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@RIOT - Call for Soraka's Balance rioter

Siegfriedx2·2/10/2016, 6:40:42 AM·9 votes·1,284 views

I challenge you to come here and talk openly with me about the champion!

The points i will make to you are about my personal experience with the champion. I played mostly [to not say only] soraka for the past 3 years by the love i have for this character lore and personality. Right now i have 685.1m points of mastery with her, hit master tier twice and already am at diamond this early on the season.

I have so much to share with you guys about my experience with the champion, about everything i did and do with her in order to impact more and more my games to win. I know maybe what i will share will not represent how everyone see the champion, but wasn't the passionate part of the community the one that should receive voice? The one that should be heard better?

I love soraka, really. It's my favorite character from all videogames and maybe the main reason i wake up to play league of legends, so, please, give me the chance to talk about the subject that demands attention to both sides of the coin [people that play against and with her].

Start Below:

Soraka is at a bad spot right now. It's true. But not by all the reasons people point out. People usually just start understanding the potential of a champion when it's vastly unbalanced or overused. A good example was Darius. Although many people played thousands of thousands of games with him before and none had any problem with particular parts of his kit before the famous buff to his healing[ that broke his balance]. After the buff people just started to say things like: "good lord, darius can put bleedings on me and deal huge damage! that's broken!" or "i can't even understand how a freaking tank can reset kill my whole team! that is broken!". Clearly the problem was not the bleeding or his ult, but people tend to focus on the most close noticeable things of a mess when face on than in what really is important to solve it, what made the mess on first place or if before the mess was everything fine.

Creating association, people are now seeing Soraka as a personification of the unfairness when the two real things that happened to spark that feeling were the removal of her healing counter play and the buffs from her new mastery, and that already says a lot about what we have to talk about. We need to talk about counter measures and where to put/take out power.

I know, I know, unbalance status to a champion brings the unbalanced champion to the light. On light we can see details and imperfections we couldn't see before aside from the unbalance. That already happened many times before and is actually healthy for the champion, it's the same thing that brought us many reworks and even the juggernaut massive rework. There are things we can change now, and i agree we have to talk about.

So here is the first point that will explain **why i think Soraka should still work around high risk **and how a very particular item can help to solve hundreds of problems she is facing right now. Alert! Don't judge without reading! I have years of experience with the champion that can add something to your opinions if the correct chance is given to me:

1. - Where and how Soraka supposed to have power? Please, read carefully the word "SUPPOSED". Don't rage about what i'm going to write, it's how it was designed to be, not how it proved to be the best way. Soraka had 1 main source of continue power. It starts as some kind of high risk mechanic where you need to be on hard fights without hp to save people landing starcalls to continue doing that without dying, less hp would mean higher self-heal. The main point of that mechanic was that Soraka should play between life and death and use her skills to provide the best to her team.

Why "on the light" that's looking bad: Having a way to continue doing your job being vastly rewarded by high risk play is fine, but Soraka should be vulnerable to burst damage because of her mage class and reward people that focus her even if by little. Actual starcall system can be frustrating for the player or team who wants to burst her because if, by any chance, Soraka does not die from the burst, she would just use that to increase her starcall healing power to herself, what feels counter intuitive to the assassin class [dealing damage as a bad thing, although it's not] . Starcall also naturally counter many types of burst by that same reason.

The correct way to look to it Because Soraka right now is on the light for counter measures, making starcall healing dilute it's just a natural way to open a more clear path to assassin champions finish her off. Nothing wrong with that guys, we are just removing the "burst protection" starcall could give . We should support that as it's logical and well motivated [see as: "we lost GW, so we need to create another window and dilute starcall healing it's a cool one "]. The wrong way to look to it, though, would be to proceed to complete remove her "high risk, high reward" system in the process as a way to simplify the process to both sides.

You see? Here is where Riot APPEARS to be messing things up really bad.

High risk is not an option to her healing process anymore or a feature that should be removed, it's part of her post rework identity! She is not the healer anymore guys, she is not the front healer that have to be the first to die either! She is the badass freaking high risk healer, and by high risk i also means that it should come with high reward too! It's a complement to her core identity now Riot!

This is so vital to her concept that even sparks through the most successful builds i made during my 3 years with her in the game. People usually try to avoid her risks with absurd unrealistic builds around HP and life regen while, in contrast, the most successful builds i could came with were made with the exactly opposite feeling. I accepted those risks as part of herself in order to bloom her true potential. I'm talking about why I have unrealistic win rates, elo and game status making Mejai every single game to Soraka to the point i am the best soraka player of Brazil.

**Let's face. Talking about concept what about mejai it's not related to the concept of Soraka? ** You have a high risk situation that you need to carry on. It's really disturbed by death and punish you if out of the line. Rewards you if used the right way. Adds unfairness sensation if did right until the end but with vast counter play.

This is it, right? It's Soraka, right? Nope, it's Mejai!

By playing Soraka accepting her risks adding an already high risk item i could play her to the fullest. To some extent many people that will be reading this can't even imagine what it's possible to be done with this build if you manage to help everyone but never die, and i believe this is the right path to we follow.

As we proved the need to shift power and risks, let's reward very good Sorakas that don't make mistakes and use rewards based on more potential healling [increasing ap absorption] instead of the current path [removing righ risk low life mechanic]. What if soraka could have an item [like rengar necklace], but inspired on mejai instead, that could be bought and reward her in a very special way? To further absorb her in the high risk.

What if assistances [not kills] could increase Soraka starcall self-heal ap ratio and Astral infusion ap ratio up to X%?

The system could work this way: Soraka Item can fill up to 25 stacks. Every assistance increases 3 stacks. Every time soraka dies she loses 10 stacks. For every stack, her self heal ap absorption ratio increases by 4% and astral infusion ap ratio by 2% .

For example, if Soraka lands the new starcall on an enemy, she will heal [90 + 0.4 AP] over 5 seconds, but if she have 10 stacks, she would heal [90 + 0.8 AP] over 5 seconds. With 25 stacks, the maximum possible, she would heal [90 + 1.4 AP] over 5 seconds.
Good Soraka's would not die, be part of team fights to stack her item and manage to stay alive even further with her AP ratio bonus. They would be vastly rewarded by landing starcalls but no more because they randomly were at low health, but because they worked **AN ENTIRE GAME to achieve that point. ** With FREAKING counter play [through the entire game] and transparency.

As the self healing is made to be diluted she would still be able to be bursted, and killing her would become a more meaningful objective than actually is right now. It would make good Soraka players feel powerful, work well with her new passive, justify her actual low numbers and, i believe, it would be good path to work around how risks can be used.

Well, i wanted to write more, but i really don't know what riot thinks about me or any Soraka player. Sometimes i feel like they ignore me, but i really wanted to engage a conversation with some meaningful rioter about her.

Thank you by your attention anyway! Sorry for the english.

22 Comments

ForgottenLuck2/10/2016, 8:42:41 AM3 votes

Please protect my Lamb from them she is my second most played Champ

Siegfriedx22/10/2016, 1:52:35 PM2 votes

Wow so many answers, i will read all!

Krys Star2/10/2016, 7:16:03 AM2 votes

That would be ricklessabandon. I'm very passionate about Soraka, with over 820 games last season alone. Top 3 picks every season since 2010, and she was my very first purchase then too. Hopefully, we can get his attention but it's been very hard to at all. Good luck!

Ulquiorra9952/10/2016, 10:57:20 AM2 votes

Scaling increase on Alingment since last PBE cycle didn't do shit. It still has a glaring problem it had when it originally appeared: Soraka's kit revolves around spamming a spell that takes 10% of her HP each cast. I don't have to be a challenger player with 800 games on Soraka to see that these changes will get her completely destroyed. If she wants to heal herself she can't heal an ally and vice versa - consequentially, she becomes completely incapable at doing her job.

Second, not only these changes fail in balance, but also will have a completely opposite effect than intended: they are supposedly meant to make her more interactive. But in reality her laning is unchanged, and outside of lane she will be useless unless she goes for the least interactive build: Warmogs + SV. And even then her completing those items on a support budget, as a support who can't secure kills, is rarely feasible.

Now, which way do I think rework should head you might ask. If you want to make her more interactive, there needs to be a substantial reward for risking herself to land her Q; and currently on PBE reward for landing good Q's are vastly lower than on live. Hit one or hit five enemies, it's all the same - versus the current version where both landing it on multiple enemies and landing the sweet spot for damage and slow feel highly rewarding. Also, another change I think should be made - make her W HP cost count as self-inflicted damage for the purpose of Warmogs. Not an ideal fix - but by removing the most toxic build from the equation she can be much more easily balanced around other builds.

So, we've got the direction. Let's take a look at problems now. Soraka NEEDS a source of strong self-sustain due to the nature on her W. Currently, her self sustain is strong but unreliable, which is pretty fair. But on PBE it's both shit and unreliable. So, the way to go would be buffing it - and here the second problem arises: due to the way her self sustin is tied to her ally sustain, we can't buff it without making her ally sustain downright insane. This leaves us with only one viable solution: Alignment must stack. This is the single change you MUST make if you want Soraka to see games outside of being used to make people dodge. I propose its functionality to be changed to following:

1.) Alignment stacks up to X times on Soraka. Again, an absolute must.

2.) Hitting Q on multiple targets adds multiple stacks. Landing several consecutive Q's also adds stacks as well as refreshing already existing ones. This adds a decent reward to Soraka players for properly utilizing their Q: if you can land it consistently and/or on multiple people, then you will have access to both your self sustain and ally sustain. If they can't land it/don't want to risk it they have only a few heals before going out of HP - as it should be. Risk brings reward, in contrast with staying behind and spamming W which is a vastly subpar strategy with aforementioned W/Warmog change I suggested.

3.) Healing an ally with W transfers one stack from Soraka with refreshed duration. Alignment can't stack on allies - consecutive casts will refresh the duration instead. This should provide the interaction Riot originally intended for this ability and improve on it. Transfering one stack at a time keeps her ally heal from being overbearing while not completely destroying her self sustain.

This isn't the first time I see a constructive idea on how to fix her nor the first time I write one - and I highly doubt it will be the last. But then again, Soraka isn't Lee Sin - so I doubt Riot will acknowledge community ideas, despite how polite and constructive they are. They have shown that when a champion is deemed "toxic" leaving them to rot is a preferred solution to actually fixing them.

MrwiOzV6pB2/10/2016, 6:51:29 AM1 votes

The only way to balance Soraka is to remove her from the game, nerf her heal into the ground making her completely irrelevant, or rework her entire kit. I mean that's the truth when it comes down to it.

Riot said before they didn't want the traditional "Healer" class for their game in League as it doesn't fit the play style they're looking for. Literally right now Soraka can build so much HP regen that she doesn't even need to use Starcell to even sustain her HP to use her 2 sec heal rapidly. If Soraka isn't a considered dedicated healer, I don't know what is.

Btw, you can down vote this all you want. Soraka is my most played champ in ranked and I don't even upgrade Starcell past level 1 until it's my last skill. I rather have her silence/root leveled PURELY for the cd then upgrade her starcell. That's how based she is right now on a team comp and item build to sustain her HP without the use of starcell.

Blackquill2/11/2016, 12:54:52 PM1 votes

What if soraka could have an item [like rengar necklace], but inspired on mejai instead, that could be bought and reward her in a very special > way? To further absorb her in the high risk.

What if assistances [not kills] could increase Soraka starcall self-heal ap ratio and Astral infusion ap ratio up to X%?

Riot would never do this for the reasons they stated in a post where they talked about League of Legends design values. The problem is that your team, instead of being protected by you, the Soraka, would try to protect you as best as they can because this would mean that you can protect the team. In the post about design values they talked about what is bearable gameplay when it comes to minigames that affect other people aside from yourself. Currently Soraka's I-hit-you-so-i-don't-die-and-heal-my-friends minigame is her own business and you try to make it her team's business too. No.

Lauchmelder2/10/2016, 7:15:21 AM1 votes

Good Points. But personally I don't feel like she is in a "high risk" state. She can just stand behind your Team and heal them through every bit of poke they receive. Sure, you can flank them or, in low elo, wait for her to missposition, but a good Soraka will rarely die.

As I see it the only way to shut her down is in lane, with a junglers effort. Should this be the only counterplay to a good Soraka?

Siegfriedx22/10/2016, 8:53:54 PM1 votes

C'mon guys give strength to this post!

Nagoh Shan2/11/2016, 4:25:11 AM1 votes

Copy/Paste from a thread talking about alignment:

I don't know, the change is interesting, but undertuned.

The problem is I don't know if there is a way to make Soraka feel good as a support, as strange as it sounds. She can be balanced, but that doesn't mean she'll ever feel good to be against. Maybe.

That's just the way healing is. Healing is negative DPS. That means that as a support if, she runs off base numbers, it feels impossible to do anything against her until you outscale. Once the DPS outscales her healing then it feels terrible to be the Soraka because her numbers are just not large enough to do anything.

Soraka is a traditional support, but a healer with traditional scalings should probably be a utility solo laner to allow for the scaling that balanced healing needs. That or they need to change her scaling method to something that is gold agnostic, but has interaction with the enemy. If it were done correctly, she wouldn't even need to pay health for casts. Something like:

Starcall:

Mana cost changed to: 80/75/70/65/60 from 70/75/80/85/90

Astral Infusion:

Passive changed to: Each enemy champion hit by Starcall grants 4 stacks of alignment. Astral infusion and Wish's effects are increased by the amount of Alignment Soraka has accumulated.

Active changed to: Soraka infuses target allied champion with celestial energy restoring 70/100/130/160/190 +1.0 Alignment health and 0(base) +.15 Alignment Mana. If Soraka uses this ability on herself, she restores .25 Alignment mana and .15 Alignment health (No base values).

Health cost removed

Wish:

Healing changed to 100/200/300 +1.0 Alignment from 150/250/350 +.55AP

Something like that.

Something that people can feel like they can avoid, keep her base effects reasonable in the face of DPS in the early/mid game, allow her a chance to scale into the monstrous team carrying beast that people hate, and give the enemy an opportunity to prevent that and outscale through appropriate play.

One thing that has to be understood, though, is that HPS is negative DPS, so it feels about as good when it's at the critical mass scaling, as DPS that just hit all their multiplicative scaling points.

The good/bad feeling shouldn't come from the healing or method used for healing. Just like the right click damage of carries isn't the satisfying part about playing against them. Rather satisfaction from playing against her should come from successful play around her Q and E. Soraka is rewarded with the increased heal an mana restore, while the enemies reward is being able to effectively dodge part of a point and click buff.

Maybe, or maybe healing can't be done right in this game and community. Unlikely, but so far hasn't been promising.

Soraka's been one of my champs in the past, and I do like her, but this is more from a design perspective.