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I hate to say it, but I think I'm done with LoL for a while. Not a rage thread.

MasterOfTheOrder·7/4/2015, 10:27:42 PM·116 votes·39,027 views

While I haven't been playing the game since release, I have been playing it for a while. I hopped in right as Nami was released. My experience has been such:

I started playing, and noticed immediately that the game was quite engaging, and very in depth. I was impressed, especially considering how it's free to play. I played a few games against people, got my butt kicked, but HAD FUN. I knew I was a noob, so I didn't get mad about how thoroughly my butt was handed to me. So, I just kept playing and slowly learned what to do.

Then, about a month later, the Christmas Fiddlesticks skin came out, and I saw the new login screen. I was like "oh hey, they even update these how cool" and still kept enjoying the game. Sure, people were toxic, but not everyone. I play many more games than just LoL, so this didn't bother me too much. I was noticing subtle hints that pointed out how much Riot cared about the game, and its players.

Now lets fast forward about 6 months later. I was no longer a noob, and could carry games. I finally understood how nerfs/buffs truly affected champions… cough cough Irelia. I still hadn't really found my main, so the nerfs didn't bother me too much. Still was enjoying the game. If played correctly, any champion could be awesome. So, who cared about nerfs?

Then LCS became a thing that Riot was focused on. I'm going to be blunt about this: LCS is ruining League of Legends. Period. The following will explain why I believe this.

Before the focus on LCS, from Riots perspective, the average player was their main source of income. The made a sexy skin, and said average player bought it. They made and awesome looking champ, some average players bought them. Every now and then, they'd make a Legendary skin for the sake of awesomeness, and the price would also show support of the game/company. That was the financial focus, and was pretty straightforward. Gameplay balance was focused on the enjoyment of everyone, with the occasional pro-player exception.

Then, Riot began focusing on the LCS and pro play. The reasons were obvious, and fair. The LCS makes a Gragas Keg full of money. Holy Jesus, all that money.

With that shifted focus, came shifted priorities. Riot had to decide which was more important: average players, or pro players. Why did they have to decide this? Because at high levels of play, 10 damage can be the difference between victory and defeat. That's not the case in Bronze.

Since Riot decided to prioritize LCS when it came to balancing decisions, LoL has become considerably less fun to play. Champions no longer feel powerful, they feel gold-hungry. Champions that don't rely on items get nerfed, most of the time into unplayability. Riot started flat out lying to the player base when it came to explanations (I.E. Veigars "buff" and their idea of Diversity ™) because they are contrary to what helps LCS focused players. Champions are now nerfed because of how they affect LCS games, not the average games. Look at Lee Sin as an example. While I don't mind playing against him, a HUGE percentage of the community does. In this current meta, that isn't the case quite as much, but tanks will be nerfed again. We all know it. Can't have flashy LCS plays when they don't end with a kill.

The gameplay is no longer the same as the LoL that I enjoyed playing so much. LoL used to be 50% strategy, 50% teamwork/skill. Now it's 80% Teamwork/Reflexes, 20% Strategy. Strategy is hardly a thing anymore. Champions that had certain strengths no longer have them, because they were situationally "OP". That was perfectly acceptable, and WAS THE POINT, until LCS.

I'm not saying that pro-players are a bad thing. Not at all. But League of Legends is very rapidly becoming very unfriendly towards non pro players, and as a long time gamer, that sickens me. I also find it incredibly un-fun, and I only play games FOR FUN.

For those of you that still enjoy League of Legends, I wish you all the best. I, however, will be playing other things for a while, and spending my money elsewhere. I'll check in occasionally to see if the gameplay I once loved ever comes back, because I REALLY did enjoy League.

May you all stay positive, and test negative.

*Immediate edit. Thanks for reading the full post, for those of you that do… if any.

182 Comments

RiotKindlejack7/5/2015, 10:55:59 PM58 votes

Hey MasterOfTheOrder, I'm always curious to know what causes long-time players to turn away from LoL so thanks very much for taking the time to post. I want to reply because it seems like a good opportunity to point out a couple of common misconceptions I see a lot of players expressing. I've included some recent articles with the information:

First off, the LCS doesn't actually make any profit. It was true when it started and it is still true today. Ask anyone who works on the esports team and they will tell you that they do it for players - people love watching Pro LoL so we do what we can to support it. The focus of Riot has always been on players of every kind/level, and the reason we can continue to improve it is still players like yourself rather than the Pros.

http://fortune.com/2015/06/09/riot-games-esports/

Secondly, Scarizard made a post a couple of months ago explaining current balancing philosophy. In it he explains that balance is focused around "platinum and above" although "This doesn’t mean we devalue the feedback from players below platinum - only that we’re acknowledging that a high amount of variance occurs in those tiers." He goes on to say that "Extreme outliers, be they pubstompers or pro-level pains will always be addressed, but more often than not our patch-to-patch changes are centered around this skill bracket."

http://boards.na.leagueoflegends.com/en/c/gameplay-balance/xwOObpq2-live-gameplay-qa-issue-1-feat-feralpony-smashgizmo?sort_type=recent

So balance isn't focused around the LCS, although given the fact that LCS players are above gold and play a lot of games with high visibility it does seem this way at times. Sometimes I see a nerf coming in and immediately think 'But ____ isn't even being played in the Pro scene' and it confuses me too, but Challenger is only a tiny fraction of the data used.

Now I don't necessarily agree with the balance team all the time either. I was okay with point-and-click abilities and more focus on big picture strategy than outplays that seem to favour mobility. But I have the privileged of seeing from the inside that the focus of the teams is always to make the best experiences for every player. My jungle fiddlesticks is suddenly feeling the pain of a useless jungle upgrade, while my jungle Nautilus seems to have shifted to Top/Support, but despite this I am seeing more champion variation, impactful itemisation and exciting gameplay in my matches than any previous season.

If it's no longer fun for you then I'm sorry - we let you down, but I hope you realise it's never because we turned our backs.

Android Cowboy7/4/2015, 10:43:43 PM33 votes

Players like you WILL be missed. I hope to match with or against you sometime in the future.... but I'm a bronzie so probably not. Gnar

Anonagon7/5/2015, 9:34:03 AM18 votes

Riot didn't just recently start balancing around pro play. Riot has always historically balanced around Plat+ level play, with particular attention paid to competitive. Only in very rare case are champions ever nerfed because of low levels or low elos - and even in cases where "pubstomping" champions are nerfed, they were often broken in high elo too, as much as high elo players don't like to admit losing to a pubstomper.

LCS isn't ruining League. If anything is, its the way they've completely thrown out the rules for new champion design. While in some cases this has led to very cool champions like Bard and Rek'Sai, it more often produces the Azirs, Kalistas, and Yasuos that we all oh so hate.

lel kys7/5/2015, 9:42:30 AM14 votes

I feel like I just read a letter that a spouse wrote explaining they are filing for divorce.

Varnoc7/5/2015, 1:35:10 AM13 votes

[deleted]

3TWarrior7/4/2015, 11:56:42 PM11 votes

the game is still good, but what annoys me is that they're pushing out new OP champions to the playerbase, then nerfing them a month after their release while letting the old champions die or making meaningless updates that don't even have anything to do with the LCS

for instance, I liked heimerdinger when he was plain and his turrets meant something and he wasn't a skillshot oriented early game monster late game joke

champions have been shifted from their original role intents by the player base

sure, new champs are good, but when they all have essentially the same kit in one way or another...what?

meanwhile some of the most original champion kits like Kayle and evelynn are getting run into the ground because they're still "viable" at professional levels

Betawerewolf7/5/2015, 10:54:01 PM10 votes

Season 1 Veteran here, my advice for you is to switch to Heroes of the Storm if you're looking for fun matches (DOTA 2 is always an option but the community is worse than LoL's)

I'll share what I think on Riot now....

Riot Games doesn't care about LoL because they haven't fufilled many of the promises that they have given for years. It's become obvious that LCS decides what's nerfed and buffed which is why we have toxic champs like Lee and Zed stay the same (Granted they changed the jungle but Zed's never gotten a real nerf besides Ekko) and then we have Veigar and Azir nerfed to oblivion. I want you to think of all the plans they have for League and then ask, have they been fufilled?

Let's have some examples shall we?

  • NA Server fixes (This one they have plans for but this has been very slow. Even DICE did more for BF4 than Riot is doing for NA servers)
  • Tribunal Rework
  • Lore Rework (The most painful of all I.M.O. is the death of League of Legends. It had such an interesting theme and idea and now that it's gone, who knows what will happens.)

Obviously these aren't the best examples but I know that there are better ones.

I can go on to complain about Chroma packs when Heroes of the Storm has a progression system for color variations and variations for the skins (Every skin in HotS has color variations) but I won't. LoL is a different game now and I don't disagree with you leaving it. Trust me though and at least try Heroes of the Storm, you might like it.

warpenguin5557/5/2015, 4:38:08 PM8 votes

come back every so often. Non-ragers like you is what gives me hope

Yfrappefort7/5/2015, 4:10:11 PM7 votes

I used to like when the champions I played were picked in the LCS. Not anymore. Now I am afraid that they get picked, gain popularity, then get nerfed because of it (or worse, just reach a perma-ban status).

Nautilus is a perfect exemple of this. I played him since his release, especially during season 3. Back then, he was not very popular, but still strong. Season 4 was tough on tanks, so I let him down a bit during that season. Then came season 5, and I was excited for Cinderhulk since it allowed me to play him once more as my favorite jungler.

Now, however, pro players are playing him mostly support and even top now. He is in almost every game. Results? He is gonna get nerfed.

This is just one exemple. There are plenty more, but I won't go into details.

I have been playing since Brand came out (that's around march 2011), and I too miss how the game was before it shifted towards prioritizing LCS over everything else.

Karn Bishop7/5/2015, 9:22:24 AM7 votes

I also gave up on it, though for me the reason was different. The frequency of bad matches due to ragers or afkers on either side simply ruins it for me, heck the best strategy at this point is to find the guy already raging and camp him until he rage quits if your the jungler which is sad that its so common as to be considered a valid strategy.

I decided to switch to a different game and haven't looked back, elder scrolls online may have its flaws but at least i get to decide if i win or lose a fight, and not the adc and mid laner arguing at each other while the enemy's killing them.

I may come back one day but only if riot finally implements all those anti rage features they keep promising, and eliminate lobby hostage situations to make the game actually fun again.

Hawkefire7/6/2015, 6:59:48 AM5 votes

It is funny. The best players, the ones that truly care about a game, those that actually want to see the game grow and evolve are generally the most critical of the games flaws. The white knight could never hope to match the love and effort it takes to actually critique a game for its flaws and have the strength to say: "Hey, I love this game but X really needs some work." The saddest part is, it seems that Riot has alienated themselves from those that actually care about the games and instead wishes to embrace the "white knight" who really isn't a true fan of the game at all, and while they may also enjoy the game they will never truly care for the game because they have not yet come to realize that nothing in this world is perfect and that everything can be improved.

It is when you truly achieve that understanding of things and realize that, then you can actually understand that all those times you were attempting to stamp out any form of criticism that you realize that you aren't actually helping the game grow, but are instead preventing its growth and in essence causing it to stagnate and even possibly die.

Perhaps the saddest part about all of this is, Riot has been steadily on the track of alienating themselves from any form of criticism, and in essence are actually alienating themselves from those that actually care about the game. They are actually turning their backs on those that want to help the game grow and wish to see it evolve and prosper as the world moves forward. However, it seems that their voices are not being heard as Riot has grown from its once player driven, community oriented and pretty hefty amounts of community aid in the development of the game into a large corporation that has grown beyond the need of seeking aid from a "mere player."

These players, players such as the OP for this thread are being shunted, ignored, and ultimately are eventually driven away as they discover that their ideas and their good will isn't actually being acknowledged. Instead they simply turn to the position of: Was everything they said positive and good? Then there will be a response. Was there some negative criticism in their? Ignored and thrown into the growing pile.

I am sure that Riot has a list that they have formed in order to process through the information, however I personally feel that the lists order is as follows:

Items at the top are looked at first:

-Praise to League of Legends / Riot (not as commonly posted as the below, but almost always commented on by a red, in fact it is almost unusual not seeing a red post on one of these) -Funny stuff (seems a lot of effort goes into this one, more so than any other type of post) -Fan-Art -Skin Ideas (note, not including skin critiquing) -Bugs -Skin Criticism -Gameplay Criticism

That pretty much seems to be the trend for how riot responds to various posts on the boards and as to which stuff gets priority over the others. Now, following my idea that they view these things in a form of list, they will generally always get to the skin ideas, and might even be able to touch some of the bugs but generally they will never actually get to the bottom of the list because realistically it is nearly impossible to sift through ALL of that information and still have time to actually get down to the critiquing of the game. Thus the issues will simply grow and grow and continue to be ignored (a real life example of this would be the U.S. Congress during the years before the civil war, they would move any topic of slavery to the very bottom of their list for topics to be discussed during their meetings, and thus they would never get to it).

Will this trend ever change? I honestly don't know. But I do know that if this trend does keep going that eventually, not today, and probably not tomorrow, but eventually, Riot's own hubris will destroy themselves.

It is the hubris of man that damns us all.

I know pretty much no one will read this, and I sadly doubt that Riot would glance at it, but thank you to those that did.

Saianna7/5/2015, 11:05:54 AM4 votes

@MasterOfTheOrder I suggest you trying HotS. Game is still fresh and there's hardly any meta or "pick x to win".

Ofcourse Blizzard tries its best to balance their heroes with better or worse success.

I agree wholeheartedly with your thread. I've noticed it too. Only thing I'd add is:

"The longer LCS is favoured, the smaller communication between Riot & casual playerbase becomes" And looks like they don't mind it. Sigh

pepper buddy7/5/2015, 5:34:59 PM3 votes

Teamwork and strategy are the same thing....

Iron IV dude7/6/2015, 7:18:24 AM2 votes

Is Rito focusing at LCS, or are we, the playerbase, just focusing the LCS? Everything that is not played at LCS is considered as "troll"-pick (played Morde and aatrox a while ago, oooooh boy, dem flames..) until it get's picked at LCS, suddenly we all can accept it. Then, we the playerbase, will QQ hard like "AP EZ 40% Pickrate and 60% Winrate, nerf to death pls!" were the sleeper counterpick might just waits to get picked at some LCS games... but as soon as we try, we obtain a hard game, not because we have to try to play good, but because we getting downed by our teammates.

tl;dr I guess it's not only Ritos fault, we as the playerbase getting too biased by the lcs, ruining our own game as well.

Papa Slothy2/2/2016, 3:18:21 AM2 votes

I sort of agree but also balancing around high elo helps to full capitalize on long term investments in champions, master yi crushes low elo but in high elo while still being a threat he is only strong under the right conditions