Riot says smurfing in League of Legends “ruins the game,” to be fixed

League of Legends developers recently addressed growing player concerns about the increasingly sluggish ranked progression system across recent competitive seasons. Their social media acknowledgment confirmed what many competitors had suspected about the deliberate pacing changes.

“We designed this intentionally to discourage alternate account creation for rapid climbing purposes. Our philosophy emphasizes main account loyalty, as smurfing severely compromises match quality for everyone involved,” the official Riot Games statement clarified.

This strategic slowdown represents Riot’s attempt to combat account duplication, where experienced players create secondary profiles to dominate lower-skilled opponents. While the developers believe reduced ranking velocity and diminished win impact will make smurfing less appealing, the player base overwhelmingly views this solution as problematic and counterproductive.

Smurfing creates a dual-sided problem that affects both new and established players. For beginners, encountering significantly skilled opponents in low-tier matches creates frustrating learning environments. Meanwhile, veteran players face inflated queue times and unbalanced matches when smurfs infiltrate their skill brackets.

The current system’s extended grind requirement may reduce smurf account creation frequency, but it simultaneously discourages legitimate competitors from engaging with ranked play altogether. Many dedicated players now question whether the time investment justifies the minimal ranking rewards.

Seasoned competitors report needing near-perfect win records—sometimes requiring 70 consecutive victories—just to reach Diamond 4, while previously ranked Diamond players can maintain their status with minimal performance, creating ranking inflation concerns.

Player reactions across social platforms reveal deep frustration with the current approach. “Instead of ruining matches for 25-30 games in lower tiers, we now endure 70-80 compromised experiences. This doesn’t solve the core issue,” one critic noted, highlighting the extended negative impact.

Another competitor emphasized the ranking disparity: “Achieving Diamond 4 demands an almost impossible win streak, while last season’s Diamond players retain their status despite poor current performance.” This has led to widespread demands for comprehensive elo resets to eliminate artificially inflated rankings from previous seasons.

Community sentiment overwhelmingly suggests that slowing progression fails to address smurfing’s root causes while punishing dedicated players who invest time in legitimate ranking advancement.

Valve Corporation adopted a fundamentally different strategy for Dota 2’s ranking integrity. Rather than slowing progression, they implemented accelerated MMR adjustments for players consistently outperforming their current brackets.

“Our detection system identifies competitors regularly exceeding their skill tier expectations and applies MMR boosts until they reach appropriate competitive levels,” Valve explained in their September system update announcement.

Additionally, Valve introduced phone number verification to ensure account uniqueness and mandated 100 hours of gameplay before ranked participation. These measures have demonstrated significant success in reducing duplicate account creation.

The Dota 2 approach focuses on rapid identification and promotion of skilled players rather than artificially constraining everyone’s progression speed.

For players committed to advancing in League’s current environment, focusing on consistent performance rather than win streaks proves more sustainable. Tracking personal statistics and identifying improvement areas yields better long-term results than focusing solely on ranking advancement.

Avoid the common mistake of creating alternate accounts to bypass the slow progression—this exacerbates the smurfing problem and undermines matchmaking integrity. Instead, concentrate on mastering 2-3 champions in your preferred role to maximize performance consistency.

Consider exploring our Complete Guide for insights into balanced competitive systems, or check our Weapons Unlock strategies that apply similar progression principles across different gaming environments.

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