Seriously, I don't know how many times I have to explain this % bonuses on the elemental drakes always favor the winning team, because they are lower risk but equally rewarding.
Where as a flat bonus is proportionally more rewarding for the losing team, +10AD (let's say) on the losing team with only 100AD on your ADC (+10%), means a lot more than +10AD to the winning team with 150AD on the ADC (+6.66%).
ModThe Djinn2 votes% bonuses on the elemental drakes always favor the winning team
I'm pretty sure this is intentional. Drakes are part of the slow advantage that allows you to close out a game, so yes -- they are more appealing when you're ahead by design. A team that is behind may want to work harder to try to secure them precisely because of this.
What this new change does do, however, is make that first Drake pick-up more comparable to an enemy's second Drake pickup, as the team that is behind (or the one that hasn't had a Drake yet) will get a larger bonus than a team picking up their second.
deadlychuck1 votesThat's terrible game design.
I understand what the changes are for, but that still doesn't make up for the fundamentally flawed dragon rework from the MYMU.
The "slow advantage that allows you to close out a game" is that lower risk aspect of doing objectives. Mind you, that's just what people colloquially refer to as "snowballing" in game. They're solutions to the unnecessary problems that didn't previously exist. They arbitrarily create most of their problems, because they just keep throwing half thought out system reworks. Hints runes being half reverted, after it finally clicked that the new masteries pigeonhole the game, not open it up.
ModThe Djinn2 votesThat's terrible game design.
I'm not sure I agree. A 10% advantage that becomes a 4% advantage by the end of the game isn't as appealing a thing to fight over as a 10% advantage that will always be a 10% advantage, and I think that consistent edge is what makes Drake appealing at all stages of the game. When you have 400 AD an extra 8% matters, whereas you're much less likely to risk a teamfight fight over 10 AD.
deadlychuck1 votesCmon, that's just dishonest. You know that the 10AD number was used for expressive simplicity, not legitimate balance recommendations.
How about a 20% increase that changes to a 5% increase by the end of the game (at which point the elder dragon is spawning anyway). This would mean that you prospectively you'd see a greater incentive to take the dragon early, but implicitly shifts the incentive towards taking towers and pushing for the win as the game progresses, because the dragon buff looks less advantageous to the winning team.