Since its release way back in October 2009, League of Legends has remained one of the two major MOBA games, and one of the most popular competitive games in the world. Yet, even with its near three-decade-long popularity, the players from the Summoners Rift think that the skill levels of the common player are higher than ever before.
Fans are speculating as to why, but a Reddit thread from June 3 agrees with the sentiment that a Gold ranked player now is much better than a Gold player a year ago. At lower ranks, aspects of the game like item purchases or decision-making are worse, but the overall gameplay is collectively better, at least from the perspective of avid players.
One of the main reasons why it feels that way has to do with a consistent improvement with the player base over time. As a large group of players gets more experienced, the overall skill of the playerbase also increases. Plus, with the popularity of the game, casual players can learn the game quicker than ever before, thanks to a large variety of champions to choose from and lots of guides from experienced players online.
Players who have that experience in the game can find out which champion works best for them, but new players have to learn a lot, leaving the players who you see on ranked much more knowledgeable than usual. Just understanding what all 163 champions do and playing accordingly is a challenge that many players take for granted.
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This general increase of skill isn't only for League, with a redditor replying in the thread comparing the skill growth to Rocket League. Much like how sports evolve over time, the Rocket League championship in 2015 in comparison to the 2022 championship was "like going from a high school football game to the Super Bowl."
That doesn't even include the situation where a player in 2023 tries to play League for the first time, matching up against people on secondary accounts or others with much more experience, playing since as early as 2010. To them, the skill gap is massive, but in comparison to a player who has played for the last few years casually, it doesn't seem that big of a gap. At the same time, that is also a deterrent to new players, as all the skills they need to learn could be overwhelming.
Looking at the situation from an even larger perspective, the MOBA genre has also grown in popularity, leading to a generation of players who just are more in tune with what the game entails. Dota 2 is another popular MOBA that, while different, does teach players the basics of a MOBA. If someone were to play Dota 2 for a long period of time, and then joined League as a new player, they would be a more skilled than a player completely new to the genre.
Whenever you hop into your next League game and get frustrated at what your team is doing, just know that it's a lot better than it was in years previous.