Why do Runes exist?

Wasabo·Dec 1, 2014·2 votes·483 views

It feels like a play-to-win game now. Kinda like a freemium game where you buy "gems" and then make your character stronger (not a great analogy, but you get it) Runes feel unfair, especially crit runes. I think that if a person on a level 5 account went against a person on a level 30 account, they could both win, but the one that is more experienced would win. So if a level 5 went on a level 30 account, he would do bad, cause there aren't runes.

Runes kinda feel like they are masking how good you actually are. Why can't they be more like masteries, where you get a max of 30 and 1 each level, or just remove them?

7 Comments

RebonackDec 1, 20141 votes

Because they're an IP sink to help Riot make money.

Seriously.

That's it.

EffectFXDec 1, 20141 votes

Aren't all games "Play-to-win"?

You don't have to spend a penny to purchase runes.

Crit runes are completely fine. Why is a level5 account facing a level 30 account in the first place?

Runes are fine except for a few little issues like tier 1 runes not being free, and the existence of useless tier 3 runes.

WasaboDec 2, 20141 votes

I don't think you understand. Basically, if 2 people with the EXACT same skill level fought eachother and one of them had more runes than the other, he would obviously win, for a somewhat unfair reason. Especially crit runes, which are completely random (watch the video "It doesn't matter until it does" with the 2 Zeds fighting)

Zen FuryDec 2, 20141 votes

I don't think you understand. Basically, if 2 people with the EXACT same skill level fought eachother and one of them had more runes than the other, he would obviously win, for a somewhat unfair reason. Especially crit runes, which are completely random (watch the video "It doesn't matter until it does" with the 2 Zeds fighting)

I don't think you understand either.

Runes are there to provide some customization to better match how you play and the position you play. Some people like to play safer, some a little more aggresive. Some like the idea of doing more damage over time, while some are willing to bet on luck for that one critical strike. It's up to the player to decide what they think is best.

By the time you reach a couple hundred games, it's exceedingly unlikely that someone won't have full rune sets, so there won't be anything "unfair" about the matchup.

If you think critical strike chance is annoying, you should have been playing when "dodging" was in the game.

WasaboDec 2, 20141 votes

I do remember dodging. They are trying to remove all random elements from the game, like Gangplanks ult, dodging, and Fiddlesticks E. You can't compare them and say "if you think it's bad, you should've seen before" cause that won't fix the problem. If runes were more like masteries, that would be better because everyone would have them by level 30 rather than deciding: "Should I get a new champ or should I buy runes?"

EffectFXDec 2, 20141 votes

Actually you don't understand.

No, if you're not level 30, you're either leveling a new account for smurfing or you're a new player who isn't going to be on an even playing field in the first place. If you are level 30, make sure you have a full set of runes. Your skill level is completely irrelevant until you're level 30.

Yes the chance to crit happens, but it's far from consistently game changing. If you're blaming losses on crit runes, grab crit runes yourself and you'll quickly see how underwhelming it is except for the occasional lucky crit.

Pro tip, you can start purchasing tier 3 runes at level 20. you should do that.

Fed by Snu SnuDec 1, 20141 votes

Runes were implemented so that the game looks fancy and it did, for an obvious reason.

But that was when the game wasn't competitive in any way or form and that's why everything was fine. Now that ranked has been marketed to be the most important game mode, it only becomes more tedious and arbitrary that there's content locked behind a grind wall.

It's even worse than runes are not only locked behind a grind wall, but also dedicated to rune pages (which are yet another grind wall), which means that they really don't fulfill their "flexibility against your opponent" role they are supposed to have as much as they are meant to.

Even though I could understand grinding IP for runes, pages have to go and runes should be customizable in the champ select screen.