Riot's balance team

Sunohara·Feb 25, 2015·68 votes·6,042 views

Why hasn't the balance team been fired? Riot's balance team has been notoriously awful at balancing their game. Riot states the direction they want the game to take, and instead takes the opposite path, it's hilarious how awful they are at doing what they're getting paid for.

Riot's balance team consists of (1) garbage Challenger / Master player who has a sub 2 KDA on every champ and reports you after carrying him because you let down a T1 mid tower instead of getting aced.

the rest are sub diamond.

none of them has any idea how the game is played.

38 Comments

ÊmperorFeb 25, 201533 votes

If I got to work at Riot and everyone was okay with me getting paid six figures for changing random shit, that's what I'd do.

LafouboyFeb 26, 20151 votes

I wanted to work for Riot once I got out of college.

With the amount of criticism I have posted on the forums, I doubt I will ever get a job there now. Kinda sad, actually. item 3070

Morgan SlavemanFeb 25, 201518 votes

The balance team consists of Reginald and his 18 bananas, that's why.

KeevalroyFeb 25, 20157 votes

{quoted}

The balance team consists of Reginald and his 18 bananas, that's why.

That awkward moment when Regi doesn't approve of League's balance direction.

DrMarshSwampFeb 25, 201517 votes

I'm waiting for them to give a whole bunch of Not-Answers to the recent Kassadin changes or messing with the price of jungle items again.

Of course I bet they're gonna make excuses about the Kassadin nerfs by talking about his mobility even though there are quite a few Champions that have mobility just as good. if not better than his without having a single cost tied to them.

SunoharaFeb 25, 20154 votes

Don't worry, they know what they're doing. /s

qetzelFeb 25, 20152 votes

I think you are misunderstanding what Riot means by "cost". "Cost" in this sense means "giving something up". It is not about gating a champion through resources.

JunkοFeb 25, 20153 votes

So what cost does Nidalee have? Enlighten me.

qetzelFeb 25, 20151 votes

I didn't say that Nidalee had a cost. That was not the point of my post. I was just suggesting that Kassadin doesn't. Nidalee and Kassadin are similar in that respect.

Kass gives nothing up for his mobility, it just happens to be strongly gated. Nidalee gives up nothing for her mobility, and it is not really gated at all.

I GONNA FK ON UFeb 25, 201514 votes

Yeah fuck riot.

revliledpembrokeFeb 25, 20157 votes

Constructive Criticism is the best criticism. This is not the best criticism.

Ulquiorra995Feb 25, 20155 votes

{quoted}

Constructive Criticism is the best criticism. This is not the best criticism.

Because that has shown to work so well with Riot's idiotic balance decisions.

SolaxoFeb 25, 20157 votes

{quoted}

Constructive Criticism is the best criticism. This is not the best criticism.

Constructive Criticism is ignored by Riot...

Marinaras TrenchFeb 25, 20151 votes

so is unconstructive...

JunkοFeb 25, 20154 votes

Implying any constructive criticism towards Cass, Veigar, Morde and Kass changes didn't get ignored.

RoyaiChaosFeb 25, 20154 votes

The forums isn't any better (Ahri is trash)

KeevalroyFeb 25, 20159 votes

{quoted}

The forums isn't any better (Ahri is trash)

Assassin Ahri is trash.
i.e. doesn't exist anymore.

RoyaiChaosFeb 26, 20151 votes

Ahri is still part assassin and it still shows how the forums aren't any better if they can't differentiate between a role change and a nerf.

Ulquiorra995Feb 25, 20154 votes

Seriously, just replace your balance team with a group of trained chimpanzees already. They will do a better job and will probably pay more attention to feedback.

Leena GuttalFeb 25, 20152 votes

Wait where can you find a list of the people on the team?

GrungyDesiresFeb 25, 20151 votes

Ya. Still waiting for them to balance the ulti of Fiora , the dmg or stun on Pantheon , the damage or range of Rumble , Trundle is just pure op , shouldn't even need to say why LeeSin needs a tweak , the damage from Graves for being a tankier ADC makes this guy off the charts , and Sona does WAYY too much damage.

CaeziumFeb 25, 20154 votes

Sona, Pantheon, Fiora and Trundle aren't even close to "op".

Graves and Rumble could be argued because they see competitive play but I still wouldn't call them "op".

Lee Sin just has a kit that endures because he has everything you would want in a fighter. (high damage, lots of sticking, some tankiness, some CC, sustain. Only his damage alone is significant)

D16 QuindiFeb 25, 20151 votes

I mean they hate the mid lane Assassians these champions should 100 to 0 people then get out not have mages at range do it then have their abilities up within 2 seconds like wtf. People complain that zed is op meanwhile they don't build differently and have the same build every time that does not consist of qss if u r an adc and when the mids don't buy Zhonyas against him... Actually retarted

BetaDude40Feb 25, 20155 votes

Yes, Zed should be able to 1v1 someone and be capable of killing them very quickly. This is what assassins do.

But he does so much more.

He has one of the most reliable escapes for any assassin, he has massive waveclear, extremely good energy regeneration paired with low ability costs. If he wants to chase, he can stick on to people for quite a while and do ridiculous damage. If he needs to escape he can just pop W, flash, maybe do a little juke with his ult. He has poke to die for, a passive that does MAGIC DAMAGE!!! (Because that's what every AD assassin needs: Magic damage. Makes PERFECT sense)

QSS on the carry will hinder your carry due to the lack of damage items. If your ADC MUST buy a particular item to help counter one guy (maybe more, since it basically cleanses CC), then who's to say the other carry won't just kill them? You have 1 time to use it, and if you waste it trying to survive against others, then Zed can just ult on in whenever he feels like.

Also, have you honestly ever seen someone with Zhonya's at level 6? If they have, then they're stomping Zed and probably don't need it just to counter him. If you're behind and you desperately need it to survive, good luck trying to get the farm to buy it when he zones you out. By the time you get one, he's already got a BotRK. Zhonya's will not let you kill Zed, even if it does give 120 AP. It won't solve the fact he can poke and zone you for days, it won't solve the fact he can still do tons of damage, even without his ult, and it won't solve the fact that once he gets lifesteal, he can stay in lane indefinitely, while you go oom every couple of rounds of abilities because you didn't get any mana items.

He's just too easy. First time I played him in like a year, I went 10/7/15 (against a Yasuo, nonetheless). Sure, I screwed up many times (hence 7 deaths), but I could easily maintain a presence and I could still execute people just as effectively. A guys that just picks Zed can be a decent annoyance, while a skilled Zed main is absolute torture to play against. I never do good as champs I have never played before (save for Vel'Koz. I don't know why but I love him), but the moment I pick up one of those champions, suddenly I do really well.

In that one game I played as Zed, I understood that there's not a very clear way to beat him. You go in, he W's away or ults on you can gets the kill. You try to gank, W away or ult juke. Try to play safe, he farms up, pokes you down, then tower dives you. Try to poke back, you go oom (if you rely on mana) and you're either forced to back and let him take turret or let him tower dive you.

TL;DR: Too safe, too good. As if people haven't stated it enough, Riot needs to do something about this. He is the exact opposite of "Healthy Assassin"

JunkοFeb 25, 20151 votes

"Building QSS will hinder a carry because of no damage items"

It builds into an item that gives ~~120~~ 80 AD (same as IE,BT and the mana AD item thingy), yep carry will lose a ton of damage building that.

cFlameFeb 25, 20152 votes

120 AD Huh? Because last time I checked, oh right, its only 80 attack damage, get your facts straight.

JunkοFeb 25, 20151 votes

It STILL gives the same amount of AD as IE, BT and the other item, even if i did confuse the amount for the amount Rabadon and Zhonya give (because they are highest AP items like IE and the like are highest AD)

So no you are not losing any damage building it. It's actually one of the 4 highest AD items in the game.

Immortal StrifeFeb 25, 20151 votes

Midlane is awful now a days, more and more mid mages are being turned into bruisers. I still lament the Gragas changes from a year ago-salty.

thinking manFeb 25, 20153 votes

[{quoted}](name=Immortal Strife,realm=NA,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=2qF1Pwmw,comment-id=0009,timestamp=2015-02-25T16:30:12.247+0000)

Midlane is awful now a days, more and more mid mages are being turned into bruisers. I still lament the Gragas changes from a year ago-salty.

Gragas was a balance abomination and one of the stupidest things to ever exist.

Getting one-shotted by his QR was stupid.

The Tilted KingFeb 25, 20151 votes

Mid lane used to be favorite lane to play. Then the bs just got too much. and it feels like a chore instead of fun. then I was taking a liking to the jungle, but the jungles really dominated by like 3 champs now and quite frankly im tired of playing vi and udyr.

cFlameFeb 25, 20151 votes

The first change I would make if I was in-charge would be to revert changes such as the nerf to chilling smite, the Mordekaiser and Kassadin changes. I would use ideas from the community to change Veigars stun.

kcStrangerFeb 25, 20151 votes

I agree with the folks below who say that while Riot's balance team may certainly deserve some criticism, generic bashing with no constructive element probably doesn't mean much. I doubt that very many of us would fair much better than Riot's developers have; this game has a lot of moving parts, and they're trying to keep it not only balanced but also fun and profitable, and those goals sometimes conflict. (E.g., I think the desire to get people to buy new champs often leads to new champs being initially OP.)

For my attempt to offer constructive criticism for Riot's balance team, see http://boards.na.leagueoflegends.com/en/c/gameplay-balance/dijntFly-lets-talk-about-riots-nerfbuff-philosophy