How to Make ARAM a More Viable Game Mode
I play ARAM exclusively. I realize it's not as "strategic" as the other game modes, but I tend to get bored easily. I hate laning. My favorite part of this game is the team fights, so I choose the game mode that features pretty much nothing but team fights. That being said, I would like the game mode a lot better if it allowed players to 'turn off' free champions once they have reached a minimum number of champs in their champion pool. My reasons for believing this request to be valid, and not just frivolous griping, are as follows:
- Less dodging. The dodge penalty doesn't really have any effect. I'm sitting here typing this primarily because I just dodged Shaco, and I'm waiting to get back into another ARAM queue. Every player has certain champions that they just get no enjoyment whatsoever out of playing. Shaco is one if mine.
- I realize that part of the purpose of ARAM is that it's random. By setting a cap on champion pool it can still be random without forcing players to use champions they hate. If the cap is set high enough, players will likely be forced to buy champions that they may not normally play to meet the cap, which would still serve the purpose while giving them the option to avoid certain champions.
- Reaching the cap could be a sort of achievement that ARAM players can strive for. Right now I'm sitting on nearly 40k IP, and nothing to do with it. I play free champs if I don't hate them, roll the ones I hate, and dodge when I'm out of rolls. Any additional champions that I buy are just subtracting from my chance to get my favorite champions in a random roll. So essentially I'm not really trying to expand my champion pool anymore. If expanding my pool was a goal, however, might look forward to a free champ now and then, if it meant that maybe I would discover a new champ that could potentially be added to my pool.
- Fewer rolls would be used up dodging hated champions, which would give players more opportunities to use their rolls to fill out their team comp, and create fairer matchups.
I could probably expand on this more, but my dodge timer is up and I'm going to try for another non-Shaco ARAM.
An alternative that I just thought of: It would be even cooler if you could choose to block champions so they don't pop up in ARAM, but with the caveat that you cannot decrease your pool below a certain number. That way you could leave champs that you've never played open, in case you want to give them a try, but still avoid the ones you have no interest in playing.