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Idea for a sweeping reimagining of how Riot could balance the game

i cant move wtf··1 votes·615 views

Let me just get one thing across first. To leave out items completely, League of Legends has 141 champions as of July 07, 2018. Every one of those champions is composed of 10s-100s of individual variables that are constantly being tweaked. This says nothing of the unaccounted for synergies that exist when 2 or more champions are paired together. For anyone to think you can have this many variables to juggle and still maintain a balanced and fun game is madness. Inb4 the comment "Lol dude balancing is so ez, give me 5 min and I'll fix it." No, you're a fool. The abyss of bottomless complexity Riot has created for themselves will, mark my words, consume them as they collapse under it's titanic weight.

It doesn't have to be this way though. I think there's a way out. Riot have created a truly great pantheon of champions and a rich world for them to inhabit. This is something they can lean on and pivot around instead of carrying like bloody cross.

I have a very simple idea. Try your very hardest to comprehend it... Don't try to balance 141 champions that each have 100s of variables contained in them. I'm a genius. I'm a gosh-darn GENIUS!

What does that entail though you may be asking. For ranked queue, artificially limit the playable roster each season to the point where balance becomes manageable and the balance team can actually have a clue what they're doing. I know it's an insane concept I'm throwing around here but stay with me. THEN! Just leave normal queue with all 141 champions to basically become a sort of PBE for gameplay to test crazy balance ideas since people actually play in it. That way everyone can still play all their favorite champs whenever they want, but they just won't always be able to rank with them. Boo-freaking-hoo. Do you want a game that's balanced, playable and fun or do you want to get silver 4 for the 5th season in a row with Morg top only? I deserve a Nobel Peace Prize for this.

Riot could even get creative and give explanations in lore for why the roster's limited. Maybe a story arch could be based around Zaun or the Noxian Empire. It would make lore a lot more engaging since it would directly influence and forebode the changes that manifest in that season's ranked queue. It would also serve as a unifying and memorable theme for that season that made it unique from all the others.

Bigger is not always better. You want to struggle making ends meet in a McMansion or shack up in something a bit more cozy that you can go to sleep each night without worries? League's got a lot of heart but pumping blood through this unwieldy beast of a roster may just give it heart disease.

If you made it to the end of this you're a legend. The 5% of the population that can consider things before they vomit some pre-programmed response. To you I am grateful :)

Thanks for reading :) [vlad-salute]

3 Comments

S V 1 votes

Naaah, let's just make it more grindy and unnecessarily complex by adding a new multi queue role ranked system instead of changing our already deteriorating gameplay - Riot with the upcoming LP splash Elo instead of reverting and reworking a lot of dead champs and patches

smallpigie1 votes

Very good idea to be honest. I like all of it especially lore wise and how it will make every season memorable. I just feel like it will kill the game a bit, people who cant play any of their favorite champs for a whole season, especially people who primarily play ranked, probably wont play that season, and in that time they might find something they find more consistent ( like overwatch which i personally like less then league but does have much fewer playable characters) and if that is the case, they may never come back. Its a bit of a high risk high reward thing here, but I think if they stop making champs at the pace they are now, and focus on reworking champs that actually need it, not freaking akali, to fit one universal meta where everyone CAN be viable instead of how it is now, and perhaps change the theme of the META ITSELF per season, so splitpushing might be the meta one season, team fighting may be the meta another, but either way they are viable, thus making all the champs viable, i think that'd be good. And lack of content wouldn't be a problem, with the constant reworks coming out for the camps until all the ones who haven't had one already do have one, well that'd be kind of like making new champs, except without the stress of a new thing to balance, instead, its kind of like a new character taking the PLACE of an old one which is kind of what a rework is. Of course once all champs have been reworked there is a problem of what to add then, but not only would that take a while, years to be sure, I think a stable meta where its not so stressful for riot and most people (because everyone never is) but most people are happy will be worth it, and, at that point they could probably start adding new champions as, instead of changing everything, itd be one element to change and balance. So the idea is it could theoretically be perfect if they focused one champ ( or group of them) at a time, and eventually, adding champs and balancing them would be much simpler. Just an idea.

i cant move wtf2 votes

and perhaps change the theme of the META ITSELF per season, so splitpushing might be the meta one season, team fighting may be the meta another, but either way they are viable, thus making all the champs viable, i think that'd be good.

Honestly I think that's how they do it now whether they're conscious of it or not. The cycle seems to be to make new releases and reworks overpowered (probably just because they want to see their work being played which I understand) and then the meta shifts to accommodate these new imbalances.

I just feel like it will kill the game a bit, people who cant play any of their favorite champs for a whole season, especially people who primarily play ranked, probably wont play that season, and in that time they might find something they find more consistent

That's definitely a fair point. However, what I would bank on is that when the roster is artificially limited like that, many more resources can go into all the things that exist beyond just balance. Namely, okay the game's balanced, is it still a fun game? At this point it seems like Riot is struggling just to achieve the goal of "all 141 champions are playable", and it seems obvious to me that at a certain point it's a losing fight. If it's not at this limit already then when will it be? At 160 champions? 180? 300?

Would some players fall into the category of "Riven's not playable in ranked this season, I'm quitting League", yeah undoubtedly. I think Riot will have that problem no matter what they do though. It's impossible to change anything without rubbing someone the wrong way. Also the roster during a season doesn't have to be completely set in stone from the beginning. I could see champion's being injured in the lore and made unplayable and then other champions making sudden appearances in the plot, and entirely new champions being introduced. The roster could evolve over the season, being influenced and canonized through the evolving lore. But this is just one idea that popped in my head as a response. If I spent a lot of time thinking about addressing this exact issue I think I could come up with something more polished. I'm brushing with broad strokes here to give the general impression of the concept if you get what I mean.

And lack of content wouldn't be a problem, with the constant reworks coming out for the camps until all the ones who haven't had one already do have one, well that'd be kind of like making new champs, except without the stress of a new thing to balance, instead, its kind of like a new character taking the PLACE of an old one which is kind of what a rework is.

Sure, I could see Riot's focus increasingly turning mainly to reworks to introduce new content. But even so is League's current roster of 141 champions still maintainable? From my point of view I see them as treading water to keep the mass afloat, and the whole idea of "where are we going?" is out of the question. Most champions aren't so distinct from one another if you look at them critically... a dash on E, ranged damage spell on Q, a slow/defensive ability on W, etc. And how could it be otherwise? How much more difficult to maintain balance would it be if many of the 141 champions had dramatically different kits with hard to quantify strengths and weaknesses? A smaller roster allows reworks to be more dramatic and interesting because the designers don't have the weight of 140 other champions to balance against looming over their head.

So the idea is it could theoretically be perfect if they focused one champ ( or group of them) at a time, and eventually, adding champs and balancing them would be much simpler. Just an idea.

I do get what you mean. I'm surely reiterating at this point but I just wonder, and I'll put it to you, how many champions will be too many to the point where gameplay quality is sacrificed to achieve the goal of "all X number of champions are playable"?

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