Riot Games has pulled the plug on position ranks, one of the most anticipated changes coming to League of Legends in Season 9. This was due to a number of problems that Riot Games has encountered. Here are the details.
Riot Games scraps League of Legends position ranks, resets mid-season
The experiment is over. Riot Games has, at least for now, pulled the plug on one of the most anticipated changes from League of Legends Season 9. Implemented only in the North American and South Korean servers for a trial period, position ranks have been scrapped as of March 13.
The information was first revealed by Ed “SapMagic” Altorfer, the Lead Designer on Meta Game Systems. The new system did have some positives. For example, players have been able to land their desired role more often, which has led to a decrease in autofills. Off-role win rates went up as players in this situation got matched against lower ranked opponents, creating better competition.
The new placement system, which reveals the provisional ranking right after the first match and updates accordingly, has also been positively reviewed.
On the other hand, position ranks never gained much traction among the League of Legends community. Players cited a list of common problems as the cause. While the idea behind the changes looked great, the execution was far from perfect. Autofill players as well as those who mained multiple roles had a hard time climbing up the ladder. LP gains from one role did not translate into the others, which forced those players into grinding a lot more. Mitigating the LP lost in off-role matches did not do much to stop people from inting either. All in all, what Riot Games initially projected as positives turned out to be huge negatives.
Ranks above Diamond marked for a late March reset
In the second part of the announcement, SapMagic revealed that Riot Games will reset the ranks in Diamond and above. All players in Challenger and Grandmaster will be demoted to Master, with all players in that elo resetting to 0 LP. SapMagic also informed that Riot will temporarily lock Challenger and Grandmaster for a week. The two tiers come back online after that period. Diamond players will drop one division each. Players in Diamond IV will keep their spot.
High Elo
High elo and even professional players claimed for a reset over the course of the split. Plenty of reports pointing out bugs in the matchmaking process popped up everywhere. SapMagic confirmed the problem. Wins gave out too much LP, while losses did not take a heavy toll. As a result, players with low win rates, around 40%, soon found themselves at the top of the ladder. This in turn led to a significant drop in quality for the higher elos.
Players who have made their way to the top two tiers in League of Legends ranked play do not need to worry. They will keep the reward progress, but upgrades such as their tier emote and ranked armor will reflect the new, post-reset ranking. In addition, results from the promotions are also set to carry over. Diamond I players sitting at 100 LP will remain at 100 LP, but in Diamond II. Wins obtained in the best-of-five and best-of-three promotion series will follow the same procedure.
SapMagic added that the date for the reset has yet be decided. Riot Games will reveal the information later.
Changes to Ranked for Season 9: Position Ranks
It would also allow players to experiment. The opportunity to try different roles without losing LP on your main should encourage player to try different things. This should also serve as an incentive for players to try hard while playing off-role. While some will just intentionally throw the game when autofilled, the possibility to gain LP for your main role with a win without losing too much in case of a loss would, at least in theory, work as additional motivation.
For now, Riot will likely take position ranks back to the drawing board. Whether or not it ever shows up again remains to be seen. For more information, click here.
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