An Open Letter to Fearless Regarding the Sona Changes
Dear Fearless,
You may recall that I was one of the first people to reply to the announcement that Sona was going to be reworked. I made one of the first comments to that discussion and it remains the most upvoted entry. I consider myself a support main, with a specialization in Sona. I applied to the PBE, but did not receive an invite. I have played two Co-Op vs. AI matches with her on live. While that may not sound like much, it's enough to get a feel for the reality of the rework.
Put bluntly, I think you failed to provide a viable product and your communication with the community has been ineffective. This isn't personal. I don't know you nearly well enough for it to be personal. So, if you perceive any of this as an attack, please remember that it is not intended as such.
A Rework Needs to Address a Champion's Place in the Game
Sona was not in a good place before the rework. Her pick/ban rates were low and she was routinely outclassed by more modern supports. Part of this is simply the march of new technology and part of this is Riot's desire to move toward flashy, high-risk plays. Sona was also a prime target for a rework because her auras were bad for the game. They had to go.
While this rework made her kit less toxic, it did nothing to address her position in the meta. There is nothing on this frame that I can point to and say, "This is a good reason to pick Sona." Keep in mind that one of the chief complaints about her kit was that she felt like an "ult delivery system," so that can't be her role now. Her ult is comparable to those of Amumu and Zyra, but people pick them for reasons other than the ult. I feel that you were hyperf-focused on getting rid of the auras and forgot to define what Sona does. Now, to be fair, she had this problem before they handed her to you, but developing a role for her should have been the first step in the process.
This Rework Damages Important Ratios
In game design, there are two important ratios: Risk vs. Reward and Reward for Effort. Both of those ratios went in the wrong direction.
Risk vs. Reward: Sona now has to be significantly closer to the front line, but she does not gain any benefit from this increased risk, nor were any of her stats changed to reflect this increased risk. She went from being a champion who sat at mid to long range, dipping in to poke, to a champion that has to "snuggle" down in the scrum to be effective. If you look over the complaints following the live release, this is among the most common.
It's worth noting that the enemy bruisers and assassins are going to be itching to have a squishy target to jump on. I saw this several times in my matches. I went forward to shield someone and was killed in an eye blink. That felt incredibly punishing.
Another component of this ratio is that I am now forced to stack up with my allies, making me (and my allies) more vulnerable to AoE comps. The reward for tagging should at least be equal to the increased damage I take while stacked, but I don't feel that it is.
There were several times in my matches where I couldn't get to my allies and this felt awful. This was especially bad in the early laning phase.
Changing the risk vs. reward ratio is also very dangerous because it causes a massive change in feel. I already own risky supports. People who liked Sona now have to adapt to a much riskier position or give up on the champion. Given that she is mostly a fan pick as it is, this is really bad.
Reward for Effort: The harder you have to work for something, the more you expect out of it. People learn this as children. From a play balance perspective, this means that complex mechanics and kits should provide more options, rather than increased power. League does a decent job of this, except when it comes to modal champions like Elise and Jayce.
This rework represents a massive increase in the amount of effort required to use her abilities "properly." I say this because it feels as though she was balanced around getting most, if not all, of her allies in her "snuggle zones." When I play her, I do not feel like I am rewarded for tagging people; I feel like this is the baseline and I am being punished when I can't get to my teammates. This is especially bad because Sona is touted as an easy, "entry-level" support.
Her New Mechanics Chew Up Mental Bandwidth
When I use her Q, I lose effectiveness unless both I and my ADC gain the benefit of the secondary effect. This means that I have to slide forward, use Q, autoattack, then move to tag my teammate. This is not a simple maneuver for a routine activity. The same goes for her W.
Worse, this is a terrible use of bandwidth. Every time I use my abilities I have to track not only the position of my enemies, but those of my allies. We're not talking about a generalized sense, either. I have to track their position, likely movement and how I'm going to get to them to a precise degree. This is because the tiny "snuggle zones" require me to manage my positioning in a way that no one else is tasked with. You said that you wanted it to be a non-trivial exercise to apply the buffs, but I feel that you swung too far in the opposite direction.
I Hate Her New E With Every Fiber of my Being
A short list:
- I have to have the same tier of boots as my allies or I can't apply the buff. I'm on a support salary.
- Applying the buff requires people to move in a way that is unnatural. No one clusters like that.
- I feel like I am being forced to choose between leveling things that I enjoy (Q and W) and the thing that I need to tag people because my effectiveness is now suddenly based on my speed. I feel that this diffuses my impact on fights.
- I feel that it's insufficient to get me out of a bad situation... ever. There are too many dashes and whatnot compared to the long cooldown.
- I do not feel like I can use it to get my allies onto a fleeing target that they wouldn't have caught without me.
Her "Snuggle Zones" are Incompatible with Her Passive
When I use an ability, the first thing I want to do is move so that I'm tagging the people who weren't already in the zone because otherwise I feel like I am not getting enough out of the ability. This means that I have to choose between optimizing the buff and, you know, fighting. This is a really frustrating decision gate. It adds complexity for no reason.
Her New Mechanics Suck in Running Fights
This is an area where I feel especially forced to level E and buy speed boots, because my closure rates with my allies is not fast enough otherwise. This feels like a direct nerf to my viability in skirmishes. Heaven help me if my allies have some sort of engage or dash mechanic, because there's no chance of getting the buff on them then.
Her W is Really Clunky
The mechanic for applying the shield is highly counterintuitive. The shield is really short, so I either have to be right on top of the target (not gonna happen in most circumstances) or I have to move to tag them. This makes is very difficult to use the shield to prevent damage, especially in skirmish and siege situations. The only time it felt effective was during pile-on teamfights. Given the method of application, I don't understand why it couldn't last longer.
You commented in this post about how people perceive the shield portion of the ability. Put bluntly, I don't think that "I'm adding a weak shield to make up for a nerfed heal" is good design theory. People want their powers to have an impact on the game.
Too Much of Her Power is On Other People
I feel like her power was balanced around her buffing her allies, so being alone is much worse than it was before. I did not feel like I had any impact or survivability in any 1v1. This was compounded by the fact that my E was never a viable escape maneuver.
Our Feedback was not Handled Appropriately
Going back over your posts, I feel that the vast majority can be distilled down to "Wait until you play it" or "Our internal tests say you're wrong." Given that the PBE is an invite-only environment, the first comment is completely unacceptable, especially since it appears that invites were set prior to the announcement of the rework. I know at least forty people who applied, most of them immediately after the announcement. Not a single one of them got in.
This is especially upsetting because we were told that Sona was going to be on the PBE for longer than other champions because you "wanted to get it right." Not only was this not true, but the only change that was made was the increase to to her "snuggle zones." It did not feel like you listened to the community at all.
Also, if internal testing is going to be an absolute trump to our suggestions, why bother to solicit feedback at all? It was highly irritating to be told over and over what amounted to "You guys just don't get it." It was disrespectful and unprofessional.
Say Nice Things About Detroit
I know that I have been really negative here and that some of it might come across as an attack, but there were some positive aspects to the rework.
- Getting rid of the auras was a good thing.
- The Heal on her W felt much better than I expected.
- I like the increased visibility of my abilities. It felt like my team could "see me" more.
- I was wrong about the increase in cooldowns. I feel like my abilities are up when I want them (except W).
- I feel that you did a good job of giving me high points other than my ult.
- I was also wrong about my ADC using my Q buff. They recognized what it was and used it appropriately.
