12.17 Ranked Matchmaking Update

Riot implemented a sneaky change to the ranked matchmaking ladder in League of Legends last patch (12.17), did you notice?

In case you missed it, Riot are in the process of tweaking the ranked queue environment for players in select regions at the moment. They have been many complains in the past few years about solo queue in particular, but this change seems positive.

How are Riot changing Ranked Matchmaking in League of Legends?

In Patch 12.17, the Riot Dev team for League of Legends tweaked the Ranked Matchmaking algorithm to focus 'more on player mmr' and 'less on their visible rank'. You might be wondering, what does this mean exactly?

This change could mean a lot of different things, depending upon what kind of player you are. If you're better than your current rank medal, you may notice lobbies getting harder in ranked (basically the system will put you with better teammates if your MMR is higher than your rating). The nicest part about this update is that it should help to reduce smurfing (which we all hate!).

Overall, this is an interesting experiment from the Riot dev team. A lot of people have complaints about the ranked system, so tackling smurfs and improving game quality should be good place to start - let's just hope that this change is implemented smoothly.