Although this is just an HUD change, and third party tools allow for players to view the CDR statistic anyway, the presence of the CDR stat in the base game HUD is information that is normally not available. Players could potentially time abilities more accurately as a result of this.
Do you think this is a beneficial change? Or do you think the lack of knowledge is potentially more interesting?
Deep Terror Nami2 votesYou can count the CDR on their items and use third party site/addon to see if they're get any from masteries like you said. This seems like a quality-of-life change to benefit the less knowledgeable and hardcore players just like the jungle timers did. In other words, yes, beneficial and interesting.
Strident1 votes[{quoted}](name=Valkyrie Witch,realm=NA,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=dq43G1Wc,comment-id=0000,timestamp=2015-06-07T09:54:02.867+0000)
You can count the CDR on their items and use third party site/addon to see if they're get any from masteries like you said. This seems like a quality-of-life change to benefit the less knowledgeable and hardcore players just like the jungle timers did. In other words, yes, beneficial and interesting.
Players can also use scaling CDR runes. With glyphs alone, this amounts to 15% CDR, which is highly impactful. Players can also potentially run more CDR, which can be dangerous early game.
Supposing we ignore third party sites, then this information is completely blind to players. Although it adds clarity to the game, it also removes the surprise factor. This is part of the bigger question of whether we should allow players to make more mistakes.
As an example, Starcraft Brood War was a very hard game because of its inconvenient mechanics, but also created separation between skilled players.
Deep Terror Nami1 votesEven with complete and accurate CDR info, it won't help most players, because you have to know the cooldown of the enemy abilities. The average Karthus main probably doesn't even know what the CD on level 2 Ult is, let alone figure out what it is with 28% CDR without spending time punching it into a calculator.
This info, like jungle timers or SC micro'ing, won't help the vast majority of players.
Strident1 votes[{quoted}](name=Valkyrie Witch,realm=NA,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=dq43G1Wc,comment-id=000000000000,timestamp=2015-06-07T10:06:41.572+0000)
Even with complete and accurate CDR info, it won't help most players, because you have to know the cooldown of the enemy abilities. The average Karthus main probably doesn't even know what the CD on level 2 Ult is, let alone figure out what it is with 28% CDR without spending time punching it into a calculator.
This info, like jungle timers or SC micro'ing, won't help the vast majority of players.
I don't think that the vast majority argument applies freely here. League of Legends does aim to be a game with skill differential, and as such the highest tier of play does play a factor into design choices. For example, I am not sure, but does the pro scene allow for third party tools to be used during official matches? If no, then this change can very well have a significant impact.