LoL as we know it... And why most of us liked it before. (One Player's Opinion)

Heroes of the Storm. Recently, between my attempts to grind my way out of silver and back to Gold I, I've taken time away from LoL to play this little gem. This isn't an advertisement or me lavishing the game with praise. The reason is simple: I can have fun in Heroes, unlike LoL these days. The community is less toxic, the Meta isn't ingrained in the mind of every player and people are open to new ideas (Mostly because the game is still very new, yes).

Why am I talking about another game? The fun factor of it. It has a charm that LoL had for a LOT of us when we first started playing. It feels (And is) much more balanced, resulting in many more instances of me truely outplaying my enemies, who have all the tools they need to fight me. It's a game that has a much heavier focus on 1v1ing and the "objectives" (Basically an excuse to force players to teamfight and group up, while rewarding them for doing so in a way that makes even those that died feel useful), something LoL has sadly lost in it's relentless focus on ESports and the skewed balance path they chose (Focusing on and balancing based on the pro scene, at the expense of the majority)

I don't hate or dislike LoL. I'll flat out say my favorite season was S2 to anyone that asks. Why? There was an even mix of silly items and plenty of build paths. The meta wasn't set in stone. I could build Blade of the Occult, Soulstealer and Leviathan on Lux and I wouldn't get screamed at in the chat by my team. In fact, many would be amused by my "Stacks Build". The community didn't have an intense pro scene to constantly and blindly follow and, again, were more open to new ideas.

LoL, as a competitive game, works. Dominate your lane. Crush your enemies. Win and do it again. As a casual game to play with friends and goof off? Eh... Not so much anymore. The same people I played with 4 years ago are now constantly doing what I do: Grumbling about broken champion mechanics and unfair items and masteries. And, sadly, they have a point... This game became so focused on the "Meta" and "Builds" and "Hero Matchups" that it really lost a lot of the fun that made me enjoy it in the first place. With items like [Sword of the Occult] gone and only "Tryhard Bullshit" left in the game, it's hard to really enjoy it as anything more than a competitive experience.

Riot, please don't turn your game into a super serious version of Dota 2. Even THEY have silly items. Keep the fun factor in your game, please. I don't care about imbalances if I can goof around, but you keep taking that away from me. AP Yi? Dead. Mage Trynd? Slain. AP Poppy? Long Gone. Full On-Hit Builds? Useless in this meta. Next thing you know, my one last "Fun Build", Ap Varus, is going to disappear...