Over 4000 ranked games, more than 5000 games on SR alone, and now I don't enjoy the game anymore.

Before I start, let me also mention that League inspired me to pursue my current career as a technical artist in the games industry and I currently work for a game dev studio in the Bay area as a technical artist. I mention that so as to make sure that everyone knows that I do have some knowledge on game dev studios and game design.

I started playing league in season 4 as a Tristana main. I used to play at 300 ping and still managed to climb to high silver in my first ranked season even though I started playing during the second half of the season. League was the first time I was introduced to a MOBA. I enjoyed it so thoroughly that I decided I wanted to be a game developer so one day I could work at Riot. I was a mediocre college student in India. League alone gave me the inspiration to reach where I am today.

But why do I not enjoy league anymore? That has a multi part answer and here we go:

1. Too much change. Let me explain, a normal league player goes to school/work and probably does not have more then 3-4 hours a day to play and I am talking high end of the spectrum, I could if I wanted to play for 2-3 hours a day but I don't because I am not as good as I used to be. I used to be a Tristana main in season 4 and soon after she was nerfed to the ground (before coming back in the meta in s7). I was a Varus main before his playstyle was completely changed. I was/am a Vayne main but playing her feels like an auto loss. Caitlyn is so boring to play that I would rather lose than play Caitlyn and the list goes on, I feel like all the hours (and money) I have put into the game have essentially been wasted and that makes the experience way worse.

2. Too much going on. What does this mean? It means that Riot when trying to tackle too many issues in too little time, give the player hundreds to changes to deal with at the same time. You could call this one a dupe of the first one but I disagree. I disagree because usually a player has about 2-3 play-styles he/she enjoys (other than the 1 tricks), if you change 1 playstyle, the player has the choice and time to adapt to the changed playstyle while continuing to enjoy other playstyles that he/she has mastered already.

3. Making a whole class of champions useless. This one is more recent and may have a hint of personal preference as I am an ADC main. ADCs are essentially out of the meta. I agree that ADCs were too strong for most of the last year and needed nerfs (I believe it was the supports), but lets say bot lane in general. But to make changes that renders an entire class of champions useless (barring 1 early game adc, think Lucian), Ezreal and Kaisa are less ADCs and more AD Casters so lets leave it that. As an ADC main that is completely heartbreaking, it was the part of the game I enjoyed the most and now I don't really enjoy league anymore.

There are other issues like massive jungle changes every season since s4 which have disrupted the play "n" number of times and Riot still doesn't seem to get it right along with so many other changes.

I understand designing and balancing a game is very challenging but with the amount of resources present at Riot, I do not understand how or why Riot keeps hiding behind the LCS to defend changes which are harmful to the game.

I LOVE League of Legends and I WANT to keep playing the game but I am not sure I can if Riot doesn't change the way they do things.