My thoughts on Preseason

So a LOT has happened in the preseason. I would post this in RIOT's thread about the season thus far, but I figure it would get buried, so here I go:

Game Length: Initially (5.22), games became INCREDIBLY short. I remember playing 4-5 games in a row and not a one was over 25 min. Three of them were under 20. Since then, however, the games I play have varied quite a bit. I haven't had one under 20 min in a long while, and most games are about 30 min which feels appropriate. RIOT has stated they are going to continue to moderate this, but I think they are on the right track.

Objectives: RIOT was dead on with this one: Since late last season (esp at worlds) Towers were pretty well the only objective that mattered. So far, Dragon is still not that big a deal; not just because you rarely see 5 dragons, but because you could be taking towers instead. Dragon and now Rift Herald have pretty well been regulated to "important objectives IF there is a devourer champ in the game." 5 stacks on Devourer is a pretty big deal, but most games don't have these junglers in them, and at my current level (silver 4/3) and lower, those junglers do not do a great job (usually) of stacking devourer or they don't help their team at all. Dragon and Rift Herald need work if they are going to be relevant. If they can make Dragon and Herald more valuable, it should also increase the average game time due to more settup and fighting around these objectives. Maybe. Too far the other way and it will shorten games by being too much. :P

Marksmen: I hear quite a few complaints on this front, but I really feel the only legitimate complaints go to Kog Maw mains (not me :P). I have seen so many different marksmen where as last season it was pretty much just Kalista, Jinx and Vayne. I see Tristana more, Lucian, Varus, Miss Fortune is ridiculous atm, and even Caitlyn. I still see very little of Twitch, Graves, and Sivir, and almost never see Ashe or Kog'Maw. So overall, there are still some outsiders still, but diversity has definitely gone up.

Vision: This has been the roughest change for me, and one Im glad that they are not satisfied with yet. My ranked 5's team support player is a huge advocate for how bad those combo items are, and controlling vision, especially if you are behind is way harder than last season.

I disagree when RIOT says blue trinkets are too strong, but I think that the lack of Yellows(Green?) is what makes them so. I still think vision would be better if:

A) Go back to last seasons trinkets, minus the pink upgrade and keep the new blue and red upgrades. B) Make Ruby sightstone (and/or the new combo ones?) increase ward limit by 1. That would make them far more appealing imho

Keystones: Overall, they are interesting. It was a fresh new approach to the mastery system and I like it a lot. However, I think it goes without saying that some are just far superior to others:

Natural Talent: I haven't found a champion who benefits more from this than 3% lifesteal AND spellvamp. 10AD and 15AP over 18 levels just isn't even noticeable. Add on like 4-6 AD/AP to start, and now you have something that can compete (don't know if that would be too strong but it needs to be early focus, its only tier 2 so its benefit should be early game.

Battering Blows/Piercing Thoughts vs Precision: 7% of one kind or 14 armor pen PLUS 10 magic pen flat. I feel like the cunning tree should be focused around utility more-so than damage, but I think precision is almost always better than the other two. In fact, the 7% armor pen doesn't even go even with the 14 flat till the enemy has 200 armor. Now, I could argue this a bit but I will save the rhetoric for now. Ferocity should have the clear better choices for damage in my opinion, which leads to my next mastery:

Thunderlord's Decree: Yes they are buffing the other keystones. No, I don't think it will change anything. Thunderlord's adds a SIGNIFICANT amount of burst to trades at all levels and for all champs. Its good for assassins, tanks for early damage and trade potential, mages, even supports take it just to add that much more pressure to their lanes. I do not think that buffing the other masteries is the answer (I still think they need buffs, but its not the answer to league of thunderlords in my opinion). I think Thunderlords damage should be lowered and it should (as per being in the cunning tree) have some kind of utility attached to it. For instance, if you cut the base damage in half, but add a 1 second slow and a 2 second reveal. It will still be better for assassins, as the burst is what you want on them and the other keystones do not help with that, but it will not be better on mages, who will want DFT, or fighters, who will want Fervor. It could also be a situational pick against opponents who like to hide in bushes or go invis (looking at you teemo). Regardless, it should not compete with Ferocity, in my opinion, for best damage on any given champ.

Bounty Hunter: I feel like this one should start at 1% and go up 1% per unique champion, or if it starts at 0%, it should go up by 1.5% per unique champ. Again, just my opinion, but I never see this one picked unless the champ being played has ZERO cc.

Veteran Scars: I think in its current state that this needs to be switched with unyielding. Do you want more starting health? or Regen (effective health)? Do you want increased armor/magic resist (mitigation) or increased healing/lifesteal/shields etc (mitigation). And to keep it clear cut, I think it should just be healing recieved, lifesteal and shields, but not regen. Stick to just hard forms of damage mitigation.

Strength of Ages: I think this one (with the upcoming changes) will be a go to for tanky junglers, but it still wont be as good for laners, which I think is fine.

Junglers: Some people want to know why you can't just have a different jungle item without getting rid of rune glaive. I can only guess its because they want to keep it to AD/ AS/ Tank/ Mage... Im honestly not sure what needs to happen here, but they have their work cut out.

Mages: I think overall (after the initial coming on and rebalancing) aside from Skarner (I don't like being pigeoned to a SINGLE role, and Im biased) the Juggernauts and the marksmen work was great! I think they will do a fine job with mages too. They will be OP and then get balanced, but it will be fine :)

Honorable Mentions:

As a top lane main, Im really glad for the new Rageblade. I don't use it very often, but it brought back a lot of champs to the top lane that I havent seen in a while. Nice to not be just 2 to 3 super tanks a 1 to 2 assassins. Having fighters rejoin the mix was a breath of fresh air.

Still waiting to hear more about Jhin (Deadeye) whichever it is.

Can't wait for Shen update and TARIC REWORK!

Good luck everyone on the fields of justice!