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DOMINION – the real problem / why players don’t like it

Crystal Nexus·2/12/2016, 11:55:41 PM·10 votes·1,607 views

http://abload.de/img/dominion_logo_pre7xpl0.png

As a Core-Dominion-Player with almost 700 wins on my main account I want to share my personal thoughts why Dominion is so unpopular. And some options which could help. I hope you got some minutes for my wall of text.

Why did RIOT create Dominion? Back to the year 2011 RIOT decided to make a new map named Magma Chamber. The new map should contain all the positive stuff like team fights from Summoner's Rift and leave off the bad and boring stuff like farming and laning phase. During the development process they noticed that they can’t realize all this in Magma Chamber and so Dominion was born. Dominion - Gameplay Behind The Scenes Dominion - Spotlight

Why is Dominion so unpopular? Maybe because of the lame support, the ugly graphics or the boring gameplay? No, no, no! Of course more support for Dominion could help a bit but it is not the key problem in my eyes. To explain this I will tell you my personal Dominion story:

Before Crystal Scar was released everyone was hyped. Especially me, because I like new game modes much more then new champions. So when Dominion was released I played it and after the game I was totally disappointed. I hated the new map. I said to myself: “This can’t be the wonderful new game mode I was waiting for so long!”. Because of this I forced to play more Dominion games until I finally saw how great this map is.

So the key problem in my eyes is that most players lose their interest before they see how much potential Dominion has. People are not ready to effort more time to get into it. Most of my friends do not like Dominion, but they never really take the time to get into it even when I try to play some games with them. The different between Dominion and the other maps is that this mode is completely different, on a positive way. The other maps and also all “Featured Game Modes” need less time to get into it then Dominion.

Comparison: • 3v3 is not the same but very similar to Summoner's Rift. • In ARAM you get a random champion, there is only one lane and you don’t need a real tactic. • Featured Game Modes based on existing maps and gameplay.

Don’t get me wrong I love all maps and modes. I played every LoL game mode RIOT released very often. But to see the potential of Dominion you have to invest at least a lot more games. The best way is to play many matches in a row.

What is the solution? RIOT can’t force the players to play Dominion. But in my eyes they have to do much more to motivate players for it or even try it. Maybe it would have helped.

1.) Guides and Tutorial mode: Watching how Dominion noobs are playing is a pain for me and them. I understand it when people don’t have fun playing if they don’t know what they are doing. Official basic guides on the LoL web front page and a tutorial mode would help people find faster into the game. I know there are guides in the web but people don’t search for basics.

2.) Rewards: Make special Dominion only events to get icons or boosts or other stuff players want to achieve. Also a Dominion IP-weekend could help a bit.

3.) Event content: Not only Summoner's Rift should get event content like summer or winter minions and other stuff.

4.) Champion points: In Dominion you master your champion faster than in Summoner's Rift. So why don’t activate it here too? (In TT it should also be activated.)

5.) eSports: RIOT don’t have to make an own big tournament for Dominion. Just a small tournament at the LCS without a big price pool. By watching how the pros master Dominion the players could be motivated to play it.

6.) Streamer: Motivate streamer to play Dominion. Fun matches on Crystal Scar with the community.

7.) Competition: Make video competition with prices.

8.) Ranked games: When the player base is big enough, ranked games could motivate players even more for the mode.

9.) More fun modes: Official fun modes for Dominion like “hide and seek” could motivate players to play Dominion when the Featured Game Mode disappears.

10.) Small optimization: Remove farming completely, no gold for minions. No XP from minions, so all keep the same level.

11.) Spectator mode: Spectator mode support for Dominon in client.

4 Comments

OurLestrade2/13/2016, 12:26:25 AM6 votes

I've said time and time again, all they needed to do was do one or two LCS things on it just to shake it up and that would've gotten people flocking back to it.

Minarde2/13/2016, 4:25:14 AM2 votes

So the key problem in my eyes is that most players lose their interest before they see how much potential Dominion has. People are not ready to effort more time to get into it. Most of my friends do not like Dominion, but they never really take the time to get into it even when I try to play some games with them. The different between Dominion and the other maps is that this mode is completely different, on a positive way. The other maps and also all “Featured Game Modes” need less time to get into it then Dominion.

It was a little interesting to see the League community's response to Ascension. Aside from issues with the Perfect icon, the general consensus seemed fairly positive. In contrast, the general consensus of Dominion is relatively negative. Considering that Ascension was a simplified version of Dominion, it makes me wonder whether people simply weren't giving Dominion enough time.

Rabandos2/14/2016, 9:28:37 PM1 votes

8.) Ranked games: When the player base is big enough, ranked games could motivate players even more for the mode.

I think Dominion doesn't fit for Solo Ranked. However, Dominion Team Ranked will be good. TT and Dominion have similar playstyle. Dominion needed Solo Normal + Team Ranked Queue too.