RiotLyte Posts Possible Changes to Matchmaking

In a recent post by Riot Lyte, Game Designer, he explains how they're revising the ability to queue dodge your ELO down into the depths of ELO hell on purpose. He also isolates all the problems people have with matchmaking below and explains that Riot is indeed *aware* of the problem, and actively thinking of solutions for them.

ORIGINAL POST (RIOTLYTE):

I have isolated down a list of issues with matchmaking, and I would love to discuss these with the community as we drive towards some meaningful solutions. Please vote in the poll and join in the discussion!

DISCLAIMER
These are issues I have identified from dialogue with the community. Fixing many of these issues will take some time! I will update the discussion as we develop solutions and have better ETAs.

--- Progress ---

1) Intentional Queue Dodging in Ranked to tank Elo
We are revising the penalty for queue dodging in Ranked Mode. We intend to remove a player's ability to intentionally queue dodge from Ranked Mode and tank their Elo.

--- List of Issues ---

1) AFKs in Champion Select LobbyPlayers who queue up for a match and then AFK force players to wait through the timers until the lobby boots the AFK players out. Alternatively, some players AFK and get assigned a Random Champion, which is also a negative experience for many players. In Ranked Games, Captains tend to see what the bans/picks are like and be able to react accordingly in the next lobby as the players will generally be the same.

2) Duo-Queue Elo Disparities in Ranked
When players play as a Duo-Queue in Ranked, they generally have an advantage if their Elos are fairly close. However, when players play as a Duo-Queue in Ranked and their Elos are far apart, they generally are at a disadvantage. 

3) Skilled Ranked Players in Normal Modes
For a very small subset of highly skilled Ranked Players, their Ranked Elo is vastly higher than their Normal Elo. When these skilled Ranked Players play a Normal Game they generally play against opponents that are much lower in skill, resulting in lopsided matches.

4) Premade Matching
Currently, the matchmaking system tries to match Premade 5s with Premade 5s; however, we may consider prioritized matching for other Premade types. For example, prioritizing Premade 4s to match with Premade 4s, and finding a solo queue to fill out each team.

5) Transitioning from Normal to Ranked Mode
Currently, we do not do a great job of educating players on the transition from Normal to Ranked Modes. What would players like to see here? What should the expectations of Ranked be? For example, Ranked could be "Bring your best, every single game!"

6) Free to Play Champions in Ranked Mode
Related to the transition from Normal to Ranked Mode, some players feel that you should only be able to play Champions you own in Ranked Mode. The argument is that a lot of players who use Free to Play Champions are inexperienced with those champions, adding a lot of noise in the matchmaking system. 

7) Random Champions in Ranked Mode
Some players feel that you should not be able to "Random" a Champion in Ranked Play, and that this feature is used to intentionally troll their team in some use cases.

8) Provisional Matches in Ranked
When a player joins Ranked for the first time, the system starts them at 1200 Elo and begins their "placement matches." Unlucky strings of losses or lucky streaks of wins can propel a player into an Elo tier they do not belong in. Alternatively, players generally do not like playing with or against players in their placement matches and seeing they have only 1-9 wins.

9) Duo Queue Prevalence in Ranked
Currently, it is possible to get two pairs of Duo-Queue Players per team in Ranked Mode, such that you have a team composed of Duo-Queue, Duo-Queue, and a Solo-Queue. Some data suggests that we should restrict the number of Duo-Queues per team to 1.

10) Level Disparities
Some players feel that as a low level, they should never be matched against Level 30s because they feel the match is unfair due to Level 30 rune/mastery advantages. Although these players are highly skilled low levels, they would prefer a different solution than facing an opponent with simply 'stronger stats.'

11) Team Margin of Victory
Some players argue that in epic, close matches, teams should not gain or lose the exact same Elo as a lopsided match. What are good metrics for "team margin of victory" that are focused on promoting team play and not individual performances?

Original Thread Here

These changes are heating me up!