Riot Announces Arrival of Positional Ranks for League of Legends
Riot Games has announced that positional ranks, a system that tracks players’ ranks in each unique position in League of Legends, will soon be available for North America and South Korea. This comes after the company previously delayed the release to address community concerns. The system will be tested during the competitive season and, if successful, will be rolled out globally.
Addressing Concerns: What You Need to Know
In a recent dev blog video, Riot Games addressed some of the major concerns surrounding positional ranks. Specifically, they discussed the potential abuse of position swapping and the increased grind that players may face. Here are some key takeaways from the Q&A segment:
Addressing Position Swapping
Riot Gortok explained that they want to allow strategic swapping if it makes sense for the players. The frequency of position swapping will be tracked, and if a player switches positions too often, the matchmaking system will prioritize placing them in matches that are most competitive with their highest position. This ensures fair gameplay and discourages abuse of the system.
Reducing the Grind
Riot Gortok and Riot Sapmagic reassured players that the new system includes mechanics to help players climb in their other positions. Splashing, a feature that distributes LP (League Points) to other positions, will assist in bringing up ranks in secondary and tertiary positions. Additionally, as a player’s highest rank increases, it becomes a target for the other positions, granting a bonus to their climb. This makes it easier to progress in positions beyond the primary one.
Preventing Systemic Abuse
Riot Sapmagic acknowledged the concern about feeding or surrendering when players get autofilled to expedite a return to their main position. To address this, Riot introduced splashing as a safeguard against systemic abuse. Although there is some LP distribution to other positions, it starts fairly low. However, repeated losses or poor performance will result in increased negative splashing, affecting the ranks in other positions that players care about or that may be miscalibrated.
Positional ranks, League of Legends, Riot Games, gaming, competitive season