Preseason: The time between Season end and Riot's "official" start of the season, during which they "usually" change the ranking system a little.
So why should you/shouldn't you play during Preseason? Let's take a look at what happened the last two seasons:
S1 Victorious Jarvan Skin
Right after the end of the season, Riot implemented a "soft" reset rather than a "hard" reset.
Hard Reset: Sets everyone back to 1200 Elo.
Soft Reset: Sets everyone closer to 1200 Elo based on whether you were above or below, effectively normalizing everyone's Elo with a set cap.
Pros of Playing in Pre-Season 1: Since everyone's Elo was fairly close, people got the chance to play with high level "pro" players on the first day, since Elo/MMR was capped and thus it was common to see people like HotshotGG playing with former Gold people. (5 minutes of fame)
Cons of Playing in Pre-Season 1: Elo gain wasn't reset right away during the preseason, and you would still gain the same amount you were before the season ended. If you waited until the regular season started, you would be gaining 20+ Elo instead of your normalized amount.
Season 2 -> Season 3 (Elo to League System)
S2 Victorious Janna Skin
Pros of Playing in Pre-Season 2: No Promotional games. What you won is what you got.
Cons of Playing in Pre-Season 2: No League Tier floor. If you were 1850 and then dropped to 1800 before the season officially started, you were placed in gold rather than Platinum.
Season 3 -> Season 4 (League System)
Your Season 4 Elo will be based off of your Season 3 and Pre-Season 4 MMR, but there WILL be a Soft reset at the beginning of Season 4.
There will be no inactivity decay during pre-season.
Source
Thoughts: Since there will be a soft reset at the beginning of Season 4, the chances are that any gains or losses you make during pre-season will be muted. This means that it's really your choice whether or not to play during the pre-season, as everyone will receive placement matches after it ends.
Additionally, since there's no inactivity decay it REALLY is your choice, unlike in the past two Seasons where there was a clear consequence to whether or not you participated in Pre-Season, this time around Riot's balanced the scales.
Personally, I say you definitely SHOULD play during the pre-season, as the major changes will already be implemented. This means that after the soft reset occurs, you'll have a solid advantage over the people who aren't in the competitive mindset, and also know exactly what those darn trinkets do.
Comments? Post below!
Agreed!
ReplyDeleteI'd rather take my time to learn the new changes, as I play at EUW, PBE is quite unviable to me. As a jungler main player, I'll be testing all the new possibilities as soon as the patch kicks in.
ReplyDeleteI'll try playing mostly Fiddles and Shyvana, heard they're gonna be quite good
Just cant wait for the updated tier list for season 4!!! Exciting stuff!!!
ReplyDeleteWhen you say we are brought closer to 1200 elo. How much closer are we talking about? If im at 1800 right now, where would the soft reset put me?
ReplyDeleteIt varies, in the past it used to be (Current Elo-1200)/2 + 1200 with a cap, but it could vary.
ReplyDeleteSo far the only streamer actually explaining the changes and what he thinks will be good (For his own gamestyle *warning*) in preseason according to PBE is Trick2g
ReplyDeleteI'd rather not play pre-season. Nor shall I play any ranked games the month after @.@ All the pros will be on there getting back up to Diamond. I'd rather not get my bum kicked.
ReplyDeletePlaying ranked now is like playing normal or worse, all the ranked games ive played since the end of S3 has been 100% troll games, jungle veigars going 0-12 support pantheons ect ect, they must change this or people will die of boredom in the preseasons
ReplyDeleteI don't know what tier you are playing in but as for me we got so many try-hards trying to win. and this is Plat/Diamond MMR
ReplyDeleteI decided not to play ranked anymore during the Pre-season. Too many trolls! Seriously on my last 10 games I had to team up with a Blitz who wanted to go top, a Jarvan who went mid, Teemo adc and all this kind o bulshit! So all in all the amount of noobs who decided to play ranked during the Pre-season make it twice as hard, while the rewards for you will be halved.
ReplyDeleteMathematically, I have only 25% of reason to play ranked now compared to what I had.
Simply not worth it. Thoughts?