One of the most puzzling mechanics in League of Legends’ ranked system is the way the game treats new players who are trying ranked for the first time. League has a reputation for over-hyping new players and placing them well above their appropriate skill bracket after their initial placement games.
But after a recent update, this should no longer be the case, and new players should find themselves placed “more correctly” on the ranked ladder, according to an update shared by League’s lead gameplay designer Matt “Riot Phroxzon” Leung-Harrison on social media earlier today.
“This patch, we’ve pushed some changes to seed all players more correctly into Ranked, regardless of incoming queue,” Leung-Harrison said on Twitter/X. “Previously, new to ranked players who only played ARAM and Bots weren’t seeded correctly, but these should be addressed better with the new changes.”
Leung-Harrison also shared that internally, Riot believes the average player should be placed around Silver IV upon completing their first round of placement games in ranked League. But that rank could change depending on how much experience you have in normal games, according to Riot.
Players who are new to ranked will now be playing games in skill brackets that are more appropriate to their relative skill level, as opposed to being thrown into the fire. If you had expectations of getting into high Gold after sweeping your placement matches, those dreams are likely dusted. Plus, this change could affect smurf accounts that are fresh to the game and will now have a longer climb ahead of them.
“Because we can’t change visual ranks easily, all new to Ranked players will be playing in games more appropriate for their skill level,” Leung-Harrison said. “As a result of that however, new to ranked players caught in the transition period will have negative LP gains.”
These negative LP gains could be as drastic as cases where you’re losing -35 LP for a loss and gaining +15 after a win, but these wildly unfair numbers should smooth out over time. Plus, this change is only one of many steps that Riot has in store for ranked climbing as there’s “still more to be done.”
Earlier in the year, Riot made changes to the ranked climb by making it so demotions hit harder, and you start with just 50 LP at your new rank instead of the old number of 75. It’s possible that Riot will continue to make it harder to climb in League throughout the remainder of the 2024 season, judging by past trends.
