 2 to come out already. I've given up hope of reaching beyond 1600. I was 1455 at my highest point. I don't like to play range carries at all. I love to jungle and play melee offtanks. They can carry but not as well. Right now I'm just waiting until the new season appears. I went from 800 to 1456 from playing Olaf before he was nerfed and Pantheon after he was buffed. Basically I would call solo top or mid with Pantheon if we had a jungler. If we didn't have a jungler I'll play Olaf. As of right now however I've been trying to get good with different champions. So far Udyr has been my new favorite. I've been doing well scoring 2 to 3 from ganks because he is so amazing at coming out of the jungle and ripping someone head off. My score will be something like 7/4 and we still lose lol. Its kind of disappointing but I know I did my job. Its a similar boat with Olaf but he has more carry potential however with the recent nerfs its a lot less than before. I just got done with a game where I was 4/0 at the very beginning with Udyr after landing two ganks top, one gank bottom, and killing their jungler. We had a Cho on our team who said viegar had a small penis because he kept telling him to stay with the group. He proceed to just farm the whole game saying to the team "fuck you" with his two warmogs armors. We lost of course and my rage was beyond my control - Udyr. :P[/quote]