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Riot, you're not losing players because of lack of content

archelocke·5/16/2016, 4:12:01 PM·345 votes·18,744 views

You're losing players because of the so-called "better queue" that "the majority prefers." This new content and these big changes are nice but they're still not what a lot of us want.

We want a queue that isn't extremely unhealthy and toxic for the game. Forget about ranked play being competitive because it's really not anymore. Forget about having fun because if we get reported by a 4 man premade there's nothing we can do but sit there and be punished for not fitting in with them.

Your idea of a better game is a pretty shitty idea that makes me question whether some of you even play the game. Getting rid of SoloQ was one of the worst ideas of yours to date and you just won't admit that you made a mistake. Instead you try and push the fault on us and say it's because we wanted it.

The balance of the game is in a rather undesireable spot right now too. Sure, most of the OP picks have defined counterplay and can be dealt with in some way or another, but there are also assassins like Zed who have very, very scarce counterplay.

If I had to compare you to a certain group it'd be the toxic players who can't help but flame others when they do poorly. The ones who can't understand why they're put where they are.

Oh, and I'm sure many of you have heard the excuse "do you think you know THEIR game better than them?" My answer is yes, I do think so. I think a lot of others do too. They've lately done little to prove they know what's best for the game.

There have been good changes and bad changes, sure, but there is absolutely no doubt that League of Legends is at an all time low. Despite what some may have you think this game is losing players. The only way to stop losing players or start winning them back is to handle the game with a bit more focus on the community's wishes. Within reason, of course.

I'll probably be downvoted to hell for this, but I thought it should be said.

332 Comments

Rebonack5/16/2016, 4:48:57 PM108 votes

People are leaving because Riot has removed content.

People got really pissed about Team Builder being removed. People got really pissed about Dominion being removed. People got really pissed about SoloQ/Fives being removed. And some of them, like me, got pissed enough to basically stop playing the game completely.

I'm still waiting around holding out hope that Riot will pull their collective head out of their ass.

ZeeWolfZ5/16/2016, 4:35:29 PM67 votes

"The Queue that Majority Prefers" - Like we have a fuckin choice.

lolptwo5/16/2016, 8:34:53 PM34 votes

To the OP --- As someone who studies Commerce (Business) let me give you an insight into what they are thinking/doing.

They are aware of what they are doing, what they are doing is taking a calculating risk which means screwing over the "minority" of hardcore League players and Grandfather'd players for the future generation of E-Sports kids and free marketing ploy that is Dynamic Q.

They are marketing to younger kids, younger people who will market their game to their friends, because not only does playing with friends increase the chances of people buying aesthetics things like skins for wards/champions etc, but it improves their branding of Esports, if you read this blog they released a couple months ago.

http://na.leagueoflegends.com/en/news/riot-games/announcements/riot-pls-dynamic-queue-sandbox-and-league-2016

"We want League of Legends to become a global sport that lasts for generations. We’re not just talking about the LCS (or LCK, or CBLoL, or NACS, or…); we’re talking about League as a way of life - a competitive hobby, pastime, or activity that stays with you through the years. Imagine growing up with League the same way others have grown up with basketball, baseball, or soccer; shooting free-throws at the park, playing pickup games at the gym, forming new friendships in recreational leagues, being a die-hard fan of your favorite pro team, all the way to taking the international stage at the World Finals (if that’s the path you choose). Ultimately this is our goal: to foster a love for the sport of League by offering competitive, fulfilling experiences at all levels of play. We’re not quite there today, but we think we can get there with your help."

It's extremely obvious here they aren't talking about anyone past the age of 20 of even past the age of 17. (I'm an adult so definitely not marketing towards me)

Their entire speech here does not actually address a single one of the hundreds of issues pointed out to them about the CORE ISSUES OF DYNAMIC Q. Yet disseminates from the issues entirely and just points out in so many words that, **THEY DO NOT CARE WHAT GRANDFATHER'D PLAYERS THINK, THEY AREN'T GROWING THIS GAME FOR US ANYMORE ** I could rewrite this entire section for you guys here in my typical curt fashion if you guys ever read my messages here on the boards and it would look something like this:

_"Hey guys, AegonTheDragon here, over the last 6 years, you've guys put in a lot of money, hard earned work to make this game become one of/if not the largest game in worldwide gaming. League has become incredibly competitive, and we thank you for that. However now that you've guys have done all the dirty work in making the game big.

It's time to give you guys a big "fuck you" and move on from all the money you've given us, given the potential of Esports Growing Business market for future generations. We want what works best as a business model to continue our insane yearly revenue with the least amount of liabilities possible to ensure we can futher build a monopoly on MOBAS, but also on future Esports games to come, and that means;; scrapping Solo Q. Inserting a bunch of cool looking, shallow gameplay changing/ short term effects to take your mind off it,** adding MORE groups/ MORE clans, and MORE ways for you to self market for us using a very basic business tactic: Word of Mouth** ._

This vision doesn’t demand we drop everything else we’re working on. It just provides us with an overarching ideal we can push toward. We want League to grow into a true team sport and, at times, progress has been painful. As we stack-rank our development priorities, we’ve had to be honest with ourselves in making hard decisions about things we aren’t prioritizing. It’s part of why we retired Dominion, and it’s part of our initial goals for dynamic queue (and why we fumbled in the transition over from solo/duo queue). With these challenges in mind, however, we still believe this is the vision, and we’d love to hear your ideas on how we can accomplish it. As we get more comfortable talking about work on the fly, Riot Pls will move away from being about the features we’ve shipped (or won’t ship) and more on the lessons we’ve learned in pursuit of this vision. For now, we have a few things to cover:

_That being said, any of you who really care about this game and cannot comprehend why all your hard work of the last 6 years of playing to grow your individual skill rather than being elo boosted or "teamplayed" up the ranks, will unfortunately be ignored because you're not part of our future focus . Dominion players? HA goodbye, you guys barely brought in money to begin with so we're just flat out scrapping that Q. TeamBuilder? Get some friends and PLAY DYNAMIC Q AND LEARN IN DYNAMIC Q, say goodbye to that too, we want money, not mechanically skilled players.

With that in mind, I'm just going to sit here and pretend that I care about you guys, in typical business fashion. While closing my eyes and ears to all criticism and listening to only people who believe in what I believe in like a close- minded bigot, anyways time to change subjects, SANDBOX QUEUE COMING (something that should of been done 3 years ago) ." _ There you guys go,

A corrupted tacky human resource filled reply by Riot translated into normal human form by yours truly** AegonTheDragon**. You're Welcome

Jbels5/16/2016, 5:34:50 PM32 votes

I'm an older player of almost 4 years, and I just don't have the desire to play as much as I used to have it. Now, it could be said that this is because the majority of my friends that played League have all but disappeared. And you would be right. I have absolutely zero desire to play this game alone. The game is incredibly unfriendly and toxic towards solo players, and shits on you for not being in a premade. This is reflected in the fact that the game is becoming ever more and more TEAM based.

There is nothing wrong with League of Legends being more team based. In fact, it's a good thing. This is a team game, there are 5 people on each team, not one. But it is becoming harder and harder to say to myself, "Yes, I will eventually start playing regularly again" and actually mean it when I will be going in to each game with a bullet in my foot because I go in solo

The Deckowner5/16/2016, 6:31:38 PM21 votes

RIto Lyte is gone, but rest of the Rito will still pull out his data and say "98% of the players prefered dynamic queue" and they won't be ashamed because Lyte is no longer in Rito and he will take all the blames.

McKeifus5/16/2016, 6:24:54 PM18 votes

Every online game goes down this path. The devs get out of touch with the game and the players, and make increasingly alienating changes. Typically, they are trying to force their game to appeal to a larger crowd, instead of sticking with the formula that brought them success in the first place. It is the Sitcom equivalent of the "new, edgy character"(see: Poochie, "The Itchy & Scratchy & Poochie Show", Episode 14, S8 of The Simpsons). It generally involves making the game easier or focusing on a part of the game that brings in short term gains, but is unhealthy for the game long term. So GG Riot, get paid, but I'm moving on to another game. And I'm not trying to say I'm anything special, but when I lose interest in games like these, they usually die off within a year or so. It's happened with UO, EQ, WoW, and quite a few other smaller games. I'm heading to Overwatch, which will probably follow the same arc, and be shit in 3-4 years.

I was Lupxel5/16/2016, 6:35:24 PM14 votes

I also hope LoL starts really losing players so they learn how they don't deserve to have players with such bullshit changes. But I'd like to get a source of where is the community losing playerbase

TonyTonyMordecai5/16/2016, 6:43:58 PM13 votes

I'd like to see a whole season devoted to balance and champ/class updates before they release a new champ.

Tufio5/16/2016, 7:58:05 PM11 votes

solo was cancelled from the start of the season. They just can't admit it for not losing solo players and not getting massive flame.

The "new" direction of league of legend is casualization and group play.

Casualization mean more new players, group play mean more $$$. (someone in a premade is more likely to $$$ for skin/champs/stuff than a solo player)

that's all, dynamic is broken as a competitive mode and it can't be fixed, they don't care since the point is to make premades happy.

We will see if this is truly working for them. (does the more $$$ for premades offset the loss from solo players quitting?) The userbase is also more or less?

maybe it will be a runescape.

Spacesuit Spiff5/16/2016, 8:25:59 PM11 votes

Regardless of the accuracy of your statements, riot shoulda known that people would react like this.

Vanjie5/16/2016, 8:28:30 PM9 votes

I hardly play anymore. The main reason is the balance of champions and the fact that the Developers are so out of touch. Like these Brand changes are unnecessary qnd a waste of tjme. The Vlad changes are still bad. Fans told them not to scree around with certain champions and they never listen. The champions the fans do want them to work on they don't. Brand and Vel did not need changes. Eve needs changes before Brand. I dont care if they want to shove a tampom up their but and tell us they did it to seperate "roles". It's stupid. They dont play this game. It play maybe two or three games a week and that's it. Overwatch looks better than this garbage.

M0b1us5/17/2016, 2:59:06 AM7 votes

Also trying to fix things that aren't broken and making unnecessary changes are hurting a lot.

WildJester5/16/2016, 7:53:35 PM6 votes

I only play like 1 game a month before i use to play abotu 11 games a day.. But i quit cause of the balance of this game. It makes me rage. How am i supose to be like "gg" against a unbalance enemy team thats out of control cause of balance being -9000

Pika Fox5/16/2016, 6:27:30 PM6 votes

  1. Proof that league is losing players

  2. Proof that it is directly because of the queue system and not something else (No, people saying its because of it is not proof that it is the reason. People are good at knowing when something is wrong, people are terrible at knowing what is wrong)

  3. Proof that most people or a significant population of LoL players dislike he new Queue system. No, the boards are not proof. If you like the system, its unlikely you would comment on how great it is as opposed to commenting dislike. The boards represent a vocal minority of people.

Wyrmblade5/16/2016, 10:42:38 PM6 votes

Don't forget favoritism, incredible balance mistakes (Swain, Karthus nerfs) and random reworks with the chance to brutally destroy your favorite champion.

Riot in general just seems out of touch these days, like they lost their connection to the player base.

VivaLaKitten5/17/2016, 4:10:16 AM1 votes

maybe you could have been nicer to the Riot employees about this? they have feelings too ya know