Constructive Criticism Re: Removal of Team Builder

First off I am NOT one of those who only plays one position, champion, or lane. Though i "main" support I have forced myself to at the very least be somewhat proficient in each role and lane for the purposes of ranked play. So I am NOT complaining.

Before I provide my feedback, I personally like the idea of the new system. The effort that went into it was apparent from my very first que.

However, there is a huge voice out there on the boards that I think has a very valid point. Regardless of how the high elo and elitist jerks feel about the topic as a whole, there is a huge casual player base among the LoL community that are very set in their ways. Some have found that they are particularly good with one champion and/or role and seemingly stick to it the vast majority of the time. If you look at my game history as an example the vast majority of my gameplay is in the support role. Its where I peform the best. Its where I am the most comfortable. And it is where I am able to contribute the best to the other players I am playing with.

In removing Team Builder you have forced those players to put themselves into Normal Blinds or Normal Draft. The Normal Blinds are a free for all, emoragequit festival of epic proportions. Players who aren't quick enough in the pre game chat to "call their preference" end up being forced to play a role they don't enjoy, removing the fun and hence the desire to play. And just because you "called it" doesn't mean that the other people in your group are going to be kind enough to allow it. Ive seen a number of times where someone has called a particular lane or role and someone else who wanted it just locked in a champ for that lane/role and said to suck it up. Yet another example of how this change will force your casual player base to play a role they don't enjoy, removing the fun and hence the desire to play. Draft mode will simply take the points Ive made about Blinds and make it an organized mess of the same magnitude only in order of operations so to speak.

With all that being said, Ive seen a number of folks on the boards this evening point to how this new system is supposed to fix alot of those issues by giving you a much better chance from Blinds or Draft of getting the lane/role you want. And in theory they are correct. However, let me share with you my very first experience with the new system this afternoon. When we finally had a full group we made it all the way through bands. And then the person who was slated as ADC, who happened to be 2nd in the priority list, stated in chat that they were a terrible ADC, selected as their champ and locked in. The person who was slated as mid lane was third n the priority and was forced into playing ADC. There is absolutely no way to prevent this from happening. Now this player is forced to play a role they didnt select as their main role or backup role. And leaving the game unsatisfied with what just happened will cause them to receive a time debuff according to what I read. So its a choice between playing unhappy or being punished for someone elses failure to "play nice".

The casual player base is almost in need of Team Builder. Yes LoL is a free to play game. However, Id be shocked to hear the amount of income Riot receives from its casual player base in Skin and Champion purchases alone. And any action by a company who relies on the income it generates from its player base, especially when that income is not guaranteed...which would have a negative impact on said income...I would think would be seen as counter productive.

Unless their is an inability to run Team Builder as it relates to hardware and software while still using this new system for Normal Draft and Ranked Draft without causing issues, I'd think keeping Team Builder to accommodate the casual player base would be a smart business decision.

But that's just my opinion.

Thanks for the great product though. Keep making improvements. No matter how much the boards fill themselves with rage, the effort is appreciated somewhere. Most people just aren't capable of putting forth what they have to say in an appropriate and well spoken fashion. Trolls will be trolls.