What riot should or could do next-Thoughts on Solo vs Flex and Balance in General

Riot has almost gotten to the point where they officially recognize that high elo is far and away different from low elo and will never be the same. IMO, they kind of dont want to admit this, but they sort of did when they had different rules in place for challenger this last season. And I think its a good thing.

I admire riot stepping up to the challenge of balancing this game and with the new analytics package they are using, they are doing a remarkable job. I would love to talk to them about the stuff they are using and the statistics and what not. BUT...

Those stats should be making it obvious by now that there are some discontinuities in the league (elo based disparities). And from a players perspective, I would assert that there are some gameplay discontinuities. So thats two types of discontinuity and Ill talk about both before letting you all discuss.

The elo based disparities should be pretty obvious. While there is obviously some mixing, people in higher elo just have a different mindset about the game and the value that they put on different aspects of the game is not the same..I think high elo players value change a lot more than low players and thats just one thing. Obviously both types value change, but its not in the same way. A low elo player is much more likely to experiment and main something like support singed (which can get you in and around low plat apparently), but while support singed is a huge variation on the support role a low elo player is more likely to main it and be ok with that.

I want you guys to look at the way that type of variation is different from what high elo players enjoy. The low elo example I gave is of a playstyle that is highly unusual, but relatively static over time. Now I would say that high elo players are a little different in that they go right along with the meta and Ive often heard streamers applaud Riot for doing so much to keep the meta moving. So they appreciate variation too! But its different from the Support Singed main. They arent beholden to a playstyle. They are beholden to winning! And they will get sad if the meta is soon discovered and allowed to go stale for a long period. The high elo type wants to be differentiated based on their rank. The low elo player wants to be differentiated based on playstyle. Both to a degree. There is some mixing involved. I like seeing the game involve different things, but I get way more satisfaction out of playing Draven well, than I do when playing Fizz well so I wish I could just jump into any random game and enjoy just one game with Draven for old times sake. And I know QTpie loves lucian, but I think he just plays the game too much to want to play Lucian every game and he knows that. From a guy who knows and understands human biology to a degree which I feel comfortable making statements about it, its probably MUCH healthier for him if the game contains enough variation that he doesnt play the same champion every game. So theres that too. The different types of players have different needs and IMO that introduces a discontinuity in the playerbase, which could and should be addressed.

The other type of discontinuity is with the champions in the game. Again, I think riot does a good job of balance. They used to struggle a bit, but I think they got an analytics package to help them out and its phenomenal. The nerfs and buffs they have been handing out are really really accurate and Ive been impressed (as a side note, some of these nerfs are a little inartistic as they are probably coming from a machine agent, but thats another issue and a matter of opinion more than anything). However looking at some of the champions and playstyles in the game, I cant see how they can co-exist. I could be wrong on this. I think this type of discontinuity is all over league, but the example Ill give is the current state of assassins and tanks. Its not looking like a typical league assassin cannot co-exist with tank itemization. I think I could go on for a while about the reasons for this, but you can see for yourself. I dont feel the need to convince you. I just want to use this phenomenon to support my assertion that some champions and playstyles just arent compatible in the game. It could be that balance will take care of it. Hell, it can probably be balanced out, but I guess I would say that two stars shine brightest when they arent in the same sky. The sun kind of hides the other stars during the day doesnt it? Well yea. And if you want to see the sun and stars at the same time, you would have to make the sun super dim, wouldnt you? Well its the same, they are going to have to NERF tank assassins into a state of balance. Theres no power neutral change they can make that will do the job. So assassins like fizz and ekko will never be the way they are supposed to be. Because if they are, then they will be better played as tanks.

TL;DR So anyway, just wanted to make a post about this sort of thing. I think these discontinuities exist today. Maybe they wont exist in the future, who knows. It looks like Riot is aware of this. They have done some things that separate out high elo and low elo players. Maybe they will do something to separate champions and playstyles too. Its my thought that people would be more satisfied if Riot broke things down into actual leagues rather than the current "federation". Its so hard for everyone (champions included) to get the feel they want out of the game if they all have to play in the same environment. If you will notice, I didnt do much talking about what Riot should or could do. Ill leave that up to you guys.