Fantasy LCS - Where Is the Waiver System?
I have played League of Legends for about 7 months now and I am loving it. I'm a true fan of competitive sports and games, so of course LoL is no exception. I also joined a Fantasy LCS league with some friends of mine it has been very fun so far. As a veteran of fantasy sports, I can definitely say Riot is taking a step in the right direction with Fantasy LCS. However, after the first week of EU LCS matches, it came to my attention that there is not a waiver wire system in Fantasy LCS. I am not sure if the app is still in beta, but it still begs the question, "Why is there no waiver system in Fantasy LCS"?
For those of you who are not familiar with waivers, here is a brief overview from ESPN Fantasy Football:
"Waivers are the process by which owners can select from the pool of available players who are not on a team's roster in the league. Owners can put a claim in for a player, but must wait a specified amount of time until the waiver clears. The team wins any pending waiver claim will receive the player when waivers clear. All available players not on Waivers are considered Free Agents ("FA") and can be added at anytime". http://games.espn.go.com/ffl/resources/help/faq?name=what-are-waivers
Imagine playing draft-mode on LoL but instead of having bans and alternating picks, you could simply choose a champ for your team if you clicked first. Of course this would not work! In fact, it would no longer be draft mode. Each team alternates picks with a small amount of time before a summoner chooses their champ. This scenario does not directly translate to Fantasy LCS, however I believe it shows some parallels.
The waiver system allows for time after matches have been played to place requests for players. Instead of allowing whoever, 'clicks first' to pick up their player of choice. As you may already begin to tell, major balancing issue will emerge if waivers are not addressed.
Here is a good example of an issue with the current system:
A member of your league, and we can call him "Member 1", does not work or have school in the afternoon on Thursday or Friday. Another member of your league, "Member 2" does have afternoon class while another, "Member 3" works from noon to 8pm on those same days. Well, with nothing better to do, Member 1 watches a game in which Zytan from SK Gaming goes 11/0/24 with a Quadra Kill. Now of course after a performance like that, who wouldn't pick up Zytan? A support that can get Quadras? Yes please! Alas, Member 1 picks Zytan and before Member 2 or 3 even know which teams won their matches, Member 1 has picked up the MVP of the day.
Now, maybe you might say, "Tough luck. Member 1 watched the game so he deserves to be able to pick up good players". I agree with the statement, yet I do believe there is still a problem. What if Member 2 and Member 3 plan to watch the games on the weekend when they do not have other obligations to attend to? What if they watch ALL of the matches from the previous day, but do it the next day because they have class or work? Consider this: What if this happened every single week? Is this fair to Member 2 or 3? I do not like to use the word fair, because some people believe 'fair' is only used by individuals of weak stature. However, I truly believe it applies here.
Without a waiver wire system, Fantasy LCS is extremely broken. I truly hope that Riot Games will address this issue in the coming weeks and hopefully with enough support we can get their attention. If you enjoyed reading my post or learned something new, please comment and up vote so Riot can see.
Thank you for taking the time to read my post and good luck in your fantasy league(s)!
Tl;dr: Fantasy LCS is fun, but without a waiver system it is a mediocre fantasy game at best. Waiver systems exist in fantasy sports leagues because they act as a balancing mechanism. IMO, Riot should follow suit and implement this same system to further enhance the Fantasy LCS experience for players, fans, and the community in general.
EDIT: Added Link to Reddit Post http://www.reddit.com/r/FantasyLCS/comments/2tj9es/discussion_fantasy_lcs_where_is_the_waiver_system/