Fun to Play As AND Against

I'm really starting to notice a trend in a lot of champions. I've been noticing a lot of the more recently updated champions are simply not at all enjoyable to play against. I literally feel like I'm not having fun in a game because of the presence of that champion. Of course I'm ready for all the "hurr durr, mad cuz bad git gud skrub" comments, but I want some honest answers if people really think to themselves "Yeah! I love playing against that champion because when they beat me I know it was because I made an honest mistake and the player had to apply their own skill to make that happen," when playing against some of these. Just a side note, my main roles are Support, Marksman (I hesitate to call it a carry unless its Jinx or Tristana), and Mid.

Tristana: Strong early game. Strongest late game. No dip in between. We start on a mesa and end up on a mountain. I honestly see nothing in her kit that makes for "meaningful, dynamic counterplay". You can't duel her because of Q and E. You won't catch her unless you either have a godlike Thresh or her W key catches on fire suddenly. Then of course, because her kit doesn't have enough, how about an AoE knockback in the mix? With all of her cooldown reductions from autoing (which her passive allows her to do more safely than any other AD), and her complete and absolute safety, AND her ability to push towers on top of it, what in her kit is fun to play against? Why pick any other AD carry over her? (Thank heaven for the 5.22 changes though).

Yasuo: I used to be on the fence about him. He used to take a really skilled person to work wonders with...but now...I would hesitate to say that. I played with him a bit to see if everyone suddenly was a pro at Yasuo or if it really just had gotten too easy. It definitely was too easy. I didn't feel like I was thinking about my skill usage. I just threw them out with a little bit of common sense and got kills and looked just like everyone else. I honestly can no longer tell the difference between a skilled Yasuo and just another Yasuo, because he seems to have too much room for error now.

Darius: I don't think anyone needs further elaboration on this. Build health and a bit of damage. Do tons of damage. Free healing cuz that fits in thematically with someone who is all about strength and killing. Fun fact, Darius' Noxian Might was initially going to be 40-80 damage on the PBE (if I heard this correctly). People thought it was a bit overpowered. Riot agreed. So they made it 40-200. Let's kick it into MAXIMUM OVERDRIVE!

Irelia: Are you losing? You lose. Are you winning? Now you're un-winning. Health, damage, CC, sustain, tenacity (I like the concept thematically, I don't like how it feels overbearing when you want to CC her from killing your carry and she gets CC'ed for a whopping 0.5 seconds then proceeds to get her kill and strut back out with full HP from her R and W.

Now I know what all the replies are going to be. "Well look at the win rates. Look at their ban rates." This isn't about wins and losses. This is about enjoyment and fun. When you play games, you want to feel like you have some sense of agency. A reason to do something over another thing. Multiple ways to approach a situation. So when people post pictures of one champion (stop right there, whoever was going to post a picture of or for beating Yasuo.) That isn't choice. That isn't agency. That is the irony that is called "The only option". An option implies a choice, and if you can only choose Talon to beat it at one phase of the game, that's not much choice at all. Well designed champions like and or and I'd even argue give you some in-game mechanical choices that any champion can use (albeit some more than others) on how to deal with them. Dodge their abilities that travel at reasonable speeds. Play around their decently long cooldowns that don't get reset or reduced (3 seconds for hitting Thresh's hook is hardly a reduction for a 20 second cooldown). It gives the other players options. Choices that they can make in a split second to outplay these champs. When I get Thresh hooked, I say "Darn it, he's good, he led that really well," not "Oh look, he clicked on me again." When Lux shreds a team with her combo I think "Wow she aimed all of those really well and stayed positioned the whole time doing it, impressive." not "Oh cool, the whole team is dead because they hit buttons in random succession with no positioning or timing whatsoever. And again, I know I'll have the posts "Do you want every champion to be the same? Do you want every champion to be perfectly balanced to a 50/50 win loss?" Again, no. I know all about the perfect imbalance theory and whatnot. However, there's a fine line between perfect imbalance and things that when I see their icon in champion select I groan and get ready for a stressful, aggravating, non-enjoyable experience, completely opposite of why we play games in the first place.

TL:DR- Some champ designs make for a frustrating game experience. Stick more to thematic elements of champions (something about a huge cannon firing super fast doesn't seem thematic at all). 50/50 win rate isn't what I want to see, did the winning and the losing team enjoy the experience of playing as, with, and against that champion.

Share the thoughts, share away.