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Why strictly adhering to a META may be unhealthy for League. Warning: Introspection enclosed

Drugoth··2 votes·395 views

So when we think META and League what is usually the first thing that pops into our minds? Is it what roles should be associated with which lanes? Which item builds are currently "in"?

Strictly following an agreed upon Meta can be a good thing. It brings structure, stability and reliability.

However these positives can also be offset by inherent flaws in its nature.

For example. After awhile the META can become stale and boring. META is extremely restrictive in nature it doesn't leave much room for experimentation. Keep in mind experimentation is how this Meta came to be in the first place. In League's infancy there wasn't really any established tactic that the entire community agreed upon. There was a lot of experimentation. The game was still new and fresh to all of us and we didn't really know what to make of it. (That's not to say it wasn't fun as hell back then too.) Nowadays we have this Meta that has been established and reinforced over years.

Another problem that we have with Meta is it basically handcuffs the champion creation process. Riot has been designing champions that are predisposed to certain roles within this Meta for a long time. It doesn't really allow for very much flexibility when it comes to design choices for the champion team. Riot designs a new champion and the first thing people are asking is what role that champion is for. Riots introduction pages basically pigeon hole that champion for the rest of their life.

In conclusion, I believe that while sticking to a META has its merits there will always be downsides to this strict policy as well.

What do you think? Let's discuss the Meta of League and how we could possibly change things to introduce new concepts to League and make it better!

8 Comments

Veraska2 votes

I dont see the lane composition as the meta i feel like its more the structure of the game like how in football we have a quarterbacks? In league we have the jungler

Now what meta certainly is, is what the playerbase percieves as strong in these roles, like jungle nidalee is meta, but the concept of the jungle isnt a meta point at this point

And the reason this lane composition is so enforced is because its what maximises gold flow for both teams like 3v1 lanes are interesting but their only real to merrit is to try and deny a single player from playing the game, its only interesting in the a real superficial way

Now if we wanna talk about potentially meta changing developments i could see ivern doing a lot of work in that regard

Drugoth1 votes

You bring up some fantastic points. Obviously the Jungler is core to the game but I was mostly talking about which types of champions get type cast into those lanes. For example mid being mages/assassins. Top being tanks/juggernauts. Bot being ADC/Support. The Jungler actually has access to the most diverse choices which is neat.

Veraska1 votes

i was actually thinking about this a lot recently and yea i know what you mean

so you know that boy ivern and how he's this very cool support jungler, but i was theorycrafting with a friend and if we looks at iverns kit he might (might) be a gateway champion for melee champions to function in the bot lane.

-his Q is a root that gives your teammates a lee sin Q2 kinda like summoner 31 on aram -his W puts brush up, it's a common strategy for melee top laners to hide inbrush when against ranged opponents so they can stay in cp range without getting harassed makes them either blow a ward or facecheck them, bringing them into melee range -his e gives them a shield with a powerful slow, to enable better stickiness

he could really help a melee bot laner who lacks moblity get on top of the enemy carry, or help a diver like irelia double down on their stickiness

this is all in theory tho, but i do think as of late champions like kindred (a jungle marksman) or the attempted morde rework have been the right ideas (not always the right time or execution tho of course) to enable a less ridgid use of the lane compositions

Drugoth1 votes

I know Ivern could bring some really crazy bot lanes. Saw a video of Ivern +Rengar and that looked pretty scary. Right now in the current Meta the ADC seems to hold a lot of the power budget. They're ranged, have high dps and very strong itemization choices. It seems like the whole Meta revolves around having one and if you don't you're screwed which is no fun at all.

Veraska1 votes

true but their are multiple marksman that function well in other lanes, varus and corki are frequent mid laners, ezreal less so, ive seen a few mean lucian mids too, and as the previously mentioned kindred in the jungle, it ain't a perfect world yet but i think through new champion releases and such we can start seeing compositions shook up a bit more barring your fields are covered

you don't run 5 tanks in raid you still need a DPS somewhere

Drugoth1 votes

Well I mean fighting a raid boss is a far cry from a 5v5 pvp team fight. Let us not forget the Vayne top lane too. But therein lies the problem. You see marksmen going to different lanes but rarely will you see a mage or tank as the primary CSing entity in the bot lane... This is mainly because the ADC is stronger than many other types of champions in the early game and you would fall behind and be less competitive. Can't wait to see Ivern shake things up

Veraska1 votes

i think it has more to do with the strengths and weaknesses of those classes tho.

marksman like vayne or quinn go top lane because they're really strong duelists and don't need to be protected by a support.

i could definitely see a mage work as the primary farming entity in the bot lane (someone like cassiopeia or azir) but atm it's not optimal, mages have tremendous wave clear so their better used to push out the mid lane and go roam around the map for early pressure, also most mages are burst or spell rotation oriented so it's better to be put to use in the early and mid game, when late game hits crit oriented DPS builds start to take over,

tanks aren't the primary farming role for the same reason, defensive stats fall off late game but their CC and early game durability makes them stronger in the early and mid game

and supports for that matter, most support abilities synnergize more with peeling and protecting a champion, this helps lengthen the window of time a sustained DPS character has to deal damage. these strengths are not so useful on a mage who doesn't need to extra DPS enhancements and the disengage they provide creates distance, something most melee fighters want to do the opposite of.

if the goal is to bring mages bot lane as the primary farmer, then you gotta wonder why you would besides it being cool

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