Riot is fixing ranked by removing Smurf Q

There are a lot of downsides to League of Legends. And many new and veteran players can agree on that one. For some its the community, for others, it’s the gameplay design. Many find champion balance an issue that can’t be glossed upon, but everyone can agree on one thing. All these factors make ranked in League of Legends a less enjoyable experience. That’s why Riot are now planning changes to the ranked system as we head into season 13 of League of Legends. 

Riot is removing Smurf Queue

It’s not official and it’s not intended, but with the upcoming changes to the ranked system, Riot just removed Smurf Queue. The way the ranked matchmaking system functions right now is that your opponents are determined by your MMR and visible rank. MMR or Match Making Rating is the scale that Riot uses to grade players and their performances. Back in the old days we had an elo system, which was just a flat number going up and down, depending on your performance and record. But ever since they removed it in the earlier seasons, MMR has been that method of grading. And unlike the elo system, your MMR is mostly hidden. But the visible rank isn’t.

How Smurf Queue works

So how are the upcoming changes affecting Smurf Queue? Well, Riot have just announced in their Dev blog, that visible rank won’t be affecting the matchmaking system anymore. Up to this point, the opponents in your match were selected according to your rank and MMR. If you were a Silver player with Platinum MMR, you would face similar opponents. And that’s how Smurf Queue used to work. New accounts that win a lot of games are usually smurfs. Their MMR rises much faster than their actual rank, and that was the example we gave.

When smurf accounts like that queued up, they would often wait long queue times to find opponents that matched the specification.

We’re testing in some select regions a Matchmaking upgrade that takes into account players current rank along with the MMR.

This has many benefits including grouping smurfs as some of you have already caught on to.

— Mark Yetter (@MarkYetter) September 16, 2020

If everything worked as it should, 10 smurfs would be matched up against each other and would be removed from the typical Silver and Gold games. But it didn’t work like that most of the time. And when it did, it usually created some of the worst and most toxic environments this game could offer. If you were unlucky enough to be caught in this mess, you weren’t going to have a good time. Returning players on old accounts who used to be a higher rank than currently, new players who just got lucky to win a few of their placements, and many more were casualties of the system. Smurfs made smurf queue unenjoyable for anyone, especially for those that didn’t plan or want to be there.

End of smurfing in League of Legends?

But now that your visible rank doesn’t affect matchmaking, Smurf Queue can’t exist anymore. If you are playing on an account that’s Silver in ranked but has Platinum level MMR, you will be placed in Platinum ranked games. And the smurf problem should not return, since if you win a lot your MMR will go up in conjunction. This means that at most, a smurf can dominate a few lower-ranked games before returning to his normal MMR games.

Ranked splits and ranked rewards

Riot have noticed that players are becoming disinterested in the ranked queue grind. Some reach their goals midway through the season and stop playing. Other turn to smurfing and alternative game modes. To combat this issue, the upcoming ranked season will consist of two ranked splits. This means that there will be two soft rank resets in 2023. This makes it so that, every League of Legends player has a goal to chase at every point of the season. 

Less promotional games in ranked

These soft resets mean that you will have to play 5 placement games to unlock your rank after the new ranked split starts. But to avoid agitating the player base, Riot have come up with a new way to motivate the players. Previously, you had to play 5 promotional games to climb out of one rank and enter another. But with these changes the promotional series will now be a best of 3. This way players can feel better even if they fail to advance, regardless if it was due to an external factor or something else.

The end of season rewards system is also getting reworked, after a stalemate that lasted a few years. Players now will receive two rewards skins for their efforts in the ranked queues, instead of the previous one. The rewards will be handed out after each split, and all ranks are eligible for them now. Previously, you had to be Gold or above in any of the competitive queues to qualify for the skins given at the end of the season. On top of this, players will receive Hextech Keys, Chests and other in game memorabilia, depending on how many ranked games they play in a split.