Question for Morello on game values
In an interview with Morello i noticed an answer to a question that i think deserves some clarification.
Q: What sorts of discussions occur when you see one of these trends? For example, Ezreal mid is starting to pop up, or when you see a lot of 2v1s. What kinds of discussions occur when you see something like that?
The first question is: is this a good or a bad thing -- and why? We don't have a unilateral view. It's not like: "It's different so fix it," or "It's different so it's good!" That's a reductive look that we don't think is valuable. When we're looking at Ezreal mid, we go: "Okay. What's the game play with Ezreal?" Does it still meet healthy game play goals? Does it choke out the entire mid-lane with him being there? What does 2v1 mean? What does it mean for the sanctity of lane? What does it mean for your ability to watch interesting match-ups?
We start to talk about whether this a good thing or bad thing and why. We have a lot of reasoning in there and we air it all out. Korean player "Faker" popularized mid-Ezreal this season
With that, we'll ask how does this meet our values? .......
What are your values? By what metrics are you evaluating healthy gameplay and design? I feel like the gameplay and balance boards are full of people suggesting changes to various champions but inevitably even some of the potentially good changes are not implemented because they don't fall in line with what the balance team values. You go on to say (in the context of jungle changes) ...
We have work to do on the champion side, so it's multifaceted. I think the complaints are very valid. I don't think the complaints are focused on the root cause of the problem, but that’s not the players' job so that's okay.
If we had better context into the design process and philosophy i feel you would get more and better suggestions from the community as well as more accurate criticisms of champions that are perhaps too strong or too weak. It would be easier for you and your colleagues to understand our criticisms if the community understood the core design principles that you are balancing around.
tl;dr : What are your values? By what metrics are you evaluating healthy gameplay and design?
