I'm in Bronze 4 0LP currently. I have been playing since end of season 3 and during the season 4 promos I only placed in b5 due to lack of experience after losing 5 games (some due to 4vs5 afk) and winning 4 games with one being a loss prevented due to RIOT getting DDOSed during my promos.
it has been a year of utter frustration to get out of Bronze. So a few months ago I made another account not to be some sort of Bronze smurf to stomp noobs but in order to give myself a second chance to place higher this season if I can't do it again on my main account. My skills might be low but I want to see if with a second account I might have better luck in case there are afks, or network disruptions if it happens on my main.
Anyhow I have never been chat banned, restricted, permabanned or reprimanded. I got all the banners at some point and I try my best never to rage.
I have been slowly leveling this alrernate account now for a few months as time permits. I'm currently at level 15. The thing I noticed is that even in Co-Op vs AI games which I mainly play with some Normals sprinkled in (since I bought zero runes or champs on that account with RP) there are are ton of people smurfing at these low levels especially in Co-Op vs AI.
The problem with this imho isn't just the toxicity but the inability for new players to actually learn the game and the champs and prepare for ranked play or even normal play at 30.
I use this second account as a way to try champs I never play on my main account and to practice in Co-op vs AI some basic skills and improve my poor mechanics.
But I can't do that because every single Co-Op vs AI game is filled with these higher elo or even high Bronze/ mid Silver players who take Vayne/Varus/Akali/Vi/Yas and go 20-0 and end the game in 20 minutes against intermediate AI.
How can you learn a champ or learn some mechanics when you can't even get a full build or even half of one and you can't even fight the AI because that Smurf Vayne is 1vs4 all of them while taking all your farm. In most Co-OP vs AI games there will be at least 2 of these players maybe even more. So every lane is destroeyd by the 22-0 Lee Sin and the 16-0 ADC and 22-0 Akali.
it is so incredibly frustrating and I think this is a bigger problem then even grinding for runes/champs.
LVLing imho is a huge problem for new players because of Smurfs but not just because of Normals, but because they are everywhere and impede the learning phase.
Now in normals as you described Smurfs are stomping people like me who are still not that good or inexperienced. Not just the trolls and those who want to stomp but my own team mates. My account says lvl 15 and I am playing a champ I don't play on my main account so I am technically new. Yet al lI get is "STFU feeder, and WTF Nasus?, This Riven, get cancer gg or uninstall noob" etc etc.
The entire system is broken completely. From the way you level up to the way you rank via tiers.
You know how many times I have tried to get out of Bronze in the last year? How many times I went up to b5 or b4 or b3 promos only to fall back down?
I am an older player so my mechanics aren't stellar but I've been in promos on my main account where some Gold/Platinum smurf on the enemy team looked at Summoning.net and told you "You don't deserve to Rank up" and proceeded to kill me over and over and over the entire game. Why? What did I do to him?
now add all the intentional feeders, trolls, afkers, network problems, the fact that you get 15 points per win and 22 points if I lose the closer I get in LP to promos, or that in promos I get last pick in champ select and get placed against someone who completely stomps me every time.
So when out of frustration I make an alternate account to learn and start again its just as bad if not worse and on top of that I got to do that whole champ/rune grind all over again.
Its completely different when you smurf from diamond/plat/gold and blow through Bronze becasue you have Diaon/Plat/Gold mechanics from playing at that level with those level people which teaches you good skills, vs if you got placed in Bronze and you only played with other bronze learning bad habits and dealing with the worse of the worse.
Its just an exercise in frustration and pain.