Hey, Riot? I have a question.

For the record, I'm half expecting this post to get downvoted, and half expecting a mod to ban it cuz they don't like what it says, but regardless, I have a question I'd like an answer to.

Not for the perfectly nice, sociable Rioters who sometimes come into here for damage control. Not for the unfortunate people who spew PR talk at us every once in awhile. Not for the apologists in the playerbase who will insist Riot can do no wrong, ever.

I've got a question for the bigwigs. Y'know, the people who made this game at the start? The people who I watched and supported the growth of at the very beginning of the game's life? Those people. I have question for those people. The ones who've disappeared because they're too good to talk or listen to us anymore, because they made a big important game and don't give a damn about those of us who have been here since the days when your gaming industry titan was some gimmicky unknown thing being called a Dota ripoff.

You ready?

Just wondering when you guys are gonna pull your heads out of your asses, get over your own egos, and recognize you aren't fucking gods.

No, seriously, I mean it. You seem to have forgotten where you came from, and I'm just wondering exactly at what point you're going to realize you're NOT literally the greatest, most infallible creatures to ever exist.

Will it be when your pro scene completely fuckin' dies because you pissed off every single one of them? Or maybe after that, once all your pros move on to a game that respects its players more? Or perhaps the next phase, when all the players who have LONG since given up on playing your game because of piss-poor excuse for balancing and rampant obvious champion favoritism start to leave because your E-sports scene is dead? Or maybe after that, when you see the same massive drop in players that you should already know can happen since the exact same damned thing happened to Blizzard a few short years ago (whose still bigger than you, by the way) for the EXACT same kind of arrogance you insist on holding onto. Or maybe after that, when you're game is on a downturn and you realize "oh shit, we own have one game, and we've destroyed our players trust in us, how are we gonna make money now?" Or maybe after that, when it's way too late and your game is considered an old imbalanced mess, and your players neither trust nor WANT to trust you as developers anymore?

I mean, I'm just curious. Somewhere along the line you because business executives who apparently have absolutely zero respect for the players who made you into anything more than another drop in the ocean of online games. Somewhere in the last 7 or 8 years, you've forgotten how to respect your players.

You respect your NUMBERS, sure. You respect your statistics, your data, your revenue. Like good businessmen. Can't fault you for that. BUT... You quit respecting your players. You quit respecting your game. You quit respecting the opinions of the people who made you.

This isn't about just dynamic queue. People probably coulda stomached that, back when we all had faith in you as a company to do the right thing. Back when your players trusted that you knew what you were doing. Back when we felt you had the happiness of your players at heart. Hell, you might even think you actually do care. I mean, shit, not enough to admit you're fuckin' wrong, ever, about anything, but I guess that's good enough for you. Not enough to ever in the last 4 or so years admit you fucked something up and fix it the way the players want it fixed.

No, this isn't about just dynamic queue. This is about a bunch of people, "majority" or not (which, btw, tangent: The "majority" of players you surveyed means you surveyed a shitload or non-ranked or bronze-silver players who aren't even affected by dynamic queue much), who are the dedicated players. The ones who busted their asses for years in ranked games. The ones who buy skins just to support the game, or own every skin for a favorite champ. The ones who speak up about all the balance changes, not just the ones that affect their own champion pool. The ones who have had to watch a company they trusted rot into a festering cesspool of ego and mistakes. The ones who've sat through every bad decision, every horrendous balance period, every meta, every transition of the game. The ones who watch your Worlds games every season and give you those huge numbers you liked to boast about (or did, until they stopped climbing a couple years ago. Don't think we don't notice that shit)

This is about you once again giving us a giant, throbbing, veiny... middle finger... for caring about your game, your world, and your company. This is about the most dedicated section of your fanbase being fuckin' fed up with your bullshit. If you think it's just dynamic queue that has everyone uproariously angry with you, you're incredibly out of touch with your playerbase. Dynamic Queue is just the straw that broke the camel's back. Dynamic Queue is just the catalyst, the torch by with people are lighting their way with their pitchforks.

The "minority" you decided to show you obviously don't give a LEGITIMATE fuck about is the minority that makes sure you HAVE a majority. We're the ones who convince people to play your game. We're the ones who start your clubs. We're the ones who make user content. We're the ones who fight for your Esports scene. We're the ones who turn your pros into celebrity icons. We're the ones who fill your fuckin' wallets.

The only people who trust you anymore are the ones who either don't care or don't know any better (yet). Think about that. That's what your arrogance the last few years has turned your game into. That's what your insistence that you're doing the right thing 100% of the time has caused. Your pros as fed up with you and only stick around because they're looking for a new paycheck. Your "minority" sticks around because of those pros (cuz god knows many of us don't think you're objective about game balance anymore). Your "majority" plays the game because they hear it's a big deal, or because they happen to have some friends who play and will quit once that friend group losing any of its members.

Hell, even this goddamn essay of a post is proof that some of us still want to believe you guys are just a bunch of arrogant pricks swimming through wads of cash.

You have foundations. Those foundations are crumbling. Go ahead and keep ignoring it. See what happens.

So I ask again, when are you gonna wake up?

TLDR: "Rito y u do dis?"