Dominion Needs Attention or Should be Replaced

Ultra Animal·Feb 7, 2016·4 votes·244 views

There's still bots running around and the mode has far too many objectives. If it focused on one middle location it would be more exciting imo. OR just replace it entirely with a version of ascension.

6 Comments

DrCyanideFeb 7, 20162 votes

Honestly, I'd say replace it.

The Crystal Scar is a promising map, with interesting things going on and fun design. I think Ascension was an amazing game mode that enhanced the Crystal Scar even more, making it feel even more like a mining town on the edge of being overrun by the sands. The map itself is solid, it's just not being used for the right game mode.

When you compare it to every other option that you can play in League, Dominion feels like a Featured Game Mode. It doesn't have the same rules that games on the other three maps share (kill towers, kill inhibitors, kill nexus, win), playing in a very different way. You can argue that makes it unique, fun, a nice break, etc, but look at why Riot cycles the Featured Games - to prevent them from dying out in popularity. Look at what's happened to Dominion's popularity, it's practically non-existent. I know when I've played Dominion I don't feel like I'm winning, I feel like I'm just losing slower than my opponent, and that's just not as enjoyable the way the game is laid out. Maybe if both teams were under attack by some other force it'd be fun, but not for a team vs team fight.

I'm not sure how I would reconcile this problem of the Map being sound but the game mode needing a break. The only thing I can think of is to replace Dominion with a "No Longer Featured" Featured Game Mode, where the last game mode lives on a little longer on that queue. I know as someone who loves URF to death, the only reason I start to get sick of it is that I play so much of it in a 2-3 week time frame trying to get my fill for the entire year. It's the same problem with eating all your Halloween candy in one day instead of spacing it out a little. If I knew URF would be available for 4-5 weeks, then I could go slower on it, enjoy it more, space it out with other modes, etc. Same with all of the Featured Game Modes in my opinion.

RebonackFeb 7, 20162 votes

{quoted}

I know when I've played Dominion I don't feel like I'm winning, I feel like I'm just losing slower than my opponent, and that's just not as enjoyable the way the game is laid out.

When I've asked people why they don't like Dominion, this is one of the reasons that comes up most often.

It could be addressed by adding some new elements to the map and inverting the point loss into point gain. There would need to be some sense of progression from one phase to another, and I think there would be a way to accomplish this. First, you would gain a fraction of a point per second for each Capture Node you control rather than only if you have more than the enemy team.

Then we add in the Capture Relics from Ascension. The Capture Relics would score points for your team and grant a single-use version of Storm Shield.

So about the time Health Relics would spawn, three neutral Capture Relics appear, one on each Speed Shrine. These can be taken by anyone.

Once your team gets 1/3rd of the way to your point goal, a team Capture Relic appears in the center of the map. This one can only be captured by your team, would grant a higher point boost, and give the full version of Storm Shield. However, it only lasts for a limited time before de-spawning. It would have a regular rotation. Every X amount of time it appears and then sits there for Y minutes unless captured. This would be an objective that you would want to prevent the enemy team from taking and would be announced 'Blue Team Relic is spawning in thirty seconds!'

Once your team gets to 2/3rds of the point goal, the neutral relic on the enemy side speed shrine has its value increased if your team steals it.

Once your team reaches the full point goal, your Nexus fires a blast of energy at the wall in front of the enemy Nexus, destroying the barrier and leaving it open to attack. Then your team needs to make one final push to destroy the enemy Nexus and win the match.

This would give the match a clear progression of objectives, encouraging you to move the action closer to the enemy base and culminating with one last offensive to destroy the enemy Nexus. Best of it, it would place a bit more emphasis on Jungle control, which has always been the most important part of Dominion. All in all, Dominion would retain its focus on map control while gaining some elements that players of Summoner's Rift would be more familiar with.

MinardeFeb 7, 20161 votes

I'm not a fan of the "final assault" idea, mainly because it seems to clash with the rest of the game's mood. Up until that nexus barrier event, the mode has a quick pace with an emphasis on seizing initiative to force the enemy team to react. After the barrier goes down, the pace completely shifts to a reactive stance where your team has to defend against the enemy team's attack while waiting for your nodes to slowly plink through the enemy barrier. The feeling of "playing to win" gets permanently replaced by a feeling of "playing to not lose."

It might work if the nexus barrier regenerates and depletes part of the enemy points after a certain amount of time.

Temporarily closing off part of the map might also help with the idea of game phases. For instance, sealing off the outer ring aside from Windmill and bot-lane until either team has X% points. It'd serve as a subtle tutorial about the jungle's importance and remaining out of vision by mimicking SR's laning phase serving as a tutorial about the importance of minions and towers.

RebonackFeb 7, 20162 votes

{quoted}

I'm not a fan of the "final assault" idea, mainly because it seems to clash with the rest of the game's mood. Up until that nexus barrier event, the mode has a quick pace with an emphasis on seizing initiative to force the enemy team to react. After the barrier goes down, the pace completely shifts to a reactive stance where your team has to defend against the enemy team's attack while waiting for your nodes to slowly plink through the enemy barrier. The feeling of "playing to win" gets permanently replaced by a feeling of "playing to not lose."

It might work if the nexus barrier regenerates and depletes part of the enemy points after a certain amount of time.

Temporarily closing off part of the map might also help with the idea of game phases. For instance, sealing off the outer ring aside from Windmill and bot-lane until either team has X% points. It'd serve as a subtle tutorial about the jungle's importance and remaining out of vision by mimicking SR's laning phase serving as a tutorial about the importance of minions and towers.

Good points!

And a very good idea about the 'defend for X amount of time and the barrier reforms'. That was the same general idea I had with the team Capture Relics. If the defenders prevent it from being taken, then they should be rewarded for it. A Quest, basically. One that's more compelling than 'Capture this point!'. So essentially, 'Destroy the enemy Nexus to win the game!' vs 'Defend your Nexus for X time for a big point bonus!' That would preserve Dominion's theme of anti-snowball mechanics that reward good plays on the part of the under-dog team.

That said, it would probably be a good idea to make the Nexus durable enough to weather quite a beating. Having it wiped out by a single back-capping Shaco wouldn't be much fun. Maybe even use the capture mechanic to grind it down rather than auto-attacks.

MinardeFeb 7, 20162 votes

Both limiting Dominion down to one node and replacing it with Ascension would simply remove depth. If there's only one node, gameplay pretty much devolves into a deathmatch, and Ascension was unquestionably just a shallower version of the Dominion concept. Either change would reduce the competitive nature of the map and thus hurt long-term appeal.