Level 30: Normal vs. Ranked vs. Smurf

[Auramin]

I play LoL with my boyfriend and we've been playing it on and off for about 2 years (with regular, long breaks in between due to WoW and work). I have around 150 wins in normal mode, 100 in ARAM and done a lot of bot games, but have never tried ranked matches. Mainly because I dont feel good enough, but also because I'm put off by the toxic environment in this game. Whereas my boyfriend doesnt seem to mind the occasional insults and noob-calling, I prefer to just switch off the chat entirely when people start barking at each other. For the same reason I feel very little inclined to do jungling, because I feel I have too much pressure on my shoulders and that people will call me out if I mess up the slightest.

My reason for creating this thread, is because we've found ourselves in a bit of a troublesome situation. Whenever we queue together these days for normal mode, we end up getting matched up against people from diamond, gold or silver leagues with mainly unranked players on our own team. Needless to say, we get stomped almost every single game leaving us both rather exhausted and with little feeling of improvement. For the sake of it, we tried creating smurfs on a different server, and had some fun climbing through the levels again untill we've reached a point where the matches actually challenged us again from time to time (~lvl10). However, most often we end up carrying a game by utteringly destroying our opponents (who're naturally just as frustrated as we are on our mains). I feel like we've ended up in a bad circle of either being underpowered or overpowered compared to our opponents and I really wish I knew what to do.

Can we do anything to change the matchmaking, or how do you guys propose we go from here to improve our game? The last couple of days I've felt like just ragequitting because we're getting completely owned by some diamond/gold player wherever we go. I like studying, so I've always spent tremendous amounts of time going through YouTube guides and videoes to improve our playstyle throughout the last couple of years, and I always read up thoroughly and do bot games on my champions before heading into normal modes.

I guess my question is.. what did you guys do when you were around our level? Do we simply have to keep hitting our heads against the wall untill it breaks, or do you think there's a better way to learn and grow as a player?

Please share your tips, thoughts and ideas as it would be very much appreciated.

[Ergar]

It's more than likely because of your/your boyfriend's hidden MMR. The game thinks you are "better" than you actually are, so it matches you with people representing that. Same thing happened with me and my friend when we were leveling. Even before 30 we got matched against silver - gold players. As for the diamonds, i have no clue. I'm quessing it's because they qued with a silver-gold player you were matched against.

As for how to get better: just read guides, watch youtube videos and watch the LCS. In terms of youtube videos i prefer the ones that go more into detail instead of just entertainment value. Guys like Foxdrop, Stonewall, Phylol, Gbay99 (his psychological videos are awesome) etc. And in terms of the LCS focus on WHY they did X, not HOW they did X.

It's really annoying to get matched against higher tiered players, but there isn't really much you can do. As you said: keep hitting our heads against the wall untill it breaks

[Duilliath]

Normal has its own MMR, separate from Ranked games.

They might be Diamond in Ranked, but have played pretty much no games in Normal (which isn't unheard of for a lot of the more srsface players), which means their normal MMR hasn't settled in.

[Deleted]

Normal has its own MMR, separate from Ranked games.

They might be Diamond in Ranked, but have played pretty much no games in Normal (which isn't unheard of for a lot of the more srsface players), which means their normal MMR hasn't settled in.

This is probably it. I have maybe played less then 5 normal games since I hit 30. I play an aram once in a while but other than that I always play Ranked.

[Deleted]

Normal has its own MMR, separate from Ranked games.

They might be Diamond in Ranked, but have played pretty much no games in Normal (which isn't unheard of for a lot of the more srsface players), which means their normal MMR hasn't settled in.

Yeah this pretty much. Works both ways, I play a lot of normal solo queue and get matched with Platinum and Diamond players. But I barely play Ranked (seriously) and I got demoted due to inactivity to silver 2 (which people REALLY like to point out).

You can't compare it.

[Toxigen]

The folks above pretty much nailed it.

If you just keep playing normals, your MMR will eventually balance out.

Tell the boyfriend to play Ranked when hes solo, and save the normals for when he's playing with you.

[Auramin]

Alright, thank you guys for your insight on how the system works. We'll keep bashing our heads and continue what we're doing in regards to guides and practice. Eventually we'll break through, I hope. Did you guys ever experience the same weird gap between experience and stomps? And how long did it take you to go from a pretty regular player (as I view myself) to someone able to compete with the heavier guys?

Thanks for the input so far!

[Varvara Spiros Gelashvili]

It's more than likely because of your/your boyfriend's hidden MMR. The game thinks you are "better" than you actually are, so it matches you with people representing that. Same thing happened with me and my friend when we were leveling. Even before 30 we got matched against silver - gold players. As for the diamonds, i have no clue. I'm quessing it's because they qued with a silver-gold player you were matched against.

As for how to get better: just read guides, watch youtube videos and watch the LCS. In terms of youtube videos i prefer the ones that go more into detail instead of just entertainment value. Guys like Foxdrop, Stonewall, Phylol, Gbay99 (his psychological videos are awesome) etc. And in terms of the LCS focus on WHY they did X, not HOW they did X.

It's really annoying to get matched against higher tiered players, but there isn't really much you can do. As you said: keep hitting our heads against the wall untill it breaks

This fought a diamond ryze who was on a silver smurf at like 22 sucked ballz. I have never been wrecked harder then that.

[Spraxle]

If you're a 'jungle main' watch some Twitch streams. A lot of streamers play Top or Jungle it seems. Voyboy is a good one at times for information since he will explain things sometimes. Trick2g does as well sometimes. But just doing the same position with one to three champs over and over is the 'best way' to practice. I'm a support main and I played like 100 ranked as Annie early in Season 4 then started playing different ones. Concentrating on what you're doing instead of worrying about the other players is helpful too. Like in the jungle if you are playing a farm champ you shouldn't be ganking all the time, but you have to figure out when to gank, where to gank, etc.

Just some tips from someone with ranked anxiety who was Silver before demoted to Bronze from inactivity. The community can be insanely toxic at times, but just mute them and keep on going.

[Ergar]

And how long did it take you to go from a pretty regular player (as I view myself) to someone able to compete with the heavier guys?

Thanks for the input so far!

1,5 seasons for me. It was partly because of my attitude, but mostly because i didn't have enough knowledge about the game, so i kept making stupid decisions. Just keep playing, watching guides, and only blame yourself, and you'll see improvement.