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@Riot, The Recent ARAM Changes

BastionKross·5/1/2015, 12:54:40 PM·6 votes·1,137 views

As a player who enjoys ARAM enough to have over 2000 games of it on this account, I'd like to give my thoughts on some of your changes last patch:

  1. item 3072 seems to make marksman slightly more powerful than item 3181, which is just fine. The shield helps tremendously during the chaotic teamfights that are so common to the mode, and actually having a big ticket lifesteal item that isn't melee only item 3074 is huge for some champions.

  2. item 3083 is an excellent addition to ARAM for two reasons. First, it allows champions who have an HP scaling to actually have a power spike without buying a item 3022. This is incredible for those champs. Secondly, it does what item 3112 should have done, let melees lane against the poke of 3-4 enemy champions without spending the first part of the match huddled behind their turret praying for level 6 to get here soon. The build path is great since you can start with two item 3801 on your first buy and usually assemble the entire item on your first death.

  3. summoner 31 is an excellent addition to the mode. Yes, I agree the numbers on the spell may need to be tweaked a bit, but overall I love how it enables immobile champions to not only do something in the early game, but to actually make plays on champions with long ranges. It has let champions like Udyr be a credible threat to Lux Xerath Brand. And if you've ever rolled up a champion like Udyr against a poke heavy team, you know how grateful you are to have that snowball in your hands. Finally, you have the potential to contribute to the match before 10/15 minutes.

In summary, I am heavily impressed at these changes and how they improve the ARAM experience for champions who have long been weakened in it. Is there any specific Rioter I should thank, or was this a whole team? Either way, I believe you've improved the ARAM game mode significantly with your changes, and I thank you.

9 Comments

MiniJunkie5/1/2015, 1:28:15 PM6 votes

It's interesting to read your perspective - I also have about 3000 games of ARAM (I'm addicted) and I really dislike the addition of the snowballs. It has changed the dynamic so much that it's actually starting to break my addiction to playing in the sense that it just doesn't feel the same anymore somehow. The balance is "off" too much. Feels like it wasn't broken so why fix it kind of thing. I hope they either take it out or really reduce how often people can use them. My last match it just felt like a bunch of snowballs and suddenly having melee in my face (I was Ori) out of the blue. This was a serious change in the game play dynamic that maybe warranted a little more community feedback first.

My favorite change to ARAM was reducing the surrender clock to 15 mins :D

Poorly Dressed5/1/2015, 1:40:33 PM3 votes

Rate 10/10 - great read :) Keep enjoying ARAM my friend. The only thing i would like to see is a more clear animation of the snowball. If there are traps and tunnels all over the place it can get really hard to keep track of the snowballs every few seconds. Maybe make them red/orange pls :D

Hard4Hamsters5/1/2015, 5:50:33 PM2 votes

Upvotes for everyone. :D

Seriously glad somebody on the boards isn't b****ing about how much Mark/Dash breaks the game and it needs to be removed. "PLEASE RITO, remove Snowball! I was playing Nidalee, Xerath, Varus, Sona, and Vel'Koz and we lost because Mark is fucking broken! We even had 3 Luden's Echo's on the team and we lost just because melees have a chance to get close to me now." I do think it has some balancing issues with how often it can be cast or it's range, but I like the addition. If people really think that poke comps weren't a problem in ARAM, go look at the highest winrate champs on the map. Ziggs had a 60%+ winrate when Luden's was added and Athene's was buffed. And his poke champ brethren were among the highest winrates as well. I'll be interested to see which champions come out on top with Mark/Dash. Have fun out there everyone. Peace.