Riot Disables Pro Player Accounts for “Unfair Gains” in Ranked Ladder
The gameplay design director of League of Legends, Mark “Scruffy” Yetter, announced last night that Riot is disabling accounts given to professional players. This decision was made due to the accounts having an advantage over other players trying to climb the ranked ladder, resulting in “unfair gains.”
Since the start of season 11, many players have noticed that the top of the ladder is dominated by accounts with significantly fewer games played compared to previous seasons. It was discovered that most of these accounts were given to pros by Riot with inflated matchmaking ratings (MMR) to help them quickly achieve their desired rank.
However, Riot is now taking action by disabling any accounts created after January 7. They will be providing professional players with fresh accounts to ensure fair competition.
According to a tweet by Mark Yetter, Riot will be disabling all Riot-created pro player accounts made after January 7, 2021. This is to address the unintended differences in LP gains/losses that gave pros an unfair advantage over non-pro players in reaching the top of the ranked ladder. These accounts will gradually decay out of the ladder in the following weeks. Pro accounts created before January 7 are not affected. Replacement accounts with fixes to the starting MMR will be given to the pros, and the update is already in progress.
Riot made changes to the ladder system during the offseason, including the removal of promotion matches and adjustments to LP gains and losses. While these changes aimed to prevent professional players from rapidly climbing the ladder, the accounts created this season after January 7 slipped through and retained the previous system’s LP gains and losses. With the upcoming update, these accounts will gradually decay out of the ladder, and pros will be provided with new accounts featuring fixed starting MMR to maintain the competitive integrity of the solo queue ladder.
If you are currently at around Diamond III MMR, you should be prepared for the influx of professional players grinding on their new accounts to reach the top of the ladder once again.
Make sure to follow us on YouTube for more esports news and analysis.