@Riot, In response to the Viktor changes
Riot, lets have a serious talk about the Viktor changes proposed in this post.
Your main complaint with Viktor is that he is a one man show and does't encourage teamwork, and that his experience is "flat" due to the fact that his sole contribution to the team is providing damage for the team. Lets, for a moment, not acknowledge the fact that Viktor is ENTIRELY ABOUT BEING A ONE MAN SHOW, and move on to the second part of your complaint, that being the part where you complain about Viktor only providing damage and has a flat experience because of it. I'm sorry Riot I genuinely am, I'm sorry that I apparently missed the idea that the AP carry's purpose is in fact not to PROVIDE a secondary source of DAMAGE for the team paired with some utility, but instead to be a glorified second support for the marksmen you guys seem to love so much. Wait, whats that you say? AP carries don't exist just to be a second support? Then why is it so bad that one of the AP carries who is pretty immobile and has a hard time peeling for himself, does damage. The answer is harder to explain than you would think
The start of the answer lies in a recent pattern in Riots actions that suggests their meetings go something along the lines of "Lets say stuff in a way that seems correct, but really is only half true and when the players get mad at us we can just say that we asked and they agreed". They manipulatively worded a poll for solo queue and used that as a way to defend themselves when the players got mad that solo queue wasn't back yet, and now they are doing it with Viktor and probably a lot more champions as well. They are saying Viktor is a one man show however that is only half true. Viktor SEEMS like a one man show because of the fact that he gets a lot of kills and does a lot of damage, however take away the tanks to block damage going his way, and the CC of the tanks and supports, and Viktor becomes useless. Viktor DOES encourage teamwork because he encourages his team to be there long enough to let him do his thing, and when he gets dived then he can either use his W to make an attempt peeling for himself however he needs the backing of his team to get anything done. Hearing that are you reminded of another champion, one that has been allowed o be strong because of his reliance on his team, because it should.
That's right folks, Lucian brings almost solely damage to his team, and the only method he has of peeling for himself is the speed up from his w and the dash from his E. When these are compared to Viktors methods of self-peel, they are of about even effectiveness. So why is Lucian allowed to be this way and not require a change to make him dependent on his team?
What it comes down to is this idea that Riot has that all mages should have similar damage and similar amounts of utility, and the variance is found in how the damage is dealt, and what form the utility takes. God forbid that variance is found in sacrificing mobility and utility for damage. All I see Riot saying on the mage update is "We want to make mages unique from each other" While the actions i seeing them take looks like they have the mindset of "Thou shalt not step outside the bullshit limitations we put on your class. Thou shalt not be %100 reliant on their team. Thou shalt not be independent".
Riot, I can't really speak for any of the other mages on that list of minor updates, but when it comes to Viktor, I don't see a problem. He has specific strengths and weaknesses like you guys are always trying to accomplish and failed to do on Fiora, he relies on his team to the same extent Lucian does and he isnt getting changes, and he isn't OP as his 45% win rate will attest to. So whats the problem.
Back when Thunderlord's was OP as shit and Riot said "Lets buff the other keystones to be at the same level as Thunderlord's instead of nerfing Thunderlord's" I thought Riot was FINALLY starting to think deeper in the design of thier game. I had so much hope, it was like when medicine left its leeches and blood letting phase and entered its soap and soup phase. However, now Riot is diving back into incredibly stupid game design decisions at a point in the life of League of Legends that will not only make or break League of Legends, but with the death comes the loss of years worth of progress toward acceptance and respect that esports has fought tooth and nail for. Its like if in the middle of world war 2 the united states just said "Fuck it, lets just start treating our injured patients by bathing them in piss and feeding them their own shit".
Riot, to be honest, I will keep playing Viktor until he gets Olaf'd or the game becomes to awful to play. However, don't forget the latter is just as real a threat as the former if you continue down this path. And to the community the latter is much more likely to happen if we don't speak up, not just with our words, but with our wallets, until our voice is heard. Lets not forget the monocle riots of Eve online. The players stopped giving CCP money, players cancelled their subscriptions in the millions until they got their way, and it worked. If Riot doesn't change their way and quick, then I say it is our time to have our own monocle riot
TL;DR Riot I swear to god if you gut another champion just because they don't give you a teamwork boner, The community of Viktor mains will start a collective bitch fit that the rest of the community will join in costing you guys in a big way.
