Riot really has no excuses at this point and it's kind of sad. (Bit of a Sad Rant)

Hey there.

So... this is just gonna be a sort of a thought dump post for me. Not necessarily me calling out any specific issues in the game right now, just a general statement about my feelings regarding the direction this games been going. If you came here looking for balance insights, you won't find them, sorry.

To preface this, I haven't been playing league for all that long (compared to many other players) I've been playing since around the beginning of season 6, I believe. I joined pretty much at the release of the Poppy rework, so take that as you will. Since then, I've placed once in Bronze in my first season playing and once in Silver 3. As of the current ranked season, I've reached Silver 2 so far and I've almost completely lost motivation to keep playing; which is the general reason I'm writing this post.

Over my objectively limited time playing League, I've gone from feeling that the game was absolutely amazing; to the point where I played for at least 10 hours a day, every day I had time to, to having genuinely no motivation to even start up the game and see that familiar client load screen. It's honestly got me really down... because this game could be so, so so much more. Its really disheartening.

Why do I feel this way? It's a couple reasons, and I'd like to talk about them here, cause it's been on my mind and I'd like to get it out. To make a kind of blanket statement about it... Riot, as a company balancing this game, have made compounding mistake after compounding mistake, and they've never stopped to reflect and take the time to fix any of them. Now; they've all compiled into what feels like the absolute worst gamestate I've ever seen or heard of.

**1. Variance and Variety ** This has gotta be the biggest thing for me. Please understand, when I first joined this game and started playing, I felt like a kid let loose in a city made entirely of playground equipment. I spent my entire first month as a fresh noob playing absolutely NOTHING but Ashe. Way back when I was level 10 or so, I played only Ashe mid, and if Ashe was taken? I dodged. Then, after I finally hit level 30, I had this amazing realization...

**I just spent all that time playing only one champ and I loved it. If this game has 130 different champions that are that fun and in depth... imagine all the possible fun I could have with 130 champs to choose from! **

This was incredible to me! I could play one champion for months, squeeze all the fun out of them, explore the absolute limits of their mechanics... and then when I was done, there were literally hundreds more champions to choose from!! I could barely comprehend it. For two years or so, this is the main thing that kept me stuck to this game. I get bored easily, and League offered me a new game with a potential 10 new champions and people every. Single. Time.

Which, conversely, is the main reason I just cannot find any fun or interest in this game anymore. It started with the Ardent meta, but it was really exasperated with the introduction of Runes Reforged. Runes Reforged promised so much... and barely delivered on any of it. It feels like the individual choice and skill expression have been forcefully choked from the game. If you don't play these certain champions you're basically gimping yourself right from the start. The huge, 140 champion pool has been reduced to a veritable puddle of what feels like 10 champions.

It's the same. Fucking. Champions. EVERY GAME. I absolutely HATE it. It's nothing like when I started, which keep in mind was during the time where Yasuo and Leesin were in legit EVERY game they weren't banned. But otherwise, I'd see new shit every game. It was always a surprise. Not always a fun one, mind you, but it was always new. Now I boot up a game and its pretty much just "does our team have Tristana, or Vayne? Oh, Kog'maw? Cool, we probably won this one."

"Is their top Nasus or Gangplank? Oh, they got Nasus? Shit, we lost top I guess. And the game if it draws out too long"

It's horrid. There isn't a "meta" right now, there is a list of 20 "right choices" and 120 "wrong choices." I just can't get into this game when I know exactly what will happen by looking at the loading screen.

2. My second and final gripe: Riot's handling of the game... Oh God. This is pretty much the title of my post. Look... no matter how you look at it, there is absolutely no feasible excuse for the detestable state the game is in. Riot has had, and still does have; continuous, ongoing support, suggestions, and well thought out and calculated solutions to pretty much every single misstep Riot has made recently.

They have made the continued and very conscious effort to ignore all of it.

I don't mean to be one of those people that blames everything on ""Riot the company"" but they've been so opaque with the community we have no clue who is to really to blame for anything. Their solution to everything thus far, which is also one of the games biggest failings, is to just pump more damage into anything that doesn't have it. If you've seen the AP item updates on the PBE, mages will pretty much have zero defensive items aside from ROA. They injected CDR in pretty much every. Fucking. Item. They reworked. They literally are incapable of learning from their mistakes, It'd be funny if it wasn't ruining my favorite game.

In all honesty? I think a lot of this comes from big-named people in the company who are only their because of their title or their connections who REALLY shouldn't be their. Ghostcrawler is the biggest example of this. To quote him:

"You don't have to play the game to understand it."

Except....... game feel, mastery, and understanding of League's many, MANY varied mechanics are VITAL!!!! to understanding the game. This man is tearing us apart I swear. He's a buffoon, flat out. Another name I could mentions is the monkey named CertainlyT, but people here have adequately documented his failings to be sure.

Anyway... I just needed to get all that off my chest. Having to part with League as a game is heart wrenching, to put it lightly. I hope to god they can pull themselves out of the hole they've very intentionally dug. There are some AMAZING people at Riot. Their art team is fucking unrivaled. Their lore, while very scarce and often misplaced in terms of champions; is deeply interesting and fun and rewarding to read. They have a team of amazing, funny, and just plain cool people; but it's clear something is dragging them down.

If you read my entire rant, thank you. If not, I don't blame you. It just feels like I'm losing a big part of my life in the last few years and I wanted to take a bit to basically cry about it.

I love ya, League community. I may hate the game but I love you all.