LoL does everything to pep up troubled US professionals – but they seem like stubborn, spoiled children
There have been world championships in League of Legends for 11 years and teams from America have only made it into the top 4 twice. The developers at Riot Games, who are based in America themselves, have been trying to strengthen the competitive scene there for years. Finally, the Champions Queue was added. But even that is only reaping mockery and scorn.
How is the American LoL scene doing?
- The American teams tend to be smiled at internationally. A German coach once said that players who move to America give up winning.
- Only in the first season in 2011 and in 2018 did American teams make it to the semi-finals of the LoL Worlds, with no team being allowed to play a final. In Europe there was at least one title and two second places.
- It is striking that the teams like to spend a lot of money to sign players from abroad. For example, the midlaner PerkZ moved to the USA – for a fee of 5 million dollars. In 2021, 15 players from American teams played at the Worlds, but only 3 were actually from America.
- Riot Games has therefore started to strengthen the American LoL scene. For this purpose, the Champions Queue was introduced, a separate queue for professionals, substitutes, young talents and the best players of SoloQ. But it is precisely this champions cue that is being criticized.
Professionals use them too seldom, complain about voice chat
What is the problem with Champions Queue? Actually, the Champions Queue should lead to an increase in the quality of the games and thus the challenge for the pros. So they should be able to improve even if no official training matches are scheduled.
However, many professionals did not use this offer at all. This is something that former professional player Yilang “Doublelift” Peng complains about, assuming that the pros only hang out with their friends after their training sessions. Some pros would not play a single match there for weeks, even though this queue was a long-cherished wish of the teams.
Travis Gafford shows which pros are currently active in the queue in a tweet every week:
In addition, this special queue does not use a match-making rating, which is particularly criticized by American players who do not belong to a professional team (via Twitlonger). Leveling up is said to be possible even with a win rate of 37% and you would face the same opponents too often, regardless of whether you played them to the ground or not.
What happens now? Riot is taking the Champions Queue offline for now. Changes are to be made, including the introduction of a match-making rating. In addition, the circle of participating players is increased (via Riot Games).
A change that is causing ridicule, especially in the community, is the adjustment to voice chat. According to Riot, the pressure in the Champions Queue is so high that players are reluctant to access voice chat. Instead of having this activated automatically right at the start, it is now deactivated by default.
“I’m curious to see what excuses there are for NA this time”
How are the changes received? There is a lot of mockery and ridicule for the Champions Queue on the LoL reddit. Especially the section with the voice chat is often targeted:
- sznfrk writes (via reddit): “Isn’t the point of simulating competitive games where a random jungler doesn’t suddenly steal the cannon minion? In which coordination and matched moves play a role? 99% of competitive games require voice chat. […] Play the damn game like it’s a competition.”
- PostDifferentThings is also irritated by the statement (via reddit): “Just so I get this right, you’ve created a special section where only pro players and highly skilled members of the community can play competitive games to hone their skills. You gave them a server with low pings, something these players have been asking for for years. And those players are now saying they don’t want to feel compelled to join voice chats?”
In the same thread there are also discussions about what will be the excuses why the pros in America play worse than in other regions. A user collected a list of past excuses that Champions Queue fixed, including high ping, one-trick ponies in SoloQ, poor matchmaking, and a lack of competitive environment (via reddit).
What else causes criticism? Another point of criticism for the community is the period chosen for the downtime of the Champions Queue. Because it will be taken offline from now until May 31st. This is roughly the period in which there is no regular league operation.
That would actually be the ideal period for professionals to train in this ranking or for new talent to generate attention.
Especially in 2022, when the World Cup will take place in North America, many fans wish that their teams would not embarrass themselves. However, many now doubt whether the Champions Queue alone is enough to make the region fit.
One team that is particularly popular with players in Germany is Eintracht Spandau. You can find out everything about the team here:
Everything you need to know about the LoL team Eintracht Spandau
Reference-mein-mmo.de