It has been a long time since I have dedicated as much time to League of Legends as at the beginning of 2026. Playing frequently again after two or three years of spending a few hours on it has been a wonderful experience and my pulse does not tremble when writing that, if we only talk about gameplay, the title goes through one of the best moments in its history. There are still patches to finish balancing the new season, but it feels like all the changes will be a long-term improvement. However, after more than a hundred games I don’t know if I’ll play even one more. At least, on my main account.
Riot Games punishes you if you take League of Legends seriously
One of the things I proposed when I returned to LoL was to take ranked games a little more seriously. Until now, almost every season had ended in the lowest gold divisions. Climbing more ranks seemed to me too big an effort both in the number of games necessary and in the way in which they have to be played. What I like most about the title are its characters and it used to vary a lot, reaching the point of using 134 different heroes in Season 9. I remember, in fact, that my challenge was to play each champion at least once, but I ran out of time. That year it was also difficult for me, for whatever reason, to finish fourth in the race.
The thing is, this time it was quite different and things started very well. By abusing the most broken champions in the patch I managed to reach Esmeralda IV. The problem is that I find it impossible to continue moving up the ranks without dedicating an unhealthy amount of hours to the matter and not because I can’t continue winning games. What I have discovered is that League of Legends has a terrible gravitational effect designed to protect the players which, in my case, has turned the experience into a real waste of time. I have a good time playing, but I know that my progression has been cut off in the most artificial way possible.
Riot Games artificially cuts player progress
When you start playing a season of ranked play, your league point gain is rigged so that you can regain your previous rank relatively quickly. Gravity is pulling you in your usual position in the galaxy of ranked giving you many league points per victory and subtracting very few from each defeat. Even if you have a bad streak that lasts a dozen games, this effect is still noticeable. It’s almost a safety mechanism that Riot Games wants to make sure no one gets too frustrated. It seems that the developer is afraid that you will get angry and end up abandoning the game out of frustration at not reaching your usual ‘ELO’.
The thing is that This effect also applies in the other direction. After surpassing my usual range I began to find that each victory gave fewer points and each defeat took away more. It seemed logical that the progression would slow down, but what I found is that, maintaining a win rate of 54% throughout the climb (and 50% in my last 20 ranked matches) the net balance of my league points was negative. Each victory gave me between 17 and 19 points, while each defeat took away 21 or 22. Even if I won a little more than half of the games, I was doomed to stop climbing ranks… and that is quite demotivating.
Previously, Riot Games left more than 50% of the players without a victorious skin.
It all arises because, as many of you know, each League of Legends player has, in reality, two different ranges. What we all see is the visible standings: a league badge accompanied by the division number. What matters, instead, is the MMR. This is a hidden score of up to four figures that is what the system truly takes into account when making the match. In a perfect world, the visible ranking is only a logo that is associated with a certain range of MMR points and its function is to make the ranked positions a little more rewarding. Going from 1385 points to 1412 isn’t very exciting, but going from Gold I to Platinum IV calls for a celebration.
The rank system has become less honest over the years
Riot Games manipulates this system to give a little more sauce to the season of ranked. The “gravity” that I mentioned before exists because when you start the season you have an MMR one or two leagues higher than where you start the positioning games. That makes you feel rapid progress with gigantic point gains. The point is that this trend later reverses. If you continue winning you make your visible rank begin to be well above the MMR and that is solved by what is happening to me: I take away more points than I give it until the situation balances out. Instead of rewarding you, they punish you for winning games.
I have always thought that ranked systems should be more honest than funny and, in fact, I think this way because of League of Legends. During its first years the game placed more than 60% of players in its three lowest ranks. However, Riot Games is now afraid of someone being left behind. The classification is not sincere and, in fact, I am also an example of this. If I am at Emerald IV but my MMR is Platinum 2, it means that I have reached this rank without truly deserving it, and I don’t want that either. They are holding up a party for me that I could have earned on my own merits.
As for how to solve the problem, either you play dozens of games until your visible rank and MMR balance or you create a new account… and the latter is what I have done. However, it’s pretty ridiculous that the most efficient way to rank up is to go through 30 levels of farming and start from scratch. I really think this is one of the improvements that Riot Games should introduce in the League of Legends remake coming next year. However, knowing that the game needs new users more than ever, I find it very difficult to reverse this ‘casualization’ of the competitive system.
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