There was a post today about an 84-1 zac one trick who is only gold one. Most of the comments found this abhorrent and blamed mmr and the usual. But, I think this is also a really good time to explain why inter division promos are hugely-impactful in causing this problem. Let me explain.

Here is the account: https://na.op.gg/summoner/userName=BIG EGO GLONK

Before I get to them, ill start with a theoretical person at Iron 4, 0 lp. In between them and lets say, diamond 4, there are a set number of games won they will not win LP for. 2 wins every promos, and 3 every series. From I4 to D4 thats 45 games that the user does not earn lp! Now of course their lp gains in games after those wins increase, but they do not compensate for the difference, it is effectively lost lp.

Now, between I4 and D4 there is 100lp you have to gain at each interval, in total that's 2000 lp. At a rate of gaining 30 lp a game (id say that's pretty impressive), this person would still have to win 67 games without losing in between to get to diamond. At even 50 lp a game it would take 40 wins.

Now lets look at the zac. They started at B4 67lp, and is currently at G1 48 lp.

That's 24 games of lost lp so far. And a span of 1081 lp.

At this rate theyre earning ~18 lp a game.

Without inter division promos (18 of the 24 games) they'd have 324 more lp won, and would be in P1 or P2 right now, on the verge of Diamond.

Of course there is the issue of shitty mmr which could be fixed with a monthly mmr bias to counter a heavy initial tank, but I hope this also sheds some light on why inter-divisional promos wont be missed come next season.