Riot is still blind to Rumble's real issues and still not listening

I want talk about the recent controversy on riot's balance team and their "attemps" to give attention to Rumble and fix him, i feel like i need to get this out of my system because the more and more i wait and read theyr supposed "goals" frustrates me and makes me feel like we're mere "players" and not customers so bear with me and i apologize in advance for my english mistakes and will try to fix any.

Rumble

Rumble by definition is an AP toplaner classified as a lane bully as core identity as a champion in the league of legends universe. Ever since his release his gameplay was defined by agressive laning phase and dominance against many matchups.

His main role in the team is taking controle over the lane, keeping in check toplane champion if he can (depending on matchups) and being a fire power in team fights for his team with his glorious and amazing ability The Equalizer well known for being a game changing ability if well executed.

Rumble is 100% extremly dependant on items and his team, he has been known for scaling with items only as his kit doesn't allow him any smooth self dependancy compared to many champion.

He uses a uniq and fun mechanic called "Heat", this feature makes his kit very resky/reward : the more you generate heat, the more bonus damage you deal with the trade if you enter the "Overheat mode" you're silenced and weak with no defenses.

It's also better to remind Rumble's goals were always to be as much effective in early/mid game as possible because his late games has always been known for falling off and less effective/reliable.

Riot has been know for sometime to be very agressive with buffs and nerfs, and sometimes doing so can lead to problematic balance issues to uniq champions (hi Ryze) and most of you remember many nerfs towards Rumble imemdiatly killed him fast from appearing and being viable in Solo Q or Competitive (remember the R nerfs? yeah that was a very brutal nerf and left out for a long time).

Before new Runes introduced

The latest nerf/changes to his Q and heat mechanic really hit hard Rumble and i've been very vocal about at that time that wasn't a good idea because how long the CD was the Q and the heat decay was going to make Rumble's dueling/lane ability very clunky and not satisfying as the champion was already ahrd enough to manage on his own in lane because the champion was deemed "oppressive" and if you ask me i've never been satisfied by that claim tbh.

Moving forward, ever since the changes took effect most of us were forced and frustrated to play the new changes trying to adapte and we all felt how bad it was because we quickly noticed the big issues that created :

• His laning phase went from good to medium effective.
  

• Many champions that were countered by Rumble found big windows to breath and survive and get MR items faster than ever.
  

• His lane dominance was gone for good, he connot create any good leads that makes able to move in a better spot to mid game, not even a small leads is enougha nymore.
  

• The ability to take risky overheating duels became a real danger to him and more often his mark of death and completly losing the lane.
  

• The ability to turn around ganks in his favor is long gone for good.
  

• Dying to a single gank seals his laning phase and pretty much forced to just play scared and farme with E from far.
  

• Champions that were supposed to be weak early game now have better laning phase than him and can even bully him and push him out of lane.
  

• If Rumble is behind, he's no use for his team and becomes a heavy liability to them since he's extremly Item dependant and connot creat leads on his own anymore.
  

• MR items are very cheap and accessible early game which was always an issue for Rumble for a while.
  

These are the consequences of the changes on Q and heat before the new Runes, now let's talk about when new Runes were introduced and what new issues created for Rumble that really sealed his fate.

After new Runes introduced

This is where the doomsday came for Rumble, with the removal of DFT Rumble suffered a huge nerf and was immediatly felt by the Rumble community despite the promises from Riot to compensate him which frankly they did nothing to him.

I wanna point out that the new Runes were very unfavorable for Rumble since it created many MANY safety options for man toplaners; i kid you not how absurde the situation became for Rumble later when multiple nerfs came to Sorcery tree making more and more nerfs for Rumble and digging his grave at teh same time.

The situation was so ridiculous that tanks who used to be afraid of Rumble are now abusing him and even killing him since they have better and suited kits for the lane and reliable damage and scale way better than him. As for carry toplaner like Riven nad Fiora who are supposed to have a weak laning phase are now extremly efficent in lane don't even care how good are you on Rumble because no matter what they can't lose to you and they will outscale you no matter what. The sad part is anyone currently can snowball hard on Rumble.

Riot's recent attempts to fix/buff Rumble

Recently i've seen good news that finally the champion is getting some serious attention from riot and i'm very happy about.

The Equalizer (R) Total Damage (over 5s) :: 650 / 925 / 1200 (+150%AP) >>> 700 / 1000 / 1300 (+175%AP)

Flamespitter (Q) Total Damage :: 135 / 180 / 225 / 270 / 315 (+ 110% AP) >>> 150 / 200 / 250 / 300 / 350 (+110% AP) Damage to minions :: 75% >>> 70%

However it quicky turned into a nightmare because it was cleary they aren't listening what the community has been telling them about the real issue as i talked about and instead they went for a stright forward buff to his ultimate. My first reaction was "just why?".

The buff seemed a great idea honestly and very much needed for the current state of the game since Rumble late game is non existent with the current power of MR items, heals and shields. Also many champions have the ability to dash/jump/escape his ult easly and fast negating it's utility/efficiency. But i was really sad that they're still completly missing the big issue here : his laning phase is absolute disaster compared to many champions short CD chain abilities/CC while his main ability has a really big CD and champion can easly avoid, wait out and doesn't do enough damage needed for trades. Rumble seems to never get a good faire trade and anytime you do, you also take heavy damage.

Also it's a huge nerf to minion damage and Rumble is shitty at farming under tower already because of how bad his early Q CD and how easly he can be pushed out under tower, it doesn't make sense if they think about Rumble being able to push and roam? HE ALREADY STRUGGLES IN LANE LET ALONE TRY TO ROAM. Just gives you an idea if the person who's working on teh champion doesn't have any idea what's good and abd for Rumble and makes me really sad.

I need to highlight also his W is utter shit and useless, IT DOESNT DO ANYTHING !!! Think of it as the old Shen's W : small shield....but nothing. The small bust of speed in his outdated kit compared to other champions is a joke ! I don't ever remember using my W for something other than generating heat and i would even dare the balance team to ask the core Rumble players what they use their W for and it would be the same thing : heat generating because the shield currently doesn't cover anything against how strong other toplaners are now.

I keep telling this over and over and over : the Q and heat changes will always be there as the core issue no matter how much you buff Rumble, hell give him 200 lvl1 Q damage and it won't make a difference because of how long the CD is and leaves Rumble very vulnurable and abusable since he has no means of defense or sustain, like i said he can't rely on himself anymore in lane and has to either stay far and farme safely or play aggressive to easly die and auto lose the lane and becoems a burden to his team and it's pretty much boring at any case.

Personal note

I'm a player and a customer at the same time, i understand that a champion that i really like can sometimes be strong or OP and needs nerfs/fixes/adjustements. But i also buy with real money cosmetics to enhance my enjoyement and game experience so i can enjoy playing him even more and showcase how much i love the champion. My personal isse here is i pay with real money while i live in a poor country and it's a horrible feeling to know the champion i love playing isn't fun or good anymore : it's one of the worst feelings ever and i'm not sure if Riot does understand this side.

I don't want Rumble to be strong or OP : i just want the champion to be playable and decent, i'll put my own effort to make him better in the game with faire and propre buffs/fixes and adjustements; i just want to enjoy playing him again...but they're not listening....