Thoughts on Scarra's video
TL;DR at the end.
We've all seen his Q&A where he talks at length about his opinion on the state of the game. This is my own opinion on the matter and, yes, I'm now a silver player, but I've played LoL religiously for its first 4-5 years and came back a few months ago to this new meta.
I'm of the very uncontroversial opinion that he's right. Most of us on this board believe so too and his comments on the Runes really resonated with me. The massive numbers coming from keystones have been bugging me. Nidalee stacking Phantom Dancer during the early days of Dodge was more fun to play against, as an auto attacker, than some of the champions today because of the raw burst potential. A lot of stuff that felt unfair, unfun and overpowered never actually felt as bad as they do this season. The options to adapt were a lot better.
This post isn't to insult Riot's dev team, I truly believe they're doing what they think is best for League of Legends. I personally know that of the total amount of time I've played the game,** I spent the majority of it enjoying myself.** The game is in a bad state now, but it's been running for a very long time and it's bound to happen, just like it's bound to change again to something we can continue enjoying.
Runes With old runes, for how flawed they were, you could decide to stack Armor and MR on a squishy champ against a tricky lane. It was easier to reinforce your champion's strengths or compensate for their weaknesses with the customization available and the new rune system really falls short of that option. Sacrificing damage for utility on an ADC or other squishy to try to survive an enemy assassin is mostly pointless. You sacrifice too much damage while still getting bursted out in less than a second. Now I vastly prefer the new system's concept, its idea, but I believe there were a lot of mistakes in the execution. Too much emphasis on damage, not enough on counterplay.
Player perception My second biggest gripe with the game isn't actually with the game. Online communities have always had toxic elements and that comes from issues rooted far deeper in society. There's something awfully wrong with social education when enough, not the majority,** but enough **people insult and threaten on a regular basis and have a real, negative impact on the experience of others. Sometimes it feels like the players that aren't toxic have instead grown cynical. Being a positive players can actually help enjoying the game. As childish as it may sound, understanding and managing your bad feelings makes it easier to let them go and move on, and the more you're positive to your teammates and adversaries, the more you'll enjoy the game, even if you lose a match.
Losing makes people angry, but these people never spend the time to understand why it makes them angry. Is there any actual reason to be upset over a Normal or even Ranked loss? No. I mean some numbers will go up and down, it definitely feels good when they go up, it means you've been doing a good job, but doing a bad job at League has no actual impact. Failures and mistakes are opportunities to grow, especially when they're as consequence free as losing a match. If you get tilted, it's usually a good idea to take a break. Even if it's just five minutes of standing up, stretching or walking around.
TL;DR:
- I believe Scarra is right on the state of the game.
- The game is in a constant changing state, it can be bad now, but it will likely improve next season. I think devs are genuinely doing what they think is best.
- Player perception and attitude has the biggest impact on our enjoyment. Toxic and cynical players create a vicious cycle of negativity and defeatism.
- It's not worth it to get upset over a LoL match, even ranked. Failure and/or mistakes are opportunities to learn.
- Managing your feelings and taking breaks are both good things to do. There's no consequence to losing a match beyond numbers going up and down. Strive for the best outcome, but realize that it's healthier to know how to handle defeat.
