Initial Blitz thoughts (Feedback and Fanboying included)

First of here is the disclaimer: WALL OF TEXT INCOMING!!! This is a a long post... Thou art warned! Second Disclaimer: I'm not going to give a TLDR, so if you aren't going to read the full post then... pffffffffft :P

Section 1: The Feedback Overall I like it a lot and it'd be my new main mode, however I would say the follow things will need tuned around.

1. So this may or may not be a problem for others but it's keeps getting me. I'm sure this will improve as I learn and memorize the map better, but these bushes are super hard on the eyes. Granted I'm colorblind so I'm not sure if this is an issue that only certain colorblind spectrums have, or if the bushes really are that hard to make out but there's been a few instances where I've been chasing someone down only to lose LoS because they stepped in a bush I couldn't see. I know the bushes are in early stages, so I'm wanting to voice right now that more clarity in their visuals would help. This boarders on cosmetic but since bushes are such a core part of gameplay, I'm included them in this post.

2. Force of Nature Passive NEEDS to be Unique. Just played a game with tanks stacking 2+ each. Made them impossible to kill even with BotRK (on the adc) & Liandry's (mage) combo. I think the item is great when used properly (like Warmongs) but at the moment it is far out of tune when stacked. If you know my feelings on Warmongs you might be surprised to hear that I don't mind Warmongs in this mode... its the stacking FoN that's ailing me.

3. I love the lane and jungle layout so I'm not sure how to address this one but if you are in the bot .5 lane, you're pretty isolated from most of the action unless someone makes a dedicated effort to come down to gank you, but it's usually easy to spot cause there's only true gank path and that's through the other lane. I think if you added reason for junglers to be botside it would spice up that lane some. Perhaps add a couple camps to the bottom of the map between the bot lane and the edge of the map in the clear stretches to give some reason to go to the bottom of the map outside events. Krugs haven't been used yet and you could even bring Wraiths back just to have a couple camps down bot. Heck you could even go so far as to use something like TT with alters/capture points on the bot side. Just don't go too Dominion with it.

4. So this one is sorta one of those things that I'm sure doesn't get to everyone, but I find it irksome. It's kinda obnoxious when your team is stomping, wining all the evens, but just can't finish pushing up the lane to the enemy nexus due to whatever reason (currently the issue seems high wave clear champs) only to have the nexus spawn and lose in a fluke slap fest with the nexus. One work around i can see to this is adding a bonus or penalty for win/loss in the events. Lets say that in a game you will have three events. For each event you win, your team gains some bonus for battling the enemy nexus. There are already rewards for winning, but most of these are more designed around fighting enemy champs. If you added an extra reward to each event that ONLY effected the nexus minions you would make sure that the team who is winning those events has an edge should the game get down to sudden death. This wouldn't skew the game so heavily that it makes it unwinnable for the team that loses the events, but it would definitely incentivize putting effort into winning those events and reward teams who are consistent in dominating events. In my opinion something like a stacking 5-10% damage reduction for you nexus minion per event your team has won would do the trick. I would even go so far as to warn AGAINST making the reward something like additional objective damage. By doing so it does not influence any other part of the game except sudden death , or "Save Herald, Ignore Team" event as our group as taken to calling it (the acronym reflects our feelings about the last events coin flippiness).

Section 2: The Fanboying

1. I like that the mode is blind pick. Yeah you get some champs that are almost always present (looking at you Brand and Wu), but to me that is part of the fun. Getting the chance of being up against someone playing the same champ can be fun. I've heard some asking for the game to be more like SR in that only one team can play a champ, but that would mean a draft phase would be needed. That would slow down the already pretty long load time to get in the game. At most I would allow bans but please leave the blind pick.

2. The pace of the game feels right. It's not so long that it feels like SR where you are stuck in a game that can last an hour and by half way you are over it. The game gives you enough time to build up before throwing you to the events but doesn't feel like its drags out. This is thanks in part of the S.H.I.T event at the end. (Just make it a little less coin-flippy and i'm totally on board with it).

3. Balance. Yeah some will not agree but I honestly think that the feel of champions in this mode is pretty solidly balanced. I dont think certain items are (see above) but that isn't related to the champs themselves. Stacking champs stack fast enough and everyone gains enough gold to be relevant in this game mode without having your top or mid lanes bark at you to go away for siphoning exp. I honestly haven't seen a champion in this mode yet that just feels bad to play.

4. This brings me to my next point. Champion diversity. One thing i love about league is that it has a buttload of champs and a strong player on any champ can beat a mediocre player with a more mainstream champ. This mode really defines diversity through balance. I have yet to see a champion in a position that they can't play when done correctly. Hell I've seen jungle Soraka played to much success. Truly feel like this is probably the first game mode that I've played that DOESN'T feel like if you don't get the main meta OP flavor of the week champs you're screwed, and that is an awesome feeling.

5. Finally, map size. Part of my issue with SR is that it is easy to get lost in knowing where to go and what to do next and find your self meandering around dropping wards waiting for someone to do something stupid. Aram can be a cluster**** at times. We've all been there in ARAM where you find yourself telling your teammate to stop walking right on top of you cause they're pushing you into an enemy or out of the way of where you want to be. This map has enough size that you aren't crammed together, but also small enough that if the bot lane guy needs to move up to Red Buff, it's not a full TP ordeal to do so.

So overall, I would say that JUST off of gameplay by itself, this game mode gets a solid 4.5/5 from me. I'll be playing it as much as i can while in Alpha testing because I'm already hooked. Obviously we all know it needs some serious map polishing and some touching up on items, but I highly recommend playing it for anyone debating still. Super fun. Haven't run into (too many) try hards, and even in the worst of games, it's over in 20-23 minutes. You can brush it off easy and move on to the next. Two thumbs up from me Riot. Excited to see where the mode goes from here and what other modes you have up your sleeves!