Renaming the classes, a suggestion for how it might be better:
So, GC made this post in the GD forums awhile ago and it piqued my interest:
A common thread we've found with tanks is that they are good at initiating. The problem is that the word "tank" also carries a strong connotation from other games that they have a ton of survivability as well. If we renamed the role it would be easier to define, but we're not sure players would react well to redefining a whole lot of roles in the game (as I mentioned for fighters above).
No offense meant and I know it wasn't your call GC, but completely reworking the lore and causing massive outcry amongst the community didn't seem to phase you guys for even .000001th of a second.
Why not just rename them? It's clear community opinion doesn't really bother you guys too much, and if you reworked the naming a bit it'd at least be adding something (game clarity). Hell, you could even go so far as having base classes and then higher tier "hybrid" classes, in similar fashion to MMOs.
Examples: -base class Initiator is good at engaging fights, base class Tank is good at soaking damage, and together they make the class Juggernaught. (Nautilus might fit here) -base class Initiator is good at engaging fights, base class Protector is good at peeling, together they make up the class Controller. (Thresh might fit here) -base class Tank is good at soaking damage, base class Protector is good at peeling, together they make the up class Sentinel. (Braum might fit here) -base class Duelist is good at trades/1v1 fights, base class Tank is good at soaking damage, together they make the class Fighter. (Olaf might fit here)
You guys get the idea. For explanation, just give each champ 2 graphs (I think pie graphs might illustrate best) of what each champ is, one by Riot's opinion (like Riot might have Vi previewed as 60% Duelist and 30% Tank, making her a fighter), but have a second graph showing what the "general population" views her as, based on the items she buys (so the community might list her as 70% Initiator, 30% Tank, making her a Juggernaught). These would be viewable underneath the bar graphs in the champ viewer in your profile screen (where you can see splash arts for skins, etc).
Idk. Just an idea. Whatcha guys think?
In response to critique
I think you guys might be selling me short a little here :(
Braum's ult is amazing initiation and Braum's passive makes him a great 1v1 duelist as well. Calling him a Sentinel pushes him into a very specific box. Calling him a primary support secondary tank does not.
That'd sorta be the point of the "pie graph" part of the idea. Braum could just as easily be 35% Initiator, 15% duelist, 25% Tank and 25% peel, and that information would be readily available for viewing.
The "higher" classes would just be an easier way to understand the champion's areas of expertise at a glance.
The base classes would just be the same as the system we have now but with more accurate description. At the moment, an "Initiator" could be any number of the current classes. With the proposed version, it'd be an aspect of a champion that was easily viewable and far more readily defined, running into far less (if any) of the problems Riot has a lot of right now, by their own admission, with regards to really defining roles ("What exactly IS a fighter?", "What separates a support from a mage?", etc).
Now, instead of trying to explain to new players how both Braum and Janna are the same role (Support), you can explain that, for example, Braum is a Juggernaught, while Janna is a Controller.
Obviously it's impossible to just cookie-cutter shove champs into each role, that's a problem that will always exist, but I think my proposed system is better at classifying what the exact strengths and weaknesses are of each champ within their roles.
Furthermore, with the intended "pie graph" displaying Riot's intention and what they're actually being used as, should a champion's common usage change, it could be seen easily by people new to the champ through looking at "what do people play this champ as" on the second graph. So even though Morgana might give the impression of a mid laner to a new player, by looking at what people tend to play her as in the current meta, it might give them a better idea with what to expect as her (that being Support, at the moment).
The point isn't to definitively say "X champ is Y", the point is to more clearly illustrate the defining strengths of each champion and how much of that strength makes up how the champion functions in the game.
A "Mage" is a billion different things in LoL at the moment, while an "Initiator" could not be nearly so ambiguous.
