A Word on the Assassin Update (A Plea To Riot)

When the mage update was coming out, I made a post regarding the Cassiopeia rework. I mentioned that a Cassiopeia rework was uncalled for. I said she was picked often, but not too often, throughout the spring split. I was genuinely curious why Riot thought she needed to be reworked. She clearly had strengths that made her a good pick in several matchups and scenarios, but she wasn't overpowered such that she was being played everywhere in every game. Furthermore, it took a significant amount of skill to unlock her maximum potential. I made the post discussing my disappointment with the lack of research/knowledge that seemed to go into the decision to rework her.

Soon after I made the post, Riot Sotere commented on my post. I still have the reply screenshot and can go back to it in my boards profile if anyone wants to see, word for word, what he said. I appreciated being reached out to and having someone give my forum post a good, long response, but I wasn't exactly happy with what I heard.

One of the things he said was: "In terms of research and her competitive viability: It's really been cool to see her be picked up these past few weeks. A project of this size takes significantly longer to complete than a few weeks, so those data points weren't available at the outset."

He also said: "Right now the main reason to pick her is to counter Ryze. While I appreciate that soft counter in a vacuum, I don't think that's what her viability should be tied to."

I took great issue with this. Seeing as how I play on a team, I find it useful to look at what's getting picked by professionals in certain regions. It wasn't hard for me to compile a list of all of the games that Cassiopeia was picked in across the Spring Split. For reference, the time of the post was in the middle of LCK playoffs. April 19th to be exact. Now, check this out: There were 13 Cassiopeia games, across all regions, in the spring split up until the time of the post. 10 of those 13 games were in the first 3 weeks of the Spring Split, and several were within just the 1st week. This is where I had a problem with reading, "A project of this size takes significantly longer to complete than a few weeks, so those data points weren't available at the outset." It made me wonder if Riot actually does research when they decide to rework. And the second comment only gave me more reason to be concerned.

"RIght now the main reason to pick her is to counter Ryze," said Riot Sotere. As I was a mid/high diamond Cassiopeia player, I knew that this wasn't true. Sure she was a Ryze counter, but she wasn't JUST a Ryze counter. But rather than just take my word for it, consider that only one of the 13 Cassiopeia games in the Spring Season had a Ryze matchup. Coincidentally, the most recent Cassiopeia game at the time was the game where she was picked against Ryze.

POINT OF THIS POST: I'm not trying to make a rage post on how Cassiopeia's rework should be reverted, despite all of the work that Riot has already put into it. In part, I blame myself for not paying attention to PBE updates and making an earlier post to help inform Riot that a Cassiopeia rework wasn't necessary. She wasn't broken, and she wasn't under played in competitive. In Solo Queue she wasn't played a ton, mainly because she requires a lot of skill. After this happened, I have tried to pay closer attention to PBE updates and big announcements. And despite my concerns, I will grant you that you didn't ruin Cassiopeia with the rework. She might have come out a lot weaker at first and I still think that there wasn't much of a reason to give her a rework, but I will grant you, Riot, that it wasn't a huge step backwards.

I know that you guys, you guys being Riot, have announced that there is an upcoming assassin update. As a high diamond player, long time Kassadin main, and mid main since season three, I hope you guys will hear me out. Please don't change Kassadin and/or Leblanc. I may not be a big Leblanc player, but I don't have to be to know that she's in a balanced state that contributes to champion diversity in high level play. Kassadin is the same way. I've been with Kassadin through just about everything: the rework, the nerfs, the other nerfs, the other other nerfs, and the buffs. Kassadin went from being over powered, to being below average, to being extremely weak, to being slightly below average, and finally, Kassadin is in a healthy, balanced state. Sometimes, I really credit you guys with your balance decisions. I was always playing Kassadin, trying to figure out when he would be good again or what he still needed to be good. After the buff to his ultimate stacks, he started to become good again. I played him some and determined for myself that he needed one thing to be a good pick again: he needed a reduced cooldown on netherblade. This was the exact change that came out not so many patches later, and I've been able to go back to playing Kassadin as one of my top 3 champions ever since.

I don't want to see Kassadin go through another rework, and I don't want to see any nerfs/buffs (because he really doesn't need either right now). I just want to see him stay in a balanced state. Cassiopeia was another one of my old favorites, and she was suddenly reworked in a way that to me was incredibly uncalled for. I'm posting now to offer my insight/input, for whatever it may be worth, in hopes that you guys will acknowledge that Kassadin is in a balanced, healthy state and seek to keep it that way.

The mage update was a great success, really. I go on the forums, and most of the time I just see rage posts about what Riot is doing wrong. The mage update turned several champions into balanced, viable picks; champions that had no prior hope of being successful in competitive or high elo were given changes that made them good. I know there are many assassins who need reworked kits so that they may become good and viable, and I look forward to seeing how you guys bring some of these old, long unseen picks back into the scene.

FINALLY, I realize this was a very long post and thank you for reading it. See you on the rift!