[Discussion] The changes in Leagues 10 years

League of Legends is an ever changing game and that is a good thing. The game needs to be kept new and exciting to stand the test of time. However, in 10 years of changes their is sure to be some fck ups, it is unavoidable and no reason to be angry with riot as a company.

I myself am no gamedesigner, so I can not truly speak for the perspective of the people making and changing the game. However I am a strategy player, which once was their key audience. I invest alot of time into strategygames, because i find enjoyment in finding similarities between the games and thinking about new ways to to deal with all sorts of problems presented to me. From my studies in the field of mathematics i have learned alot about logical analysis and I find enjoyment in applying the things i learned in games. It is what drew me personally to League of Legends.

Here comes the aspect of change League has undergone in the last years. It is no secret that the game has accelerated its pace. Runes reforged added a whole new dimension of Power to the game. Where before only the strenght of a champions kit and the items they bought made up the 2 most important dimensions of a characters power, now we have runes there to add a whole other dimension of mostly offensiv power. As a result of this and alot of other changes [Rift Herold, Turret Platings, Elemental Drakes] champions with low runesynergy and low wavecontrol suffered heavily from these changes. From a strategic point alone, **it has become insane to even think about sacrificing the early lanephase for more power later on. ** Add to that fact, that cooldownreduction is more available then ever and the strongly elevated kitstrength of new champions and reworks and the picture of what was once a slowpaced strategygame fades away. The game is fast, dynamic, is more about fast many inputs instead of a few, well thought out strategic ones. Trying to trade enemies based of cooldowns is impossible unless u have the mobility to instantly reengage on ur opponent, to make use of the very low early cooldowns. Being halflife is essentially being dead now, controlling the wave is only important for junglepressure, not to hold down a losing matchup long enough to build ur own strenght for later gamestages. The new brunch of characters, especially the ones that are intended to be playmakers, or fullfill an endboss phantasy. With damage from runes and items being extremly high, low cooldowns and the abaility to ingore resources like mana or energy for most champions, because of refunds, low cd and obsolete mana being pressed on items for no apparent reason, those champions relying on outplays to win their matchups suddenly get to have way more opportunities and have less room to being punished by less mobile and flashy characters. The knowledge that their exist champions that can outduel others is not a bad thing, however when overpowered items like deaths dance and steraks combined with low cooldowns suddenly allow those duelists to not only be good in duels but teamfights aswell, we have a problem on our hands. When every champion can fill any niche just by buying some items, then entire championsgroups can turn out so be obsolete. When everyone can do anything, then all we need to do is to figure out who has the best numbers and can dominate the early game to get advantges which will be extremly hard to hold down. The game has moved from a game strategyplayers can enjoy, to one that people coming from the fighter genre enjoy more and more and that is not necessarily a bad thing. I myself can not identify with the game as much as before, but i am sure alot of other people like it this way. However if their is agreement in the fact that their might be a problem with characters blantently dominating through being able to move best in all 3 powerdimensions, then their needs to be a solution to it too. Thanks to the fact that riot changes the game often and alot, their are many opportunities to do this. However when Worlds comes around, certain changes can not be made, within a season the game will likely not be turned on its head, so proplayers do not burn out. This means that he only time for this stuff is in the preseason.

Here is a quick list of changes in gameplay i would personally like to see. How these can be achieved is a whole other monster, which probably gamedesigners can figure out better.

1. Reduce cooldownreduction
2. Add more reliance on resources back into the game
3. Even out countermatchups
4. Reduce stats of Endboss phantasy charakters and outplay champions to the point, where they actually need to outplay for them to work
5. Reduce platinggold and scuttle value, so being able to permashove lane is not the best way to play every game
6. Remove/change Items as a whole. Juggernaut items aswell as mage itemization are huge flops from my point of view
7. DO NOT favor champions in terms of balance because u think they are popular through design. Most people just like to win so they play what is obviously to strong. If a playerbase leaves champion the moment it gets nerfed, they are no a fan of a champion, they are a fan of winning no matter how it is done.
8. Reduce Damage and defensive options at the same time! Go back down the power creep spiral some, so playerskill outside of championmechanics can shine some more again.
9. Major rebelance to the game after all this, since it will be necessary.

League of Legends has moved to be a more fast pace, more inputheavy game. It will never be the same game as it was years ago, as much as some people might not like that. However i truly believe that changes to the game do not only need to follow the path of more fighting, more button smashing and more escalation each year. The game can be changed in the other direction aswell.

If u like to discuss some of my ranting, feel free to do it, I personally just wanted to write down how i feel about the game right now to lower my own frustrations with it by facing what acutally bugs me about the game. However, if u are just here to bash on riot then cut it. Thanks to League of Legends I have found some of my best freinds to date, and i am grateful for all the good things League has given to me over the past years, regardless of where the game is headed now.

GL with ur end of season climb, I know u can make gold guys, just keep calm!