LoL devs make it harder for new accounts to start playing ranked

League of Legends developer Riot Games is discouraging new accounts from playing ranked by introducing a rule that requires them to play at least 10 normal games before hopping into the mode.

Smurfing has been a problem in League of Legends since its inception. As a free-to-play game, you’re able to make plenty of new accounts to hop onto whenever you want. Take this fresh account into ranked and attempt to trick the game’s matchmaking so you can stomp completely new players.

Developer Riot has made plenty of attempts to dissuade smurfs from being made because they can easily ruin the experience for other players. This includes the restriction of having the account be at least level 30 and owning at least 20 different champions.

Now Riot is putting another measure to prevent smurfing, while also assisting legitimately new accounts to be better placed when playing ranked.

As seen in the Patch 14.15 notes, Riot is implementing a new rule that will require fresh accounts to play at least 10 normal games before hopping into the ranked mode.

For the most part, this shouldn’t be too much of an issue for new players. It’s likely you’ll want to hop into normal games before trying your mettle in ranked.

Many smurf accounts use AI games to level their account up to 30 quickly, particularly those that are run by bots to be sold. These new requirements should prevent these bot accounts from playing ranked and add additional barriers to players trying to make smurf accounts.

This new rule also means that Riot can better understand the player’s MMR, which should allow for better matchmaking. It’s only early days for these new changes, but it’s yet another step that the devs are taking to ensure a positive game experience.