i can't think of a good reason to get team mates that should be taking bot to actually go bot for the first few minutes of the game other than 'we will lose the node if nobody goes bot' and that usually ends with 'you go bot.'

well i'm sorry kassadin, i am xin zhao and i think i would be better at top than you would at level 3. nobody ever wants to take bot, there is no reason to take a solo lane for dominion. other than farm, but nobody wants that because you get spoon fed your items anyways on dominion. i myself am perfectly fine with going bot in pug games because i know most of the time i won't lose the lane, but when i see a character on the char select screen that would be better bottom, i'd assume they'd take it.

the problem lies in the scoreboard. people play this game to have fun, and that usually means highest score for most players, everybody wants to be on top of the scoreboard. another example would be for people who have played world of warcraft. i know you've had those games of warsong gultch, or arathi basin where you've either had a group of players fighting mid, or graveyard camping, yet you know that team has like two or three people running to your base, grabbing your flag and capping, causing you to lose the game, but the perfect example would be arathi considering the game modes are very similar. anyways, back to the problem. people want to be on the top of the boards, and in the bottom lane that rarely happens considering it is a 1v1 most of the time because the teams are fighting else where, you'll have the rare gank attempts that come bot but after the spot is either lost, or defended you're left to defend bot alone again. if you try to leave the lane, nobody else will cover it, so you don't leave.

most of the time i am left defending the bottom lane because nobody else will do it. i don't mind 1v1ing, or the fact i'm bottom of the boards due to defending that tower, because we can win the game from defending that tower, but when i pick a character that would be better suited top, or when i see a character that would be better suited bottom, i get annoyed when that player doesn't want to go where he should be, because it's boring. i've had so many games where i've had to lane bot as a character with terrible farm while laning against something like heimer while we have very weak characters running top because they think bot is boring, so we not only end up losing top, but bot as well because after we lose top, people are too concerned with throwing themselves into the enemy team endlessly up top instead of helping bot while he is getting crushed by a heimer with promote, and that usually throws the game right from the start, because the same bad players that should have been bot want to give up because they don't do enough damage and end up getting stomped.

now that i read this post to myself, i guess my problem is bad players.. this is more of just a rant i guess.

You have to try to arrange who will go bottom in team chat before champs are picked. That's all I can tell you. People decide to go bottom when they pick their champ, not once the game starts. If no one responds, you should go bottom. Eventually your elo will rise and people will volunteer for bot more. Better players don't mind bottom as much. It is nice sometimes to change it up and only have to be bot and not worry about the rest of the map.

Also, better players are more likely to say:
"I can take my champ bottom if needed."

Better players can play their champs bottom or top. They don't have to pick a "bottom champ"

P.S. xin is a good bottom champ because his 1v1 is strong and he has good sustain from his auto attacks.

This is a huge problem, I agree. I've made it a habit to try to work out who will bot in champion select. It doesn't always work though. Some people won't even respond, which sucks. (These are the typical people who select a bot-worthy champion but refuse to go bot.)

I'm not sure of how to make this better. But, kudos to you for taking bot when others won't. It really is a thankless, boring job down there.

there are better champions for bot though, and there are champions who are just awful for top lane. i personally can not stand seeing lux go top unless there is absolutely no other option, she isn't THAT useful in my opinion, she has a snare and a slow on pretty hefty cool downs compared to somebody who can not only do more damage when it matters, but be more durable while doing it.

kassadin is another example, he isn't strong enough to go top in my opinion, once he gets some items and has his ult, i wouldn't mind taking bot from him while playing xin, but for that level 3 fight i can not think of a reason to send him top. especially when there is something that could give xin trouble down bot, like a teemo, where a kassadin could easily take out a teemo. i could bring up examples all day, but i am just trying to point out when you see the enemy team, and you KNOW who is going bot, and who you should be sending bot to counter them, yet that person doesn't want to do it, because bot is boring. i should of clarified.

Feign afk and don't move/buy/respond to anyone until 1:18s someone will take bot then you just buy and go top. I learned this while playing Swain. Dat tactician.

I am always willing to go bot yes you usually will not score top 3 less champ kills and less towers caps. But to me a win is a win.

solution: ALWAYS GO BOT. you will have the largest impact on the game. get good and your ELO will ryze.

A tactic I try to use is to compliment their choice of champion against their most likely bottom opponent. I had one game yesterday where everyone wanted to go top and I said, "Graves is our strongest person bottom against Yorick" and he not only volunteered to do it after that, but won the lane.

i make this thread mainly because i played a game last night as shyvana, against a heimer with heal and promote down bot, while we had a annie (who eventually took over bot and locked that heimer down the entire game, props to that guy for that) who refused to go bot in the first place, i had to take it because nobody else would, and heimer proceeded to destroy me, there was nothing i could do against that. i played to the best of my extent and could not beat that tanky heimerdinger though i rushed a wits end and merc treads to try to get my magi resist up (though his turrets just shred that anyways.) if annie were not in that game and did not take that lane from me, we would of probably lost.

i've done stuff like that before and it just ends with the team *****ing i'm afk, while nobody goes bot.