The construction of Runeterra's worldview was like injecting a profound soul into League of Legends, making every match for players not just a clash of skills and operations, but an epic miniature of battles between different factions and heroes. Discussions about the lore on the forums continued to heat up, and players' sense of identity and belonging to the heroes reached an unprecedented level.
However, as the player base continued to expand and game time accumulated, a new, more realistic demand began to brew and ferment within the player community, gradually becoming impossible to ignore.
The official forum's "Suggestions and Feedback" section was flooded with a type of post:
"I've played five hundred games, and I feel pretty strong. How can I let others know how good I am?"
"Can the matchmaking system be optimized? I always get bad teammates; I can't carry them!"
"Is there a ladder ranking? I want to see where I rank among all players!"
"Strongly demand a ranking system! Let's see who's who!"
The core of these voices pointed directly to a central demand—quantified recognition of one's own strength, and stratification and glory based on that strength.
The current matchmaking mode, while ensuring roughly even matchups, has an overly hidden "hidden score" system that fails to give players a clear sense of goal and achievement. When they win, they don't know how much they've improved; when they lose, they often blame teammates. Players need a visible, tangible ladder of glory to measure their growth and prove their strength to others.
At the core project meeting, Qin Feng projected a summary of community feedback.
"Everyone, players are no longer satisfied with 'having fun,'" Qin Feng stated directly. "They need 'to win glory,' they need 'to prove themselves.' This is an inevitable stage in the development of competitive games. Therefore, our core task moving forward is to design and launch a ranked tier system."
"Tier system?" Xiao Zhang first considered it from a business perspective. "This can further enhance user stickiness and activity, motivating players to invest more time to climb ranks, and it might even encourage some players to research guides and watch tutorials to improve their skills, thereby driving community content production."
Wu Tong considered it from a gameplay perspective: "This can more accurately differentiate player skill levels, making matchmaking fairer and reducing the poor experience caused by imbalanced skill. High-level players can challenge higher ranks, and new players can slowly learn at a level suitable for them."
"But this is also a double-edged sword," Li Ming cautiously reminded. "Once clear rank divisions are introduced, competitiveness and vanity will sharply increase. It might foster 'rank discrimination,' 'toxic behavior,' and even... cheating and boosting."
"Li Ming's concerns are very valid," Qin Feng affirmed. "Therefore, our tier system must be designed to be as scientific and fair as possible, and effectively guide a positive and healthy competitive atmosphere."
He walked to the whiteboard and began to outline the core framework of the tier system.
"First, the tier hierarchy design. We need a clear, intuitive, and attractive pyramid structure," Qin Feng said, drawing a ladder from bottom to top on the whiteboard.
"First is 'Iron,' considered the entry and adaptation stage, symbolizing a solid foundation.
Next is 'Bronze,' where some new players gather, requiring courage to get familiar with the game.
Then there's'Silver,' representing the large player base who have mastered basic skills, needing an unyielding spirit to break through bottlenecks.
After that is 'Gold,' the first important milestone! It signifies that players have moved beyond the novice stage and have a deeper understanding of the game. Reaching the Gold tier will earn the first season reward skin!
Next is 'Platinum,' which means players are already skilled, possessing good mechanics and tactical awareness.
Not to mention 'diamond,' which is already in the realm of experts, representing top-tier mechanics and profound game understanding.
If one can reach 'Master,' that is already a realm above mortals, the cream of the crop on the server.
Even more impressive is 'Grandmaster,' the elite among Masters, just one step away from the pinnacle.
Finally, the last tier is 'challenger,' the absolute top of the league's pyramid! Only the top 200 (tentative) players on each server can reach this tier; they are legends admired by all players!"
For each tier name, Qin Feng imbued it with a unique meaning and visual symbolism of metals/gems, forming a progressively advancing sequence with increasing glory.
"Names alone are not enough," Qin Feng continued. "Within each major tier, we will use Roman numeral subdivisions, such as Silver IV, Silver III, Silver II, Silver I. This allows every small improvement a player makes to be intuitively reflected."
"So, how do players advance on this ladder?" Wu Tong asked.
"The core mechanism—League Points (LP)," Qin Feng wrote down the keyword.
"Players gain LP by winning games and lose LP by losing. When they accumulate 100 LP within a sub-tier (like Silver III), a promotion series will be triggered."
"The promotion series mechanism," Qin Feng emphasized, "is key to adding a sense of ritual and challenge. For example, to advance from Silver III to Silver II, a player needs to win 2 out of the next 3 games; to advance from one major tier to the next (like Silver I to Gold IV), they need to win 3 out of 5 promotion series games. The success or failure of a promotion series will bring significant emotional fluctuations; success brings ecstasy, while failure provides greater motivation."
"As for Master tier and above, there will no longer be sub-tier divisions, but rather real-time server-wide rankings based on LP."
"We also need a role preference system," Qin Feng added. "Before a ranked game starts, players choose their primary and secondary preferred roles (such as Top, Jungle, Mid, ADC, Support). The system will try to match players according to their role preferences, reducing internal conflicts caused by role disputes and improving game quality."
"What if there's a losing streak? Will players drop ranks so much that they get frustrated?" Chen Ran raised a question that many players would care about.
"We'll introduce a rank protection mechanism," Qin Feng answered. "For example, when first promoted to a new rank, there will be a certain number of 'protection games' during which losses won't immediately result in a rank drop, only a deduction of more LP. Additionally, if a player at 0 LP in a certain rank experiences a continuous losing streak, we will implement a 'decay mechanism,' but we will be more lenient with lower-ranked players. High-ranked players (such as diamond and above) will need to maintain a certain level of activity to retain their rank."
The framework gradually became clear, but Qin Feng knew that what would truly give the tier system vitality and credibility was the season system.
"The tier system is not permanent," Qin Feng announced. "We will introduce the concept of ranked seasons, with each season lasting approximately one year. At the end of the season, generous rewards will be issued based on the highest rank a player achieved, most importantly, exclusive 'Victorious' series skins and profile border honors."
"And at the start of the new season," he paused, building suspense, "all players' ranks will undergo a soft reset. It's not a complete wipe, but rather a new starting point based on your hidden MMR from the previous season, allowing everyone to begin climbing anew in the new season! This ensures the system's long-term vitality and competitiveness."
This complete design proposal generated immense excitement within the team. They could foresee the frenzy this system would unleash among players upon its release.
After intense technical development, extensive internal testing, and balance adjustments, the "Ranked Play" system was officially opened to all players who met the Summoner level requirements, with a major version update!
As soon as the announcement was made, the entire game community erupted!
Countless players eagerly jumped into ranked mode for their "placement matches." The tension and anticipation of the ten placement matches gripped the hearts of every competitive player. After the placement matches, looking at the shining rank emblem on their profile page—whether it was the inspiring "Silver," the highly anticipated "Gold," or even the "diamond", only a select few experts could reach—the sense of recognition and purpose obtained was something the normal matchmaking mode could never provide.
The focus of discussions on forums and communities quickly shifted from lore to ranks.
"8 wins, 2 losses in placements, Gold IV! Brothers, I made it!"
"Ahhh, clutch comeback in placement decider, Silver I, I'm satisfied!"
"Any diamond big shots willing to carry me?"
"Pushing for challenger! Goal is #1 in the Chinese server!"
Rank quickly became players' new "social calling card" and "bragging rights." The rank border displayed on the loading screen and the ranks of teammates and opponents in-game subtly increased the seriousness and honor of matches. High-ranked players naturally garnered more admiration and attention, while low-ranked players also had clear, visible goals to pursue.
Riot Games' backend data showed that after the launch of ranked play, players' average online time, number of matches, and viewership of guide videos all saw significant increases. The tier system was like a powerful stimulant injected into an already popular game, greatly igniting players' competitive passion and engagement.
Qin Feng looked at the data reports and the forum posts of players cheering for climbing a small rank, and he knew that he had successfully built the long-desired "ladder of glory" for the players.
The climb had just begun. And the future professional scene would also draw its initial sparks and talents from this surging wave of ranked play.