Only a few months into Season 12, Riot Games has provided players with an insight into what it believes the competitive season has looked like and what players can anticipate in the months ahead regarding ‘Solo Queue.’
Riot Codebear, competitive gameplay project manager, and Riot Riru, a member of the marketing team, expressed Riot’s collective opinions on League’s competitiveness this season in a new dev blog.
The Ranked Solo/Duo queue in League has been in place since the game’s very first day, but Riot Games is considering modifying it for the first time in League history. The developers have discussed the prospect of deleting the Duo queue, making it a Solo-only option, and increasing the number of players in Ranked Flex.
Riot has told everyone that they are trying out a big change that would see the Solo/Duo Queue eliminated from the game in an effort to enhance matchmaking. “The solo/duo queue is currently in one of the healthiest states we’ve ever seen,” the developers said. However, difficulties with the balance of MMR remain, which the teams believe are affecting competitive integrity.
When Summoners of various ranks get together, unfair matches are usually played. This results in longer wait times, unfair teams, and more auto-fills. As a result, Riot Games are considering creating a new mode named “Solo Only” to replace Solo/Duo.
“Solo-only” queue would force premades into Ranked Flex or a specific premade queue. Though this is still in the works, the devs feel that a “Solo-only” queue would eliminate boosting, autofill, and other issues, while simultaneously enhancing the attractiveness of Ranked Flex. In doing so, the developers emphasized the significance of optimizing all game modes in order to make them accessible to all players.
If this is approved, the Solo/Duo option will be renamed Solo-Only, and the Flex will be able to handle any party size from 1 to 5 players. Players should expect more information in the future.