Everything that's wrong with this game and Riots balancing. Also stop making new champions.

I want to preface this, what is going to be a very long post with the following information; I started this game, just before Renekton was released back in 2011. So it's been now 5 years since I've started playing. And over those 5 years, and 3 different accounts. I have played over 3,000 games of league, not including ranked/dominion/special modes/custom games and so on. This was the game that introduced me to mobas, and I have since been invested in not only League, but Dota, Smite, and HotS. And every so often I'll switch which game is my main go to for scratching that moba itch. And with the release of season 6, I decided now is the time to dive back into league.

But, as with every time I go into league. I'm just more disappointed every time. And the question is, why? Well, there's many reasons and I've decided to list most of them, for my fellow players to weigh in. And for Riot to maybe see and take a step back and think about where they're going with this game.

#1. Ranked and Leaverbuster

No not, 'Waaah waahh, op champions', 'I'm stuck in X tier', 'My favorite champion is our lord and saviors chosen hero.'. But this game, for being a vastly popular e-sport doesn't seem to take ranked play very seriously. I've read the numbers that say 'Well, in truth. Most players don't even play ranked.' But, that doesn't really matter does it? Not if they're going to pour tons of dollars into the esport scene.

Oh? What's that? Why do you think they don't take it seriously? Well fictitious person that asks me questions, how they treat leavers, trolls, and so on. The fact that regardless of what rank you are, when you enter a 4v5 game because someone didn't pay the internet bill, or they're just upset at life and leave the game. Unless you or someone on your team, has skill greater than his or her rank. You're at a sever disadvantage. And buckle up for comparisons because this is just getting started. Dota for instance, has a system that says 'Oh, someone on your team left before first blood? The game is now safe to leave. and stats are not recorded for this game. You see, other companies have noticed these problems and have implemented things like granting the team with only 4 players more gold per second. Or perhaps losing a 4v5, you don't lose as much elo or ranked points, as you would if it were a proper 5v5. And League? Well, hope you don't lose and hope you're not in your promos. Pray to your chosen deity that he or she might favor you on this day.

Of course that's only one cog in what we call this 'Ranked System'. But there's many broken pieces in here to many tiny flaws as nothing can be perfect but as I want to move on to other important subjects lets take a look at just one more huge rusted gear, stuck in place and not working in any capacity. In fact it's not really connected to anything so it doesn't even make sense to be in there at all.

Promo Series. Win all or lose all. The promo series, something I've only seen in league. If it's in some other game than league, I'm not aware of it. But the idea of a 'Promo series' is the most counter-intuitive idea for league climbing. As this is a block, a huge bump no matter which rank you are. Win 4 games in a row? Well that doesn't matter, because you're in promos now! Having one match required to move from 100points to > Next Tier. Sure, makes enough sense. But if you've won enough to get to the promotionals, then you should have won enough to be in the next tier. "But mister, the system is designed to test to see if you're consistent in your games, so if you can win these games in a row you should be fine!" Well that would be great, but this doesn't reflect players who win a majority of their games, say the average of gold is a 60% or so win rate. So out of every 10 games on average you lose 4. And so Billy, you've won the last 5 games in a row and you're in your promos! Great! But since on average you lose 4 out of every 10 games. Well chances are you're going to lose one or two of your promos. Sorry. 'But that shouldn't be a big deal if I've lost 2 out of the last 7 games!' Well it matters because this is the promos. 'But this upsets me more than losing a regular ranked game!' Well, that's just to bad I guess Billy. And the 'Get a free win' when you lose your promotionals is a step in the right direction. But other than moving between Bronze/Silver/Gold/Etc. It really has no purpose to exist other than frustrating players when they're 1/1 in their promos.

I know I'm not breaking any new ground in stating these things, but they need to be addressed. The more we speak up about it, the more likely Riot is to pay attention. Also the leaving problem applies to normals as well. Not that this fact seems to move it up on Riots priority list.

#2. Balancing

Hey, buddy! Remember, Urgot, Yorick, Galio, Skarner, Rumble, Swain, Xerath, Sion, Taric, Gragas, Oriana, Karthus, Ziggs, Singed, Maokai, Zyra, Nocturne, Kassadin, Jarvan, Varus, Mordekaiser, Nunu, Nami, or Heimerdinger? No? What? Sorry, I can't hear you over, For Senna!.

Well if you don't know who these champions are. That's fine! Riot doesn't know who they are either. "That's not fair poster! They've been reworking Taric. And he'll be good again soon!" "What? Who's Sion? I don't know what you're talking about? What do you mean, that reworking doesn't fix inherent balance issues? Slow down and stop trying to use a fictional straw man to push your point forward with a hopefully comedic effect." Well, this should all be self explanatory. My real point is, that while they're deleting things they've neglected on purpose, just refund everyone for Urgot and remove him from the game.

Please, forgive me for the sarcastic low blows. This is a real issue. In a game with 100+ champions, obviously the game ISN'T EASY to balance. But Riot is sadly overlooking many things when they choose to balance champions. And those are the things I'm going to talk about first.

Balancing champions around items. I read something to that effect in the 6.3 patch notes. "Balancing around core items is something we do for every class" A direct quote from the preface chatter for Duskblade. http://na.leagueoflegends.com/en/news/game-updates/patch/patch-63-notes

Although I feel a tinge of sympathy for trying to balance this large game. I feel no sympathy for Riot here. I'm sorry but you've decided to balance 100+ characters on what items YOU think I, 'The Player' should be buying for that champion. So in effect, if I'm not purchasing the items that you've balanced the character around. The character is just not balanced? This is perhaps one of the worst ideas I've ever heard. And so counter intuitive to having fun and discovering those 'Dark Horse' builds Riot seems to be so fond of. Fixing this, and balancing the items around the champions and play styles. Something like this needs to happen. Badly, very badly. This would go a long, long, way towards fixing the over arching balance issues in this game.

Mobility, mobility. For those of you that have played this game for a considerable amount of time like I have. You can remember the old days of immobile mid lane casters. And when not all ad carries had dashes. What a mystical time that was. Now everyone can fly around as if physics no longer apply. "Well why is that a problem!? Diversity is good!" True! Very true. To bad that no one at Riot seems to consider mobile vs non mobile a factor when balancing. I'm not even going to try to start a 'Zed/Fizz is to OP!' debate here. But what I am going to try to start a debate about is, why can they do just as much damage as an immobile offense based mage? Why can they do the same as or more damage than most mages or assassins who can't avoid damage with a skill and high mobility? That is a very big question I have every time I return to League.

And I'm going to say as bluntly as possible, and feel free to tell me what you think about this. But I believe 100% that; Mobility, Amount of crowd control, Type of crowd control, Amount of utility, Range, AoE size, and so on need to factor into balancing. Heavily. These things should be considered before thinking 'Ok how much damage should this skill do?' I believe taking a hard look into these factors on champions, and rebalancing accordingly would definitely fix this game being weighted towards just a few champions.

#3. Runes And Masteries

??????????????????????????? What???? Please, Riot please. If one of you reads this. I really desperately want to know why you keep these things around.

As far as I see it, it's a barrier for people new to the game who want to try a different role. Well you don't have the right runes? You're just not going to be as proficient as the enemy who does. It's adding another layer of difficulty to keeping the game balanced. Not only are you balancing 100+ champions, 40+ items, Then runes and masteries. And other than maximizing your character, they don't particularly serve much of a purpose. Other than the aforementioned being a barrier to new players.

The new masteries are a big improvement, but come on Riot. Come on, +10AD/+15AP At level 18. Not only is that pretty much 100% useless. But it's up against 2% extra lifesteal+spellvamp. Which might actually benefit someone early game. And that isn't even a tier 1 mastery.

And there's a reason everyone takes Thunderlord/Deathfire a large majority of the time. I'll let you all figure that one out on your own.

But more importantly, putting players at a disadvantage because they don't know the 100% perfect set up for these, I don't agree that it should exist. I know I'm not entirely alone on that either.

#4. Please, stop making new champions.

I know that I'm not going to be to popular for this opinion. But hear me out here if you would. Most of the new champions they're introducing, they aren't adding any new mechanics. And they are increasing what they have to consider for balance.

You don't know what I'm talking about so far? Well, whoever actually decided to read this far into this staggering wall of text. Lets look at Mr , the newest contender to the league. First, his passive. Interesting, new-ish. Clearly based around some lingering ideas from the Ashe re-work. But riddle me this, why couldn't these effects be worked into an item? "What, that doesn't make sense for an item! You're an idiot poster!" Well hold up there, imagine a world where items were more than just math bonuses and and on-hit effects. Wouldn't that be really cool? I think so. But that's just me. Maybe. (Come on, an item that converts a portion of attackspeed into attackdamage or the reverse? At least it's more interesting than "+50AD") Next his Q, he pretends to be a ludens echo, or an anti-Nami? Well, not to bad I guess, but nothing really groundbreakingly new. How about his W? Alright, now we're talking a line appears on the ground and hits an enemy and slow.. I mean, damages an enemy. And roots them if they're marked! Nothing really new here at all. Line skill shot, that does a thing. Slightly different than most skillshots. But lets be honest, it's basically the same thing we've seen before. Ok, ok, maybe I'm just rude, lets take a look at his E. 'What if we combined Teemos mushrooms with Caitlyns traps? Think anyone would notice?' I did. I think Riot has a thing for traps. I really do. Could have been more interesting. Not a new mechanic at all, slightly altered trap. Well you know what will show me? His ult! That's right that mystical signature skill. That for Jhin, is his W + his Auto attacks. With more range of course. Useful? Very, it's a good skill. Could it have been a different mechanic and been more interesting? I believe so.

Ok, well not much new to offer in terms of skills. But his lore and story? I mean, a psychopath with a gun? I do like that idea.

I really hope my subtle snarkiness is funny. If not I'm going to seem like a real jerk.

But honestly, with all the neglected champions. Why couldn't these ideas be applied to champions that already exist? Breathe new life into those dusty old champs. Spice them up with something new and cool and bring more than 10 balanced champions into the mix. Why couldn't you work some of these things into Jinx herself? I think upgrading her abilities with new effects, would be great! Don't bother working on a skin for Jhin give her a skin. Make every 4th shot with fishgun explode! And I mean really explode. Shooting someone with her machine gun then her line skill shot now roots them? Making up for her lack of a dash, here we come.

#5. Summary

So in summary; love you Riot, please don't kill me for trying to tell people what I think is wrong with your video game, that you spend way to much money to produce <3

But seriously, fix these games with leavers. Delete Jhin and Urgot. I want my money back. Unless you give Urgot some really cool new mechanics that aren't 'Hitting the target marks the target. Hitting the marked target X times does X thing.' Which you should do. Rather than making another Lucian. Also delete Runes, and that one mastery that gives +10AD and 15AP at level 18. That's just a trap for new players who think 10 ad is really useful at that point in the game. And we all know it.

Not that I think my opinion should be law. But, 100% do everything I just told you.