Tell me about Ranked Play

[quote=Chawoora]I am thinking about playing ranked, but I am not sure if I am ready. A friend said it would be a good idea to get in my 10 provisional games before Season 4 closes. Do you agree? When is that? My background: My kids got me hooked on LoL. I have not been a huge computer gamer for many years and only a casual PS3 gamer. It took me a while before I did not totally suck at LoL. I was level 20 before I could do well in intermediate bot games, and I only played a few PvP games before level 25. I got comfortable playing support in PvP games, but started a second account where I could practice other roles in PvP. So now I have 46 Normal wins on my main account and 31 on my second account. Lately I have been winning ~80% of my games on my main account, but I think some of that is playing with friends that, while around my same level, do not suck as much as many of the people that I come across in queue. Also, while I have 2-3 champs at each role that I feel comfortable playing, I usually play Team Builder games to avoid the instalock and mid-or-feed crap. Somebody told me that the better players do not play Team Builder so the competition there is not as good. Does that seem to be true? What do you think? Keep playing Team Builder and games with friends? Start playing more Draft Pick games? Jump into ranked play? I do think I will try more Draft Pick games just to get more used to that.[/quote]

[quote=NorthernRedStar]Season 4 closes 11th November. Doing your 10 provisionals is up to you, but I doubt (sincerely) that you're able to make much higher than low gold. Why? 1) Most of the worse players have probably gotten a lucky streak of grind up there by this point, 2) You don't strike to me as someone who is able to carry himself out of there within a week or two (no offense). No comment on team builder vs blind pick. I guess there isn't much difference really. Playing with friends >>>> <<<<<< playing soloQ. It does not in any way train you for the malicious horse**** pit that awaits you. Playing with friends, 5v5, is vastly easier b/c trust, playmake, communication and skills. I suggest you watch at least some video on youtube where a streamer or vid maker discusses how to carry soloQ, to make sure you have the right idea on macro level of gameplay. If you feel ready, then hop on the pain train. I think it's adorable that your kids introduced you into the game. I wish my parents woulda been a bit more positive in that regard too.[/quote]

[quote=Chawoora]Gold? I was hoping that I would be lucky to make it to Silver. My son, who is MUCH better than me mechanically is in Silver. I think if he focused more on teamwork and less on flaming, he could rise much higher. BTW, I watch a LOT of Youtube videos...way too much! Maybe I will jump into Ranked, soon but I am thinking that I am not quite ready. I have been playing more Draft Mode games instead of Team Builder. I am finding that my win/lose ratio is about 50/50 (it sure seems like I end up on the 4 side of 4v5s too often). I find that while I don’t carry my team, I usually seem to be one of the better ones on my team. A month ago I was very intimidated by Silver players, but I find that I do fine against Silver players these days. I am having fun and getting better, so no real reason to change just for a Season 4 icon or skin. Right now my go to champions that I have decent success with are [[Lucian]] ADC, [[Thresh]]/[[Nami]] Support and [[Warwick]] Jungle (with some success with [[Ryze]] Top/Mid and [[Renekton]] Top). Would you recommend that I concentrate on getting experience with those champions? Concentrate on building more depth in a specific role? It does seem like I need at least 3 champions for a role for picks and bans. Below are the champions that I could play, with the ones in parenthesis being ones that I have limited experience or success in Normal games: Support: [[Thresh]], [[Nami]], [[Morgana]] ADC: [[Lucian]], ([[Miss Fortune]], [[Caitlyn]], [[Tristana]], [[Twitch]]) Jungle: [[Warwick]], ([[Amumu]], [[Rammus]], [[Nunu]], [[Khazix]], [[Lee Sin]]) Top: [[Ryze]], [[Renekton]], ([[Dr. Mundo]], [[Maokai]]) Mid: ([[Ryze]], [[Ziggs]], [[Ahri]], [[Akali]], [[Morgana]])[/quote]

[quote=Chawoora]To followup on this thread...the new seasons seemed like a good time to give ranked a try. I finished my promo 4 wins and 6 losses....had 2 w/ afks...I played a few really solid games...I played some pretty mediocre games...finished off getting raped as Swain mid versus LeBlanc (I guess promos is not a good time to play a champ for the first time!)...and I ended up in Bronze 2. Oddly my favorite and best (at least in my mind) champ is [[Nami]], but I lost all 4 of my games with her. I played 3 ranked games since then with my bronzie friends. Lost all of them. The quality of them were pretty low. All 3 of them had 1 or more people with the "I am great...my team sucks...I do not deserve to be Bronze" attitude. I guess that is something I will have to live with. Well...off to play a game with friends...and search for "how to climb out of bronze as support and jungle" threads. :)[/quote]

[quote=Latest Legend]Good luck! And don't forget to have some fun along the way ^^[/quote]

[quote=The_Nameless_Bard]Ohaidere. My dad plays 'cause of me and so does my brother. xD but I pretty much agree with all the comments in this thread so far that are actually on-topic. YOLOqueue and 5v5 premade normals are really not the same at all. Nothing can prepare you for YOLOqueue.[/quote]

[quote=Double_E][quote=Chawoora]Well...off to play a game with friends...and search for "how to climb out of bronze as support and jungle" threads. :)[/quote] You're in luck, Jungle is definitely one of the easier positions to carry from at the minute. And if you're a decent support then you can, just by feeding/protecting your ADC. Best of luck, and always remember you can turn off your chat if you're fed up of flamers.[/quote]

[quote=FalseoGod][quote=Double_E][quote=Chawoora]Well...off to play a game with friends...and search for "how to climb out of bronze as support and jungle" threads. :)[/quote] You're in luck, Jungle is definitely one of the easier positions to carry from at the minute. [/quote] As a jungler, I 100% disagree with this. You can feed your laners, you can help secure objectives but junglers are too team-reliant (even as simple as following you up can be a challenge for people) to be in the best position to carry. Even yesterday I had a game where in all of the 5 ganks I did we got a kill for nothing (this was pre-6) and we still lost because both my [[akali]] and [[caitlyn]] had no idea what they were doing. The best positions to carry remain ADC (the amount of marksmen mains in Diamond 3+ is too damned high) and midlane. Do note I'm not saying jungling is bad, but it relies in you getting the right team mates fed (as getting exclusively yourself fed frequently doesn't help you get past late midgame) at the risk of them still being pretty damned stupid. However, good junglers with good laners is a fearful combination.[/quote]

[quote=Zordagoth]Never had this problem, main jungle too. Ofc they are game where you play with [url=http://image.jeuxvideo.com/images-md/sn/l/e/lemmings-super-nintendo-snes-00a.jpg]these guys[/url] but it's still pretty rare. Season 4, 70% winrate on [[rammus]], you pretty much have to do all to watch over them like a mom the whole game and it'll be fine Anyway best of luck for your journey =)[/quote]

[quote=Chawoora]I will admit that for some reason I have been having a very hard time winning ranked games at the Bronze level. I know I am not great, but I don’t think I am THAT bad. I am not quite sure what it is. It seems like half the games the enemy team is stronger at all lanes and we get stomped. I enjoy the newness of playing ranked and I am having fun (mostly), but somehow I ended up starting off with only 2 wins in 17 games after getting placed in Bronze II, and managed to work my way down to Bronze IV. Overall I am not sure if I should stick with my general strategy of tanky/utility roles ([[Janna]], [[Nami]], [[Maokai]], Tanky [[Vi]], etc.) or go for a more aggressive role ([[Thresh]], [[Leona]], Fighter [[Vi]], [[Master Yi]], etc.). I picked up [[Jarvan IV]] and have been practicing with [[Fiddlesticks]] and [[KhaZix]] (man the new jungle is rough on him). I am weak Mid and ADC, and have had some success top lane.[/quote]