Balancing Around LCS/Pro Play Discussion

So, Riot has shown that they do prefer balancing around pro play. If this is a good or bad thing is entirely your opinion, but I want to discuss how this could affect balancing the game.

What are the benefits of balancing around pro play? So with pro play, players tend to play their champions to the peak of their skill. Which is a good thing, we get to see how well champions can perform at their peak and balance around that. Riot has shown that they are capable of balancing a champion to be more welcoming for new players, but potentially weaken them at their peak. Pro play shows how strong champions can be when played right, even if they aren't meta or FoTM (Hue). Since pro players tend to use the strongest champions at the moment, we can see what may need to be nerfed to keep flavour in the game. We shouldn't have a perfectly balanced game, but one that changes time after time to keep it fresh. (But can you chill with changing the jungle, at least?) As far as I see it, balancing around pro play lets Riot see how champions perform at the peak of their skill and balance the game to keep it fresh. But what negatives do we get from it?

The negatives of balancing around pro play. I think there's one key word that lets us know the negatives of balancing around pro play:

#BIAS.

Pro play is about making money. Riot's a company, and while they balance the game, money is a part of their goal too. If they didn't make money, they would have trouble running a game around the world, right? Where does bias come into this? Well, people like to watch pro play more if they see big, flashy plays like what you get with and . See a problem though? These champions have proven themselves to be hated by the community for being unfun to fight against, overloaded, or just plain powerful. But the flashy plays they provide keep pro play fresh and money-making. But there's having flashy gameplay, then there's being biased towards certain champions. : Lee Sin has shown himself to be a master of the jungle. Many say that the jungle is defined by the Blind Monk, saying that your viability in the jungle is defined by questions. "How well can you clear compared to Lee Sin?" "Is your ganking potential as good as Lee Sin's?" "Do you have as much damage/mobility/tank stats as Lee Sin?" The champion has shown himself as a powerhouse of many benefits (mobility, damage, CC, and defenses to name a few) without any sign of stopping. Lee Sin probably deserves heavy nerfs so he's less oppressive, but Riot is too afraid to touch their money-making machine. Uhm, before I go into full rant mode, I should probably move onto another champion. : Boy oh boy, Big flashy plays man himself. Yasuo is a pretty unpopular champion just because he's straight unfun to fight. No one wants to fight a champion with mobility and an anti-projectile move, even if they can counter them. Yasuo is flashy and difficult to play, but he's also toxic to fight. He has a lot of things that slayers/skirmishers would want to have. He has a good way to poke, mobility (unreliable outside of minion waves, but still mobility), CC, and both great teamfight and dueling potential. Yasuo can and likely will fuck you up, provided that the Yasuo main doesn't rage quit.

Closing Remarks There's probably a lot I could've said about this subject, but I didn't feel a need to. What I'm trying to get at is that balancing around pro play has its pros and cons. But are the pros worth the cons? Balancing the game around bias and making money could easily RUIN the game. I want to give my honest opinion on how the game may receive better balance:

#Balance around platinum/diamond. Why would I want the game balanced around plat/diamond? I see those ranks as sort of the midpoint between "low-tier scrub" and professionals. You aren't a bad player at all for being plat/diamond, but you aren't top tier. By balancing around plat/diamond play (let's call it the optimal balancing zone) you can still balance champions around the peak of their skill level, but hopefully avoid the bias that comes with balancing around pro play. Pros will do what pros will do, and people will copy the pros, but that doesn't mean they'll be the same. I'd much rather see a fairer and likely more fun game instead of a flashy 1v5 Ori-Yasuo ult on a screen. It may just be me not caring for pro-play that leads to my opinion, but it's my opinion. (I'm gonna be honest, I really just want to see stop getting nerfed). But I have a question for Riot that needs a straight answer:

#Do you want to balance the game around the players or the pros?