I only started watching pro lol recently.?

MunchCrunchLunch·3/6/2016, 1:29:55 PM·3 votes·1,541 views

has it always been like this. the same 15 champions being picked in every match. tower sieging. lane swapping. barely any team fighting. the only time teams TEAM FIGHT is when someone either fucks up or the other team is simply way ahead. or poor draft. I mean i watched some of last year worlds recently and it seemed a lot different tbh. a lot of champions. that I would never imagine getting picked. were picked. I mean is it just the way the game shifted or what. every time I watch the best part is champ select pick bans to see if someone is gonna pick a differrent champion but no. same champs. its just really lame.

26 Comments

Stillname3/6/2016, 5:21:56 PM3 votes

Why is it lame that they play a strategy game like its a strategy game?

Just because most people in soloq play this game like its team death match doesn't mean that's the way it was meant to be played.

The reason a lot of games end up playing out so similarly is because teams are competing to execute what they consider to be the best strategies in the actual games that matter.

I bet their scrims where they actually try out new strats and try to innovate would be more interesting to watch but making that available would give away strategies for them to their opponents which would be pretty unfair.

alasarcher3/6/2016, 1:40:55 PM3 votes

Its not lame. If something works well, why change it? If Gragas jungle works well for them, why pick something else? If Naut works fine, why pick Renekton or Darius?Why risk it?

Mazariamonti3/6/2016, 4:27:57 PM2 votes

They're playing for money rather than fun so they can't really afford to mess around with the picks. It's not that they're aren't other champions they can play, it's just that they're not willing to risk it. The same could be said for any 'sport' really. is it 'possible' for a football team to only call wildcat plays and win? Sure. But they do what has the best chance of winning. The enjoyment of the game comes from watching the strategy and the different playstyles, which when you watch enough becomes pretty distinct between the regions and teams within those regions.

BastionKross3/6/2016, 3:59:08 PM1 votes

Diversity in pro picks has been an issue since at least season 3. Pros find the small handful of champs that are strong and have the least amount of counterplay, and spam them to hell and back. I'm not doubting them for doing that, the whole point for them is to win. But it does get boring quickly watching the same section of champs over and over and over and over again.

There was actually a discussion here with a Rioter last year about this very topic. He seemed to be interested in the suggestion that in a pro tourney, once a champion was picked a certain number of times, it would be disabled for the rest of the tourney. That would essentially force diversity on the pros and open up a large section of the roster as possible picks.

Of course there are many negatives to that as well, and as we see nothing came of that discussion. But it is telling that Riot knows watching the same champions in the same matchups constantly isn't doing them any favors.

Fransiee3/6/2016, 4:33:16 PM1 votes

15 champs is not true obviously. However there are a lot of champs that get picked often, thosr are the most viable in that team comp and lets be honoust, that is how the game is. Corki, kalista, kog, lucian, ezreal, lulu, viktor, zed l, leblanc, lissandra... Well the list is pretty long so 15 is not true

Kaxi3/6/2016, 4:38:00 PM1 votes

{quoted}

has it always been like this. the same 15 champions being picked in every match. tower sieging. lane swapping. barely any team fighting. the only time teams TEAM FIGHT is when someone either fucks up or the other team is simply way ahead. or poor draft. I mean i watched some of last year worlds recently and it seemed a lot different tbh. a lot of champions. that I would never imagine getting picked. were picked. I mean is it just the way the game shifted or what. every time I watch the best part is champ select pick bans to see if someone is gonna pick a differrent champion but no. same champs. its just really lame.

This is just a victim of the current metagame. People have been branching out more this season, but there are a few set "OP" for each roll. Especially ones that excel in specific (strong) compositions see more play.

aj502 Oneill3/7/2016, 2:26:35 AM1 votes

You watch only NA. Take a look at different regions, they all have casters in English if that's a concern.

EpikFeeder3/7/2016, 6:53:53 AM1 votes

The problem is that true balance can never happen. Because even if statistically every champion was equal, whatever one had the best cc or mobility would become superior. Can you blame teams for wanting to win by spamming the best options?

prozak823/8/2016, 5:28:35 PM1 votes

ive been watching some heroes of the storm matches here recently and its kinda sad how much more entertaining it is to watch them than league. hots has constant fighting and high potential for comebacks. league has boring lane swaps and 20 minutes of watching a foregone conclusion slowly play out.

JustCasual3/9/2016, 9:22:21 PM1 votes

This season has probably been the most diverse when it comes to champion picks. However, there is always weeks where there are the most contested picks (i.e. Alistar or Braum in support).

This season specifically has a meta where teams ALWAYS lane swap, top laners usually double jungle, and supports may late invade to disrupt the first jungle clear. There are a handful of reasons but basically...

ADC and support take jungle camp to get the unfair level 2 spike (usually this would be the side of double golems.
This causes the jungle to start on the opposite side (very predictable)
This causes top laner to stay w/ their jungler for protection AND because top laner will get zoned out of CS/XP in the 2v1 against the ADC/Support
Turrets are so easy to take early game which leads to maybe a 3 or 4 man push. This also leads to a game of chicken where basically the first team to stop pushing loses out on more turrets/xp/CS
Dragon isn't as important so there aren't fights for it unless it's easy to take

Every season (or parts of the season) have specific metas that the pros will follow (because it's the 'best/efficient' way to play). We've had some metas where you have 50+ minute games regularly. Some seasons have games that are decided during the first 15 minutes and end by 25-30 minutes. Some seasons where there are 6 junglers banned every game (a bit of hyperbole).

This season is definitely boring for the first 15 minutes unless you're interested in the mind games and strategies of working the map and lanes. This season ALSO has the most interesting since you could see 3 markmen on 1 team, lots of assassins, or lots of tanks (long intricate teamfights). We definitely have seen some crazier off-meta picks (Huni on Cho'Gath, Adrian on Soraka, Alex Ich on mid Nautilus, etc).

MrHaZeYo3/14/2016, 9:51:27 AM1 votes

Just posted this on a thread but its relevant here too.

It's been this way for a long time, least those 20-30 champs slowly rotate in and out. Although this year I feel we're seeing a good amount.

Top: Graves Malphite Fiora Poppy Quinn Ryze Mao Kai Trundle Naut Rammus Cho'Gath Ekko Pantheon Gangplank Jax Kayle Shen Yas Vlad Olaf

Jungle: Elise Reksai Gragas Lee Sin Nid Nunu Rumble Zac Kindred

Mid: Lux Ahri LeBlanc Viktor Syndra Lulu Lisandra Zed Talon Zilean Anivia Karma Orianna Twisted Fate Vel Koz (Faker at IEM)

AD: Cait Kali Corki Ezreal Lucian Jhin Draven Miss Fortune Kog

Supp: Alistar Bard Janna Soraka Bruam Morg Thresh

Those are all Champs that have been picked at least once in either LCS or IEM over the spring split. Ya some rarely see play but it doesn't change the fact they've been picked. Look at top lane alone, back in Season 4 Spring it was Renekton vs Shyvana with some Trundle sprinkled in, now we got a healthy amount of varity. Sure its not the whole LoL Roster seeing action but champs get rotated in and out based on the Meta.

I could of missed a few but you get the jist, also some of the champs (Example Graves) are flex picks for more than just 1 lane, I only put them on the list once tho.

Slappybiscuit3/6/2016, 2:02:00 PM1 votes

Usually it is pretty much the same champs being picked. And pros with shallow champion pools pick the same couple of champs every game (Adrian; soraka, janna)(Pobelter; Lux)

Rossendale3/6/2016, 2:26:01 PM1 votes

I think it's more the fact that most pros are really good at 2-3 champions at most. I don't watch much LCS but from what I know most pro players have a couple of comfort picks they can really really well and are pretty much meh to okay level on everything else.