So I have a date tonight! but that also means no ranked 5's games. We have a promo to start and finish and it would be nice to get that done this week some time. I also have a 3 day weekend with labor day that I will be looking to get some games in.

I also recently installed Sims Theme Park after much fandagaling. One of my favorite games when I was growing up.

Grats on the date, cow!  Hope all goes well.  Think a bunch of us have a nice long 3 day weekend to look forward too.

Rant time.  Holy crap am I still annoyed from ranked all the way back to my placement matches this season.  Like, I have had a negative attitude about ranked since those 1st stupid arse placement games that put me from plat IV to silver I (gold II 99 lp now).  I think the main thing is that I earned getting to plat IV, but went like 5 and 5 or 6/4 in my promo series due to dc's etc.  I like earning elo, but I really, really hate having to earn back what was mine because of some arbitrary crap.  I actually find it really demoralizing. 

Now, in reality, I could pretty easily climb back up to plat IV, but also consider this - my placement series meant that I would have to put in hours and hours and just get back to where I was... instead of pushing on and seeing how far I can actually make it. Moving up in 1 tier takes 4 games to hit a placement match (30 min avg so 2 + hours per tier).  You can skip tiers, but not necessarily.  So, I'm on the hook, if I magically win every freaking game for 2 hours per tier having to move from silver I to plat IV, for 16 hours + another 2 hours or so for promo's from silver to gold and gold to plat.  So, perfect world, 20 hours worth of ranked games.  Now, add in more numbers, assume games will be lost.  Depending on whether or not rito gives you 99 lp in a damn division instead of shooting you up to 100 lp... you assume you will lose some and have to play additional games.  So, I'm actually on the hook for 40-50 hours all said and done just to get back to where I was last season...

all because of some farging placement match bs w/ twats dc'ing or outright trolling.  If I would have won 1 more game, I could have shaved off 8 hours of matches.... for 1 additional win game. 

Anyway, now I'm not all that certain I'll even bother to try to get back to plat this season.  Mostly because I hate the reset/placement system.  It's only a fair system in that all have to deal with it.  I don't think its a fun mechanic or system by any means. 

All said and done, its super annoying to figure out that you need to spend 40-50 hours of life just to get back to where you were.  Its certainly not impossible or even all that difficult if I'm being honest, but I find it really demoralizing and discouraging.  To the point that I don't know if I'll care enough to keep putting time in to try to get back to where I was... ONLY TO HAVE TO DO THE SAME STUPID THING AGAIN. 

Oh - and its also super annoying any time I take a loss or get some stupid amount of lp that puts me to like 99 lp and forces me to play another freaking game just to hit a promo series.  I literally see my losses as completely lost and wasted time when I'm already having to spend a bunch of time just to get back to where I was.

whew... ok.  With that negativity off my chest, moving onwards.

So, currently (think I'm almost done w/ this btw), my fav thing to do is play nasus in the jungle.  I've been doing a lot of teambuilder lately and just playing that nasus stuff for fun.  Also, a reason why I haven't been invited you, karl, to my tb games - because I'm pretty sure you would lose your mind and hate when I do this nasus bit. 

I'm not SUPER selfish, but I'm kind of selfish with my playstyle.  I've been running ghost/smite and I do have a 100% success rate for kills when I gank, but I really don't gank much (which means lanes need to take care of themselves).  I actually do a really good job stacking up my q when I'm jungling.  I think what I need to do is change over to running tp/smite.  I really dislike doing that, because ghost is what guarantees those kills when I do gank.  But, the main adv in mind of having a stacked out Nasus is that split push domination threat. 

Think my best game was 40 some min with 870 or so stacks.  I'm enjoying the stack acquisition mini game.  Anyway, think I'll be over my nasus phase soon.  Fun for me at any rate.

It's not "your" LP. You only deserve the amount of LP that you play.

And it's not like you're getting "anything" in teambuilder or normals. What you do "win" is a more relaxed game and the chance to play whatever/whoever you want. Which is fine. But it also makes you a "filty casual". Because you're playing for a good time, not to challenge yourself and see what you're capable of.

Many of us here are "filty casuals". The only ones here who aren't would be Cow and Dan. Thunder has a few-hundred ranked games as well, but i know the past few months he's sort of regressed. 

The season was already really soft. You play, what, around 3 hours every day? Sometimes you're tired and might want to not play ranked or whatever (understandable), so let's say you play 2 hours of ranked (1 hour for a warm up game) every other day.

At 40 hours, that'd only take a little more than a month. The reset only happens once a year. If you decide not to play until January (because you want to "figure out" all the crap with pre-season and not risk it in ranked), you still have 8-9 months to try to climb and test your limits.

OK... but I don't have a desire to play ranked for the reasons I mentioned...

Also, I don't really know how challenging folks find games at the gold level, but in my experience, they aren't very challenging or interesting... just time consuming.  What I do find challenging is pushing to see how far I can go... not to see if I'm good enough to get back to the same stupid place I was. I am and have absolutely no doubt that I can.  So, as I said, I just find it discouraging to have to slog through that. 

That does, make sense, right?  Guy emotes about frustration w/ reclaiming old rank.  Feels like waste of time to be followed by another reset to repeat same dreary process. 

Perfectly valid point re: what I already said and you reiterated - could have put in a MONTH to get caught up and then moved on.  Of course, this was a series of posts w/ me griping about it taking 40-50 hours to catch up and being discouraged as a result...

If we can move past you saying I could have already done the 40-50 hours and me saying it's those 40-50 hours that have got me down, I'm still where I am.  Trying to decide if I want to put in the remaining needed time in to hit plat before the season ends.  As it stands... meh.  I guess if I wait, then I'll probably avoid a bit of the psychological bs that comes w/ the reset and placement games.  I could just perhaps adopt a more aggressive strategy like you mentioned (take those 8-9 month to climb past w/e I was after dealing w/ the placement crap). 

There's still enough time to hit plat easily imo, but then I will almost certainly be in this same mental boat again.  Really doubt there's enough time for me to hit diamond this season at any rate - as that will actually take quite a bit of work. 

sugar rush is officially live.  Think I'm going to get some rp for sure.... not really sure what I'm going to pick up.  Might drop a full hundy though.  Anyone want to do a mystery gift swap for the icon?  Let me know.

Yeah, I used to play Ranked because it was the best venue to challenge myself to get better but now I play because of a self destructive lag induced tilt spiral.

@ Pacov

One thing you might not realize is that there are a lot of retired great players out there who have given up their spots at the top because they'd have to earn them again and aren't into it anymore.  If all those Plat and Diamond players didn't lose their spots every season and have to earn them back, I think a lot of those people would just play a game or two a month to maintain their status instead of just not playing Ranked anymore.  That means less room for Pacov at the top right?  You think what you're going through is frustrating now, what if you earned way less LP for a win cause there were a bunch more people ahead of you who barely play anymore?

Also, Riot wants people playing games.  They want you to have to grind it out, it's good for the community having a lot of people playing Ranked.  Let's say for arguments sake that you peaked last year.  You're a Plat IV player, not a Diamond player trapped in Gold Elo Hell.  So let's say there wasn't a reset like so you started this season at Plat IV.  Let's say you didn't climb to Diamond like you were hoping but stayed right where you were after twenty or so games...

What happens after that?  You realize you're not getting to Diamond and then you become one of those guys who just plays enough to not have your elo decay so you can have a Platinum loading screen border every season.  That would be fine, but having guys like you playing two Ranked games a month cluttering the top wouldn't leave any room for those who are trying to get to Plat/Diamond from Gold/Silver and are willing to put in the games to prove how good they are.

Ah - that's a very good point.  Very good points.  Thanks thunder!

Also, where you been, hedgie?  Haven't seen you in a bit.  Will you be joining us for a game soon?

If any of you didn't see... ascension game mode coming to pbe

http://boards.pbe.leagueoflegends.com/en/c/champions-gameplay-feedback/mE0AKGAQ-ascension-game-mode-coming-soon-to-pbe

So, I'm pretty well loaded up on rp now.  If any of you on my pals list want to do a mystery skin trade, just do it and I'll hit you back or let me know when you see me online.  Got super tardo magical rumble skin today.  I played him against bots to try out... I win, but my rumble is just a POS and I should never use the skin outside of aram.  Sad panda\

also - twitch ddos apparently.  F those guys for selling to amazon... or something.. that motivates a ddos... i guess

Ah - well hope all the hard work at work pays off bro! 

Most likely will no longer have the leisure of playing League during weekdays. Majority of my time will be invested in my coursework and actual work. Can still catch me on Skype, Steam, etc.

Fun being a responsible adult, eh? 

Looking over the changes on PBE.  Quite a few things.  One that caught my eye - renekton graphical update:

http://www.surrenderat20.net/2014/08/826-pbe-azir.html

pics about halfway through the page (live vs pbe)