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Idea on Drakes

Danjeng··1 votes·281 views

There was a post about how the randomness of Drake spawns provide no strategic value, which led me to think about this situation.

What if Drakes spawned at regular intervals? Every few minutes one Drake would fly into the pit, while the current resident (if alive) would fly off, similar to Baron Nashorn replacing Rift Herald. They would follow a cycle like so (just an example, no particular order is in mind): Water, Cloud, Mountain, Infernal, Water... until Elder Drake climbs into the pit.

If a Drake is in combat, it will not fly off. If Drake is killed, no Drakes will fly in for 6 minutes.

With this suggestion, there would be more strategy. What players would think: "We have an early game comp, so we need to snowball. It's 11 minutes, and Mountain Drake is up in 1. I'm going to prep the area and ping, to inform my team." Current thinking of players: "We killed bot tower and bot, there's nothing better to do. Let's kill the Drake."

On a separate note, I feel the Drake buffs themselves are not very strategic. As in some particular Drakes seem very underwhelming. While others, while powerful, are not interactive.

Example suggestions: What if Cloud Drake gave a portion of the MS boost to nearby minions? Or instead of giving free stats, Infernal Drake burns opponents (Elder Drake now gives AP and AD instead).

These are some suggestions that I thought about. They will probably offer more strategy than randomly spawning Drakes.

8 Comments

Kilanost1 votes

There was a post about how the randomness of Drake spawns provide no strategic value, which led me to think about this situation.

If you look at it superficially I can see how that might seem right. However, what this requires is for you to adapt your strategy to fit the scenario (hence why they broadcast what kind of drake is next). you have from the time a drake dies till the next one respawns to decide how much of a priority that drake is, what your chances of taking it are, what you might give up to take it, what you could get if you don't take it, etc. If the drake types weren't broadcast, this wouldn't be as true, but still true to an extent.

So yea, the drakes require you to make adaptive strategy decisions. Think about how many times the enemy got an infernal and another one was set to come next and someone said "we can't let them get two infernals." Denying that 2nd infernal is inherently strategy. No one would say anything if it was a wind drake.

Danjeng1 votes

There's no strategy about getting 2 infernals. It is reactive to something random. You do it because it's there, not because you set it up. There's no planning involved, it's just "this is the good Drake, let's get it" or "Cloud is bad, just leave it".

You could similarly argue for another RNG element: that Critical Strikes also offer strategy with their "adaptive strategy decisions". "He just crit me two times, I ought to back off now because my health is getting low". That's not strategy, that's reaction to the result of RNG.

With set spawn times, the player can now plan when to get which specific Drake.

Kilanost1 votes

The simple act of deciding which dragon is and is not worth taking is strategy as each technically does confer advantage. While the dragon spawns themselves may be randomized, your reactions to what dragon is spawning next is not. It is a decision. And it is a decision you get 5 minutes to make and prepare for.

Whether or not a crit occurs is rng yes. That means that in theory if you have 20% crit, you should crit once every 5 attacks. The RNG comes in when you crit 3x in a row with a 20% crit chance. You have made no decisions or done nothing and have produced a favorable outcome. That is the difference.

You have control in what you do when you see what type of drag is up next and how you deal with it. That is strategy. If you don't see the difference my friend, there is no helping you beyond this point.

Danjeng1 votes

I see your point, that the player has control over what to do with the randomized Drakes. They can decide to either take it or leave it, which is a form of strategy. i agree, there is some strategy in it.

However, I am suggesting that more power be given to the players to determine the outcome of the match. Instead of reacting to what is predetermined. I think that would add to much more interesting gameplay decisions. Wouldn't you think so too?

Kilanost1 votes

Nah what you get then is people doing the same thing every time. With the old drakes I used to take udyr and a bunch of health pots level 3, grab first drake, and just sit on them when they were about to spawn all game long. It was boring and everything centered around denying the enemy team 2 or 4 drags if you could (because those were the best rewards). Now I get to decide how I want to play certain things depending on the situation. Other team sees an infernal, but you've already taken two mountains... your team can set up for a baron in exchange for giving up an infernal because you have all that extra damage on objectives. It makes the game more dynamic if you pay attention to the buffs you get from drags and make it a point to use them as much as possible.

Danjeng1 votes

That's where my second suggestion comes to play- making the weaker Drakes on par. If that was the case, then every Drake would be equally enticing, and YOU can decide which ones to get.

Your example of having 2 Mountain Drakes and an infernal coming up is RNG, not strategy. You're not wrong, reacting to the situation by getting Baron is strategy, but which Drakes spawn is NOT strategy.

I do not prefer RNG, though others might, because it adds variation to games. Neither way is right or wrong.

Kilanost1 votes

The decision to ignore it to take baron because you have two mountains is strategy. Wind drakes are actually excellent by the way when you play with people who know how to rotate hard and effectively.

Danjeng1 votes

I just agreed with you and you are just repeating what I agreed with you on.

You're not wrong, reacting to the situation by getting Baron is strategy

YES, there is strategy in Drakes. But I'm saying that there would be even MORE strategy if which Drakes to be taken could be decided. With my suggestion, you can DECIDE to take 2 Mountain Drakes, then take Baron when Infernal is on the rotation cycle. Now, it's you wait for RNG to do the work for you.

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