The game now has too many variables to balance it fairly

PapaGreg21··10 votes·830 views

There is something called chaos theory where systems can be greatly affected by small changes, and the systems because incredibly difficult to control the more that different variables are introduced. This is how I feel League has now become.

I truly don't know if Riot is trying to balance the game so that everyone is fairly even or if they simply find that rotating strong champs is how they want to run business. The beginning of the year had Graves jungle just destroying people for months without any changes. Now he got nerfed to the point where he is below average and you never see him. It's just a dumb cycle. I personally hate the rotation of what items/champs are going to be the flavor of the month and things are being added quicker than they are being corrected. If that isn't the balance team's plan, then they are truly not paying attention to their game.

Update: I think many people here are trying to make a point that the game can't be perfectly balanced or even generally balanced. The degree of balance is obviously a sliding scale but my comment was regarding the balance getting worse than ever with the added variables. There is a difference between not balanced and REALLY not balanced.

9 Comments

Azure Hamster5 votes

The game was impossible to balance upon release. That's the nature of MOBAs.

Caitlyn

Kapparoth4 votes

Well, when you have a game with 138 champions split into 2 teams of 5 and as many items as there are in the game, some champion combinations and some items are inevitably going to be better than others. Keeping a game perfectly balanced just isn't feasible with a roster as big as League's.

ModThe Djinn7 votes

{quoted}

Well, when you have a game with 138 champions split into 2 teams of 5 and as many items as there are in the game, some champion combinations and some items are inevitably going to be better than others. Keeping a game perfectly balanced just isn't feasible with a roster as big as League's.

Or a smaller roster, for that matter. Overwatch has 20 something heroes, and struggles to keep them all equally viable. The original Super Smash Brothers had just 12 characters, the same objective on every stage, and fairly character-neutral items, and STILL has a definite tier list.

Asymmetrical balance is always rough. VERY few games (Starcraft: Brood War aside, since that's about as good as you can get at this) manage to achieve even close to perfect balance.

Hell...CHESS has identical sides with identical options and the only difference is who goes first, and it STILL has a white advantage with about a 52-56% win rate.

Kapparoth1 votes

Hah, I was actually going to make a comment about Smash Bros (was going to say something to the effect of "Smash 4's roster number is less than half of League's and it still isn't 100% balanced")

Daddy Ants1 votes

{quoted}

Well, when you have a game with 138 champions split into 2 teams of 5 and as many items as there are in the game, some champion combinations and some items are inevitably going to be better than others. Keeping a game perfectly balanced just isn't feasible with a roster as big as League's.

WoW has a third of League's playable roster and has a joke of game balance also.

AirKingNeo2 votes

No game can be perfectly balanced, but it is fairly easy to get close. Why Live Design can't get close/chooses not to is a mystery to me.

LordGeovanni1 votes

Not too many just that the effort doesnt want to be put in when you have 2 weeks or more between every patch you could change every champion in the game in about 2 months if you had to riot just needs to pick a direction to move their game in go in that direction and say this is what league is now.

Thryale1 votes

Hi! you must be new here, come on over and take a seat and enjoy the ride!

But seriously, the concept of "FotM" has been around since season 1. And this has not changed over 7 years of league development, it's just that there are more players and more voices now than ever before.

SpiritOfOdysseus1 votes

You are right and that's why Riot doesn't give the forums much more than a grain of salt.

Riot has a balance TEAM, whose sole job it is to balance league of legends. Some(like on the forum) might think of a team being 5 people or so, but in reality its probably x5. You know the feeling you get when someone tells you how to do your job? I bet Riot does!

Chaos theory is a theory- not a law. And it mainly just means that the more unknown variables there are, the harder it is to control the outcome over time and as more and more variables come into play. A game like League goes through entropy just like real life, with exception that the variables(in league) have a finite beginning to end and are actually designed with fun/competition in mind and not a complete mystery to man.

In real life, not all variables are known. The variables that are known are still susceptible to their own entropy and things we simply do not know yet. IF you look at how semiconductors work for instance, their interactions with electricity and heat differ in complexity depending in many circumstances. Some semiconductors work great regardless of temperature and stress, while others such as in MRIs only work in near absolute 0 (kelvin) conditions that must be stored in superfluid helium, in a vacuum, etc.

Riot understands these variables because Riot made league of legends! For instance, each variable has a weight and a specific purpose... Range and mobility could be one of those with high weight, while melee and cc could be another. Damage is easily the most defining variable(in terms of player knowledge), whilest there are possibly other "modifier" variables that can completely change the shape of the game(like items).

Despite this, nothing is perfect, not even a large team of college nerds!- thus chaos theory; and extreme cases of unbalanced stuff WILL show up, its only a matter of time. Math in general is a beautifully complex subject that I recommend anyone picking up and learning more indepthly regardless of age or socioeconomic status(fancy word for how rich you are). IF you can understand that everything that is league, is also finite math, then you will understand that league is able to be formed and shaped just like pure sodium metal.

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