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.