Class Updates shouldn't be used to redefine champions

They never turn out well.

The reworks that have been the most well received are the ones that do the opposite. Going only off the major ones, All of these reworks did not 'reinvent' the character or forsake their current player base in hopes of drawing in a new crowd. They took what the character already has, and they improved upon that by adding nuance to their kits to modernize them, or by focusing them around their existing high points and pushing them even further into what made them so appealing to begin with. Most of their balance problems post-rework were numbers issues and could be solved easily; otherwise, they are good reworks.

Conversely, almost all of the reworks that people regard as the worst usually involve Riot trying to push them to do something entirely different, because they had a new 'direction' for that champion. are some of the worst offenders in this regard; their existing player base and what they may want out of a rework was not taken into consideration, and more importantly, Riot tried to completely change the champion** while keeping most of their kit intact. ** That's the biggest reason I think these gimmick reworks fail so often; their scope is far beyond what a class update can offer to them, because they try to redefine these champions, while leaving such a large portion of their original kit intact. On the flip side, making those reworks bigger than a Class Update makes them an overhaul, which leaves them even more separated from their original identity, which feels just as bad or worse for the people who play them. The only exception to this, that I know of, is Graves, and he's been very controversial since his rework with strong opinions on both sides. And I think we're seeing the same thing with this update; Sejuani and Maokai are being 'redefined' as champions instead of being built upon, and the people who play them are not very happy about it.

So please keep this in mind when you decide on the next class update; if they can't be easily and quickly modernized and improved upon without changes that completely repurpose them, consider setting them aside for an individual rework later, where you can look at them more intimately.