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Do you still watch LCS?

FancyKiwi·2/15/2017, 6:42:07 PM·8 votes·1,410 views

I stopped watching regularly some time early last season but I pretty much stopped all together when riot made the game insanely snowbally. Every game plays the almost same with teams scared to take any risks at all cause if it goes wrong they pretty much lost. There was one game a few weeks back where at 40 minutes into the game there was a grand total of 6 kills. I'm not asking for it to be like a bronze game where you have 6 kills in the first three minutes but there has to be a middle ground. I swear some teams would honestly rather lose than make a last ditch effort to defend their nexus. I know champ diversity has always been garbage in competitive but it's so much worse last season and this season. i think part of the reason it's so bad now is that since the game is more punishing the teams stick to the safe, no risk picks which, again, makes the games very boring to watch.

TL;DR I stopped watching cause I was bored of watching the same 6 champs play farming simulator 2017 for 40 minutes.

18 Comments

DoktorKaiser2/15/2017, 6:54:36 PM4 votes

Yeah I quit a long time ago because:

every player plays all the champs now, there are no "pocket picks" or experts on a single champions as RIOT would like us to believe, unviable champs are trash and mean that you will probably lose the game and since there are enough broken champions to choose from, some champs are never ever seen
gameplay switched focus from lane mechanical gods and teamfight expert teams to "rotation and micro/macroplay teams" who honestly make me fall asleep because I couldnt give less fucks about the team outrotating the enemy to take the turret for free, but rather want to watch teamfighting mechanics and outplays...
imports and team changes are becoming extreme, with regions such as NA having almost no actual players from NA, koreans flooding every region even if they are honestly trash compared to home grown players, the current "stars" are forgetable nerds and have no personality making me not care about any team whatsoever
the actual balance of the game is in extremely bad state and has been since preseason 6 which certanly took its toll on the pro scene

I feel like a lot of people think the same way as I do, I mean just look at the viewer numbers on twitch since season 6, its almost 2 times less than what it used to be. That should say something honestly...

warpenguin5552/15/2017, 6:48:51 PM3 votes

I still do. The diversity is actually better now but it's still not quite where i'd like it to be. Once lethality gets nerfed, ryze fucks off and red side can stop having to ban Camille, Rengar, and LeBlanc every game i expect it to be better

Lauchmelder2/15/2017, 8:09:13 PM2 votes

Stopped watching regularly because the games are boring the hell out of me. Not worth watching if all you see is people taking absolutely 0 risks (except the occasional counterjungle) and farming till they hit a major power spike, just to gangbang one lane, push a tower and repeat on another lane.

LegendmakerGX2/15/2017, 11:55:19 PM2 votes

Quit watching for 90% of the game until the last maybe 10 minute since Riot suck at balancing the game.

it's 30 minute farming CS non stop until jungler is able to catch one of them off then go back to CS until it's pass 35-40 minute to force a final team fight that will end the game since death timer will be 40 sec by then.

Nothing fun to watch anymore ever since Riot balancing team and their logic of changes fked up the game to have fun watching it. I have fun watching college tournament because they actually still play the same style as back in season 1-4 LCS not afk farm for 20-30 minute then have 1 team fight to decide it all.

GeminiRune2/15/2017, 7:33:20 PM2 votes

I still watch LCS and any competitive league that gathers my interest. Currently the meta right now is far more diverse than what it looks like and strategically pulls out certain compositions depending on what is banned. The few exceptions are LeBlanc and Camille, whom so far have become this season's Kassadin. Teams are willingly gambling Rengar more often. And the bot lane is literally the top lane trinity from a few seasons ago. (Ashe, Varus, Jhin > Shyvana, Renekton, Mundo).

I think that part of your discussion is over-exaggerated or just using the narrow sample of what LCS games watched. Which definitely happens from watching teams that will play strictly by the book. But there are teams that will take a risk and reach for a pocket pick (Echo Fox and Unicorns are two off the top of my head)

The macro play at the moment is definitely punishing for even the smallest mistakes, that I can agree with. Even a team like SKT whom despite winning and maintaining a high gold lead vs a lower table team will still take the game at a careful pace unlike last season's "know the lead, storm the base" scenario. Some games do get bloody off of this matter if they're even in skill level.

There was one game a few weeks back where at 40 minutes into the game there was a grand total of 6 kills. I'm not asking for it to be like a bronze game where you have 6 kills in the first three minutes but there has to be a middle ground

If you're talking about LCS specifically, you're probably referring to DIG vs IMT. And this example of passivity has only happened ONCE this season...anywhere.

Ale non è male2/15/2017, 11:18:16 PM2 votes

Watch EU LCS. More champ diversity, more urgency to make plays because of the lower amount of games overall in the split

EnjoytheSilence92/16/2017, 10:16:21 PM2 votes

I watch these guys, never am disappointed for lack of entertainment.

http://static.mnium.org/images/contenu/actus/LOL/Drui/UoL_avec_leurs_chapeaux.jpg

Earl Eulrich2/17/2017, 11:04:33 AM1 votes

well right now i enjoy watching a lot more than playing...thouhg i have to say, both experiences still have been a lot better during s2-4.

III BAKURYU III 2/15/2017, 10:22:48 PM1 votes

I somewhat agree. In most cases each NA lcs game has around 14 kills total which is pretty low all considering the game lengths that the teams are playing which are around the 37 mins per game. I believe the last time games were this long was the 2014 Summer split where it was around the 38 mins per game but back then teams were on average of only having 12 kills per game. The 2015 Spring split was the next closest kills per game with 13.8 kills per game but only a 34.8 min average

Are games snowed easily and often - YES, but at the same time teams that are ahead don't really do much after getting descent leads so I do see where topic makes sense.

Maybe these won't help but it's possibly a solution to the problem.

Towers upgraded - It felt like 2013-14 the towers were stronger and lasted longer so it took teams longer to just 1 hit them like today and also get the $ gold advantage.
Death timers are too long another reason why players play so safe is because even at 29 mins the death timers are 30-40 secs long that's close to mid outer tower, mid inner tower, mid nexus tower and inhib if the enemy team gets an ace or has a 5 on X advantage.
Eliminate the X Dragons - Let's be honest the fire dragon are the only good ones that makes everyone crazy for them while the others are "meh" for the most part.

On a sidenote riot did these things to make solo Q and LCS as 1 can't change without the other, to make games easier to snowball and get X leads to win the game. I remember a year ago a post was on the boards something like " Games are too long" with hundreds of upvotes around the last time I saw it so Riot made games easier to snowball.
I could talk about reason with solo Q but another time.

TheSequelsRBad2/16/2017, 12:01:35 AM1 votes

I still watch it occasionally, but I have not payed near as much attention as I sometimes have.

Nothing wrong on Riot's end. I just got sick and tired of watching every other region get rekt by Korea season after season after season.

After 4 seasons of it, it gets a little old.

hotarse2/16/2017, 2:46:07 AM1 votes

When Monte and Doa used to cast LCK, I enjoyed listening to their casting even if the games weren't terribly interesting to me. They didn't appear to be on a leash and had the freedom to be more conversational during luls in the gameplay. Doa often would drop some sick references too. LCS are very professional and seem to focus solely on the game and it's boring most of the time. Casters who used to have some flavor like Phreak have toned it down. Phreak used to drop so many hilariously bad puns it was fun.

Unless it's a team I'm really rooting for, I won't watch the match and even games I'm interested in, if they are slow then I'll either skip the videos until I see some action or I'll do something else while watching. Rivington can be the background noise to anything I'm doing, anyday.

Mostly I think my interest has dulled because I don't play the game, I've become disillusioned with the way Riot does things. But that's not to say there aren't great stories coming out of the LCS. Flyquest and C9 this year is one of the best stories there's been in NA LCS. Dardoch is still a compelling character. Liquid will always be my punching bag and at the moment, I'm loving the punches I can throw. Here, take an NV loss!

So, while I may not watch it as much, I still have a lot interest in it.

CodyBear 2/16/2017, 7:26:53 AM1 votes

I just watch to see a certain team in NA lose. It's fun seeing them throw.

Avarosa Guide Me2/17/2017, 7:17:47 PM1 votes

I tend to only watch games for Echo Fox but that's just cause I'm a fan of them. Other than that, LCS has actually improved with the lack of lane swaps and the 10 ban system improving diversity in champion select.

AcidTheWarlock2/17/2017, 1:50:38 AM1 votes

I watch it a lot, LCK, EU, NA, but only if I see a fun pick or it's a team I like. And the pocket picks are coming out in full force.

Therefore I must see them.

Miror B2/15/2017, 11:03:57 PM1 votes

While I "technically" listen to all of the major regions (NA, EU, LCK when I get up in the morning), challenger is the only rito broadcast that I actively stop doing stuff to look at and watch. Compared to the main program, the competition in challenger is actually quite even and more streamlined (you get the game, like 2mins of commentary between the games, the standard 3.5min breaks, and usually a 2min interview after the first series). If captainflowers and deficio casted challenger, then I'd probably stop listening to the LCS altogether as the games feel ridiculously predictable and "overhyped" to the point in which you can sorta predict what is going to happen before the series' even begin.

AMYS GRAVE2/15/2017, 11:15:29 PM1 votes

Ever since they increased death timers risks have been so high that no one dares take any.