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New Champions, New Fan Bases, New Haters, Long term

PhantomGG·1/8/2019, 12:06:37 AM·4 votes·2,890 views

When a champion is released into the game, the following things will happen

-Players will play the champion -A new fan base will be introduced -A new group of haters will be introduced

A good example of this? Yasuo, Yasuo has a huge list of fans, Yasuo has a huge list of haters. Riot literally has no possible way where they can change Yasuo, that pleases both the haters and the fans at the same time, one of these two parties is promised to be upset, and in both these situations, Riot will lose.

Now why am I bringing up this subject? The reason I bring up this subject, for I was strongly against the release of Neeko and I am also against the release of this new chain champion. IDC how cool he is, or if he's even the greatest champion ever.

League of legends is currently in a very violent and red alert type of period for balancing, Riot can easily fix the problems that exist, but if they aren't careful, the game can easily become far past fixing. Adding a new champion is something riot should not even put into consideration anymore, all work should be focused on reworks, and fixing itemization.

I am writing this article for two reasons.

-Reading the topic "vi is still a champion" -The discussion of Akalis revert

With the discussion of Akalis revert, while I will admit she has toxic game play, she is by far my favorite champion to play, and if Riot reverts her, this will heavily impact the levels of fun I have on League, I will be upset at riot for giving me something, just to take it away from me. I agree with fans, she has problems, but I would much rather they keep current Akali, and try to fix her numbers, I believe this Akali can be balanced, and me and many other fans will be sad to see her go.

Than let's talk about problematic design. For the most part Riot has no clue how to buff Vi, for her design as a whole is problematic. She has promised CC that has no ways to be stopped, and a lot of burst that comes after it, this is probelmatic game design. For any way they buff Vi, it's going to feel Abnoxious. Buff her cooldowns people will go "OMG HER ULT IS ALWAYS UP" Buff her damage they will go "shes tanky AND SHE DOES DAMAGE". Vi is problematic game design period, and because of this, she has literally been permanently nerfd since basically her release in the game. We all remember the metas where Vi was a top tier pick. Those were never enjoyable metas.

So what am I getting at here? Riot has a pattern where they release problematic champions, and the worse part about it, is riot can't get rid of them, if you get rid of them, you are going to upset the fans who play those champions, which can lead to players quitting, and people doubting your competence as a game design company. Riot loses here.

If riot wants to no longer be in these situations where, a champion is released with a problematic design, but they can't get rid of it, without fear of upsetting the fans, than they should spend longer periods of times, discussing which champions actually get released, make stricter requirements, and be willing to tell their designers.

"no"

Famous examples of impossible to fix designs Evelynn Graves Irelia Kalista Akali Vladimir Rengar

12 Comments

Tormentula1/8/2019, 12:09:27 AM4 votes

{quoted}

Famous examples of impossible to fix designs Evelynn Graves Irelia Kalista Akali Vladimir Rengar

"insert entire champion roster"

I genuinely wonder what a "possible to fix" designs list would look like.

GreenKnight1/8/2019, 12:39:08 AM2 votes

Whatever, i'll always hate reworks. I don't care about anything else at this point.

ModCaptainMårvelous1/8/2019, 3:19:09 AM2 votes

Adding a new champion is something riot should not even put into consideration anymore, all work should be focused on reworks, and fixing itemization.

Yeah, no they're not ever going to really "stop" making new champs. Slow down, sure, but they won't stop until the game goes offline/into maintenance mode. They do this for a few reasons, good or and depending on how you see it:

  • Add a new gear to the everturning machine.
  • Add something completely unique to league (Now more applicable than ever in Season 1-3)
  • Add new characters for people who like that sort of thing.
  • Add a new way to get $. Because I mean, it IS a business.

Riot has a pattern where they release problematic champions, and the worse part about it, is riot can't get rid of them, if you get rid of them, you are going to upset the fans who play those champions, which can lead to players quitting, and people doubting your competence as a game design company. Riot loses here.

If riot wants to no longer be in these situations where, a champion is released with a problematic design, but they can't get rid of it, without fear of upsetting the fans, than they should spend longer periods of times, discussing which champions actually get released, make stricter requirements, and be willing to tell their designers no.

Except sometimes those champions aren't "problematic" but still need buffs/nerfs/etc. to be made viable. I doubt anyone would argue old Urgot was problematic because he had a weird niche and was occasionally good but frankly his kit was a mess. These are also the cases where the possible loss of fans (All 100k old urgot players) is outweighed by the improved gameplay as well as possible new fans (The rest of the playerbase) so the rework gets done anyways.

And of course, by your definition: Riot doesn't release a champion like Kayn. Riot now loses out on everyone who would have found Kayn fun, the gameplay niche he provided, the people who loved Kayn and would buy Kayn skins, etc. So in a way, Riot loses here, but they lose more because it's possible they passed up- on a literal goldmine in Kayn. (Which they didn't, by the by. Apparently Kayn is more popular than Yasuo according to that graph).

You're also incorrect in assuming fans won't get upset and that everyone can be made happy. Do you know there are people who still miss old Sion? Despite it being an absolute trainwreck of a design, they miss him. There is literally no situation where all old fans are happy save for when you do not a thing with the design and leave it as is because it's their toy. They will always be in these situations no matter what because that is the fact you face whenever you touch something someone is attached for. As a perfect example: LeBlanc is reviled around here yet there were huge campaigns for a revert because "old leblanc was much more fun" "Man I miss old leblanc" even if everyone else thought it was bad for the game, so now you just switch who is happy and who is sad.

Your main point hinges on this ideal that people can all put down their guns and be happy with a change if Riot "listens" enough. This isn't ever going to happen. There is always going to be someone upset about a change. The best you can do is to minimize the damage and maximize the amount of people enjoying the new/reworked thing. In a perfect world, yes, your idea would be great. But we don't live in a perfect world so we have to accept the factual situations we find ourselves in.

Saevum1/8/2019, 1:46:24 AM1 votes

Riot stopped reading when you said that Akali has a toxic gameplay.

I read it all though.

MasterDClone1/8/2019, 2:39:05 AM1 votes

what about give people original urgot just to take it away from them with this brand new champion know as new urgot. New champions are fine, warwick and akali like reworks are also fine because the gameplay is roughly the same but for champions like galio and urgot where the playerbases may have been rather small, a lot of people still got their champion taken away with them for a brand new champion with the same name which is why, when people like you make that argument it makes no sense because a lot of the people asking for reverts have had their fun taken away because their champion were taken away. Urgot was my favourite mid-laner to play, i had all his skins, i may not have mained him but he was one of my favourite champions to play casually.

Riot can't get rid of a champion but they do so anyways with a lot of their reworks, because if the core gameplay isn't similar at all then the reworked champion is a new champion and not the old.

Examples of Riot keeping the gameplay intact with a rework: Warwick Evelynn Ezreal Nunu Zac Akali (this one is a bit strange because her gameplay is not that similar but not that different, although a lot of her old mains have quit her due to he being mainstream which isn't riot's fault)

Examples of Riot releasing a new champion by removing an old one: Yorick Galio Urgot Aatrox

I will say that i love all of those champions(cept new urgot) but they are new champions and those who played them had there champions effectively removed which is why there is so much hate with reworks.

Sorry for the rant but posts like these make no sense for me

MrHaZeYo1/8/2019, 2:52:09 AM1 votes

The problem is that people expect new champs, remember season 4 where we had what 4 new champs in a year? (1 of them being Yas) People did nothing but complain about it. I'm fine with this pattern they have now, Rework, New Champ, Rework, New Champ, rinse and repeat.

Then again I'd be fine if no new champs were introduced for a year or two so they can get other shit straightened out and some old champs modernized.