Wild Thing: How the Jungler has changed Runeterra
The Question
Do you feel that Junglers, as a whole, have a strong impact on not only the meta of a given game, but on the game's design, items, and even balance, as a whole - stronger perhaps than any other single role? If so, do you think this is a good thing, a bad thing, or both/neither?
The Discussion
I don't just mean, "do junglers influence the game" because of course they do - but everyone does. What I'm asking, though, is does anyone else feel like Junglers are a bigger influence (at least recently) on the game as a whole than perhaps any other role? And is this a good thing?
(Note: Most of these questions are rhetorical, or meant simply to raise discussion. Often I'm aware of the (or one of the) answers or reasons behind these. So please, save the flaming and let's just talk.)
First, Some History http://team-dignitas.net/uploads/article_images/prof_ryze.png
I've been playing League since beta; I've seen trends come and go. I also remember what jungling used to be like. For one thing, it was optional, once upon a time. You didn't always have to have a jungler. Some Champions were prized for their ability to effectively fight a 2v1 lane, because it happened often enough that only one side would pick a jungler. Jax and Mordekaiser come to mind as two such Champions who really thrived in this kind of lane. A Jungler on your team could be a gamble, since their gold income was so much lower, they really had to make their ganks count. This admittedly could lead to some more often binary gameplay - a few poor ganks and it felt really hard to climb out of the hole you were in.
The key point though is the Jungler's lack of gold income and very few dedicated items left the Jungle as a more selective role, and its impact on the game as a whole was overall much lower. Very few Champions built "jungle items", as few as there were. Or the "jungle items" were just regular items that they could still use effectively.
Over time though, and with the elimination of alternate gold generation such as the old Heart of Gold and the like, Junglers needed a way to keep up into the late game. They needed a way to get a similar amount of gold. Hence, the "Jungle Items" that granted bonus gold on large monster kills. This allowed a jungler to still keep up in the game even if they didn't get a bunch of early ganks. This opened up the option of farm-centric junglers - typically slower to clear and worse gank pressure, but they scaled well in the late game.
Problem is, it didn't stop there. Smite got changed. Then it got the "special" smites (one of the only times a Summoner spell has had so much diverse gameplay impact), and you could get 2 charges of Smite, and then if you had smite, you got to use these cool new items, and enchantments, and now -- after so much 'balancing', they get a suite of unique items that lets almost anyone in the game jungle to some degree. And yes, it has opened up lots of Jungle Diversity - but in doing so, the Jungler has become one of the predominant roles in the game, at least in perception if not also true in a mechanical sense.
"Jungler didn't gank GG" "Jungler ganked and fed GG"
Now of course, this kind of finger-pointing happens to any role ("Support didn't ward, GG") but just from my own experiences, I feel like its the most true. When I'm at mid or top, and my jungler comes in and ganks for me at just the right time, I feel like my jungler just set me up for a great game. And alternately, when I'm struggling in my lane and pinging repeatedly for some assistance - and then don't get it, time and again - I feel like the Jungler is actively screwing me and my lane over, and transitively, the rest of the team. Because even though I acknowledge that the fact I'm struggling is my own responsibility in a lane (especially a solo lane), I also know that the Jungler has a huge effect on the other lanes. Meaning, I can accept that I'm struggling, but if my jungler were to come when I ask and coordinate a good play, we can completely turn this lane around.
That is a huge amount of power, and up until recently (recent in terms of the overall life of the game), I don't feel anyone has had this much influence. But let's dig a little deeper.
Junglers: Twisting the Spacetime of Runeterra http://scienceblogs.com/startswithabang/files/2013/05/general_relativity_large.jpeg
All roles influence the game. Whether it be Champion "class" roles (League of Assassins/Tanks) that might push balance changes, or more traditional "lane" or "game" roles. For example, lifesteal is largely based on how weak or strong it applies to ADCs, since it is primarily constructed around AD Carry Auto-Attacks.
However, of all the current roles, the Jungler seems to be exhibiting the most influence lately - in the Relatively of Game Design, the Jungle and all it entails is like a giant gravitational mass, twisting and contorting the principles of game design around them. The recent changes to Devourer is what really illuminates this to me - but the Cinderhulk before it, or Spirit of the Lizard Elder before that, all demonstrate this. Items that are ostensibly designed for the Jungler end up heavily outbalancing other aspects of the game; they also see the most diversity and most regular changes & updates to them, resulting in us now having several old version of the Jungle items over time. We're seeing this to a smaller degree with the proposed AP Core item changes, and I'm glad to finally see some other areas get this attention.
But why do Junglers get so much diversity - 4 base "items" with 4 unique enchantments; up to 16 different items. Why not Supports? If you consider Sightstone to be a "Support" item, then along with the three "gold generation" item, Supports get.. 4, and without nearly the depth or wide ranging impact the Jungler items have. Now, I realize these roles occupy very different spaces. The Support items have to be limited to some degree, such as in their gold generation being mutually exclusive with another role, to avoid other lanes abusing them. But.. why do Junglers get to do this, then? The new Sated Devourer item sounds amazing, but I'd love to see that built outside of the jungle. And you can bet your buckle that it will be, until it gets nerfed or reduced somehow to make it unappealing outside of the jungle for those Champions who can capitalize on its passive.
When Jungler Items become viable options in lane, they always cause problems. Because they're too efficient, too convenient, too powerful. Really, when these items get out of hand, there have historically been only a few options. 1) Nerf them into the ground until they're useless for the lane and the jungle, 2) change the items in such a way that the lane can't effectively use them (such as changing Cinderhulk to be a lower base damage, but higher against monsters), or 3) remove them and start over with a whole new set of items.
And the reality is that, even though there are 16 possible items here, you only ever build one of them. One item slot, and they consistently seem to break the overall flow and balance of the game. After that they're just building AD or AP or tank items just like anyone else. Why does this one item slot have so much weight - and why doesn't that seem like a problem to anyone else?
In the end, these items really do open up "jungle" as an option for more Champions. However, the changes over time that have consistently catered to Junglers and their role means that, while formerly "bad junglers" can now be "good junglers", it also means that "good junglers" are "God junglers".
So what? Junglers are cool. http://img4.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20100712212845/leagueoflegends/images/thumb/9/9e/Xin_Zhao_CommandoSkin.jpg/613x460x2-Xin_Zhao_CommandoSkin.png
On the one hand, it really is neat that Junglers have all these fun items. it opens up some really interesting build options. But when I play, I almost always just "fill" - after this long I'm not really attached to any particular lane, I can play almost every Champion to some similar degree of mediocrity (except Rumble. Cannot for the life of me figure that guy out) and for a while that was fine. However, jungle has become such a necessity, such an elite role, that I almost feel like I'm doing my team a disservice if I'm not a "dedicated Jungler" and end up filling that role. Now this is one area where my own perception may just be completely off base, but I feel like the bar for the Jungler just feels... higher than anyone else. And that they repeatedly see these sweeping changes to their "lane" (the jungle camps) and their items.
Anyway, I'm not necessarily saying anything needs to change; but I believe very strongly in context and awareness. That understanding how these roles are being perceived and how they're operating within the overall context of the game. I think that the changes Riot has pushed forward has certainly gained us a lot in terms of jungle diversity - but I think the extreme focus on the jungle has also cost us something along the way as well.
So what do you think?
From the OP (Hey! If you've gotten this far, just wanted to say thank you. If you enjoyed some of the discussion in this post and would like to see more of some of my ideas, check out this post about my proposal for a new "Achievement" system. I'm always looking for more opinions and more voices to keep spreading ideas. Thanks for reading. -K)
