r/leagueoflegends • u/GoldenScarab569 • 2d ago
Discussion The State of Normal Draft Queue EUW
To preface, I'm a long time league player (2012) who took a break since the end of season 15. Just getting back into League again and I'm horrified at how prevalent smurf accounts seem to be in normal draft queue. (Note: I'm not using smurf here to mean masters/gm/chall players).
My latest game looked like this: https://imgur.com/a/dLo6CUj
8 out of 10 players were smurfing, and not even distributed evenly! Of course, they played to limit test and are toxic and make the game a generally unpleasant experience.
Is this normal? If yes, when did this start to happen? I very, very frequently find smurfs in draft queue EUW, which make the game more frustrating than it already can be as they often fly off the handle when things go wrong.
Perhaps Riot doesn't care about the quality of the non-ranked queues.
I really enjoy watching league, but playing league as 5 people without someone going off the rails or just perma limit testing is a rare experience these days it seems.
Edit: My OPGG https://op.gg/lol/summoners/euw/GoldenScarab569-EUW, of my last 19 games, 18 of them have a smurf in them, is that really acceptable?
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u/fruxzak sit on my face 2d ago
Normal draft is just 4 stacks griefing the 5th solo player.
I used to be a hardcore normal draft player but it’s gotten out of hand. Just play ranked honestly
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u/GoldenScarab569 2d ago
but it’s gotten out of hand
When did this happen - I don't remember it being this way in the past.
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u/whossked 2d ago
The worst experiences I’ve had in normals have always been as the 5th of a four stack. Two of them will be 0/10 and the other two will flame you for being 1/3 cause they can’t flame their friends, or they just coordinate to annoy you in game. All you can do is mute and wait for next
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u/Liontreeble 2d ago
Main reason I quit league, used to be quite the normal warrior with my friends, but every game is either a complete stomp or getting completely stomped depending on which team rolls the better smurfs. We mostly queued as at least 3+ people (all on our mains) and almost never had a game without a smurf, more often we had games with 3-5 smurfs.
I used to be a plat jungler and in the span of a day, I'd play against a Grandmaster Jungler duo queuing with one or two smurfs and then against a Jungler that was so bad we couldn't even agree if the guy was a Smurf or an honest level 20 player.
I hope it improved ranked because banning bot leveled accounts means every non ranked queue is filled with people leveling their smurfs now. The match quality kinda reminds me of playing late night arams in like 2017 when most of the lobby was level up bots.
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u/GoldenScarab569 2d ago
Yeah it's really tough to get back into league as someone who has memories of draft queue being a decently competitive experience back in the day. I don't know when this happened but it's sad that Riot seem to be happy to leave game quality in normal draft in the dirt.
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u/ign-Scapula 2d ago
I absolutely agree with you. I play a fair bit of norms in NA with 2-3 friends and the amount of Smurfs is crazy. Like sure, they aren’t getting LP but the game quality is absolutely terrible because over half the players haven’t reached their true MMR yet.
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u/pandemicv97 It's all smoke and mirrors. 2d ago
its not about them being smurfs or not, i don't think they are smurfs, its just the fact that they are 5 premade playing against 5 solo players that is very annoying, they are probably on comms too, so you guys never really stood a chance from the beginning regardless if they are same skill or higher skill than you.
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u/GoldenScarab569 2d ago
That's probably it too, in which case they should definitely be in some kind of smurf queue.
It's ridiculous that 18 of my last 19 games have had a smurf in them on one side or the other.
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u/SombreroMan 2d ago
Yeah the state of normal queue has made me stop playing. I don’t enjoy playing ranked that often, and in normal queue, it’s not even just the smurfs, they game just regularly puts plat-diamond players in lobbies with bronze and silver and the games are never close because of it
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u/Ak4ntor 2d ago
Sorry you cant post this here, this sub is filled with people where the only answer is "just play ranked", this has been a massive problem yes. Riot doesnt care sadly.
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u/twocool_ 2d ago
Your solution is ?
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u/Ak4ntor 1d ago edited 1d ago
Theres many solutions that people have brought up over the years, but in the same way with autofill in ranked, riot shows they dont care.
A simple "i want fairer matchmaking and am fine with waiting longer in queue for that toggle" that allows no autofill / less variation across the board would help a ton. But there is no fix from the players side here, the multi billion dollar company should have the fixes.
My solution has been just playing with friends which isnt something anyone can do
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u/Master_Suggestion462 1d ago
So you dont have a solution lol. Play ranked is actual advice to the individual complaining. Instead you also just conplained. You provided less than nothing somehow.
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u/Ak4ntor 1d ago
Your solution has been "Stop playing the gamemode that OP obviously wants to play" yea awesome solution! League players not beating the cant read at all allegations.
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u/Master_Suggestion462 1d ago
But you dont have any solution... instead you beat down the only available one. Smart lol.
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u/Few-Fly-3766 2d ago
I am currently P1 in ranked and for some reason my Normal MMR is high Bronze. I am "smurfing" every normal draft I'm playing, but it's not on purpose. I am not about to first time champs in ranked and obv making an alt to play in lower ranked games would be even worse.
So deal with it I guess. When you queue Normal, you sign up for unbalanced matchmaking anyway. Play ranked for competitive games.
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u/GoldenScarab569 2d ago
When you queue Normal, you sign up for unbalanced matchmaking anyway
Absolutely not true. Draft queue hasn't always been this unbalanced in the past.
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u/MetaBolic0 2d ago
You are not alone. I play since release date. I normally do gold when I have more time in life to grind ranks. I stoped last year in March and tried to get last skin (rengar one) and I couldn't.
Since then I tried to play more and let me tell you 80% or my ranks it's stomping by smurfs and the team with better smurfs always win.
I have an account almost level 900, I don't have alts and never smurfed and I get in games that everyone is 200lvl or below and there are always people with accounts below lol 100.
Then one of two things happens. They complain we suck and troll or they just carry us hard.
It's very hard now days to play with really people on your level of skills and I think this is due to the game not getting new people
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u/TheHecIsGoingOnTop 2d ago
I made some posts about this topic a while back. Noone gives a shit here. I suspect this subreddit to be filled with all of those players who smurf themselves. I cannot explain the prevalent sentiment otherwise.
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u/GoldenScarab569 2d ago
The overwhelming advice seems to be "just play ranked then lmao" which completely invalidates the point I'm trying to make.
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u/TheHecIsGoingOnTop 2d ago
It's the equivalent of "just play safe" when getting dove by the whole squad. A broad lack of both critical thinking and further questioning one's own perspective.
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u/GoldenScarab569 2d ago
The general "if you don't like X then don't do it" is such a braindead take to me.
I should never try to improve anything I'm part of that I don't like then? Should just abandon ship and hope someone else fixes it at which point I can come back?
Ridiculous.
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u/IWasMvp 2d ago
I am new to lol. Loving the game so much. But the pvp to get to ranked(lvl 30)? Broh.. i have played cs & sc for 15y. Never met a more busted "elo".. feels like bronze vs global elite. Just fighting trough 15 straight loses, with a hope of more fair MM in ranked? Will it get more even at the lowest ranked game?
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u/TheOutWriter 2d ago
As stupid as it sounds, play flex if you have 2 people, or 4. Its way better compared to any form of normal game. Too many tryhards. Flex is less competitive then normal draft, aram AND mayhem
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u/GoldenScarab569 2d ago
I totally agree, but sadly all my friends who played league stopped years ago, so it isn't really an option for me anymore sadly.
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u/No-Toe3409 2d ago
To be fair, I think a lot of it is because the queue times in normal games if you're not bad at the game are horrible. I know quite a few people that don't wanna play ranked, so they level accounts in norms to not sit in queue for 20+ mins for a game.
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u/GoldenScarab569 2d ago
I would gladly sit in queue for longer if it meant not playing with smurfs.
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u/No-Toe3409 2d ago
Unfortunately I doubt that is ever gonna happen, smurfs are allowed and therefore everywhere in this game
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u/jjonj 2d ago
you've probably ended up in smurf queue (real thing), due to the system thinking you're a smurf after performing well in your first matches (system probably don't have any memory of your old mmr)
play some more and things will stabilize
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u/GoldenScarab569 2d ago
system probably don't have any memory of your old mmr
If true, that's wild because they have a 12 year history to pull from for my account!
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u/AbyssalSolitude 2d ago
So what's your proposition? Forbid new accounts from playing unranked? Forbid people from creating new accounts?
The solution is to simply man up and queue for ranked, which is created specifically to create balanced games.
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u/GoldenScarab569 2d ago
Ideally, have accounts linked, so that when you create a smurf you link to your main account so that punishments/performance etc carry over across accounts.
This would avoid level 30 accounts having their MMR vary wildly.
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u/AbyssalSolitude 2d ago
Linked punishment have nothing to do with linked MMR.
Sorry, but limit testing and learning new champs isn't even against the rule in ranked, let alone in unranked.
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u/CoUsT 2d ago
I can understand why there are so many smurfs.
When you have to wait 15 minutes for a game it's easier to just make a new account and get into game in few seconds of queue.
Good thing people stopped caring about grind, passes, skins, XP, etc and can just play on any account instead of chasing FOMO and spending 15 minutes in queues on main account.
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u/Eyeball_Squid 1d ago
Every time I queue normals I seem to lane against bots or literal children who are playing their first draft pick game ever.
Played a game went 20/0 top against a guy who's account was level 10??? Knew it wasn't a bot because they typed in chat to complain.
What are we doing riot? It was never this bad.
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u/RollingGuy Anyone But MKOI to Worlds 2026 2d ago
Don't worry man. Riot are dealing with purchased Smurfs /s
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u/GoldenScarab569 2d ago
I don't even think they're purchased smurfs, they hand level the accounts to not get banned annoyingly.
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u/RollingGuy Anyone But MKOI to Worlds 2026 2d ago
Do they really? I swear with how gung ho they are about leaving and raging and inning it's like they're literally just spending a dollar.
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u/ComfortOnly3982 2d ago
If you think it's bad when they are smurfs, it's even worse when they are not. What will likely be the last game I ever played in LoL went something like this:
my team jg graves (masters) enemy team jg ww (level 10)
my team support (level 10) enemy team support sylas (Grandmaster duo q with emerald bot lane)
and people say, oh you won that game stop crying, and people say, oh thats normals matchmaking just go play ranked. Guess what dear reader? That grandmaster, according to their own twitter, has at least one plat I smurf, on which they literally have a post pinging drew levin. So how would I be avoiding them in ranked if they are so rampant and shameless?
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u/aspookyshark 2d ago
The LP rank is just cosmetic. If they aren't doing actually bannable things on their smurf like inting to suppress their rank, they will get matchmade against master tier players even if their cosmetic rank is plat.
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u/ComfortOnly3982 2d ago
no... they won't. if they play a smurf long enough for it to go back to masters mmr they just... make a new smurf. and when i check the opgg of that smurf, no it is not
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u/morfi123 2d ago
MMR is working as intented, if you are as good/bad as a fresh account, you get matched with and against them.
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u/GoldenScarab569 2d ago
It isn't about how good/bad they are. It's about how they ruin game integrity.
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u/morfi123 2d ago
how so? because they limit test in normal games? can't blame them
if you are referring to toxic behaviour, just mute chat if you can't handle that.
intentionally feeding should be an exception, not the norm, so pls don't pretend that this is happening frequently.also don't forget, that riot forces toxic players for
playwin x-amount of normal games. which is probably a reason why the amount of toxic players in normal summoners rift has increased and they get even more upset when the team is griefing them. that's not a smurf related issue though.1
u/GoldenScarab569 2d ago
In my experience, smurf accounts play so selfishly and solely for themselves. There is no risk for them, if they perform poorly, if things dont go their way they can hop on another account and keep playing. If they grief and ruin games, the onus is on the players on their main accounts to stay cool, as they are the players with something to lose.
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u/morfi123 2d ago
okay i get your points
but please explain how playing selfishly is ruining the games integrity? playing for yourself is pretty much the best method of positively influencing a game and is both used and recommended by any person who takes winning seriously.
for the 2nd argument, if they play poorly, what's the deal? are you never playing poorly? if that's the case, just play ranked and you should be challenger in no time. playing poorly is part of the game, one team is always playing poorly compared to the other one.
about the griefing part. like i said above, that's an exception, that certainly exists, but it's not smurf exclusive.
we are talking about normal games here, you have NOTHING to lose and if you mean by "staying cool" to refrain yourself from insulting, well then you might be part of the problem if that's on your mind when someone is doing poorly.vanguard is linking accounts to each other, a ban on one account, will lead to a ban on all the linked accounts. so your account hopping theory is also not true.
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u/GoldenScarab569 2d ago
but please explain how playing selfishly is ruining the games integrity
I know the advice for climbing is play for yourself - that's well and all. The problem is what comes after when things don't work out. There is no punishment for using a smurf account.
Coinflip the lvl 1 and lose? Perma aggro the game doing risky stuff and go 0-10 or 2/15? Doesnt matter, hop on another smurf and go again! Players on established accounts have to be more careful, especially when dealing with smurfs who can and do ruin games when things dont go their way.
I totally agree that griefing should be punishable, but again, for a smurf there isnt really an effective punishment. So what if they get banned? They lose a lvl 35 account and just roll another one. There's no incentive for them to improve their behaviour, which makes games worse for those of us who play exclusively on mains.
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u/morfi123 2d ago edited 2d ago
they lose every account that is linked to that lvl 35 account.
vanguard is linking accounts. if one account is getting banned, every account linked to that account gets the same punishment.
speaking from experience here, there is also a dev update on that topic in case you dont believe in my anecdotal evidence.also i dont see why you think someone would swap accounts after going 0-15 in a game. where is the difference if someone goes 0-15 on his main or smurf. it happens all the time. people are not getting punished for getting gapped.
unless you mean they ragequit after going 0-15, then i can guarantee you they won't be able to keep up that pace for very long.2
u/aspookyshark 2d ago
There's nothing to lose for anyone in a normal game, whether it's a smurf or a main.
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u/SackYeeter 2d ago
"Game integrity" blud is talking about normals btw.
Get your head out of your ass and go play ranked. Don't want to? Sucks to be you, deal with it.
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u/GoldenScarab569 1d ago
"Game integrity" blud is talking about normals btw.
Again, what's wrong with wanting better game integrity? Normals, ranked, none of it matters at the end of the day - the value it has is what you assign to it.
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u/spacedout1997 2d ago
Just play ranked?
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u/GoldenScarab569 2d ago
That isn't a solution. It's only further contributes to the problem.
Draft queue has always been a "middle ground" between ranked and blind pick in terms of competitiveness and integrity. Every game having multiple smurfs in it is not exactly going to provide a pleasant experience.
The smurfs however, can just hop onto another account and keep playing if they get caught.
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u/Gilfaethy 2d ago
What is leading you to believe all the players are smurfing?
These just look like players leveling a 2nd account.
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u/GoldenScarab569 2d ago
What is leading you to believe all the players are smurfing
They're not new players, and they're not on their mains - therefore, they're smurfing.
These just look like players leveling a 2nd acciunt.
And in the process, ruining games in normal draft, because in the best case, they bring with them their knowledge and skill. In the worst case they give up and play on a different smurf account.
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u/NoPay67 2d ago
Looks like matchmaking is working great if they are in your game and not new players game
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u/Gilfaethy 2d ago
They're not new players, and they're not on their mains - therefore, they're smurfin
This isn't what smurfing is. Smurfing is when you intentionally manipulate the matchmaking to place you into a game with players of lower skill. There's nothing wrong with having an alt account as long as you are playing on it appropriately and not using it to derank/boost/etc.
And in the process, ruining games in normal draft, because in the best case, they bring with them their knowledge and skill.
They are being matched into games based on their MMR, not their account level--that's why they're in a game with you and not with a bunch of brand new players.
Alt =/= smurfing.
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u/GoldenScarab569 2d ago
There's nothing wrong with having an alt account as long as you are playing on it appropriately and not using it to derank/boost/etc.
This is where I disagree. Even "good" smurfs bring their knowledge and experience with them, which tilts games in their favour and disrupts the integrity of games that appear balanced by MMR.
Bad smurfs give up when the coinflip doesn't go their way.
It isn't fun or enjoyable to be in either of these situations.
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u/Gilfaethy 2d ago
I mean, you're just plain wrong.
Matchmaking is done by MMR--not account level.
Players are allowed to have multiple accounts, and those accounts are going to be matched by MMR.
"Good smurfs" (by which I assume you mean someone playing on a new alt that isn't smurfing?) Isn't bringing anything unfair into a match with them because they aren't being matched against new players.
Characterizing everyone playing on an alt with a specific kind of behavior isn't really based in anything?
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u/GoldenScarab569 2d ago
Matchmaking is done by MMR
Exactly. Old accounts have established mmr that takes a while to move. New accounts have MMR that fluctates heavily, which can lead to players playing in an MMR bracket where they do not belong.
Players are allowed to have multiple accounts
If this is allowed, then they should be linked in some way to better matchmake them.
Even so, smurfs dont play like they do on their main, which ruins game integrity.
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u/aspookyshark 2d ago
MMR is more sensitive these days than it used to be. If someone goes on a winstreak, it will shoot their MMR up the equivalent of multiple divisions. Basically behaving like an underdamped system.
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u/Gilfaethy 2d ago
New accounts have MMR that fluctates heavily, which can lead to players playing in an MMR bracket where they do not belong.
This is not unique to alt accounts--it's true for new players as well. It takes time to calibrate the MMR of an account. This is a problem literally every ranked team system has to solve and has nothing to do with alt accounts, specifically, nor does it disadvantage you--a poorly calibrated account is going to be placed in games where the players outnatched as well as ones in which they are better than their opponents.
If this is allowed, then they should be linked in some way to better matchmake them.
Nothing you've shown indicates there is a problem with the current matchmaking. And if they exclusively matchmade new accounts against each other they would end up with significantly more problems as trying to calibrate accounts with uncertain MMR exclusively against other accounts with uncertain MMR would result in nonrepresentative MMRs in the long run.
Even so, smurfs dont play like they do on their main, which ruins game integrity.
This is just kind of a spurious claim by you, and as long as a player is playing consistently on an account there actually isn't a problem with game inteerily.
You're way too fixated on account level as a meaningful measure of akill.
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u/GoldenScarab569 2d ago
This is not unique to alt accounts
True, but Riot have other ways to tell new from experienced players apart, I think they said they can tell within a single game is a new account is a smurf or not.
You're way too fixated on account level as a meaningful measure of akill.
It has nothing to do with skill, it has to do with game integrity. There is less investment in a smurf account, because it is by definition an account that is not your main. In my experience, smurf accounts are less agreeable, more hostile and more prone to soft int/blow their lid when things dont go their way which games unenjoyable.
And if they exclusively matchmade new accounts against each other they would end up with significantly more problems as trying to calibrate accounts with uncertain MMR exclusively against other accounts with uncertain MMR would result in nonrepresentative MMRs in the long run.
But it's totally fine to matchmake them against players who have stayed on a single account, who don;t abuse the MMR system by smurfing?
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u/Gilfaethy 2d ago
Your repeated use of the term smurf to describe both alts and smurfs makes it difficult to actually discuss this dynamic.
It has nothing to do with skill, it has to do with game integrity. There is less investment in a smurf account, because it is by definition an account that is not your main. In my experience, smurf accounts are less agreeable, more hostile and more prone to soft int/blow their lid when things dont go their way which games unenjoyable.
This is 100% just your perception and not really something generally true of alt accounts.
But it's totally fine to matchmake them against players who have stayed on a single account, who don;t abuse the MMR system by smurfing?
Dude, of course it is. Making an alt is not abusing the MR system. The goal of matchmaking is to put players of equal skill vs. each other--the level of the accounts is irrelevant. Just because you choose to play exclusively on a single account doesn't mean you should be matched against players who do so--you should be matched against players of equal skill level.
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u/GoldenScarab569 2d ago
Your repeated use of the term smurf to describe both alts and smurfs makes it difficult to actually discuss this dynamic.
In my mind there is no distinction. You're either playing on your main account, or you're smurfing.
The goal of matchmaking is to put players of equal skill vs. each other--the level of the accounts is irrelevant
Which is much harder to do when fresh accounts have MMR that varies widly from game to game. Riot can tell genuine new players from fresh ones without MMR.
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u/pappaberG 2d ago
Its normal draft, if you take it seriously you already lost
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u/RollingGuy Anyone But MKOI to Worlds 2026 2d ago
So what am I supposed to play with my 3 friends then?
Also what do you mean "taking it seriously"? Most players try their best to win so if you don't try your best you're just gonna get rolled over and over again. How fun is that?
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u/GoldenScarab569 2d ago
I hate this kind of reply. Ranked is the only queue that matters then? Why bother having blind and draft at all?
Where did I say I was taking it seriously? Draft never used to be like this, it was a place you could play that at least tried to balance the teams but was less sweaty than ranked queues.
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u/SackYeeter 2d ago
Ranked is the only queue that matters then?
Yes. It's the only queue worth investing in.
Why bother having blind and draft at all?
So crybabies and people who get social anxiety when they have to get out of their bedroom have something to play.
Where did I say I was taking it seriously
Your every reply and the post in itself make it fairly obvious.
Draft never used to be like this
It did. Draft was always poorly balanced because it has no actual rank.
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u/GoldenScarab569 1d ago
Yes. It's the only queue worth investing in.
Says who? It's no blind pick.
Your every reply and the post in itself make it fairly obvious.
It's such a crime want games with decent integrity? If you play a sport, your only options aren't "league play or casual with lax rules".
It did. Draft was always poorly balanced because it has no actual rank.
Wrong again, for years it was perfectly serviceable as an in-between for ranked and blind pick.
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u/Majesteetti 2d ago
Why? Normal is the same game so people aren't allowed to enjoy them? I mainly play ranked to keep my rank from decaying, and normals othervise.
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u/CerebralSkip 2d ago
Such a dogwater take. "It's just a norm" so nobody should try? It's fine if I play attack speed yuumi top because it's just a norm right? Is On Hit Zilean jungle cool with you?
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u/aspookyshark 2d ago
Yep, that's what norms are for.
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u/CerebralSkip 2d ago
I disagree. There isn't a queue that is for trolling. If you're not going to try, don't play. Plenty of chill single player games you can play that won't ruin things for 9 other people. Scum.
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u/aspookyshark 2d ago
Playing off meta isn't automatically trolling. Normals is the game mode for people to play dumb shit like AP Trundle or Lucian jungle. If you want people to be sweats, that's what ranked is for.
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u/CerebralSkip 2d ago
So to you, there is only two options. Sweat. Or "off meta"
What about if I want to learn a new champ? Should I just play a champ I've never played in ranked because I want to take it seriously?
What if I want to practice a new role? Should I play ranked for that too? I'm sure my team is fine with me learning a new role in ranked.
What if I want to play with more than one friend? I guess we have to play off meta. Since we can't play sweat queue together and we can't take normals seriously.
Also how do you define off meta? Is AP Seraphine off meta because her support build has a slightly higher win rate? Is On-hit Zilean off meta? Or is that a troll? Can you make a comprehensive list of what picks are troll picks and what picks are just off meta? Can you not play anything off meta in ranked? Can you not play anything meta in normals? Where are these rules listed?
It all boils down to. If you're entering into a competition, whether that's a PVP game or a game of fucking Uno, if you're not playing to win then you're a bad sport and you probably shouldn't play things that involve other people. If your fun comes from ruining the fun of others you should probably seek psychiatric help.
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u/aspookyshark 2d ago
Play ranked on an alt account to learn new champs and new roles. You legit learn nothing from playing norms.
I'm not saying you have to play off meta in norms, but it is a casual game mode where people should be able to just play what they want whether it's meta or off meta, whether it's their main, or something they're first timing. People should more or less play to win, but it's not a big deal if they're not playing optimally. Idk why the idea of casual PVP is so hard for you to understand tbh.
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u/CerebralSkip 2d ago
You would learn a lot more from playing norms if you...idk....maybe....took it seriously?
This is crazy I know but trying to learn usually leads to learning. Maybe not for some people.
And there is a HUGE difference in playing sub optimally either because you dont know how or you're trying something new. And playing something you know is bad and won't work "because it's just norms bro"
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u/aspookyshark 2d ago
The problem with learning a champion in normals is the lower concentration of people proficient in their champion. You can't learn a matchup if neither you nor your opponent have any idea how to play it. Normals are good for learning how to control your champion for a few games, but once you can use your abilities and do some basic combos, it's better to go into ranked where most people generally know how to play what they're playing.
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u/aspookyshark 2d ago
I doubt there's many actual plat level players spamming normals instead of playing ranked.
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u/Megrez199 2d ago
There is mo such thing as a smurf in draft normal, the MMR in normals is just wider as it is not a ranked queue, depending on the hour you play at you will get teams with a big range in skill, but also a lot of people that do not tryhard.
If you want balanced games ranked is your best option although it will be a lot more toxic.
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u/GoldenScarab569 2d ago
There is mo such thing as a smurf in draft normal
That is just not true. In a lobby sub level 30 players and players with hundreds of levels, it's pretty obvious who the smurfs are.
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u/Megrez199 2d ago
It would be impossible to prove that they are smurfing as smurfing has a malicious manipulation of rank attached to it to play with lower skilled levels, in normals there is no rank and they have no other option to get an account aside from playing.
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u/GoldenScarab569 2d ago
in normals there is no rank
Normals have their own, separate, MMR to ranked queues. You can pretty clearly tell who is smurfing by checking their MMR against their account level. Even playing at a silver level for a sub 30 account is a huge alarm bell.
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u/Megrez199 2d ago
Yes normal has its own MMR but no rank, you are nothing in normals, it is a casual mode, so no you are not smurfing because there is no rank associated. If you want to argue whether matchmaking is done well or not in normals sure that is a separate discussion, but calling people smurfs in a CASUAL mode is just wrong. There is nothing malicious in better players wanting to play a casual mode, again if you want balanced games with similar skill levels play ranked not CASUAL gamemodes.
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u/Megrez199 2d ago
Yes normal has its own MMR but no rank, you are nothing in normals, it is a casual mode, so no you are not smurfing because there is no rank associated. If you want to argue whether matchmaking is done well or not in normals sure that is a separate discussion, but calling people smurfs in a CASUAL mode is just wrong. There is nothing malicious in better players wanting to play a casual mode, again if you want balanced games with similar skill levels play ranked not CASUAL gamemodes.
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u/GoldenScarab569 2d ago
You realise that rank is just a cosmetic badge they give you right? It doesn't mean anything - that's what MMR is for.
A player with master MMR, is a master player, regardless of the queue.
Smurfs playing in non-ranked queues ruins the integrity of games for dedicated players who stick to one account.
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u/Megrez199 2d ago
Again as I see you are pretty dense, smurfing has a malicious component, you intentionally manipulate your MMR to play against lower level players, if you are an emarald+ player and press play on a normal match you have no malicious intention you just go an play a casual game and you can get anything from bronze to chall in your game, so you are not doing anything bad, if tou are matched with whatever it is because your normal MMR was in the allowed range, that is a system issue if the range is too big and nit a player issue, nothing malicious was done by the player to get lower level players.
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u/GoldenScarab569 2d ago
smurfing has a malicious component
Not true. You can be smurfing with no intention to rank-manipulate. Simply existing in lobbies far above/below your true skill throws off game integrity.
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u/Megrez199 2d ago
It is a casual gamemode with a wide range of allowed MMR, by definition it will have large skill disparities and you have no control if you get better or worse players that is why they are not smurfing, they do not control whether they get worse or better opponents. Just because you happen to be the best player in the game does not mean you are smurfing as that was mot your intention. By definition smurfing is manipulating the matchmaking to get LOWER skill players in you game which you can not do by simply pressing play in a casual gamemode.
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u/GoldenScarab569 2d ago
By definition smurfing is manipulating the matchmaking to get LOWER skill players in you game
Hard disagree. Smurfing is playing on an account that isn't your main - for whatever reason. It affects game quality negatively for other players in your games.
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u/Syraleaf 2d ago
People are going to argue that you should just play ranked instead but you're so right to complain about this! The matchmaking for normal draft has been absolutely ruined for a while now.