Suggestions for a New Gameplay Balance Approach
As a company Riot has many priorities that many League of Legends players don't consider. Azir, Ryze, and Ornn are currently sitting at 46.01%, 45.06%, and 46.2% respectively in patch 8.16 (https://lolalytics.com/ranked/worldwide/current/platinum/plus/champions/ ). This is evidence that Riot balances champions around the professional scene because given these abysmal win-rates, these champions frequent the professional scene. Ucal, the mid-laner for KT Rolster has picked Azir or Ryze in 5 out of his last 6 LCK games. Furthermore, Ryze had a 91% presence rating (a measure of pick/ban rate) in Korea during the LCK Summer Playoffs (http://gol.gg/champion/list/season-S8/split-ALL/tournament-LCK%20Summer%20Playoffs%202018/patch-ALL/role-ALL/league-ALL/ ). Given Azir and Ryze's significant pro pick rates and their declining solo queue pick rates, it is safe to say that Riot prioritizes the professional scene more than it does solo queue.
Riot's philosophy is to "Put the Player Experience First" (https://www.riotgames.com/en/who-we-are/values ). Given this design philosophy, why does Riot choose to balance champions around the professional scene?
Since I don't work at Riot, I can only speculate. However, there are many plausible reasons for Riot's bias. For concision I will only focus on two. Firstly, if Riot balances around the professional scene, there is a very real possibility that League of Legends will appear in the Olympics given that League of Legends is appearing in the 2018 Asian Games. Secondly, by balancing around the professional scene, the meta becomes dynamic. Riot nerfs and buffs champions based on their professional play rate. This creates an ever changing meta as champions rise and fall in popularity. This is beneficial from a solo queue point of view because a shifting meta is exciting and fresh. This is also beneficial from Riot's point of view because a shifting meta means that solo queue players must spend more money on new champions to keep up. Also, from a business point of view we can expect that Riot is making these balance decisions based on some financial benefit.
Given these reasons, I cannot understand why the gameplay boards continue to criticize for their decision to balance the game around professional pick rates. These balance decisions were made with good intentions and are clearly not spur of the moment. Riot likely has entire teams dedicated to these kind of high-level design decisions. We should not criticize them for this. Instead, we should focus on possible solutions that foster healthy professional growth and also a positive and rewarding solo queue experience.
I have a few suggestions for how Riot could achieve this...
First Suggestion: When a champion has proven to be problematic, Riot significantly nerfs their AP/AD/MR/Armor/Health/Mana statistics deeming them unplayable in a solo queue setting. For examples look at the patch history for Ryze, Azir, Zoe, Ornn, Zac, or Sejuani. Furthermore, consider Ryze's current winrate and contrast it with Riot's planned Q AP Ratio nerf on the PBE. This is very frustrating for the playerbase because these champions often take a long time to master. Prior to their nerfs, I played 50 games on both Ryze and Azir learning their mechanics. It was very frustrating to see champions that I put so much hard work into learning and mastering become completely irrelevant.
My suggestion is instead of nerfing the numbers of these champions, prioritize their immediate ability reworks. You can nerf Ryze's AP scalings, Kallista's damage, Zoe's W, and Sejuani's health scaling but you cannot hide the obvious: these champions have problematic abilities and must be changed. As much as I love the iconic Shurima shuffle or flying over a wall with Zac and knocking up and stunning a low mobility mage for > 3 seconds, these abilities cannot be balanced for both the pro and solo queue scene.
Riot you've stated over and over again that you're going to prioritize other champions who haven't received attention. This is understandable but you can't just nerf Ryze, Kalista, Azir, Ornn, Gnar, Tahm Kench, Shen, and others to the ground and expect that portion of the playerbase to be understanding. Rework each problematic champion until they are STABLE AND PLAYABLE IN BOTH PRO AND SOLO QUEUE, and then prioritize reworking other stable champions that could use a rework. Stop making problematic champions and then punishing players for learning those champions. You're making your player-base bleed and you're alienating those who put time into learning complex champions.
Second Suggestion: Often times the reason that a champion is overpowered is largely due to that particular champion's power spikes and scalings. For example, pro players pick Azir because despite of his terrible laning, mana problems, and low base health, his late game AP scalings are insane. This is also true for Ryze and Gangplank. Riot's solution to these types of champions is to nerf their numbers. My suggestion is instead of nerfing their numbers, shift their power. If Azir had decent early game damage, average mana stats, and didn't have hyper-carry damage he would be balanced for both pro and solo queue play. This works for some champions, but for champions like Ryze, Ornn, or Sejuani, ability reworks are necessary. A point and click root and long range CC are too attractive to be passed up in pro play.
These are my two suggestions, please share your thoughts below I'd love to hear what you all think. Please no hate, just trying to open up a more constructive dialogue. Thanks.
