In League of Legends (LoL) there will be two new leagues for ranked games. These are intended for the best and worst players. This means that LoL players need to rethink: The old “Bronze 5” flame no longer works.
The ranked system in League of Legends ranks players based on their skill into different leagues. These previously ranged from Bronze to Challenger. With two additional leagues, the system is now supposed to improve. At the same time, the 5-divisions are being removed, and a nasty meme is being killed.
Iron and Grandmaster as new classes
In a developer diary, Riot Snapmagic, Gortok, and Mangothunder explain the changes to the ranked system in LoL.
The problem with the ranks: For years, developers have been hearing voices from the community saying: We are improving, but we cannot see that in the rank.
Where were the problems evident? Developers noticed that some leagues work better than others.
- If Bronze players improve, they do not rank up
- From the Diamond league on, the skill levels at the upper and lower ends of this league feel completely different
- In Gold, however, a small performance boost already means that you rank up one or more divisions
The solution: Because climbing in different leagues feels so different, they are now trying a middle ground. There are two new classes.
- Iron – Below Bronze
- Grandmaster – Between Master and Challenger
According to Riot, this should give Bronze players more recognition when their skill improves. In the higher ranks, the Grandmaster league will recalibrate the placements.
Will it be harder to rank up? No. Because the developers have simply reduced the divisions within leagues from 5 to 4. Divisions are subdivisions of the individual leagues. In the Gold league, there were divisions 5, 4, 3, 2, and 1. Division 1 is the highest rank, 5 was the lowest in a league.
Stuck in a league? Riot explains to you why you are so bad in LoL
And thus the meme dies: It is no longer possible to play in Bronze 5 due to the new system because this division no longer exists. The term “Bronze 5” became a meme that was always used whenever someone messed up an action in the game.
If someone shoots their ultimate in the wrong direction, a teammate is ready to ask “um, sorry but … are you playing in Bronze 5?” with the background that Bronze 5 was the worst rank you could be assigned in LoL.
Another meme goes away: For the same reason, the Diamond 5 meme also disappears. Because there were such strong skill differences between Diamond 5 and Diamond 1, this meme exists at all. Diamond 5 is one of the higher ranks in LoL. The developers say:
This meme exists mainly because there is indeed a level difference between the upper and lower parts of Diamond – and the same can be found within most other high classes. This difference diminishes the meaning of the entire class and diminishes the achievement of having reached it.
Now, Riot has simply abolished Division 5 in Bronze. In the future, bad actions will likely be termed as Iron 4.
When will the new system come? The new ranked system is supposed to come this year in the pre-season of LoL. Hopefully without this placement bug. Challenger pros had to play against Bronze noobs in LoL
