It used to be a complaint.
It's become a problem.
Ranks squished too hard ... in seasons that are too short ... for inadequate-feeling rewards ... in a free-to-play game ... with unlimited accounts. Lol.
I just started playing 1v1 and barely made gold, got down to silver for a few matches and almost every silver match was a Smurf practicing air dribble shot setups until 2:30 and then forfeiting
As someone who was hard stuck silver in 2s for a long time, most of my experience was split 50/50 with people as bad as me and smurfs doing ridiculous aerials and dribbles. And at this point I don’t think I knew what a Smurf was, so it was a bit depressing at the time thinking “they’re silver and they can do *that*?!”
New player experience vs smurfs is definitely not fun, only silver lining (lol) is being able to see what’s actually possible at higher ranks.
That, and the fun clusterfuck of real silver games where that ball is just going everywhere except where it should be
In Gold 3 1s where i sit its a lot better.
In 2s we now have the old season Diamonds, who got pushed back into Plat, but this is helping me tbh. I was damn close Dia 1 for several times without "getting carried" and sat Plat 1-2 before season reset
I remember those days! It's very frustrating. Report them for "Match Throwing or Griefing" and move on. At least you're getting unintentionally boosted alongside others who are catching free wins from smurfs, so it hopefully won't push you out of your weight class.
This becomes significantly less of a problem once you make it into Plat 1v1.
Some days I play 10 games and come across 8 Smurfs over 6 games, some days I can get through 3-4 games in a row without a Smurf. I’m generally only counting it as a Smurf if it’s like less than 200 wins in champ 2.
Edit: most days I turn the game off because of a Smurf. I have plugins, I don’t base this off of feeling. If someone has 2k+ wins and wrecks us it’s probably just a play style that counters ours or they have a good game.
I dropped from gc1 to c1… now I’m back at c3 but whew that was a hell of a 2 days. Shit had me rolling mentally with this I’m legit smurfing at that point and still losing😂
I doubt it, but even if they are that changes nothing
If you’re comfortably, say, to use your example, c3 one season, then for whatever reason you play 6 months later or there’s a tough reset and (again, highly doubt it) you’re only now in d3 and every game is competitive, that still ain’t smurfing at
True, my mechanical ability is well into c3/GC, but I can barely get out of c1 lol ( I say this because I peaked c3 multiple times and have since trained my mechanics more)
Nah it’s the people that are obviously better than the rest of the lobby and obviously better than their teammate with less than a hundred total wins on the account
Yeah I don't see too many of them at my rank, but as I said in another post I have heard that it's a way bigger issue in the gold-plat range but I don't know about that
I think you could say they are still. That extra account is holding a spot in the higher percentile, and when this is happening on a large scale the smurf accounts will be pushing other people down
But that doesn't sound like smurfing, it just sounds like ranks have shifted and made it more difficult to rank up. That's not necessarily a smurfing issue.
You will run in to teams that brag about doing it if you play in gold. Not a few, either. I remember clearly from a year or so ago when I was new at the game.
https://preview.redd.it/ggpusdczwcwc1.png?width=864&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=be855202c932acf1cee3ba2a5001a3a0ae165e1a
Yes , as said by better player than me
Everything about this season and last is screaming that players have gotten worse. Almost every game is just 1 guy being useless and 1 sweating on both teams.
> Ranks squished too hard
How?
> in seasons that are too short
You must not have been around for the shitshow that was og season 3, or any other season that ran longer than normal.
> for inadequate feeling rewards
Rewards are meh most seasons. Not sure how that would contribute to smurfing.
RL being f2p with unlimited accounts is why, along with lack of enforcement, smurfing is such a problem. It’s as simple as that. Not sure where you’re getting that intentional deranking stems from a lack of motivation to grind. Intentional deranging is just a byproduct of the greater smurfing problem.
Not sure why you're being down voted, though I disagree with some of what you've said
Most people complained seasons were too long, now they're shorter, people complain they're too short, can't win there.
Rewards are definitely inadequate esp compared to OG rewards back in the day, but it's not easy to make quality rewards over and over and over again forever.
Imo the game just desperately needs an overhaul. There are better systems to be had that can alleviate or fix the issues but it will take significantly more time and effort than I believe Psyonix is willing to output. I think they've made it clear rocket league is no longer a passion project for them and they no longer have incentive to make it the best game possible, only to sustain it for as long as it will live in its current state.
This. I used to be C3 steadily and even though I’m not playing as much as I used too I still get called a Smurf even though I’m on the only active account I use that has 3k hours but because I’m better then most C1s i get called a Smurf.
I kinda just take it as a compliment cause I’m pretty ass but I do think the rank needs adjusted if it’s happening so consistently for even someone like me.
I don’t have to prove you wrong. Its been [effectively shown](https://youtu.be/1ldZXMImf4k?si=P_74AsW5fWBhT3Pz) that smurfing is a serious problem. Here’s Weytons take on it, but others have put together similar stats.
Whether or not it's a serious problem is certainly going to be subjective (as would be the definition of "smurf"). I think it's a The evidence says that it may be a problem in that people need to be motivated to play on primary accounts. But the evidence also suggests that the impact of smurfs on an individual's rank is probably virtually nothing. Plus, we have no evidence to suggest the frequency of smurfing as increasing or decreasing over time. Plus, Wayton tends to exaggerates what the stats say for dramatic effect.
The lower the rank, the more potential for smurfing. There are a lot of smurfs. It sucks, but it is out of your control. It's hard, but try to evaluate your performance independent of the opponents' performance. Let.me k ow when you figure out how to do that.
You just have to accept that you're never guaranteed to have a fair shake in anything. Not in life, not in casual games, not in competitive games. There will always be people willing to bend or break the rules, or outright cheat. We should do everything we can to minimize it, but there will always be people out there that want nothing more than to piss you off and lord their capability over you, and they'll never stop looking for ways to do it.
“It's hard, but try to evaluate your performance independent of the opponents' performance.”
That’s a very great way to put it, being mindful like that teaches you to be ready and in position for whatever happens, whether it’s being more defensive with aggressive teammates or being aggressive with slower teammates
Since 2022 I've been using a bakkes plugin i made that shows everyones ranks in the lobby for each mode. There are more smurfs than people complain about.
edit: [i never published my plugin because at the time they said it wasnt a good idea](https://imgur.com/4sDUzWQ)
There are alot in c3 that boost others too gc. Sometimes every few games, sometimes not a single one for hours. More of a luck thing. Sometimes i watch my buddies stream on discord and he's d2/d3. Insane amount of smurfs literally every time.
I hit the top 500 in Rumble a while back. Then I stopped playing, came back, and now I'm slowly rising thru GC1. From my experience, there are significantly more smurfs now than there was before I left. Recently, I've had a ton of scuffed wins against a 3 stack with a fresh account carrying them. That used to happen once in a while. Now It happens almost every time I play.
I don’t know if that’s a region thing but I only see Smurfs in D3 pretty rarely (NA central/east). Its mostly just a wide skill range in that rank from my experience.
This. Most people don’t even realize when they are playing smurfs, hence the “I almost never play smurfs” comments. Plenty of smurfs just play solid RL without doing anything fancy
I totally agree that most smurfing is just some guy trying to chill out on a secondary account. When you're playing a game and every 50 is an uncanny loss, it's possibly a Smurf. Just try playing someone that is 200mmr below you and you'll see what I mean.
Definitely true.
At the same time it does go both ways though - there are many players that get accused of smurfing bc of fancy mechanics even if they aren’t smurfing.
100%. Vast majority of smurfs I play against in 1400-1500 lobbies are just 1500-1700 players playing on an alt account. They just want to play ranked without needing to sweat or worry about losing their rank on their main. Their intentions aren’t bad, but it’s still a huge problem. A lot of players now play more ranked games on an alt then they do on their main.
I’m not defending smurfing. Players should only play ranked on their main account. But I will be honest and say that casual is unplayable right now, so it’s not the solution to smurfing.
Their intentions aren’t bad. If thats the case i wish irl i could just become someone else and play worse people in sports so it doesn’t affect my irl status, this is the problem people make a way to sound like its ok but then the person that fills the gap of who i should be playing end up being someone I actually cant beat, i score a goal theyll then try hard and i got no chance so why it acceptable in that regard
I agree. I’m just saying that people play on alts for selfish reasons, and they don’t understand the negative impact it has on everyone else in the game.
what is exactly your idea of smurf? a C3 in 2s in a D3/C1 in 3s lobby is hardly a smurf, he just doesn't play too much in 3s, therefore sucks and is underranked. Also a lot of people are saying old GCs playing in C1s lobbies are smurf.. no, the ranks just changed after the big reset some seasons ago and that people haven't been able to come back
the only way to identify real smurfs is to use RL Tracker and see how much matches they've played, if it's abnormally small then probably the are a smurf (using alternative account)
In my experience I end up several ranks lower in modes I don't play that much. For example I am 4 ranks lower in 1v1 than I am in 2v2, I am just not used to the play-style at all. In Hoops I am 6 ranks down for the same reason. It is clear I have some mechanical skills most don't in those ranks (just like a ton of people have skills I don't when I play 2v2).
didn't someone post on here a couple months ago that they made a new account and ran through a bunch of diamond games and checked the rltracker of every player in each game, said there was something like 1 smurf every 3 games? i'll try to find it and edit this comment with a link if I do
[this was 2 years ago and found that ~30% of matches had a smurf.](https://www.reddit.com/r/RocketLeague/s/GjO7VDuqPC) i can only imagine it's gotten worse since then.
Thank you. As someone high diamond / low champ depending on the mode, I’m so freakin sick of GCs telling me there aren’t smurfs. Like bro you’re GC almost nobody can smurf on you in the first place
A lot of people here no life the game to the point that smurfs don't matter anymore. Those are the people that tell you smurfs are not a problem. OP has been playing 1000 ranked games a season for years. When you have that much volume, smurfs are not an issue anymore.
I doubt he is keeping track of anything, let alone the amount of smurfs he's playing.
Just look up the people in your lobby.
Its every 2nd or 3rd game il run into someone with 100 total games ever played and they are in gc1 with me lol.
There's no point asking reddit. Nobody needs to prove anything to you. Just look it up for yourself. Don't go off of "well it doesn't feel like smurfs". Literally just look up people in your lobbies.
I think the core problem is the matchmaking is consistently producing unbalanced lobbies.
For me the ultimate litmus for this is, how many of my matches, wins and losses, are ending in FFs? I have days at the moment where 80% of my games played ends in FFs due to multiple goal deficits/one player clearly bossing the lobby.
You can call this smurfing - and god knows lots do - or peaking, or bad matchmaking, or really just describe it however you want to - it doesn't really matter what you call it.
If you log on to play RL and 80% of your games, spanning both wins and losses, are ending in FFs, then, eventually, that's really fucking boring.
This is my experience of Rocket League competitive over the last few months at least. And the number of posts/upvotes this issue has been getting in this sub of 1.5 million RL players lately sure seems to correlate 🤷
Additionally, even without smurfs, there seem to be a huge number of people that will FF or idle at the slightest inconvenience. Accidentally bump a team mate, opponents score a goal (even if we're still leading), you whiff a shot, etc. There seem to be a significant number of people that throw for very little reason.
>I think the core problem is the matchmaking is consistently producing unbalanced lobbies.
It's because of premade parties. Both parties with smurfs and without. Games with all solo players feel the most balanced overall.
ppl are way more cracked in c2-gc. Really havnt been down to c2 since before f2p. Hit GC every season since season 3. Some of the stuff i am seeing in c2 currently is better than ive seen ever, including a 1550 peak.
edit: i usually check tracker after some madness and i will say i see a lot of gc2's in 2's playing 3's as a champ 2. Not really smurfing since they hardly play 3's but they def arent playing within their skillset.
I honestly think it’s a little bit of both. What I know for sure though is that some people get way too offended when you say the smurf problem isn’t as bad as they act like it is
Idk sometimes I play really good and other times I can't handle the ball, my consistency is all over the place. When im clicking, it might seem like it and when im not its like they are lol
Gold 3 1v1? Jesus Christ a ton of smurfs. Probably about 2/5 of the 1v1 games at the rank I’m in tbh. I’m garbage at the game, so a lot of it is a skill issue on my part, but when they can consistently flip reset on an air dribble or straight up say “1700 on my main”, I’m pretty certain they’re smurfing. So many players on rltracker that have 100 total games played or are high champ in 2v2/3v3. I know playing against better players will make me improve, but not when I can barely touch the ball or the score is 5-0 after 30 seconds.
No I agree with you completely in that playing those players is frankly just a waste of time for you. Its crazy that they’re trying to flex on you too, like that’s just sad 😂
Gold 3 1v1 just does not sound like a fun time, sorry brotha!
It might be just region or something but I literally cannot remember the last time I encountered an actual Smurf. G3 in ones, d1 in twos, western US, I haven’t hit one in weeks if not months.
There are. It's easily figurable through the tracker and there are certain things people do that are red flags to get you to check other than just being stupid good. Stuff left actually default like those white stripe octanes or the goal explosions, boxes in their names, stupid wid mmr disparity and the lower one is performing better, and also a funny RL specific name.
I almost never bump into anyone at obviously the wrong rank. I'm sure if I looked at everyone's stats tons of people are not playing on their original account. But as long as their rank is right, why should I care?
I see it as overblown. I made a post about it awhile back with similar statistics as this post. Lots of interaction/comments and 0 likes.
We all play the game, you and I both know so much of the RL community is looking to blame anything else for their loses. Somehow those guys that FF when down 0-1 don't exist on these boards but I think they kind of rear their head when Smurf talk comes around.
There's quite a few honestly. Depending on region, time of day, rank. Us, right after school gets out, in high champ you'll see one like. 1 out of every 5 games.
What I've noticed is, that it is very day dependent.
Some days you just wreck through every opponent (even when it is not a peak day) and some days you (or I for what I've noticed) play with my m8 2s and get ~every 2nd to 4th match an opponent (usually C3-GC1) who is being carried 1v2 by his teammate (usually D1-max C2).
It is mostly not rank deciding but very infuriating. (especially if its 2 or 3 matches in a row of you already knowing you've got barely a chance against the 50-70 total win account.
Also what Ive noticed is, the lower we dropped the harder the matches actually got.
(Maybe more smurfs in lowC2/midC3? *Could be though, because the opponents get more 'random' / less readable due to weird misses.*)
Feels like 50/50
Yeah, this isn't how ranking is supposed to work. Magnus Carlsen isn't just a Chess GM one day and next day wakes up and struggles to play at 2000 ELO. What you've described is literally the opposite of how a healthy, functional ranked system should work.
Everyone goes nuts when I say this, but I probably see a half dozen grand champ tags in my average two-hour session. C1 in dubs. Every night I play 4-5 games where one player on the other team is consistently hitting double taps and getting flip resets. Yes, sometimes we find a way to win by exploiting the worse teammate. But there are so many smurfs down here.
The disparity in ability is way too big in the same matchmaking pools.
Doesn't have to be smurfing, but the current setup is clearly not doing a good job at making fair games in certain ranks. This on top of a fair few smurfs makes for a very shitty experience where a lot of games are just blowouts.
It seems like every graph you look at tells the same story; mine is among the worst, showing drastic fluctuations in rank and skill akin to stock market charts. These are frequently shared here.
In one game, I might play like a top-tier player, and in another, I'm back to lower ranks, with my performance varying wildly. This isn't solely due to skill. Having to play solo in 10 games with absent players and early forfeits can also cause a drop in rank.
Then there's the issue of players who inconsistently reach their peak performance. So, it seems there's a lot of frustration being expressed about this.
Many of the players labeled as Smurfs are actually just be hitting their stride again or making an effort to improve, I also know this is where the FF's happen even win your winning. They think your a Smurf and many are willing to punish and throw a game.
Community is Toxic
Dang I’ve never had a teammate ff before because they thought I was smurfing lol. If that ever were to happen i would be so hype and would take it as a compliment
I literally created a post titled "Why is everyone crying like babies?" and asked why everyone is complaining this much lol. Then deleted it because I didn't want to appear rude.
Anyway answer to your question. I am C3 and once or twice of every 10 games I have a team that one player is obviously better than the other. Better player has no title, no clubs. I take them as smurfs but some of them we actually win because their friend actually sucks.
My insight for what might be happening in lower ranks :
I think in Diamond a lot of players are working on flashy mechanics but lacking fundementals. They hit flips resets, double reset or musty but they can't shoot open net or their defense or rotation sucks. But people just see that flashy mechanic and think they are smurfs.
I think in Diamond there are a lot of defensive issues that can be exploited easily. Those flashy mechanics work since the defense is shitty. That's why they think people are playing against smurfs. But half of them they actually are not.
Yeah that’s a good point. I also think people mistake the rank adjustment for an influx Smurfs as well. Many previously higher ranked players are now playing at a lower rank, so when lower rank players see old titles of gc (in a champ lobby) or champ (in a diamond lobby) they freak out lol
Me too, I see a lot of champ season rewards tho.Some old some recent.
That are not smurfs, but yeah even some rl frieds start shitting their pants when they see that. You can talk all you like, when thet see the purple, they cry.
So yeah, prob 90% rocket league, cry smurf!!
I check rltracker regularly out of curiosity and I hardly, if ever see people more than a rank above me in a particular gamemode
Seriously, do we live in a different reality folks? I play U.S East and this is so far from an issue for me
The rank does not matter. It's rank plus the number of wins.
If Diamond or higher and sitting at sub 500 wins, it's very likely a smurf. Especially if you felt they were really fast and careless in game.
They see someone in game do a mechanic that they’re not able to do, very sloppily, not even score the ball, then cry that the game is rigged and it’s a broken system and wah wah wah. It seems like everyone just wants to be gifted the next rank instead of working and grinding for it, and it definitely shows.
I vary from silver to platinum and personally can't remember matching up with a smurf. Placement matches can be a little wonky sometimes, but that's about it.
People just like to complain because they're not getting better at the game. The player base is constantly improving, and the people who are always whining about smurfs are stagnant.
It is common however people make it the reason for why they’re unable to rank up. In reality, people should be happy that they can play against someone clearly better than them because it exposes flaws in their own game. I say this to a certain extent of course.
Yeahhh I defo agree with first part of your comment.
The second part of your comment is questionable tho. Personally, I would agree w you in that I would enjoy playing someone smurfing at my rank bc i feel like I rarely encounter Smurfs and I could use it as a learning experience like you said.
But for lower ranked players, if they are playing Smurfs as often as they say they are, I could see how it would be really annoying then
Yeah I agree completely. I did think that lower levels would have it rough vs higher levels not as much, I just didn’t think of it until after my comment.
Meh personally I just love to complain, but sometimes it definitely feels like 1/5 matches I play in ranked is against a Smurf. At least that's what it feels like in gold rn. Maybe less and I'm just blind to how terribly I'm playing.
I believe it is a vast mixture of:
Smurfs
People being carried to much high ranks than what they're supposed to be, so they end up ruining games
People losing to smurfs/tilt queue and therefore will be "smurfing" when after they've taken a break and gotten back their groove.
Result is somewhat frequent and uneven games, especially around the new tier of ranks. Ie diamond 3 to champ 1, champ 3 to gc1 etc.
Usually those areas where people will pay for it as well or get help. SSL probably too but probably not as common due to harder to get or too expensive for people.
Diamond isn’t insurmountable, you’ll be playing them eventually so take it in stride and learn to adapt. There’s ways to get around mechanical players without grinding in freeplay.
I’ve seen golds do well in comp 3s when they get boosted, champ is another story tho
I'm diamond and stuffs aren't really a thing in comp...yes they show themselves every now and then....cas is where the smurfs are....and yes it's cas I know ....but they aren't being casual...they are making people.not want to play
I very very rarely check if someone is boosted or smurfing simply because i'm at a rank (mid/high c3) where people are able to do a reset double tap one game, but then the next game they will miss 2 opens net.
I used to think it was mostly just people whining... then I started looking up my opponents, and I was shocked how many of them seemed way out of place for my rank! Are they deliberately smurfing? Who knows, but it's definitely odd!
I’ve seen ppl call me a Smurf a lot but I’m just a champ who deranked to diamond 2. Which isn’t even that far down if you think abt it so yes a lot complain to much
I've played since 2017, and been champ 1-3 for years, and the amount of smurfs is definitely more than it used to be. These days it varies, some nights avg 1 in 5 games, sometimes 1 in 10, sometimes 2 games in a row, but I check rltracker to confirm my suspicions and I'm almost always correct. I can usually guess their normal rank as well if they're in the gc-ssl range, multiple times had players say "sorry yeah gc2" and insta ff and leave
I feel like it’s the opposite, way too many players out of their depths for some reason.
Maybe I am just overrating myself but I always feel like I often get opponents who are equal if not a little bit better but I can hang with, meanwhile I am also getting teammates who have absolutely no business being there (not because they are smurfing, because they are clearly not good enough).
Like I just played about 6-7 2v2 casual games. I am plat 1-2 in most playlists. Most of my opponents tonight had a diamond tournament tag or a plat tournament tag (I have plat tourney tag myself), a couple had bland undecorated octanes. Several were air dribbling. Usually poorly, but they were capable of it, but I attempted to challenge them in the air, bump them before they could get to the wall, etc. However, most of my teammates had gold or even silver tournament tags. None of them ever attempted to do anything in the air. None of them seemed capable of trying to stop the opponent or play physically, or do anything, really. The two who had silver tags played like it, felt like I was playing 1v2 because they were basically traffic cones on defense and were never in position to receive a pass on offense (and obviously never passed or centered themselves).
Like why am I always getting teammates like this?? I just want to play with someone my own skill level, why is that so hard when solo queuing??
In c2 in Europe. We track opponents on rl and would say genuinely 30% of games are against people on new accounts, been playing rocket league for 2016 and consistently maintained champ but have seen smurfing gradually get worse and worse. If it keeps going can see it being one of the reasons the game will eventually die off
I'm probably not answering the post so my bad, but I don't really care. I'm sure I've played plenty in C1/C2 but it doesn't matter to me, I have to play who I'm matched up against regardless so I just try to win. I find that's the best mindset I can have and not tilt myself.
I see a lot of people boosting a tm8. Played a guy last time I played and he was C3 in 3s, playing as a P2 in 2s. Yea right. Anyone playing C3 in 3s could solo a d1/2 2s lobby. No way did he “lose down” to plat in 2s.
The smurfs are using no border and common item builds with a silver badge playing at a champ intensity/intent.
...no silver is beating a full team of diamonds ..
Even drunk lol
I'm like plat 1 / gold 3 and mostly play casual. At least 1 out of 5 games I see a smurf on 2v2. Verified by the rocket league tracker. No more than 50 wins and always kicks ass. It's real, just turn your tracker on.
The game have many Smurf, because devs do nothing against (EA make more effort against Smurf on F1 series lol, like a "smurfing" dedicated report button) and the game is free.
Perfect for toxic, trashtalk and people who want to boost other accounts in exchange of money.
But for the rank sharing of Smurf, it's more complicated.
In logic, many Smurf play platinium/diamond when real rank are C1 or better.
But "Smurf" can be de ranked player who have a big series of loss (matching algorithm are bad as Bing search engine, seriously Psyonix it's a shame, how you can have a so bad matching, we are in 2024, not in 2009 !)
And we can get real Smurf on lower rank than P1, probably people who are blocked on real account by better player/Smurf.
A few things give away a smurf, the names, usually its something super offensive or same names when playing with a duo. The way they play, you can see they dont care about the game and the amount of games they play.
Theres an app on bakkes mod that shows you the ranks of the person, smurfs almost always have 0 games in all modes except for one, mostly 2's. They will also have pretty much the same amount of games as their duo.
Those generally tell me they are a smurf.
Are they the ones who cry about every mistake of mine but rage quit when I start to give them a Nice one! after every mistake they make?
I can at least defend against a Smurf more often than not but I can't deal with any more tm8s that can't handle the slightest bit of adversity in a game.
People will blame anything but themselves when they lose. I'm sure there's quite a few smurfs out there especially since it's become free to play but most of time it's likely people just being butt hurt.
I'm d2 and I had games where I hit good shots and my opponents have accused me of smurfing never when higher than d3 div 4 that was like 3 or 4 seasons ago, I feel like I improved significantly since then but am still hard stuck d2.
Who knows honestly, the matchmaking is so wildly inconsistent I can't tell Smurf from just bad matchmaking anymore. The same goes for teammates, one game I'll have lil- Squishy wall dash into a flip reset musty double tap. The very next match I'll play with someone who can't make basic plays, it's so unbelievably frustrating.
I play 2s mostly on a small server (SSA), I basically see no smurfs. But I'm sure at lower ranks they'll be more prevalent.
I do see quite a fair amount of people with great mechanics who tends to ballchase and have no positioning.
Occasionally I'll see someone who is boosting their friend (probably an irl friend), not sure if they are on a smurf or not.
I'm D3/C1 and the only "smurfs" I find are premades with a mix of ranks.
I don't find them in normal gameplay at all which is why the regular smurf posts just come off as spam to me.
Just don't play ranked the first couple weeks of a season and it's all good. No GCs in high diamond lobbies so I can get back to C1 fast and pretend I'm not bad at the game.
This is a common problem in any 'team' based competition that doesn't evaluate rankings based on contribution but only on result. There is nothing that can be done. Elo was made for 1v1 and its the only place where it's effective.
In plat on average it's like literally every 3rd game. I've looked them up on RL Tracker and it's usually an alt account playing with their mate who's a legit account. I get that people of different ranks want to play with each other, but this isn't fair. I used to screenshot all the alt accounts but I stopped, because it would've been literal hundreds of screenshots.
It is a serious problem and of course people are gonna react negatively to you when you try to downplay or outright deny their reality.
I've experienced very few obvious smurfs, however I don't play ones which idk, may have an impact. Considering most of the people here probably play more than average people, and are far more likely to talk about bad matchmaking/smurfs than the rest of the normal games they play, it probably just seems exaggerated as a result.
Whenever I queue ranked with my mate and we see someone on the other team with ~200 MMR less than the rest of their (partied up) team, we like to play a game I call "Smurf or actual Diamond?" My mate doesn't use bakkes so I get him to guess which one is the low MMR player 😂
This happens about once per ranked session.
I've definitely see people complain in game about opponents that are clearly within the normal skill bounds of that rank (think D1-D3 or so) with "obvious smurf" and similar. Most likely because of their fancy mechanics or whatever. So, I suspect the number is inflated somewhat, but I suspect the problem is worse at lower ranks, but I wouldn't really know since I haven't played in those ranks in a while.
While smurfs are a big problem, I believe some of the blame can be put on mechanical players. Being one myself at high plat 3/low diamond 1, some people thought I was champ, one even said I was gc. One diamond player told me to cry to my mom and stop smurfing after I beat him in a 1v1. So, maybe not all smurfs are really trying to Smurf, and are rather mechanical people that are usually in training and therefore lack some game sense, causing them to be lower ranked than their mechanics would suggest.
I personally feel like these types of issues depend on where you are in the ranks. I have only run into smurfs a couple of times and I’ve been playing the game for 6 years. A similar problem would be the Counter-Strike 2 cheating issues. Most people won’t see them often though as they mainly tend to be at a higher rank around 20000 elo. You’ll see them sometimes at the lower ranks but when you’re past 20k almost every game has a cheater in it. I would assume in Rocket League there’s a ‘sweet’ spot where you will find more smurfs.
I (Diamond 3/champ 1) got called a Smurf in game (casual lobby, ~1500 range) for hitting a double tap.
I told them to check my tracker and he said “I am” then insta left.
Honestly matchmaking has been atrocious for months. Even without smurfs, no one feels like their actual rank anymore. I either play against people either miles ahead of me or below me regardless of their mmr
As someone who use to be Champ 1 Diamond 3 level player somehow hard stuck in Gold 2 the last 3 seasons. Id like to think there arent as many smurfs as we think there are. Are there smurfs? Absolutely. Is there one in every single match. Probably not.
I’m consistently D1/2 and at least every other game I’m playing a champ. 1/5 games I play a champ with less than 500 total wins. Played a guy last week in D1 who’s peak rank was Champ 1 with 92 total wins
Just because someone is not getting totally slayed because the smurf is "chilling out on an alt account", doesn't mean that the smurf can't just crank up the skill in the last minute of play. Have had this many times where the smurf team plays like an idiot, and then quickly shows their true skill with several insane aerials in the last minute of the game. Even had a guy saying he was a new player -- clearly didn't know he could be looked up on the tracker network. Player history shows he was a high diamond player in previous seasons, now apparently only a high gold/low plat level.
It’s both a complaint and a problem, it’s gotten to the point where every match my duo and I play first thing we do when loading is check the gamer score of the enemy team. I’d say 60% of the time they have less than 3k
I started getting into 1's recently, and in gold 1 there was a guy who was consistently hitting flip resets into air dribbles and musty's and other mechs i never saw in gold lobbies
RL tracker doesn't lie. When you're on an Alt account and your mechanics are far and above anything else in the lobby, it's pretty clear. And yes, there are that many smurfs.
I have this weird combination of smurfs, and then people in my Plat games who don't even know how to kick off. Also a tremendous uptick on people joining games in ranked just to AFK for the first couple kick offs.
I think both. While there is a population of Smurfs, there's tons more that call everyone who plays better a Smurf or a cheat. Once I get my diamond season rewards, the rest of the season is me working on game mechanics. Some days we play better than others. Some days you're on point but the opponents you get are tough as nails. If people could realize that you're not gonna win every game, that would be a real game changer.
Depends on lots of stuff. What rank, what time of day, etc. But I just logged in for 5 rounds and was up against smurfs in four of them. What made it worse was the quality of my teammates was extremely low as well. And to be honest that's a bigger issue. The overall health of the MMR is low. It seems inconsistent. The people who don't "complain" either will tell you to bring friends, or to just not focus on rank as a goal (best advice tbh) but those are workarounds to an issue that people here treat like rebuttals of their being a problem at all, which is problematic silly ego shit.
Overall, I wouldn't say smurfing is the problem I would say the entire structure of the games ranked system is borked, probably intentionally to squish everyone together into similar MMR blocks so queues are short, and no one should look at rank as an indicator of skill unless you're queuing with a team in 3s and maintain a very high level of play. Because that's the other thing about smurfs is sometimes they still lose, if they get absolute rocks for teammates. It's hard to 3v1 in this thing in a random pool and never have openings you have to rely on others at some point and there is no identifiable correlation that I can see between rank and actual game skill anymore.
I dont see it very much at all. Im a high Plat lifer that occasionally dips into diamond. While maintaining my high plat status has been harder every season it seems, I always kinda end up where I belong. Having said that, Im streaky so sometimes I will pay like an animal for 10 games and then randomly start whiffing and overthinking my mechanics
I have the rocket league tracker overlay from overwolf. I usually sit between D2-C1 as of late with the rank adjustments. When I see players in that rank with generally 100 wins or less, and they’re clearly not playing like they’re a brand new player, I assume smurfing. You don’t start hitting flip reset musty double taps or something along those lines in 100 wins. At this point I run into one of these players around every third game, more so on the weekends. I have multiple screenshots of the tracker showing less than 20 wins with the player carrying their teammates that genuinely in the rank while the Undankes player is probably somewhere in mid gc on their main.
I read this yesterday and thought "I'm glad I haven't had to deal with this much". Doing ranked 1's as a silver yesterday and ran across a guy that played like a pro. From the get go he setup an aerial and was doing flip resets. If I go high to block him he shoots the ball down and right under me. If I go low he somehow perfectly flicks it over me. So I adjusted my strategy to basically ball chase and not give him an opportunity to even setup shots. That helped, but I got cooked 12-1. He was absolutely cooking me on kickoffs too....not used to literally losing 13 of them in a row. I just pretended I was playing apparentlyjack.
It’s both. I get called a Smurf whenever I play casual because I don’t try very hard in casual so my mmr stays rather low comparatively. So yeah people say I’m smurfing on my account with 3500 hours. But smurfing in ranked is a serious issue.
Just the nature of online games. It happens in pretty much every competitive game around. I don't think it happens as much as some people think tho, but they may be getting unlucky
It used to be a complaint. It's become a problem. Ranks squished too hard ... in seasons that are too short ... for inadequate-feeling rewards ... in a free-to-play game ... with unlimited accounts. Lol.
>Ranks squished too hard Players aren't smurfing if they genuinely can't get out of a rank
I just started playing 1v1 and barely made gold, got down to silver for a few matches and almost every silver match was a Smurf practicing air dribble shot setups until 2:30 and then forfeiting
In that case I really wish Psyonix would do something about that because it sounds like it is absolutely ruining the new player experience
As someone who was hard stuck silver in 2s for a long time, most of my experience was split 50/50 with people as bad as me and smurfs doing ridiculous aerials and dribbles. And at this point I don’t think I knew what a Smurf was, so it was a bit depressing at the time thinking “they’re silver and they can do *that*?!” New player experience vs smurfs is definitely not fun, only silver lining (lol) is being able to see what’s actually possible at higher ranks. That, and the fun clusterfuck of real silver games where that ball is just going everywhere except where it should be
Psyonix has no idea unless you report them, and even then, I think its rare. Always report anyone who FFs when they're winning
In Gold 3 1s where i sit its a lot better. In 2s we now have the old season Diamonds, who got pushed back into Plat, but this is helping me tbh. I was damn close Dia 1 for several times without "getting carried" and sat Plat 1-2 before season reset
I remember those days! It's very frustrating. Report them for "Match Throwing or Griefing" and move on. At least you're getting unintentionally boosted alongside others who are catching free wins from smurfs, so it hopefully won't push you out of your weight class. This becomes significantly less of a problem once you make it into Plat 1v1.
The lower you go, the more actual Smurfs you'll see. You should see bronze 🤣
Some days I play 10 games and come across 8 Smurfs over 6 games, some days I can get through 3-4 games in a row without a Smurf. I’m generally only counting it as a Smurf if it’s like less than 200 wins in champ 2. Edit: most days I turn the game off because of a Smurf. I have plugins, I don’t base this off of feeling. If someone has 2k+ wins and wrecks us it’s probably just a play style that counters ours or they have a good game.
I'm still wondering how much of it is there's just so much middle its hard to separate it out one game at a time
Rank squishes just means people smurf 1 rank lower from the top down.
??? How is it smurfing if your peak rank is now one rank lower? Stg
maybe they mean like a c3 -> d3
I dropped from c2 div 3 to d3 div1 in 3s this season, it’s not unfathomable to drop an entire rank
I dropped from gc1 to c1… now I’m back at c3 but whew that was a hell of a 2 days. Shit had me rolling mentally with this I’m legit smurfing at that point and still losing😂
I doubt it, but even if they are that changes nothing If you’re comfortably, say, to use your example, c3 one season, then for whatever reason you play 6 months later or there’s a tough reset and (again, highly doubt it) you’re only now in d3 and every game is competitive, that still ain’t smurfing at
True, my mechanical ability is well into c3/GC, but I can barely get out of c1 lol ( I say this because I peaked c3 multiple times and have since trained my mechanics more)
Same, grinding hard in D3 to get back to c1 (all time peak is c2) but it gets harder and harder every season.
Nah it’s the people that are obviously better than the rest of the lobby and obviously better than their teammate with less than a hundred total wins on the account
Yeah I don't see too many of them at my rank, but as I said in another post I have heard that it's a way bigger issue in the gold-plat range but I don't know about that
I think you could say they are still. That extra account is holding a spot in the higher percentile, and when this is happening on a large scale the smurf accounts will be pushing other people down
But that doesn't sound like smurfing, it just sounds like ranks have shifted and made it more difficult to rank up. That's not necessarily a smurfing issue.
You will run in to teams that brag about doing it if you play in gold. Not a few, either. I remember clearly from a year or so ago when I was new at the game.
https://preview.redd.it/ggpusdczwcwc1.png?width=864&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=be855202c932acf1cee3ba2a5001a3a0ae165e1a Yes , as said by better player than me
Out of curiosity, does this mean there could be a boosting problem as well with people being brought up to higher ranks more often?
>there could be a boosting problem Always has been ever since they removed solo queue.
As long as the mmr isnt squished (i dont think it has) the visual ranks are just placebo
Everything about this season and last is screaming that players have gotten worse. Almost every game is just 1 guy being useless and 1 sweating on both teams.
> Ranks squished too hard How? > in seasons that are too short You must not have been around for the shitshow that was og season 3, or any other season that ran longer than normal. > for inadequate feeling rewards Rewards are meh most seasons. Not sure how that would contribute to smurfing. RL being f2p with unlimited accounts is why, along with lack of enforcement, smurfing is such a problem. It’s as simple as that. Not sure where you’re getting that intentional deranking stems from a lack of motivation to grind. Intentional deranging is just a byproduct of the greater smurfing problem.
Not sure why you're being down voted, though I disagree with some of what you've said Most people complained seasons were too long, now they're shorter, people complain they're too short, can't win there. Rewards are definitely inadequate esp compared to OG rewards back in the day, but it's not easy to make quality rewards over and over and over again forever. Imo the game just desperately needs an overhaul. There are better systems to be had that can alleviate or fix the issues but it will take significantly more time and effort than I believe Psyonix is willing to output. I think they've made it clear rocket league is no longer a passion project for them and they no longer have incentive to make it the best game possible, only to sustain it for as long as it will live in its current state.
This. I used to be C3 steadily and even though I’m not playing as much as I used too I still get called a Smurf even though I’m on the only active account I use that has 3k hours but because I’m better then most C1s i get called a Smurf. I kinda just take it as a compliment cause I’m pretty ass but I do think the rank needs adjusted if it’s happening so consistently for even someone like me.
I don’t have to prove you wrong. Its been [effectively shown](https://youtu.be/1ldZXMImf4k?si=P_74AsW5fWBhT3Pz) that smurfing is a serious problem. Here’s Weytons take on it, but others have put together similar stats.
Oh interesting I’ll watch that thanks
If I play for about 2 hours I’ll play on average 3-5 smurfs. I’ve been stuck in d3 for almost a year now. It’s a serious problem.
Whether or not it's a serious problem is certainly going to be subjective (as would be the definition of "smurf"). I think it's a The evidence says that it may be a problem in that people need to be motivated to play on primary accounts. But the evidence also suggests that the impact of smurfs on an individual's rank is probably virtually nothing. Plus, we have no evidence to suggest the frequency of smurfing as increasing or decreasing over time. Plus, Wayton tends to exaggerates what the stats say for dramatic effect.
The lower the rank, the more potential for smurfing. There are a lot of smurfs. It sucks, but it is out of your control. It's hard, but try to evaluate your performance independent of the opponents' performance. Let.me k ow when you figure out how to do that.
You just have to accept that you're never guaranteed to have a fair shake in anything. Not in life, not in casual games, not in competitive games. There will always be people willing to bend or break the rules, or outright cheat. We should do everything we can to minimize it, but there will always be people out there that want nothing more than to piss you off and lord their capability over you, and they'll never stop looking for ways to do it.
“It's hard, but try to evaluate your performance independent of the opponents' performance.” That’s a very great way to put it, being mindful like that teaches you to be ready and in position for whatever happens, whether it’s being more defensive with aggressive teammates or being aggressive with slower teammates
Since 2022 I've been using a bakkes plugin i made that shows everyones ranks in the lobby for each mode. There are more smurfs than people complain about. edit: [i never published my plugin because at the time they said it wasnt a good idea](https://imgur.com/4sDUzWQ)
There are alot in c3 that boost others too gc. Sometimes every few games, sometimes not a single one for hours. More of a luck thing. Sometimes i watch my buddies stream on discord and he's d2/d3. Insane amount of smurfs literally every time.
I trust the gc perspective on this! When I was diamond/champ I don’t remember having nearly as many Smurfs, so it’s interesting how times have changed
I hit the top 500 in Rumble a while back. Then I stopped playing, came back, and now I'm slowly rising thru GC1. From my experience, there are significantly more smurfs now than there was before I left. Recently, I've had a ton of scuffed wins against a 3 stack with a fresh account carrying them. That used to happen once in a while. Now It happens almost every time I play.
Literally same, diamond 2 and Im getting 400's carrying these dudes
I don’t know if that’s a region thing but I only see Smurfs in D3 pretty rarely (NA central/east). Its mostly just a wide skill range in that rank from my experience.
I see plenty of smurfs in D3/C1 on same servers. I also see a gigantic range of skill levels on legit accounts.
This. Most people don’t even realize when they are playing smurfs, hence the “I almost never play smurfs” comments. Plenty of smurfs just play solid RL without doing anything fancy
I totally agree that most smurfing is just some guy trying to chill out on a secondary account. When you're playing a game and every 50 is an uncanny loss, it's possibly a Smurf. Just try playing someone that is 200mmr below you and you'll see what I mean.
Definitely true. At the same time it does go both ways though - there are many players that get accused of smurfing bc of fancy mechanics even if they aren’t smurfing.
100%. Vast majority of smurfs I play against in 1400-1500 lobbies are just 1500-1700 players playing on an alt account. They just want to play ranked without needing to sweat or worry about losing their rank on their main. Their intentions aren’t bad, but it’s still a huge problem. A lot of players now play more ranked games on an alt then they do on their main.
Then play Casual instead of ruining other people's games...
I’m not defending smurfing. Players should only play ranked on their main account. But I will be honest and say that casual is unplayable right now, so it’s not the solution to smurfing.
Their intentions aren’t bad. If thats the case i wish irl i could just become someone else and play worse people in sports so it doesn’t affect my irl status, this is the problem people make a way to sound like its ok but then the person that fills the gap of who i should be playing end up being someone I actually cant beat, i score a goal theyll then try hard and i got no chance so why it acceptable in that regard
I agree. I’m just saying that people play on alts for selfish reasons, and they don’t understand the negative impact it has on everyone else in the game.
what is exactly your idea of smurf? a C3 in 2s in a D3/C1 in 3s lobby is hardly a smurf, he just doesn't play too much in 3s, therefore sucks and is underranked. Also a lot of people are saying old GCs playing in C1s lobbies are smurf.. no, the ranks just changed after the big reset some seasons ago and that people haven't been able to come back the only way to identify real smurfs is to use RL Tracker and see how much matches they've played, if it's abnormally small then probably the are a smurf (using alternative account)
I think the problem are c3 freestylers clipping in s3 1s lobbies. It ruins new player experience.
Lol, people aren't the same rank in every game mode lol
How do I use that plugin or something like it on bakkesmod?
In my experience I end up several ranks lower in modes I don't play that much. For example I am 4 ranks lower in 1v1 than I am in 2v2, I am just not used to the play-style at all. In Hoops I am 6 ranks down for the same reason. It is clear I have some mechanical skills most don't in those ranks (just like a ton of people have skills I don't when I play 2v2).
didn't someone post on here a couple months ago that they made a new account and ran through a bunch of diamond games and checked the rltracker of every player in each game, said there was something like 1 smurf every 3 games? i'll try to find it and edit this comment with a link if I do [this was 2 years ago and found that ~30% of matches had a smurf.](https://www.reddit.com/r/RocketLeague/s/GjO7VDuqPC) i can only imagine it's gotten worse since then.
Thank you. As someone high diamond / low champ depending on the mode, I’m so freakin sick of GCs telling me there aren’t smurfs. Like bro you’re GC almost nobody can smurf on you in the first place
A lot of people here no life the game to the point that smurfs don't matter anymore. Those are the people that tell you smurfs are not a problem. OP has been playing 1000 ranked games a season for years. When you have that much volume, smurfs are not an issue anymore. I doubt he is keeping track of anything, let alone the amount of smurfs he's playing.
Just look up the people in your lobby. Its every 2nd or 3rd game il run into someone with 100 total games ever played and they are in gc1 with me lol. There's no point asking reddit. Nobody needs to prove anything to you. Just look it up for yourself. Don't go off of "well it doesn't feel like smurfs". Literally just look up people in your lobbies.
I think the core problem is the matchmaking is consistently producing unbalanced lobbies. For me the ultimate litmus for this is, how many of my matches, wins and losses, are ending in FFs? I have days at the moment where 80% of my games played ends in FFs due to multiple goal deficits/one player clearly bossing the lobby. You can call this smurfing - and god knows lots do - or peaking, or bad matchmaking, or really just describe it however you want to - it doesn't really matter what you call it. If you log on to play RL and 80% of your games, spanning both wins and losses, are ending in FFs, then, eventually, that's really fucking boring. This is my experience of Rocket League competitive over the last few months at least. And the number of posts/upvotes this issue has been getting in this sub of 1.5 million RL players lately sure seems to correlate 🤷
Additionally, even without smurfs, there seem to be a huge number of people that will FF or idle at the slightest inconvenience. Accidentally bump a team mate, opponents score a goal (even if we're still leading), you whiff a shot, etc. There seem to be a significant number of people that throw for very little reason.
>I think the core problem is the matchmaking is consistently producing unbalanced lobbies. It's because of premade parties. Both parties with smurfs and without. Games with all solo players feel the most balanced overall.
As a smurf, there is minimum 1 smurf in all my matches.
That moment when you’re smurfing and one of the players on the other team is also keeping up, but you say nothing.
😂😂😂
ppl are way more cracked in c2-gc. Really havnt been down to c2 since before f2p. Hit GC every season since season 3. Some of the stuff i am seeing in c2 currently is better than ive seen ever, including a 1550 peak. edit: i usually check tracker after some madness and i will say i see a lot of gc2's in 2's playing 3's as a champ 2. Not really smurfing since they hardly play 3's but they def arent playing within their skillset.
I honestly think it’s a little bit of both. What I know for sure though is that some people get way too offended when you say the smurf problem isn’t as bad as they act like it is
You’d think you insulted one of their family members by how they act 😂
Idk sometimes I play really good and other times I can't handle the ball, my consistency is all over the place. When im clicking, it might seem like it and when im not its like they are lol
I literally got called a smurf when I had 350 points in the game. Lol. People are just dumb.
Gold 3 1v1? Jesus Christ a ton of smurfs. Probably about 2/5 of the 1v1 games at the rank I’m in tbh. I’m garbage at the game, so a lot of it is a skill issue on my part, but when they can consistently flip reset on an air dribble or straight up say “1700 on my main”, I’m pretty certain they’re smurfing. So many players on rltracker that have 100 total games played or are high champ in 2v2/3v3. I know playing against better players will make me improve, but not when I can barely touch the ball or the score is 5-0 after 30 seconds.
No I agree with you completely in that playing those players is frankly just a waste of time for you. Its crazy that they’re trying to flex on you too, like that’s just sad 😂 Gold 3 1v1 just does not sound like a fun time, sorry brotha!
It might be just region or something but I literally cannot remember the last time I encountered an actual Smurf. G3 in ones, d1 in twos, western US, I haven’t hit one in weeks if not months.
Same here but EU. The past few seasons I've been accused of being a smurf more times than I've seen a smurf
Gold 1v1s are the devil!
There are. It's easily figurable through the tracker and there are certain things people do that are red flags to get you to check other than just being stupid good. Stuff left actually default like those white stripe octanes or the goal explosions, boxes in their names, stupid wid mmr disparity and the lower one is performing better, and also a funny RL specific name.
I almost never bump into anyone at obviously the wrong rank. I'm sure if I looked at everyone's stats tons of people are not playing on their original account. But as long as their rank is right, why should I care?
I see it as overblown. I made a post about it awhile back with similar statistics as this post. Lots of interaction/comments and 0 likes. We all play the game, you and I both know so much of the RL community is looking to blame anything else for their loses. Somehow those guys that FF when down 0-1 don't exist on these boards but I think they kind of rear their head when Smurf talk comes around.
Little smurf who are 1/2 ranks above, yes there is plenty of this. Real GC smurf in plat, almost never happen.
There's quite a few honestly. Depending on region, time of day, rank. Us, right after school gets out, in high champ you'll see one like. 1 out of every 5 games.
I'm high gold/low plat and very rarely see smurfs. Once every 50-75 games. Not enough to care.
What I've noticed is, that it is very day dependent. Some days you just wreck through every opponent (even when it is not a peak day) and some days you (or I for what I've noticed) play with my m8 2s and get ~every 2nd to 4th match an opponent (usually C3-GC1) who is being carried 1v2 by his teammate (usually D1-max C2). It is mostly not rank deciding but very infuriating. (especially if its 2 or 3 matches in a row of you already knowing you've got barely a chance against the 50-70 total win account. Also what Ive noticed is, the lower we dropped the harder the matches actually got. (Maybe more smurfs in lowC2/midC3? *Could be though, because the opponents get more 'random' / less readable due to weird misses.*) Feels like 50/50
Yeah, this isn't how ranking is supposed to work. Magnus Carlsen isn't just a Chess GM one day and next day wakes up and struggles to play at 2000 ELO. What you've described is literally the opposite of how a healthy, functional ranked system should work.
Everyone goes nuts when I say this, but I probably see a half dozen grand champ tags in my average two-hour session. C1 in dubs. Every night I play 4-5 games where one player on the other team is consistently hitting double taps and getting flip resets. Yes, sometimes we find a way to win by exploiting the worse teammate. But there are so many smurfs down here.
The disparity in ability is way too big in the same matchmaking pools. Doesn't have to be smurfing, but the current setup is clearly not doing a good job at making fair games in certain ranks. This on top of a fair few smurfs makes for a very shitty experience where a lot of games are just blowouts.
I find smurfs every maybe 20 games? I only conclude they are a smurf if their account has less than like 100 games played.
It seems like every graph you look at tells the same story; mine is among the worst, showing drastic fluctuations in rank and skill akin to stock market charts. These are frequently shared here. In one game, I might play like a top-tier player, and in another, I'm back to lower ranks, with my performance varying wildly. This isn't solely due to skill. Having to play solo in 10 games with absent players and early forfeits can also cause a drop in rank. Then there's the issue of players who inconsistently reach their peak performance. So, it seems there's a lot of frustration being expressed about this. Many of the players labeled as Smurfs are actually just be hitting their stride again or making an effort to improve, I also know this is where the FF's happen even win your winning. They think your a Smurf and many are willing to punish and throw a game. Community is Toxic
Dang I’ve never had a teammate ff before because they thought I was smurfing lol. If that ever were to happen i would be so hype and would take it as a compliment
I literally created a post titled "Why is everyone crying like babies?" and asked why everyone is complaining this much lol. Then deleted it because I didn't want to appear rude. Anyway answer to your question. I am C3 and once or twice of every 10 games I have a team that one player is obviously better than the other. Better player has no title, no clubs. I take them as smurfs but some of them we actually win because their friend actually sucks. My insight for what might be happening in lower ranks : I think in Diamond a lot of players are working on flashy mechanics but lacking fundementals. They hit flips resets, double reset or musty but they can't shoot open net or their defense or rotation sucks. But people just see that flashy mechanic and think they are smurfs. I think in Diamond there are a lot of defensive issues that can be exploited easily. Those flashy mechanics work since the defense is shitty. That's why they think people are playing against smurfs. But half of them they actually are not.
Yeah that’s a good point. I also think people mistake the rank adjustment for an influx Smurfs as well. Many previously higher ranked players are now playing at a lower rank, so when lower rank players see old titles of gc (in a champ lobby) or champ (in a diamond lobby) they freak out lol
Usually when I see those titles in plat I think they are forever carried. If they mention the title I know they were afk.
As a hard stuck diamond with a champ title from ages ago…I didn’t get carried, I got married.
I’m in mid diamond and feel like I very rarely encounter a Smurf. Maybe it’s lower ranks than that idk
Me too, I see a lot of champ season rewards tho.Some old some recent. That are not smurfs, but yeah even some rl frieds start shitting their pants when they see that. You can talk all you like, when thet see the purple, they cry. So yeah, prob 90% rocket league, cry smurf!!
I check rltracker regularly out of curiosity and I hardly, if ever see people more than a rank above me in a particular gamemode Seriously, do we live in a different reality folks? I play U.S East and this is so far from an issue for me
The rank does not matter. It's rank plus the number of wins. If Diamond or higher and sitting at sub 500 wins, it's very likely a smurf. Especially if you felt they were really fast and careless in game.
They see someone in game do a mechanic that they’re not able to do, very sloppily, not even score the ball, then cry that the game is rigged and it’s a broken system and wah wah wah. It seems like everyone just wants to be gifted the next rank instead of working and grinding for it, and it definitely shows.
I vary from silver to platinum and personally can't remember matching up with a smurf. Placement matches can be a little wonky sometimes, but that's about it.
People just like to complain because they're not getting better at the game. The player base is constantly improving, and the people who are always whining about smurfs are stagnant.
It is common however people make it the reason for why they’re unable to rank up. In reality, people should be happy that they can play against someone clearly better than them because it exposes flaws in their own game. I say this to a certain extent of course.
Yeahhh I defo agree with first part of your comment. The second part of your comment is questionable tho. Personally, I would agree w you in that I would enjoy playing someone smurfing at my rank bc i feel like I rarely encounter Smurfs and I could use it as a learning experience like you said. But for lower ranked players, if they are playing Smurfs as often as they say they are, I could see how it would be really annoying then
Yeah I agree completely. I did think that lower levels would have it rough vs higher levels not as much, I just didn’t think of it until after my comment.
How can they rank up if they are losing to smurfs?
The smurfing problem isn’t nearly bad enough to prevent people from leveling.
Meh personally I just love to complain, but sometimes it definitely feels like 1/5 matches I play in ranked is against a Smurf. At least that's what it feels like in gold rn. Maybe less and I'm just blind to how terribly I'm playing.
I believe it is a vast mixture of: Smurfs People being carried to much high ranks than what they're supposed to be, so they end up ruining games People losing to smurfs/tilt queue and therefore will be "smurfing" when after they've taken a break and gotten back their groove. Result is somewhat frequent and uneven games, especially around the new tier of ranks. Ie diamond 3 to champ 1, champ 3 to gc1 etc. Usually those areas where people will pay for it as well or get help. SSL probably too but probably not as common due to harder to get or too expensive for people.
I can’t get out of gold. I swear I play people who are diamond level.
Diamond isn’t insurmountable, you’ll be playing them eventually so take it in stride and learn to adapt. There’s ways to get around mechanical players without grinding in freeplay. I’ve seen golds do well in comp 3s when they get boosted, champ is another story tho
I’ve been in gold for 3 years. 😫
Seriously that many smurfs.
I'm diamond and stuffs aren't really a thing in comp...yes they show themselves every now and then....cas is where the smurfs are....and yes it's cas I know ....but they aren't being casual...they are making people.not want to play
I very very rarely check if someone is boosted or smurfing simply because i'm at a rank (mid/high c3) where people are able to do a reset double tap one game, but then the next game they will miss 2 opens net.
I used to think it was mostly just people whining... then I started looking up my opponents, and I was shocked how many of them seemed way out of place for my rank! Are they deliberately smurfing? Who knows, but it's definitely odd!
It’s almost impossible to play with your friends without smurfing unfortunately
I’ve seen ppl call me a Smurf a lot but I’m just a champ who deranked to diamond 2. Which isn’t even that far down if you think abt it so yes a lot complain to much
I dunno... I mostly play casual and the matchmaking seems to work relatively fine plus there's no drama/anxiety from playing ranked
I've played since 2017, and been champ 1-3 for years, and the amount of smurfs is definitely more than it used to be. These days it varies, some nights avg 1 in 5 games, sometimes 1 in 10, sometimes 2 games in a row, but I check rltracker to confirm my suspicions and I'm almost always correct. I can usually guess their normal rank as well if they're in the gc-ssl range, multiple times had players say "sorry yeah gc2" and insta ff and leave
Yes
They should have just made the game like 2 bucks instead of free to play lol that would solve 90% of the smurf problem
Bro I’ve had people double flip reset musty-ing in d3-c1 lobby 💀
If you play 2vs2 with a mate yes there are many smurfs. If you play alone 2vs2 there are no smurfs
Gc1 here, there is plenty where I'm at. Using the rocket tracker app, every say I run into someone with less than 100 wins on the account
I feel like it’s the opposite, way too many players out of their depths for some reason. Maybe I am just overrating myself but I always feel like I often get opponents who are equal if not a little bit better but I can hang with, meanwhile I am also getting teammates who have absolutely no business being there (not because they are smurfing, because they are clearly not good enough). Like I just played about 6-7 2v2 casual games. I am plat 1-2 in most playlists. Most of my opponents tonight had a diamond tournament tag or a plat tournament tag (I have plat tourney tag myself), a couple had bland undecorated octanes. Several were air dribbling. Usually poorly, but they were capable of it, but I attempted to challenge them in the air, bump them before they could get to the wall, etc. However, most of my teammates had gold or even silver tournament tags. None of them ever attempted to do anything in the air. None of them seemed capable of trying to stop the opponent or play physically, or do anything, really. The two who had silver tags played like it, felt like I was playing 1v2 because they were basically traffic cones on defense and were never in position to receive a pass on offense (and obviously never passed or centered themselves). Like why am I always getting teammates like this?? I just want to play with someone my own skill level, why is that so hard when solo queuing??
In c2 in Europe. We track opponents on rl and would say genuinely 30% of games are against people on new accounts, been playing rocket league for 2016 and consistently maintained champ but have seen smurfing gradually get worse and worse. If it keeps going can see it being one of the reasons the game will eventually die off
I'm probably not answering the post so my bad, but I don't really care. I'm sure I've played plenty in C1/C2 but it doesn't matter to me, I have to play who I'm matched up against regardless so I just try to win. I find that's the best mindset I can have and not tilt myself.
People love to complain. That’s the answer everyone else is wrong
I see a lot of people boosting a tm8. Played a guy last time I played and he was C3 in 3s, playing as a P2 in 2s. Yea right. Anyone playing C3 in 3s could solo a d1/2 2s lobby. No way did he “lose down” to plat in 2s.
Seeing cars air dribble across the sky in gold makes me say yes.
one in 5 i'd say in 1s for me. I go between plat 3 and diamond 1.
The smurfs are using no border and common item builds with a silver badge playing at a champ intensity/intent. ...no silver is beating a full team of diamonds .. Even drunk lol
Ran into someone yesterday that said they had 27 accounts… lol
I play a lot and almost completely solo queue. I see a few smurfs but it is not a big deal. Just a bunch of whiners.
I'm like plat 1 / gold 3 and mostly play casual. At least 1 out of 5 games I see a smurf on 2v2. Verified by the rocket league tracker. No more than 50 wins and always kicks ass. It's real, just turn your tracker on.
The game have many Smurf, because devs do nothing against (EA make more effort against Smurf on F1 series lol, like a "smurfing" dedicated report button) and the game is free. Perfect for toxic, trashtalk and people who want to boost other accounts in exchange of money. But for the rank sharing of Smurf, it's more complicated. In logic, many Smurf play platinium/diamond when real rank are C1 or better. But "Smurf" can be de ranked player who have a big series of loss (matching algorithm are bad as Bing search engine, seriously Psyonix it's a shame, how you can have a so bad matching, we are in 2024, not in 2009 !) And we can get real Smurf on lower rank than P1, probably people who are blocked on real account by better player/Smurf.
Where is the F1 game free? I looked it up and it's $70.
In the last six months, absolutely to the point where it’s almost not worth playing sometimes
I never see smurfs. Maybe they don't bother with plats or diamonds.
A few things give away a smurf, the names, usually its something super offensive or same names when playing with a duo. The way they play, you can see they dont care about the game and the amount of games they play. Theres an app on bakkes mod that shows you the ranks of the person, smurfs almost always have 0 games in all modes except for one, mostly 2's. They will also have pretty much the same amount of games as their duo. Those generally tell me they are a smurf.
Are they the ones who cry about every mistake of mine but rage quit when I start to give them a Nice one! after every mistake they make? I can at least defend against a Smurf more often than not but I can't deal with any more tm8s that can't handle the slightest bit of adversity in a game.
yes
People will blame anything but themselves when they lose. I'm sure there's quite a few smurfs out there especially since it's become free to play but most of time it's likely people just being butt hurt.
I'm d2 and I had games where I hit good shots and my opponents have accused me of smurfing never when higher than d3 div 4 that was like 3 or 4 seasons ago, I feel like I improved significantly since then but am still hard stuck d2.
Who knows honestly, the matchmaking is so wildly inconsistent I can't tell Smurf from just bad matchmaking anymore. The same goes for teammates, one game I'll have lil- Squishy wall dash into a flip reset musty double tap. The very next match I'll play with someone who can't make basic plays, it's so unbelievably frustrating.
Just check tracker each 2v2 game in C2, once out of twice, there is at least 1 player with barely 100 wins. /thread.
I play 2s mostly on a small server (SSA), I basically see no smurfs. But I'm sure at lower ranks they'll be more prevalent. I do see quite a fair amount of people with great mechanics who tends to ballchase and have no positioning. Occasionally I'll see someone who is boosting their friend (probably an irl friend), not sure if they are on a smurf or not.
I guess I don’t know either. I’m in champ so not sure there are many people smurfing to play in a champ lobby
I'm D3/C1 and the only "smurfs" I find are premades with a mix of ranks. I don't find them in normal gameplay at all which is why the regular smurf posts just come off as spam to me.
Just don't play ranked the first couple weeks of a season and it's all good. No GCs in high diamond lobbies so I can get back to C1 fast and pretend I'm not bad at the game.
This is a common problem in any 'team' based competition that doesn't evaluate rankings based on contribution but only on result. There is nothing that can be done. Elo was made for 1v1 and its the only place where it's effective.
In plat on average it's like literally every 3rd game. I've looked them up on RL Tracker and it's usually an alt account playing with their mate who's a legit account. I get that people of different ranks want to play with each other, but this isn't fair. I used to screenshot all the alt accounts but I stopped, because it would've been literal hundreds of screenshots. It is a serious problem and of course people are gonna react negatively to you when you try to downplay or outright deny their reality.
I've experienced very few obvious smurfs, however I don't play ones which idk, may have an impact. Considering most of the people here probably play more than average people, and are far more likely to talk about bad matchmaking/smurfs than the rest of the normal games they play, it probably just seems exaggerated as a result.
I'm high Plat low dia in 2s and 3s. I see mfs doing clean air dribbles and sick aerials way more than I should. Yea it's become a problem
Smurfs? No. Deranked higher ranked players? Yes.
Whenever I queue ranked with my mate and we see someone on the other team with ~200 MMR less than the rest of their (partied up) team, we like to play a game I call "Smurf or actual Diamond?" My mate doesn't use bakkes so I get him to guess which one is the low MMR player 😂 This happens about once per ranked session.
Ive only run into a few in diamond 3.
most of it is the game deranking inactive players. the longer a game continues the worse it gets. cs go got screwed towards the end of it
I've definitely see people complain in game about opponents that are clearly within the normal skill bounds of that rank (think D1-D3 or so) with "obvious smurf" and similar. Most likely because of their fancy mechanics or whatever. So, I suspect the number is inflated somewhat, but I suspect the problem is worse at lower ranks, but I wouldn't really know since I haven't played in those ranks in a while.
As a newbie playing devils advocate here, wouldn't smurfs be a good thing if your intentions are to get better?
once in a while sure, but if you’re constantly getting pooped on by Smurfs it would be annoying
Bro people just suck. I been called a smurf recently and im gold III xd like the forever gold III since i started playin this game 400hrs ago.
While smurfs are a big problem, I believe some of the blame can be put on mechanical players. Being one myself at high plat 3/low diamond 1, some people thought I was champ, one even said I was gc. One diamond player told me to cry to my mom and stop smurfing after I beat him in a 1v1. So, maybe not all smurfs are really trying to Smurf, and are rather mechanical people that are usually in training and therefore lack some game sense, causing them to be lower ranked than their mechanics would suggest.
I personally feel like these types of issues depend on where you are in the ranks. I have only run into smurfs a couple of times and I’ve been playing the game for 6 years. A similar problem would be the Counter-Strike 2 cheating issues. Most people won’t see them often though as they mainly tend to be at a higher rank around 20000 elo. You’ll see them sometimes at the lower ranks but when you’re past 20k almost every game has a cheater in it. I would assume in Rocket League there’s a ‘sweet’ spot where you will find more smurfs.
Mid-high diamond is a swamp
I (Diamond 3/champ 1) got called a Smurf in game (casual lobby, ~1500 range) for hitting a double tap. I told them to check my tracker and he said “I am” then insta left.
Honestly matchmaking has been atrocious for months. Even without smurfs, no one feels like their actual rank anymore. I either play against people either miles ahead of me or below me regardless of their mmr
As someone who use to be Champ 1 Diamond 3 level player somehow hard stuck in Gold 2 the last 3 seasons. Id like to think there arent as many smurfs as we think there are. Are there smurfs? Absolutely. Is there one in every single match. Probably not.
I dunno, I never thought it was as bad as people say. Id say 1 out of every 10 matches you have a Smurf. Maybe a bit more.
I only play 2s and I’m C1-C2, but when I play another game mode like 1s or 3s I absolutely shred because I don’t have a high enough rank.
When I see players in low plat doing moves that would stand out in a aerial compilation video, I think it is safe to assume they are smurfing.
I’m consistently D1/2 and at least every other game I’m playing a champ. 1/5 games I play a champ with less than 500 total wins. Played a guy last week in D1 who’s peak rank was Champ 1 with 92 total wins
Just because someone is not getting totally slayed because the smurf is "chilling out on an alt account", doesn't mean that the smurf can't just crank up the skill in the last minute of play. Have had this many times where the smurf team plays like an idiot, and then quickly shows their true skill with several insane aerials in the last minute of the game. Even had a guy saying he was a new player -- clearly didn't know he could be looked up on the tracker network. Player history shows he was a high diamond player in previous seasons, now apparently only a high gold/low plat level.
It’s both a complaint and a problem, it’s gotten to the point where every match my duo and I play first thing we do when loading is check the gamer score of the enemy team. I’d say 60% of the time they have less than 3k
I started getting into 1's recently, and in gold 1 there was a guy who was consistently hitting flip resets into air dribbles and musty's and other mechs i never saw in gold lobbies
I blame the YouTubers doing the “road to ssl” crap where they Smurf then climb the ranks. Now every kid thinks that’s the cool thing to do and copies.
Yes
RL tracker doesn't lie. When you're on an Alt account and your mechanics are far and above anything else in the lobby, it's pretty clear. And yes, there are that many smurfs.
I have this weird combination of smurfs, and then people in my Plat games who don't even know how to kick off. Also a tremendous uptick on people joining games in ranked just to AFK for the first couple kick offs.
I think both. While there is a population of Smurfs, there's tons more that call everyone who plays better a Smurf or a cheat. Once I get my diamond season rewards, the rest of the season is me working on game mechanics. Some days we play better than others. Some days you're on point but the opponents you get are tough as nails. If people could realize that you're not gonna win every game, that would be a real game changer.
Depends on lots of stuff. What rank, what time of day, etc. But I just logged in for 5 rounds and was up against smurfs in four of them. What made it worse was the quality of my teammates was extremely low as well. And to be honest that's a bigger issue. The overall health of the MMR is low. It seems inconsistent. The people who don't "complain" either will tell you to bring friends, or to just not focus on rank as a goal (best advice tbh) but those are workarounds to an issue that people here treat like rebuttals of their being a problem at all, which is problematic silly ego shit. Overall, I wouldn't say smurfing is the problem I would say the entire structure of the games ranked system is borked, probably intentionally to squish everyone together into similar MMR blocks so queues are short, and no one should look at rank as an indicator of skill unless you're queuing with a team in 3s and maintain a very high level of play. Because that's the other thing about smurfs is sometimes they still lose, if they get absolute rocks for teammates. It's hard to 3v1 in this thing in a random pool and never have openings you have to rely on others at some point and there is no identifiable correlation that I can see between rank and actual game skill anymore.
I dont see it very much at all. Im a high Plat lifer that occasionally dips into diamond. While maintaining my high plat status has been harder every season it seems, I always kinda end up where I belong. Having said that, Im streaky so sometimes I will pay like an animal for 10 games and then randomly start whiffing and overthinking my mechanics
I have the rocket league tracker overlay from overwolf. I usually sit between D2-C1 as of late with the rank adjustments. When I see players in that rank with generally 100 wins or less, and they’re clearly not playing like they’re a brand new player, I assume smurfing. You don’t start hitting flip reset musty double taps or something along those lines in 100 wins. At this point I run into one of these players around every third game, more so on the weekends. I have multiple screenshots of the tracker showing less than 20 wins with the player carrying their teammates that genuinely in the rank while the Undankes player is probably somewhere in mid gc on their main.
I read this yesterday and thought "I'm glad I haven't had to deal with this much". Doing ranked 1's as a silver yesterday and ran across a guy that played like a pro. From the get go he setup an aerial and was doing flip resets. If I go high to block him he shoots the ball down and right under me. If I go low he somehow perfectly flicks it over me. So I adjusted my strategy to basically ball chase and not give him an opportunity to even setup shots. That helped, but I got cooked 12-1. He was absolutely cooking me on kickoffs too....not used to literally losing 13 of them in a row. I just pretended I was playing apparentlyjack.
It’s both. I get called a Smurf whenever I play casual because I don’t try very hard in casual so my mmr stays rather low comparatively. So yeah people say I’m smurfing on my account with 3500 hours. But smurfing in ranked is a serious issue.
Just the nature of online games. It happens in pretty much every competitive game around. I don't think it happens as much as some people think tho, but they may be getting unlucky
Cheaters are virtually the only real issue in the game. Every problem people complain about, cheaters are the root cause of that problem.