About Sona

Mialee·Jul 16, 2014·1 votes·1,107 views

When Sona first appeared on PBE Fearless said he will listen to what the community has to say about the changes and implement many changes to her current PBE state.

Now Sona will return to PBE with practically nothing changed (bubble radius changed from 300 to 350 + extra heal nerfs)

For example, everyone suggested cooldowns should remain unchanged from live state. Auras, which are a fine well understood concept that defines Sona, are removed completely!

My question is : Is the team that is in charge of Sona willing to change anything about her kit or their promise about listening to us was empty?

9 Comments

Dr Clueless PhDJul 16, 20141 votes

So, here's the thing:

If they did whatever people asked when they reworked a Champion, the end result would be no changes whatsoever. The people saying "Revert this" or "don't change that" are pretty much ignored, because they're just trying to stagnate progress.

It's harsh, but it's true. Sona's current auras, as much as I love them, aren't good design for LoL players. In a different game, sure, they'd work fine. But not here. The players here don't have the attention span or awareness to notice them or make use of them. They need obvious, high-impact, low-duration things, and that's what Sona's new auras are. Those pretty much need higher cooldowns, for various reasons.

If you want to provide feedback on the changes, go for it. But asking for her to not get reworked isn't feedback. It's a waste of time and energy.

MialeeJul 16, 20141 votes

Well to be fair Sona does not really need a rework and even Fearless said something along the line, Sona is neither weak not strong she is just fine now but lets change her anyway. So I claim that the rework itself might be a waste of time and energy as you say.

Also I am very unsure what you mean when you say that people cannot notice them or use them.

In any case, the thing is that some people, like me, have played hundreds/thousands of games with the champion and we want if she gets a rework to be for the better and not result in a failed experiment.

Dr Clueless PhDJul 16, 20141 votes

They're reworking her because the majority of LoL players don't notice her power and find her boring. And don't patronize me about Sona play. She was my first main Champion, and I love her to death. I love aura play, and always have, but it doesn't have a place in LoL. The majority of players here are, basically, too stupid for it. They generally never notice the auras at all, even though they're a huge stat buff. They only see the nuke/heal/reverie, because that has an obvious effect. Auras are strong and subtle, and the one thing LoL has tried to remove over the years (because the players can't handle it) is subtle power. Similarly, these same players don't feel the power of the auras when they play her. People like us know they're there, and we very much appreciate them, but we're abnormal. Most people feel that she is boring, and she "feels" weak to them, because they aren't familiar with aura play.

This rework isn't targeted at Sona players. It's targeted at everyone else. And, like it or not, it's going through. Riot has shown themselves unwilling to preserve a playstyle, no matter how much some people like it, if it has an issue like this. They want their Champions to be exciting and open to lots of people, not just ones with an eye for numbers.

MialeeJul 16, 20141 votes

I understand that many games nowadays try to mouth feed their players who unfortunately have been "casualized" ( from quest indicators in rpgs, removal of complex mechanical concepts, to respawn timers for jungle creeps and many others). I do not believe this change is for the better however, and I do not say this out of nostalgia.

As for Sona I honestly do not understand how the perception "she is boring" or "people do not appreciate her" came up, and as for the "she is weak" I attribute it to the fact she got nerfed over and over again since she was released. So this perception in my opinion is enforced to people as a "self fulfilling prophecy".

And about the general riot's philosophy ... I believe dota 1 was a more complete game than lol is today. Even in the first draft of lol where many of the dota aspects were preserved the game had a slightly bigger variety than now e.g. gankplang could deny a minion but later this was removed because it did not fit the game. lol is enforcing a champion/item/playstyle uniformity that I find weird.

The game is more boring than it could be not because the champions do not have abilities flashy enough but because 90+% of the games a guy goes top, another goes mid, top go bot and the last one jungles with similar champions played every game. Do you know how much flame some that want to run urgot, poppy, mid Sona can get. No denies, no tri-lanes, no creep stacking, no river runes, no level one baron, no buybacks, no losing gold on death, no day night cicle, no high ground advantage, dodge pretty much removed from the game... and when a champion has a unique attribute in the game like auras we remove it to make Sona even more similar to Mami... thats my take on the direction this game is heading

Dr Clueless PhDJul 16, 20141 votes

Yeah, you're right. I'm not arguing with you at all (with you general point, at least, not necessarily all specifics). The desire to have this game appeal to as many people as possible has left the design lacking in many respects, in my opinion. Sona is an upcoming casualty of this.

Linna ExcelJul 16, 20142 votes

They're reworking her because the majority of LoL players don't notice her power and find her boring.

The majority of LOL players don't notice what's going on with the minimap at least some of the time. I guess the minimap should be reworked too.

Dr Clueless PhDJul 16, 20141 votes

I'm sure they've tried to find a way.

Linna ExcelJul 16, 20141 votes

What I was trying to point out is just because players don't notice something, doesn't mean the thing they don't notice is broken or needs fixing. Sometimes it's the players fault and the design is fine. Sometimes not being able to notice something right off is part of the discovery process.

Dr Clueless PhDJul 16, 20141 votes

Yeah, it absolutely is the players' fault. And Riot is still going to change it anyway. We just have to deal with it.