League of Legends gameplay design director Mark “Scruffy” Yetter said last night that Riot is disabling the accounts given to pros due to them having “unfair gains” compared to other players trying to climb the ranked ladder.
Since season 11 started, multiple players noted that the top of the ladder was populated by accounts with a much lower number of games played compared to previous seasons. Most of these accounts were found to be given to pros by Riot and had an inflated MMR to help them reach their corresponding rating faster.
But now, Riot is disabling any accounts made after Jan. 7 and will be giving pros “fresh ones.”
“We’re disabling all Riot-created pro player accounts created after Jan. 7, 2021 to address unintended differences in LP gains/losses which resulted in an unfair advantage over non-pros in reaching the top of the ranked ladder,” Riot said. “These accounts will decay out of the ladder over the next few weeks. Pro accounts created before Jan. 7 are unaffected. Pros will be given replacement accounts with fixes made to the starting MMR. The update has already begun and may take a few days to complete.”
The current system in place works well to avoid League pros stomping through ranked play for dozens of games before they reach Master and above. But during the offseason, Riot made multiple changes to how the ladder worked by removing promotion matches, as well as adjusting LP gains and losses to accommodate the new system.
The pro accounts created this season after Jan. 7 slipped through the latest adjustments and maintained the previous system’s LP gains and losses. Following this update, the accounts will slowly decay out of the ladder and the affected pros will be given new accounts with fixes made to the starting MMR to ensure the competitive integrity of the solo queue ladder.
If you’re at around Diamond III MMR, it’s best to buckle up and prepare for the upcoming wave of pros who will be grinding on their new accounts to reach the top of the ladder once again.
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