Fun thought experiment: Attack move click removed from game, how does the game and rankings change?

i cant move wtf··1 votes·1,236 views

There is one mechanic that is abused by every top level player. It's name is Attack Move Click. Every single high ranking player uses it. Why? Because it makes the game dramatically easier.

Don't have the best reaction time? Use Attack Move Click and let the game react for you when the Rengar/Khazix/Twitch ambushes you from out of stealth.

Don't have the best csing/jg clear? Never misclick a minion or jg camp again because now you can click anywhere on the map and still hit the nearest enemy/neutral-objective.

So for the thought experiment, how do you think the game would change and would the current top players still be the best?

How do you think it would affect the meta? Would a certain class of champions rise up in the response to this mechanic's removal? Or do you think not much would change at all?

And what about the enjoyment of the game? Would removing this mechanic make it less fun? Would it make the LCS more fun to watch? How do you think it would pan out?

I'm interested to hear everyone's thoughts on this because I think it's a question that deserves consideration, despite how "simple" it might appear on the surface.

And for those that read this all the way through just want to say you're one of the chosen few that have the ability to focus and investigate things thoroughly before drawing a conclusion. Congratulations on not being one of the unwashed masses drooling on themselves :)

Thanks for taking the time :) [vlad-salute]

26 Comments

ChargeItDownMid3 votes

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i cant move wtf1 votes

That's not true. If you right-click an enemy champion and you're lagging, your champion will continue to auto attack that champion while it's in your vision even if the champion is not in the place it's currently being displayed at on your screen. Same disadvantage with or without it.

ChargeItDownMid3 votes

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i cant move wtf1 votes

The situation where you and the enemy Rengar/Khazix/Twitch are both 1 hit away and the first attack wins does indeed happen but it only makes up likely < 5% of scenarios and can be avoided entirely by relying more on macro than 50/50 coin flips. IMO the person who's either coming out of stealth or has better ping SHOULD have the upper hand in that situation. Why should the guy with 150+ ping who clicks attack move randomly on the map in a scenario they don't even have to be in win that? To balance the game in that guy's favor seems like a gross disservice to the majority of the playerbase that play with average ping and can react in those scenarios. I'm all for leveling the playing field for those with higher ping but when you overdo it you end up with a game that's as flat as a parking lot, and in my opinion this crosses into that territory.

ChargeItDownMid1 votes

[deleted]

i cant move wtf1 votes

The situations that people are using attack walk for are specifically for the situations that you describe where pings matter.

I gotta call you out on this one. I don't know if you watch much streaming but literally every high ranking streamer uses attack move for 95% of situations, including Faker. Now I'm not saying these players couldn't be top ranked if they didn't use it, but the fact they all use it almost exclusively should tell you something about how it's so overpowered that it's not even an option anymore - it's at the point where it's "use it or be lower rank." And that's lame to me.

Changing attack walk will change the game even for people on 20-60 ping. It will make matchups play out extremely differently depending on the server they are playing on.

On this point I pretty much agree with you. And that's the point of this post. What does the game look like without this mechanic? Does it become entirely different? Is the meta even recognizable? Do whole classes need to be nerfed/buffed because of it? Surely auto cancelling is now much harder to pull off and becomes a really impressive skill when executed. Is the game better or worse overall? I think these questions are really interesting to think about.

ChargeItDownMid1 votes

[deleted]

i cant move wtf1 votes

They use it out of habbit but 95% of those uses don't actually make a difference. The times where attack walk actually makes a difference is when it allows champions to perform actions that otherwise would not have happened. It is far less efficient to continously switch between using and not using attack walk so players will choose the form which gives them an edge even if that edge is only present in 5% of situations.

So you're saying there are no players that use it that would be whole divisions lower rank if they stopped using it? Let's be real. I've seen high ranking ADCs literally just alternate between attack move and move click on the same spot behind them to stutter step without having to actually target the champion they're attacking. That's what "ADC mechanics" has become. It forces assassin champions to have to 1-shot because if they don't they just eat an unavoidable crit to the face from an ADC that just clicked randomly on the map. At that point it's not being used for "5% of the time when they're buffering their auto attack for a stealthed champion." It gives a lot more than a 5% edge. I'd say it's around 20-30% based on my own experience of stopping using it. It's like the equivalent of autotune for League.

ChargeItDownMid1 votes

[deleted]

i cant move wtf1 votes

So let me get this straight, you think most top players will be completely unaffected by this. That they will be able to kite just as well as they do now. That attack move hasn't let them slack on their mechanics to any significant degree. I just want to get your response on this one point before moving on.

ChargeItDownMid1 votes

[deleted]

i cant move wtf1 votes

The champions they use will probably change.

Okay this is a somewhat interesting statement. Why do you think they would switch champions and which champions do you think they would switch to?

ChargeItDownMid1 votes

[deleted]

i cant move wtf1 votes

Then you're implicitly saying that champions that rely on kiting would have to be buffed because people wouldn't be able to execute their strengths as optimally. So you agree with me but won't admit it lol.

i cant move wtf1 votes

Lol I point out how you're trying to have it both ways: that nothing will change, it will all be ping dependent AND that the meta and champion pools will change because kiting and first hits on stealth-advantaged champions aren't free anymore. And now radio silence. Both of those statements can't be true. I win :)

Phieldworker1 votes

I honestly didn’t know about it for the first two years lol. Just got really good a precisely clicking on things so I didn’t miss-click. But it greatly improved my game especially with ranged champs.

i cant move wtf1 votes

Did you switch once you found out or do you still play without it? It makes the skill cap of this game so much higher. Precisely clicking on things is pretty difficult, especially in high pressure situations. I love playing without it but it's a bummer I have to play at a disadvantage because of it :(

Phieldworker1 votes

[{quoted}](name=i cant move wtf,realm=NA,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=M8ItYHPP,comment-id=00000000,timestamp=2018-07-14T18:11:09.272+0000)

Did you switch once you found out or do you still play without it? It makes the skill cap of this game so much higher. Precisely clicking on things is pretty difficult, especially in high pressure situations. I love playing without it but it's a bummer I have to play at a disadvantage because of it :(

I use it so much now. Mostly with ranged champs but yeah there are so many little things it helps with.

Friendly Ram1 votes

But we can keep target champs only right.

i cant move wtf1 votes

Yeah I think that's a healthy mechanic.

hsumis1ove1 votes

Doesn't matter anyways. The champions who this would be useful on aren't too strong and people would just play champions who don't need a lot of autoing.

i cant move wtf1 votes

I know, this would have been cool for Riot to consider when everyone was complaining about ADCs. If they actually removed it now they'd probably have to buff the entire class.

Lunar Lunacy1 votes

I wouldn't care because I've been playing for over 6 years, even used to main ADC, and I don't use it because there's no need.

i cant move wtf1 votes

I'm the same as you, I don't use it because I look at it as a handicap and I like the challenge. But you don't think the game's meta or rankings would change at all if the mechanic was removed?

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