Riot Games is experimenting with some matchmaking updates where Smurf accounts are now being placed against each other.
League of Legends’ Ranked had always come with its fair bit of criticism on how their system works. Smurf accounts have existed for a really long time and many pro players and high ranking players are using it nonstop. Additionally, it had been a bane to regular and average players who got matched up with smurf accounts.
Over the past few months, there have been multiple posts on Reddit and social media regarding smurf accounts. The claims are that smurf accounts get an advantage in ranked matches. Furthermore, there have been several posts that have claimed that it hurts players in all tiers, particularly Diamond and Platinum.
Smurf accounts are now being placed against each other
In a recent Reddit post and several other posts following up, players have noticed that smurf accounts have had a drop in tier averages. Players started noticing the drop after patch 10.19’s release.
At first, it was speculation by most players on Reddit and social media. However, as time went by, more and more players started showing profs that smurf accounts are now being played against each other.
As more posts started coming in social media about the drop in tiers for smurf accounts, Riot’s lead gameplay designer has confirmed the speculations on his twitter account.
“We’re testing in some select regions a Matchmaking upgrade that takes into account players current rank along with the MMR,” Riot Scruffy stated. “This has many benefits including grouping smurfs as some of you have already caught on to”.
He followed up that twitter post by saying “More details coming in a blog later this week with all of our preseason plans for ranked and matchmaking”.
Despite the new changes, which seems very good against smurfing, the reactions are very mixed. While some players love the changes, there are a moderate number of people who are not welcoming the new change.
On one hand, a group of players is now delighted because they can climb properly in ranked ladders now. However, on the other hand, players who are against it are reporting that queue times have increased by quite a margin.
Besides, Mark Yetter’s tweet there is still no official announcements regarding how the new changes are working or going to work. However, we will know more about the new rank changes on the League of Legends blog coming this week.
