A Message to the Boards. A Bigger Issue than 10 Bans.

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#Warning. The following Thread is quite long and contains harsh words, little to do with the 10 bans issue, and few punches pulled for either side. Viewer Discretion is Advised.

######After a lot of thought, I decided this post would fit best here in gameplay. A lot of the posts I am addressing happen here.

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##The General Message.

Greetings. I've been on the boards and the game in general for over a year now. Started at around Aurelion Sol's Release, at about the Mage Update. I've seen these boards go through a ton of turmoil and peacetime, in ups and downs over the 13 short months. The major events these boards have seen during these times include:

• The Great Memelord War.
• Dynamic Queue.
• The Assassin Update
• Support Smite Singed.
• Support Smite Nunu.
• Yasuo.
• Ahri.
• Lee Sin.
• The Client Update.
• Voice Comms.
• 10 Bans.
• Jhin.
• The Tank Update.

Throughout it all there has always been one thing in common. Always two sides. Either you are with Riot or against them.

Either you think the Talon rework was great, or you think it was trash.

Either you think the game has been improving, or you think it's dying.

Either you think Riot was wrong to ban a player who used a different strategy in playing, or you think they were trolling and deserved the ban.

No matter what your stance is, this post is for you. More specifically, it is for the boards members here that enjoy popularity and are known for making well thought out and quality posts. This post is not for those of you who spend 5 minutes writing something like "YASUO IS OP NERF!1!!111"

Let me make something crystal clear.

Both sides are more than capable of being right and having a point.

How you may ask? Take Riot's latest shtick, this new 10 ban system.

High elo players such as Rubick say that it's a bad idea, in his words, this is why:

let me give you an entire list of worthy bans in high elo

so why did you transform this amazing feature of 10 bans into one of the worst fcking idea ever?

was it too hard to make one team baning 5 champions, and then the other team baning 5 champions?

i'm legit trying to contain myself right now, because in master tier+ you didn't give us 10 bans

you legit gave us 8 bans as will take 4 slots already in 100% of our games

The basic point here is that high elo players are pretty much already at the peak of performance, therefore it is only champs that can decide games. Therefore they want to ban the most powerful champs.

Now take a low elo player like Mira Arya Enthe. In her words it's a good idea, and once again, here's why:

[T]hat is what matters, your team having 5 bans. The enemy bans shouldn't matter to you if they banned it as well they weren't planning on playing anyway so the ban was wasted anyway. There is no cooperative effort between you and the enemies to ban all of a certain group, or else you wouldn't be banning them in the expectation of them being played...

What matters is now everyone gets to say what they didn't want to fight as a team or individual matchup this game. No bans were lost, 2 were gained per team.

This system is also great because to be honest, I don't want the enemy seeing my bans. Heck I almost wish we could do the same with champion selection so League of Counterpick to Win would go away. But that is another topic.

I saw the change and knew for a fact I could check the boards and see 3-4 posts screaming like banshees on the main page strictly because they don't want to use bans for the benefit of their team comp or matchup. They want to vengefully ban out specific champions. And are afraid doing so will waste it.

Good. I personally look forward to seeing people stupidly double banning trash. Meanwhile I will be enjoying my gauranteed opportunity to strategically take out extremely bad matchups.

The purpose of 10 bans is not to ban out all the best picks That would just create a second tier of best picks lol. The purpose is so everyone has a say in banning, if two people want Lulu ban, they still both get their wish.

Her point is that people shouldn't bandwagon ban the OP champs, instead they should care more about banning bad matchups.

Now which is right? The answer is neither and both of them. It depends on where you are and where your priorities are.

If you are a player who hates the meta champs and wants them to fall into a nerf hole and die, then you will side with Rubick, because quite frankly, your enjoyment of the game hinges on these little !@#^ not existing in your game, and this new system will impede your efforts to keep as many meta slaves unhappy as possible while you can play your favorite champs without Lee Sin kicking them out of the game.

If you are a player who is indifferent towards meta champs and would rather ban lesser known champs that you personally cannot stand fighting, then you would side with Mira. In fact it is very likely that this system benefits you because you get to ban the champs you dislike and you can count on your peers banning the meta champs, making sure no bans are wasted.

Newsflash boards, there is absolutely nothing that Riot can do that will make everyone happy Insert delete Yasuo joke here, but you people are determined to demonize the other side while making your side look like the best thing since sliced bread, and I am sick of it.

##Understand this. People who call Riot out on their mistakes are not whiny babies who are never satisfied. People who support Riot are not paid off employees. You people need to stop going at each others throats and forcing the other to bend to your desires.

I have separate messages to people of both sides. Feel free to skip to the section that best pertains to you.

#Message to the People who Support Riot's decisions.

Understand this. Do not call people who would rather inform Riot on their mistakes ungrateful little babies who are never satisfied. They have every bloody right to complain, because they spent their hard earned money on this game; they are just as attached as you are to this game, in fact many of them are more attached emotionally and financially. If the game isn't the way they like, then they are essentially paying for a product they didn't want, it isn't the game they love anymore, and they will let Riot know.

Melledoneus, I will use you as my first example. A passage from your post on the 10 bans issue needs addressing.

Well, that pretty much wraps up my gripes. I know I'll get some flak for this, but whatever. I'm tired of trash like this littering the front boards when half the crap is incorrect or just plain misleading uninformed garbage. Downvote me if you wish, but this needs to stop.

It's fine to address the other side's arguments, but you need to understand that they are just as committed to their side as you are to yours. The high elo players I mentioned before? They will have to deal with this system just like you, and it is utter crap for their needs. It is true that Riot cannot please everyone, but there is absolutely no need to rub their concerns into the dirt, and call them garbage. They have many good points that you cannot argue against. Acting like your way is best is juvenile at best, and pretentious at worst.

Mira, I'm your friend but I will hold little back from this statement on this passage of yours.

I saw the change and knew for a fact I could check the boards and see 3-4 posts screaming like banshees on the main page strictly because they don't want to use bans for the benefit of their team comp or matchup. They want to vengefully ban out specific champions. And are afraid doing so will waste it. Good. I personally look forward to seeing people stupidly double banning trash. Meanwhile I will be enjoying my gauranteed opportunity to strategically take out extremely bad matchups.

You often champion yourself, through actions more than words, for going "against the grain", and for defeating the "great circlejerk that envelopes us all".

This is merely one example of where you very clearly show that you couldn't care less about the other side's arguments, that you portray them as stupid or just foolish. Their views are just as valid as yours, because they care more about meta picks than you do. Not to mention some of your posts manage to show most disagreement with Riot as a circlejerk, thereby your fanbase is primed against them, downvote bombing them while you engage in debates in the comment section in varying length. Your actions where you do not acknowledge the other side contribute as much to the problem on these boards as your attempts to solve it, as you have acknowledged in your Boards Feedback post.

The high elo players like Rubick? Their extremely bad matchups are the meta picks, so your assertion is less than useless to them, so you do not sway them.

This part isn't even just to Mira, Melle, Metal, or anyone in particular, just anyone who seeks to put down people who disagree with Riot. What do you honestly think your efforts will accomplish? Do you think downplaying, strawmanning, or otherwise mercilessly crushing their arguments will make them suddenly see the light and agree with you? NO! If anything you will make them angrier and more against you because you clearly aren't in for their best interest. The high elo players and people who just hate meta picks will not see Riot's point in this system, and your attempts to "convince" them will simply not work because what they want in their game isn't being

#Message to the people who do not support Riot's Decisions.

Understand this. People who agree with Riot are not shills. They are not white knights or butt-kissers. They are not new age kids who don't know the glory days of League. They are people who disagree with your assertions that League is going down the drain. Simple as that. While the general sentiment of the boards shift, while Pro-Riot is popular your views will get downvote bombed and you will be treated like spoiled children. This is wrong and I have addressed this with them already. You have every right to give Rito a little help to show them where they make mistakes because I know at your heart you want Riot to get better. If you didn't care about the game you wouldn't even be here right now. You are in a love-hate relationship right now, and you simply want the game you love back.

However, this does not give you the right to dismiss people's agreement with Riot's decisions out of hand merely because they are not on your side.

xWaters, using your post as an example. Don't worry, I did the same to the other guys.

When a ban from the enemy team is locked in, we should be able to see the champion who was banned immediately. This is ridiculous and will only cause problems. We wanted 10 bans FOR A REASON. We do not want to end up wasting bans because of your crappy system that someone thought would be a good idea.

Guess what? It is a good idea for a lot of people, yours isn't the only opinion that is valid, and there are plenty of people who will benefit from this system. There is no one-size-fits-all system, though Rito tries its best.

Rubick. You now have two tragedies, one of which is this post:

so why did you transform this amazing feature of 10 bans into one of the worst fcking idea ever?

was it too hard to make one team baning 5 champions, and then the other team baning 5 champions?

i'm legit trying to contain myself right now, because in master tier+ you didn't give us 10 bans

you legit gave us 8 bans as will take 4 slots already in 100% of our games.

Master tier isn't the only teir in league. Master+ teir is not going to be the only balance bar for League. We don't all have time to grind up to Master tier just so that we can play every champion to it's fullest. League for the longest time was a casual game first, and we already have E-Sports balanced around high elo at around tournament time. To think that you, your buddies, and their smurfs get to dominate the balance in league alone is beyond pretentious and egotistical.

The more casual players? They couldn't care less about half your list. Ivern is pretty wimpy in low elo because many people don't play him to his fullest, and Kled and Lulu are pretty underutilized down here. They are more divided into people who want to ban counterpicks and who want to ban meta FotM champs. This ban system is just fine for their needs.

For all popular posters who disagree with Rito's decisions, refrain from rankshaming and from calling people who disagree with you idiots or riot fanboys. You are often not as enlightened as you think, and your efforts to "convert" people to your side more often than not backfires, because people do not respond kindly to insults, and will dig their heels in and be even more against you, even if you are right.

The Universal Message.

The purpose of my post is to tell every poster on these boards one simple truth. You are not right all the time, and the other side has completely valid points that you need to consider. More often on the Pro-Riot side, I see people attempting to make Riot's stance akin to a moral high ground, treating people who disagree as always wrong. More often on the Anti-Riot side, I see people attempting to make Riot the devil, and treating people who disagree as stupid sheep or low elo scrubs.

This has to stop. Do you know what you get when you put Anti-Riot and Pro-Riot together? You not only get a cataclysmic explosion as matter and antimatter collide, but you also get perfect equilibrium.

It's the same concept as Yin and Yang.

#If there were nothing but praise for Rito, complacency would rein, and the Rioters that frequent here, like Meddler and Kateychaos, would not be pushed to up their game. Improvement would slow.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/17/Yin_yang.svg/1200px-Yin_yang.svg.png

#If there were nothing but bile and hatred for Rito, Rioters would be pushed away from interacting with the community, leading to more dissatisfaction and salt because Riot isn't listening.

The Ralanars, Melledonusues, Malicious Metals, Mira Arya Enthes, etc. of the boards are great, and we should encourage them in their efforts to show Riot that their efforts are appreciated.

But we also need the Lankpants, the Big Lincolns, the Keevalroys, the Scielas, etc. of the boards. We need them and their willingness to give Riot a good kick in the rear when they need to step it up.

We as a community cannot thrive as a hivemind, and we cannot foster a great environment of conversation and insight when we would sooner attack each other then work together.

Popular posters that read this, when you write posts that showcase your viewpoint, do not be afraid to show the other side in a positive light. Feel free to explain why you are on the side you are on. In this way disagreeing opinions can be treated a little nicer. Instead of pointing our weapons at each other, we should point them outwards, to true evils of the world.

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My opinion on the 10 bans system matters to nobody but myself and those who think like me, and that's just fine. I have no interest on forcing you to see it my way.

For all who I mentioned here, I have no ill will towards any of you, still love ya'll just like before. I am just so angry at how these boards devolve so often, and I want to do what I can to help us get better.

I am all for the Feedback boards, and I am eagerly awaiting reform.

Thank you for reading and enjoy your evening.