So League of Legends Season 3...

[Wingflier]

@RCIX -

Several things here:

1. Just because it's called "solo queue", does not mean League of Legends suddenly ceases to be a team game.  "Solo queue" simply means that you are searching by yourself for a team; you are asking the game to give you a team, rather than making one for yourself.

"Solo queue" does not mean "solo game".  It is still just as much a team game whether you solo queue or queue with 5.

2. If you can't think of any solution to "fix" the random and sometimes frustrating issue of bad teams/lack of coordination in solo queue, then what makes you think Riot can? 

It's not a simple problem.  It's not like League of Legends is the ONLY team game in which a bad team can cost you the game.  In fact, I can't think of any team game in which your team doesn't have the opportunity to cause you to lose if they are bad enough, and the other team is good enough, regardless of your personal skill level.  If you can think of a solution to this problem, then I think we'd all like to hear it.

3. Most importantly, Riot doesn't owe you anything.  It's a free-to-play game.  Even if they intentionally made your solo queue experience miserable, you have no right to complain about it.  Just stop playing.

Nowhere did they sign a contract with you stating that they would make your solo queue experience as pleasant and/or balanced as possible.  If you bought skins or champions from them, that was your decision, but it wasn't required to play the game, so they still owe you nothing in return for your purchases.

If you want a game in which your team can't affect you in a negative way, play games without teams.

[Lancefighter]

To be fair - In some sort of objective based game (lets say.. Battlefield? Could even bring up something like world of tanks) one team member being useless is not going to help the other team particularly much. It just means there is one person on your team who isnt useful. The other 14 (in wot's case) can usually fill the void created byone idiot, unless the idiot happens to be their only high tiered tank.

In league, not only is 1/5 of your team useless, but he is ACTIVELY making the game more difficult for you - by giving the other team resources they would not have had given his complete absence in the game.
To put that slightly differently - Are you more afraid of a freefarm vayne, or a freefarm vayne being fed kills?

[Wingflier]

But even in an ARTS like DotA or LoL, you can still win with 1 bad teammate it happens all the time.  Or even 2 bad teammates.

In fact, a team of less than mediocre players who works together is almost always better than a team of good players who won't coordinate.

If the matchmaking system is terrible, then that's a different concern.  But from my read, that's not RCIX's problem.  He feels entitled to a team game which rewards his own personal skill every match, with victory or defeat based completely on his own performance, and I'm sorry to say that no such "team game" exists.

[Lancefighter]

The matchmaking is 'flawed' because not everyone is at their true skill level. Until the entire population is at their true skill level, matchmaking will not be perfect.

And I would actually really disagree. In soloq, it will be very difficult to come back from one poor player feeding the other team, even if it is accidental.

And I would say that in a game where every player is at their true skill level, and thus the game is 'perfectly matchmade', the game would reward him for his personal skill.

Honestly though, have you tried world of tanks RCIX? Alternatively, Bloodline champions. Actually, BLC far closer to what youre looking for id imagine.

[Wingflier]

And I would say that in a game where every player is at their true skill level, and thus the game is 'perfectly matchmade', the game would reward him for his personal skill.

Well it would seem that for this to happen it would require an alternate Universe or something.  I was making my argument as it pertains to reality, not an unrealistic expectation of a simple ELO system.

A "perfect" matchmaking system for a game like this is simply impossible.  Even if it could detect personal skill with an extreme degree of accuracy within the game, there is no way it could detect external factors which can have a huge impact on player performance.

What if a player is usually a good player, but recently his girlfriend has broken up with him and now he's playing like crap?  The system could never account for that without a certain number of games to determine his new "true skill level".  Then once he gets over the break-up, it would take another undetermined number of games to determine the skill level again.

What if a person is usually a good player but they're sick one day, or they develop a horrible cold, which makes them a "bad player" for a certain period of time?

What if a person is normally a bad player because their connection sucks, but they go to a friends house for a few games, so suddenly they're playing a lot better than normal?

What if a good player is just having a bad game for whatever reason?

In reality, there is no way to account for the thousands of internal factors that can determine player skill INSIDE the game, much less the the thousands upon thousands of EXTERNAL factors that can influence it.

The only Universe in which matchmaking could predict a person's PERFECT skill level would be one in which free will didn't even exist, and in which there was a system that could predict every behavior and the timing of every event down to the last microsecond.  Ironically, without free will, the player would still have no control over how the game turned out, leaving RCIX in the exact same position he started in.

[RCIX]

He wishes he had a game which rewards his own personal skill every match, with victory or defeat based completely on his own performance.

FTFY

And this is where I say the concept of solo queue is at odds with the concept of a team game, because you simply cannot control enough of the environment for a stable game to come about.

"then why don't you play something else" BECAUSE THERE IS NO FREAKIN NON TEAM GAME MOBA

*ahem* I explained that already =p

[Wingflier]

"then why don't you play something else" BECAUSE THERE IS NO FREAKIN NON TEAM GAME MOBA

Sure there is, it was called Demigod.

Didn't turn out very well.