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Almost everyone wants to see champion diversity in LCS

DeusVult·1/5/2015, 7:10:39 AM·136 votes·43,298 views

Because for at least the past 2 season its basically been the same 25 champs banned/picked every game. If they aren't banned, they are picked. 16 champs are banned/picked every game, that leaves 9 champs that are interchangeable in the usual lineup.

But wait the nay sayers shout, there are a ton more champs picked than 25.

Ok your right. Over the course of the summer split, I beleive 67 champs were picked/banned out of the 120+ that are in the game. However, the pick/ban rate for those champs varied immensely. Champs like Lee Sin, Zed, Elise, etc had enormous pick/ban rates, being in almost every game. By contrast, other champs that were selected such as veigar were picked maybe a handful of times, never banned and almost exclusively picked by one pro because its a niche pick. So, in reality, it really was just about 25 champs every game that were seeing action.

I love watching pro games, but watching games were every game looks so similar to every other one being played across the entire season gets to be a bit boring. So, I humbly submit this change to the LCS series games.

Each time that a champ is picked/banned, they are disabled for all following games in that series. So, each game, the champion pool decreases by 16 champs and no game will feature one pro playing the same champ over and over and over. In a best of 3 series, at least 32 champs will be picked or banned, at most 48. Way more diversity. In a best of 5, 48 champs will see the rift (or be banned). Or, if it goes to 5 games, a whopping 80 champs will see some form of the action.

"but this will stretch pro's champion pools to limits where they can't even play"

Not really. Sure, they won't be on their mains or whatever is FoTM, but I've seen pro streams. They can play way more champs than what they actually do in the LCS, they just don't play them in the LCS because they are more comfortable on their pool of 4-5 main champs.

I might get downvoted to oblivion by people who like watching LCS the way it currently is, but having watched it for years I can honestly say that it has gotten stale and watching games now looks basically the same as it did 2 years ago, barring a few changes to the main champion pool. Change is scary, but variety is the spice of life, and LCS desperately needs variety.

159 Comments

RiotPhreak1/7/2015, 1:54:40 AM31 votes

It's definitely an odd space.

On the one hand, you're right: The number of unique champions played in top tier competitive play is dwindling slowly over time. The real question is "Why?"

You could certainly force a wider variety. You could say "Okay, you can only play each champion once per month / once per series / if your opponents haven't played it either." Enforcing a wider variety of champions can be interesting because you'll see more of them played. You could have 20 bans. You'll definitely see different stuff played if you do that.

Another question can be if just "Champion named Ezreal was picked" counts as one unique pick. What about Mid Ezreal vs. ADC Ezreal? What about Support Nautilus vs. Jungle? Kayle Top/Mid/Support? How about different builds? AP Amumu vs. Tank Amumu? You can track the specifics of "Champion named X was picked." Does that tell the whole story? Do you care if they were built differently? AP Mid vs. AD Bot Kog'Maw? I'd argue this counts as a "different" pick, but it's of course not tracked as that. Certainly, an edge case, but it's food for thought.

On that line of reasoning, I think 2014 was a year full of flex picks. We saw Karma, Lulu, and a whole host of other mages go in various lanes. Would a better line of reasoning be, "How many Supports did we see this year? How many Mid Laners did we see this year?" Double-counting Jayce doesn't make for a very interesting comparison, but Annie might count. I think we saw more flex picks in 2014 than any other year. There were probably at least two dozen champions that were played in more than one role this year in professional play.

The game has also become more homogenized. Up until halfway through Season One, many teams weren't running ADC+Support bottom lanes. Now it's considered commonplace. Not everyone knew Kassadin was crazy strong throughout 2013, Cloud9 least of which, but he defined the first half of 2014's Ban phase. Nowadays everyone's watching the Koreans and saying, "Ah, LeBlanc and Corki are contested. We should all learn them." The fact that all the top-tier players have a standard to look to and compel themselves to emulate shrinks our champion pools significantly.

I specifically asked Cloud9's Hai about this at the beginning of 2014. He said they sat down, had a meeting, and told me (paraphrased), "We chose to drop our old playstyle. We should play like SKT. They won the world championship. Let's be like them" Well, SKT couldn't even qualify for Worlds the next year. I'm not certain that emulating a specific team or style of play in a constantly-evolving game is the right way to thrive. Cloud9 had, consecutively, their worst splits ever after making the decision, "Let's copy SKT." Throughout 2013 they made their own rules. Meteos made his own jungle style. Sneaky and LemonNation pulled in their own champion pools and style (Hello, Ashe/Zyra). Certainly, other factors than just "not innovating" led to teams taking more games off C9 than before; I'm just bringing up trends I see.

I think the trend actually feeds on itself. Because everyone's compelled to learn specific champions because "better teams" do so, everyone shares similar champion pools. And because you can easily predict your opponent's champions, and magically you ALSO play those champions, it means you have heavily contested picks. I know they want Corki. Well I know how to play Corki! Let's first pick Corki. This repeats for every role, 2-3 champions deep. Some players branch out and have their own fun touches (Xerath players, Rengar players, Rumble players, Vayne players, etc.) but anything that sees a lot of success falls back into the old pattern of, "Oh this champion's successful, let's all learn it."

In my opinion, almost every single champion in League of Legends can be that champion. The next Rengar is out there. The next Support Annie or Support Morgana is out there. People just arbitrarily started playing them and everyone decided it was a good idea. But people seem to glom onto them really, really hard, so the pools decrease.

What's the way to fix that? Is it OK to "force open" the champion pools? Should we just track "# of Supports played" across seasons and trend that? What should change?

Learnding1/5/2015, 5:42:34 PM21 votes

Pretty much

Konidias1/5/2015, 10:09:21 PM8 votes

I think the only change I would make is that it's team restricted... not restricted to both teams just because one player picked the champ. So a player on TeamA picks Zed first game, that means TeamB could pick Zed next game... as long as he wasn't banned.

This still reduces the champs down by 5 per team each game... which would at least allow for some more creative champ selects.

Overall though, the main fix is to balance these champs a bit more. Instead of just nerfing some stats, create some real strengths and weaknesses with the champs.

2pudge1cup1/5/2015, 6:36:18 PM8 votes

This solution doesn't solve anything but making the game artificially look more balanced.

It's 100% a balance issue. The balance needs to be better and not solely based on "champs that look good are allowed to be strong and champs that don't aren't."

TheRainInSpain1/6/2015, 12:05:25 AM5 votes

they just don't play them in the LCS because they are more comfortable on their pool of 4-5 main champs.

That is precisely why the LCS pool is so small. I tend to think streams are for fun, so don't get me wrong. My favorite players mess around almost all the time on streams, or they half mess around half play for keeps. You tend to play what you feel like in NORMAL games. But when it comes to Ranked (and Yes, League Champion Series is still Ranked), you play to win. So you play the champions you're most familiar with. If that ends up being everyone uses the same twenty champions because those twenty champions are the ones everyone is most comfortable with, well, there is your problem.

Fisk1/5/2015, 4:05:27 PM3 votes

I agree champion diversity is important but there is just one problem. Even if champions are balanced for regular play, it doesn't mean they will be picked in LCS. For example lets think about a champion like udyr. From the normal player's standpoint he is perfectly balanced. He can split push well, is good at 1v1ing people early, good at taking early jungle objectives and has a great clear time. Does this mean he will ever see LCS play? Probably not UNLESS it is a niche or surprise pick. Why? Because his strategy has basic counter play and you are better off picking a champion that has good team synergy (lee sin, j4 etc etc) and out play the other team in team fights/skirmishes. Therefore the pro scene will always have underplayed champions.

Rivini1/8/2015, 3:09:01 AM3 votes

The champion pool is limited in the LCS because the only "viable" ones are the ones who are fun to watch. When they aren't fun to watch, they are nerfed without hesitation if they see LCS play (i.e. Nasus and Sona). Riot doesn't want potential new players watching a champion stay at top and Q minions for 20+ minutes. That's boring, so let's make sure he won't be picked anymore!

Meanwhile, as a perfect example, Thresh with his blatantly overloaded kit remains as he is and only receives love taps when the cries for nerfs become too great. "Maybe if we lower his attack range by 25, that will shut them up." The thing is Thresh can be melee and still be a top support pick. His utility is just that godly. Riot merely found a cop out to apply a nerf without affecting his core gameplay. Thresh will never be properly balanced as long as he remains fun to watch. Literally every one of his abilities makes exciting plays happen, so in order for the pros to want to pick him all the time and continue to see air time in the LCS, they keep him in his overpowered state.

When you look at the big picture, it becomes clear.

http://forums.na.leagueoflegends.com/board/showthread.php?t=4358182