The outlier of strategic diversity

Greymoore·9/18/2016, 8:27:56 PM·1 votes·287 views

In a time where the term "strategic diversity" gets thrown around to justify changes to certain aspects of the game, there is one element that has remained constant. I am referring to summoner 4. In every game about 90 to 100% of players will run this summoner spell. Understandable since its an invaluable tool for escape, engage, Camp stealing, etc. Now my questions is, Why has Riot not addressed this element of the game since it goes completely against the idea of strategic diversity. For most champions, one the summoner spell slots provides for diversity when not confined to the Meta trends (Example, summoner 7 for adc) while the other spell slot is a pseudo choice which is what has brought the age old debate of "D" or "F" for summoner 4. I believe that tackling this issue is much harder than it seems though since it is a multi layer problem that can create other balance issues. The first question to answer would be what to actually do with summoner 4. 1.Do you build it into the system like recall? 2.Remove it completely? 3.Provide an alternate way of obtaining it (Example, as a buff or item)?

Lets assume that Riot decides to build it into the system.

Then the question arises of how will the change affect champion balance. 1. Do some champions exert too much kill pressure with the added spell diversity or become practically unkillable? 2.Do some champions gain too many escape, engage or disengage tools?

Another problem is the trend after the summoner 4 change. 1. Will there be another summoner spell that becomes the default? 2. Do we get the wanted levels of diversity?

As you can see the complexity layer increases with each question answered but it is an issue that must be addressed in time if the goal is true strategic diversity. I bring this up because I believe now would be a good time to try some changes or at least bring up discussion as to potential changes. The patch for the world championship is set so changes can be pushed to the PBE then tested during pre-season since that is the time to test big changes to the game.

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