Thoughts on a Blind/Draft Pick for Howling Abyss?

Vhan8765·2/7/2018, 4:06:04 PM·2 votes·500 views

I know at first glance most people will see this and say it's a bad idea because everyone will pick the same OPs over and over again considering some champions are just naturally better at Howling Abyss than Summoner's Rift.

But when you think about it, with how often Legend of the Poro King is up, that already demonstrates a Blind/Draft Pick for Howling Abyss would work perfectly fine for the most part. Anyone who plays enough ARAM can agree that for the most part, the way the actual game plays out in Legend of the Poro King isn't much different than ARAM anyways. And as for seeing the same champions over and over; sure there are some you'll see often enough, namely Lux, but realistically you'll see champions range from Kayn to Malphite.

Now I'm not going so far as to suggest a Ranked ARAM or a Ranked Howling Abyss; ultimately I agree that's going too far considering the game isn't balanced around the Howling Abyss, but I really don't think having a second queue for Howling Abyss instead of just ARAM is such a bad idea. Summoner's Rift, even if only playing a normal game, just comes with the feeling of expectation and doesn't really let you relax sometimes. League is a fun game but it's hard to actually have fun while playing it now'a days. And one of the best statements I saw someone comment about Ascension once was how it was the best mode to relax in because it was a simple brawl, "Go get 'em" type mode where they could actually just play League to have fun. Considering Ascension is part of the RGMQ whereas Howling Abyss is not, although the same brawler logic applies to the map, I just always thought it could be a fun idea to have a second Normal Game queue type for Howling Abyss.

So this is my overall discussion on the matter, I just want to hear some peeps thoughts regarding it is all.

**TL:DR - **Summoner's Rift, even if playing a normal game, can sometimes still feel full of expectations and don't really allow for relaxing while still enjoying League. The Howling Abyss map has no real objectives outside of winning and allows for a much more stress-free environment; giving the map a second queue type outside of just ARAM, such as Blind or Draft pick, could be both beneficial for League of Legends as a whole and could easily as well end up a welcome change by existing players already.

2 Comments

Xion The XIV2/7/2018, 5:36:06 PM1 votes

only problem I see with this is, it will be a full 10 poke champions. That is what ultimately wins these games which team has the most poke(Unless the enemy team is that stupid)

Minarde2/8/2018, 3:54:20 AM1 votes

Ranked would almost be required for a second HA queue to draw a large enough playerbase for stable matchmaking. Riot's neglected (and disincentivized) non-SR maps for so long that League's playerbase is almost entirely concentrated on SR. And Ranked ARAM would work much better than Ranked Draft HA.

There's notable differences between Blind/Draft HA and LotPK. For one thing, LotPK is only temporary. Seeing the same champ for two weeks is nowhere close to seeing the same champ for years. Additionally, the Poro King offers engage/disengage and tower-pushing ability, which shifts relative champion strength. Assassins, in particular, function better than in regular HA.