I haven't played League in quite a while, and now I'm bored and want something to play. The things that made me quit were the stale meta, lazy champ designs that promote power creep and edge out old champions, and bad balancing. The game just stopped being fun. Has anything changed?
Great Muta3 votesNope.
This season we had:
Champs like Quinn and Graves being the #1 pick in 3 different positions
A system where a 5 man premade can play 5 solo players that was deemed fair.
People being boosted to divisions they don't deserve to be in and getting away with it.
SKT Telecom players being matched with Diamond level players
Champs like Ekko and Yasuo who can basically play any role and win as they have enough options and abilities for 2 seperate champs
A decrease in how long it takes to level 30. This meant more inexperienced noobs and players who got lucky placements.
A high damage meta where tanks are useless and people like Quinn can hit you for 1200 HP 10 mins in.
It's been about as bad as it can get.
Nahui2 votesWell in terms of the meta, actual gameplay, itemization and objective priority, it's quite a bit different. Toxicity is heavily monitered now with people losing accounts left and right, I'd argue there is much less toxicity than S3. I hardly have intentional feeders or trolls. Dynamic queue has dumbed new players down, allowing them to play only two roles, mainly one instead of needing all 5 prior to it. People play a lot more for kills due to getting an S and getting that flashy mastery emote. Snowballing is a bit more rampant now, and building tanky trumps any other build no matter what character.
In terms of new champs and balancing, it's questionable sometimes. I'd say they're trying to shift from creating front-loaded power champs that are always heavily broken on release due to how imposing their kit is against an inexperienced populace (Think release Ekko or Rek'Sai). They're now trying to create unique, but more balanced champs on release due to the anger of the cash grab of OP release champs. These champs are ones like Bard, Ivern, Aurelion Sol, Kled. There is the fact, though, that their kits just completely out-design older champs. A champion like Warwick or Master Yi have shit-boring kits compared to someone really unique like Kled or Ivern. However, these older kits tend to have a lot of front loaded power to roughly balance it all out, think Annie and her WTF combo.
They're also slowly revamping the old champs. Whether it's full reworks like Poppy or Taric, or QoL changes like Annie (Tibbers) and Vel'Koz, they're modernizing what they can. These class updates are really helping the game. Juggernaut revitalized big bruisers, ADCs brought back trashed marksmen, mage update did wonders, and I'm sure the assassin update will be great too.
Overall, for a veteran, the game is falling. For the new player, it's getting better.
SnugglePuggle941 votesAlthough I agree with most of what you said, I have to say "the mage update did wonders" is wrong. Not because of the changes to the actual champions but the changes to AP itemization. They botched it during the marksmen update and again during the mages update.
Nahui1 votesWell that's a matter of opinion. Nothing is simply wrong qualitatively. I think they did wonders to it. They added in the hextech line which has shown to be extremely effective on many champions, they gave new design to old champs, they fixed Cass's archtype problem, etc. Itemization I thought was improved too due to the fact that they shaved Zhonyas a bit. It was too much of a powerhouse item. Now it has a purpose other than a go to due to stat overload. They heavily differentiated Morello's and Athene's. They made Abyssal more appropriate for its intended purpose.
SnugglePuggle941 votesI think the champion updates were rather fine. I don't care about Cass, I barely play her anyway. Barely anyone uses the Hextech line anyway, and Zhonya's was botched so completely that many people don't bother to get it unless they are playing against a Zed or something. They shaved too much off of it and nerfed the active cooldown for a meh "utility," which is in fact an awful change. Athene's is now only able to be used by supports. Abyssal I'm okay with. Whats not is how they greatly decreased the damage across the board in AP itemization for more mana and CDR on the items. That's what pisses me off- they nerfed the damage in some items during the marksmen update, then nerfed them again in the mage update.
Nahui1 votesI mean, plenty use the hextech line. Just look at Worlds and how protobelt is being used so often on Rumble, Kenne, Vlad, etc. They're not general purpose items, they're fit to serve certain purposes, whether for a little mobility and damage or a slow with damage.
That was the point of nerfing Zhonyas. It's not meant to be a great core item. It always did too much for what it was. Merc scimitar is situationally purchased too, so they brought Zhonyas in line with it. Unfortunately, Rylai's has replaced Zhonyas in that it can be bought really with any build or any AP champ and be effective, such as old Zhonya's. Having that active cannot be paired with high AP values. It's always been an overloaded item since Zhonya's Ring and just now at 70 AP does it make sense.
Athene's was changed to only be used by utility mages. It differentiates it from Morello's. While Morello's gives mana, some ok regen and a huge AP value for high damage mages, Athene's is designed for sustained, utility mages. Champs like Orianna rely more on high mana sustain for the work they do rather than high burst that Morello's provides. It wasn't meant to make every item be super useful on every champion, it was to give reason to build an item. Pre-rework, Athene's was shit and no one bought it. Now, it has a concrete purpose and is used pretty effectively for that purpose.
Overall, yeah. Some flat AP values were nerfed on the items we knew and loved. However, the complaint for mages wasn't they did no damage. It was that AD had access to very easy CDR and mages had trouble building CDR and doing any damage at all. So, they changed that and added mana on more things as well. It makes build paths more unique and thoughtful past "Build the things with biggest numbers."
The reason for this is that there's a lot more durability in items now, tankiness is much more meta and prevalent now. Huge burst is not what you need to deal with that, and it's always been a mage's shortcoming. Widely available mana and CDR allows AP damage to contest and endanger durable builds because it's now more like ADCs-drawn out and sustained. There's still shit like Syndra and Ahri, but the overall change in itemization favored anti-durable builds.
SnugglePuggle941 votesApparently Zhonya's was meant to be a core item because of the stats it used to have. All the stupid AD mains kept complaining about it so it got nerfed over and over again til it was botched. 120 AP down to 100, then to 70. 50 Armor down to 45, 10% CDR added and the active CD increased from 90 to 120. That's just awful. 70 AP does not make any sense. It needs more than that. It was a core item because AP champions needed an AP armor item to defend against the likes of Zed and what not. Now that's ruined because of stupid Riot reasons.
Athene's was used as a defensive item for mid laners if they were against another AP champ that was abusing them heavily. I know that because I went for it if I was having a hard time. Now we mid laners only have the option of Abyssal, which isn't really good for long range mages to be used effectively. Just yesterday I was playing against a Malzahar as Lissandra, and he went for Athene's because I was shitting on him, and he couldn't use the passive because it's not meant for him. Mid laners don't have the options for a defensive mana regen item anymore.
Sure Ori uses Athene's but she's like the only mid laner that does. Also, by changing it into a support item, it removed a core item for Galio, whose shield is not able to be used with the passive now. Plus, I don't see many supports take it anyway unless they are going against a high AP team.
Morello's I don't even get anymore either. 120 AP down to 100, mana regen taken out for mana. The only time I take it is if the enemy team has a healer like Soraka and I need the GW on the item to apply to the enemy.
Right now, almost every item has CDR and mana on it. Mages have way too many options now, and way less damage. Riot definitely botched the itemization by nerfing too many items just to slap utility on them, and now its easy to hit the cap early before the final build stage. These build paths are not more unique or thoughtful. It's just a crap ton of utility and barely any damage.
Rylai's needs to stay where it is or if its changed to more of a tank item, Zhonya's or another item needs the AP buffed. I won't take anything less than that.
Nahui1 votesMorello's never gave 120. It gave 75 originially, upped to 80, upped to 100. Mana regen is still there along with mana.
And yeah, less damage but higher frequency spells is what mages are currently about. There are still high AP paths to take, but they're not trying to encourage full glass cannon 800 AP builds. Rabadon's was given additional multiplier, and so much convenient CDR and mana was put in. Sure you can't one shot everyone that isn't a full tank anymore, but you can whittle them down with spammable spells with still very high AP values. Any build involving a rabadon's is a high AP build. Zhonya's used to be Zhonya's Ring, and it was basically a wooglet's for SR. It was beyond broken. Does that mean they should leave it in the game simply because it was designed to be? Of course not. If there is an issue, you fix it. They designed Zhonya's as a core item with 120 AP, 50 armor, and a 90 second active but that turned out to be simply too good. It was designed in a time where high damage, glass cannon building was meta. But that's been gone for a while now, and items need to change.
Rylai's can't stay where it is. It's like what Zhonya's was; a mindless core item you get simply because it's so good on about any champion. Riot is straying from mindless core items, and AP mids were a huge abuser of it. That's why IE has been under such watchful eyes for a long time now due to how mindless it is for ADCs to buy. It's why Zhonya's was changed. A powerful, game changing active is not something that should come with amazing damage.
Athene's is now a niche item, yes. There's nothing wrong with taking a scarcely used AP item and turning it into an AP support item. It was only really useful in season 4 and below with 60 AP and 40 MR. But, that's when spam mages were ultra broken due to constant spells and not taking damage themselves.
SnugglePuggle941 votesFor some reason Morello's was on my mind for 120 AP. If I'm not mistaken Rabadon's and Zhonya's were the ones that had it.
Literally almost every AP item now has stupid CDR slapped onto it. It's stupid. I miss last season where AP itemization had high numbers. Zhonya's was not that big of a problem- it was just all the biased AD mains calling for nerfs. So to please their favorite players, Riot heavily botched it. Zhonya's was a niche item- sure it had good stats. Good item-good stats. But then Riot took 50 AP off it and 5 Armor, and increased the active CD and gave it 10%CDR as "compensation." Meanwhile they give the AD side items with heavy AD numbers and a MAW that gives a big freaking ass shield to counter any damage you do to them. It was fine the way it was, and if it needed to be toned down, it needed to stay at 100 AP, not knocked down to a fucking 70 with an increased CD. That's stupid.
Rylai's has become core on AP because RIOT BOTCHED THE ITEMIZATION. It's the only thing good right now. If they hadn't ruined our items, it would be a fine ass item. But since they did, Rylai's has been abused by all the AP mages because they can use it to its full effect. And oh, really, Riot straying from "mindless core items" Then why the fuck does the AD side still haven't had IE nerfed to hell, or have Duskblade deleted from the game, or MAW nerfed heavily? Again, it's Riots stupid biased favor of their side that they barely touch AD items while heavily botch AP.
"A powerful, game changing active is not something that should come with amazing damage," Yeah, speak to fucking 
, which doesn't have an active but a strong ass shield and high AD numbers. Zhonya's should have stayed where it was or toned to 100 AP, but I say yes, items with strong actives should have good stats with it, not over the top but still good.
Athene's wasn't scarcely used. I saw it used all the time when I played last season. Riot just was stupid in turning it into a support item, which now people use it even less.
And to look at Riot being even more in favor towards AD, they fucking delete some AP items because "meh one champion abused it," meaning Will of the Ancients and Vladimir, then decide to take out all fucking Spell Vamp too because "why the heck not!". SV in other items was not that heavily abused, and was a fun build to do when you wanted to try something different, but Riot ruined that too. Meanwhile do you see Duskblade being removed because ADC's and Zed are abusing it? Nope. Even Meddler or whoever it was that said they would possibly change it to melee only when it came out, didn't do anything to it until now for the preseason changes. Still, just watch and see him give it heavy compensation buffs or what not. It's typical Riot, after all.
Call me angry, call me biased, I don't care. I'm fucking pissed at Riot for botching AP itemization, no matter how you say you think it's better or what not. To me, it's not.
Breaku2 votesI think it's much better!
Zarros1 votesIt's been good aside from dynamic queue. But in diamond+ it doesn't exist so that's nice and all my quips are solved. ⊙ω⊙
Lauchmelder3 votesDQ (for the minority that utterly despises it enough to complain about it on the boards) won't even be a problem any more in season 7, so that's that.
Zarros1 votesIt affects competitive integrity as you go higher up the ladder. It only makes sense that it would be a problem to the minority. lol
CrazyBear19871 votesFor better or worse, yes. will it get better? yes. Is there still toxicity? yes i recommend watching a few youtubers Brofreshco, Phylol, Redmercy or Anklespankin before jumping back into the game.
