Yet Another Uninstall Story
To The Boards. Half of you, I have loved playing with, and would be honored to come back to a game where your voices are the ones shaping the game into a fun and competitive game. The other half, you are what killed this game. I blame you, for your endless whining and I blame Riot for listening to you.
To The Community At Large. Keep strong, you guys are awesome, and every time I drop into the rift the only part of the game that is even slightly close to being fun is you guys. Every time I come to the boards, to see all this awesome art, to see the theory crafting happening in concepts. Elsewhere too, where people enjoy their pro teams and love to see their stars in action. Good for you, I love you guys. And Go 100 Theives
To Riot. Usually with these things its difficult to know where to start. But, Riot Game, you have the distinguished honor of being so remarkably obtuse and frustrating, that I know exactly where to start. You are doing to this game what was done to Teen Titans. You've taken something fun, that was enjoyed by a community, and involved bringing people into the community and they assimilated into league culture and became a part of the experience. The game was balanced based on what was fair and fun, not based on some quotas you had to reach in game length, champions in position rates, and some champion diversity. All those things used to just happen naturally when the game was balanced, and the result was a familiar game, that we could all open up, knowing exactly what to expect, while still receiving a fresh and exciting experience everytime. Unfortunely, in recent months, you have managed to reverse this. I no longer go into a game knowing what to expect. Not because "wahhh bruisers and mages in bottom" or "this team comp isn't the exact same one I've seen every game this month cry " Its because I never know what absolute unfair unbalanced uninteractive unfun horseshit I'm going to get absolutely blindsided by. There are pages of stuff all about the horrible misery of playing your game, and I've written quite a few of them. There will be links below to illustrate some of these, but I know you don't care enough to read them anyway.
What really drove it home for me was a few days ago. Previously, I had really thought the reason so many things were broken is Riot just couldn't figure out how to solve them. "X is broken" ok, good but what do we do about it? Reasonable assumption. And then, I saw some of these: This About Rakan Especially This Comment This one, from a Gnar Main This one, where Meddler admits to knowing Irelia was too strong, well before they did anything, but stull not adjusting her Kit And another Meddler comment, where he says Trist has a strong lane and late game And countless others, which I don't have the time to hunt down.
That last one in particular irks me, because I actually left a comment on that one. You can't see it, but in fact, its there if you click "Show More". I feel like I made a perfectly valid point here, yet am ignored, and downvoted by Meddler. No answer, no explanation, no insight into Riot and their idea of balance. Just a big silent fuck you, courtesy of Riot employees. Look at the patch 8.13 thread. Guy complains about missing interaction between Thresh and Blitz hook, instant answer. I write about what I think is wrong in a complete and coherent matter, many people comment that they share my frustration, but from Riot: Crickets. Nothing, just leaving me hanging, alongside countless others as I put effort forward to at least understand why Riot is ruining what was once my favorite game.
But then, I had a breakthrough. I realized I had been missing something.
My big realization is that Riot doesn't care. Thats not to say, Riot doesn't care about league, they care a lot, because its worth a lot, and many of their lives revolve around it. What I mean, is that I fall into a group about whom, Riot doesn't care. Riot has no interest in helping or working with my demographic, and has made it very clear that I am not the target audience. Who is this magical group? Who is this section of the fan base Riot has alienated repeatedly? Its people who are interested in League as a competitive experience.
At some point, Riot forgot THE THING that made league popular. The one thing which made league a game people flocked to in the thousands. The reason people sat through 20 minute queues to get decent teams, and played for the next 50 minutes. They played league, for the joy of competition. League was played for sport, as an opportunity to do something very hard, and match skill and wit with another person. in this case, 5 of them. Its why people have historically been so mad about trash teammates and unfair gameplay aspects. Because it makes the game unsporting. I'm sure season 2 worlds Renekton was fun, but it certainly wasn't sporting, and as such it spent every game banned.
The demographic Riot cares about is Casuals now. People who aren't interested in the competitive nature of the game. They are attached to a particular champion, not just because one tricking, but because they enjoy playing X champion. Not playing league of legends. Its not about league, its about their champion. Sometimes its not just one champ, sometimes its a particular playstyle, sometimes its 4 champions they rotate between. These are the people who buy all the skins and play the game no matter how bad Riot messes up. People who just want to pop into a game of league for 20 minutes and just hehe xd around for some time.
Honestly, Riot, ok, fine. If that is the demographic you intend to serve, fine. Excellent work in finding a dedicated fanbase. But, at the same time, I can't stay. I have to go. I can not continue to enjoy league as a competitive experience, because you no longer care about whats fair. As long as its cool. But there are two problems with this.
- That is a huge slap in the face to the people who built you. Your company stands upon millions of hours from dedicated gamers spreading the word about this awesome competitive game, and bringing people into the community. Its an insult to now turn your back on them.
- Its going to kill you. Eventually, you will run out of ways to make things feel new and fresh. Rather than create something which never goes stale, you are trapped in an endless cycle of squeezing more and more out of a milked cow. It may not be today, or even this year, but eventually the players you're appeasing will get bored, and the game wont have the allure which originally drew people into the community in the first place. Nothing will make league stand out from the sea of worthless flashy games, with no substance.
-Signed, A Former Summoner
EDIT: all those links I promised
https://boards.na.leagueoflegends.com/en/c/riot-official/Jz07sgE0-patch-813-notes?comment=0048
