Riot, The Meta, and the new Draft

Ayame Isaki·1/18/2016, 9:43:03 PM·2 votes·199 views

I vaguely recall Riot stating that they would make changes that would enforce the meta. Yet, here we are with the new Draft system that enforces the 1-1-2 w/ Jungle meta. Every single team has the exact same set up. Only a full premade can get away with something like double jungle (where top and bottom each have a smite support) or any other odd combination.

Team Builder, on the other hand, allowed you to create any set you wanted. And if you got placed into a set up you didn't want to play, you simply left and were placed back in the queue with no penalties; it required no adherence to any meta (though most teams followed the meta).

So, how does the removal of the Team Builder and the design of the new Draft allow any sort of strategic diversity outside of the established meta?

I feel like blind pick isn't the best place to experiment with alternate strategies, as most of the time it is arguing over who called mid first and people picking troll champs (Hey look, a Kogmaw support... awesome) with no recourse (in TB, I could kick that kogmaw). I see the recent changes to game modes as a loss with respect to strategic diversity and to fun.

From a fun perspective, I would replace Blind Pick with Team Builder and/or allow Normal Draft (maybe not Ranked, I'm undecided here as I don't currently play Ranked) players to select only one role if they want (warn them their queue times may be longer). I certainly wouldn't mind a longer wait if I really just felt like jungling (as an example).

0 Comments