Every class update was a failure

The Ecdysiast·Apr 6, 2018·1 votes·187 views

It wasn't just the assassin update. It began with the juggernaut update and spiraled out of control because they forgot it only takes one champion change or item addition to make things seem fresh and new.

2 Comments

Death by GlamourApr 6, 20181 votes

Jugger was ok imo, few things wrong with it tho

Garen remain basically the exact same playstyle just more annoying to fight

No followup bug fixes for morde

Why skarner and not nasus

The main problem with the adc update was that almost all the adcs were relevant throughout the game, mf no longer fell off and vayne was decent early for example.

Teridax68Apr 6, 20181 votes

I have mixed feelings about this, because while I do think some of the class updates made some tangible progress (the marksman update did add a lot more item diversity, for example), I largely agree that these roster updates ended up doing more harm than good, and that the good intentions that started with the project were quickly lost once routine set in. When the Juggernaut Update hit, I was super excited because it was this completely new format for content updates, and was making a big impact before Preseason had even hit. Not all of the reworks were perfect (in fact, only one out of the four original reworks succeeded at all), but it still felt like a step forward in defining League's class scape and dynamics. Fast-forward to the Tank Update, and I knew before it would even hit that it would a) not set out to accomplish its goals, and b) change its affected champions in a manner that would leave them feeling unfinished and in need of another rework, because that's what every class update had done before. At that point, the roster updates felt forced, and desperate to provide more content on a schedule, instead of trying building a solid foundation for the game, and so I'm glad they ended.

I think the fundamental problem with every single roster updates is that they all set out with far too large a scope than their resources could afford them. Each update's goal was to solve core problems to the affected class, but at the same time Riot thought they could achieve this in half the time of a season, with only a handful of designers, and with minimal tech resources. As a result of these, not only did these updates not succeed in solving the problems of their class, they frequently made those problems worse, or introduced new ones: the Juggernaut Update tried to define the juggernaut subclass, for example, but defined its limitations far too harshly, rendering juggernauts far too binary for their own good and producing new ones with equally large problems, such as Illaoi. Similarly, because Riot tried to rework champions in a manner that was deliberately low in scope, when the affected champions frequently needed far more in-depth changes, or at least more time for their changes to bake, we ended up with a giant mass of champion updates that practically all felt unfinished, leaving champions with glaring issues that only a larger update could solve. Riot made a gamble between doing quick work on champions and taking the time to give them full attention, and if the class updates told us anything, it's that we as players don't like it when the devs mess with our champions, unless it's to do everything they can to make them the best they can be.