I cant believe it’s an unpopular opinion now, but riot should continue balancing around pro play.

It seems like players have become so cynical and jaded by this game that they don’t realize a few crucial points, simple as they may be. Although solo queue games, especially those at lower ranks, are vastly different than pro play, the reality is that any “meta” you play in was likely defined by pro play. It most likely began in high elo as a form of practice, where it becomes refined. Then it is debuted in professional play. And after that, it trickles it’s way into the rest of the elo range as time goes on. Low elo doesn’t like hearing this, but by the time a meta reaches your range from pro play it’s already dead and gone in high/elo as they’ve moved onto the next flavor of the month.

Secondly, we should never ever balance the game around low elo. Let’s not mince words here, though I’m not trying to be crass or make generalizations: low elo players are not good at this game. And for that reason, we should never balance around, or even consider balancing around, an elo range that will never adapt to its surroundings for the sake of improving because they simply do not have the capacity to. Those who improve simply rise out of that range, so all you’d do by balancing around low elo in any form is reset the bar to a higher level for bad players to expect game changes to be catered to them so they can continue to play poorly without improving. I realize this is harsh, but it is absolute truth. There’s nothing wrong with not being good at this game. For the vast majority that play this game, it’s never going to be something you put on your job application or use as some source for cash - being bad is totally fine. As long as you enjoy the game, that’s all that should matter. So likewise, any person that flanes you for being bad is just a self-centered delusional jerk because just like you (the bad player), they won’t be able to use league of legends in any real avenue in life.

With that said, two things can still be true at once. Just because Riot balances around pro doesn’t mean they shouldn’t consider solo queue. They absolutely should, but the balancing should still be heavily influenced by pro play and high elo play. Likewise, it is still totally okay for the community to express dislike for the game and standards (for example, tanks being worthless in solo queue but often being OP in pro play). That isn’t, however, an issue with pro play. That’s an issue with riot standardizing how they want the game to be played, which I cannot deny is influenced by pro play, but that doesn’t mean we abandon the idea of balancing around pro play because of that. The alternative is much worse. Thus, instead, the tema of our conversation should focus around riot adjusting conceptual gameplay aspects - such as make tanks more reliable in solo queue as tanks, not to be some pseudo-bruiser. That way, our conversation is actually progressive and comprehensive, rather than wild accusations and shameless finger pointing that doesn’t offer any real insight. I know the community likes to think riot ignores them, and riot probably does. But if I’m being honest, I would too because most of the feedback here is trash and upvote spam. So for that reason, this is why I offered these explanations not only to voice my opinion - which I believe to be a critical element of game balance - but also to realize that the our feedback often sucks and should be better.