Boards›Gameplay

Please fix ARAM.

Hollow Miracles·9/8/2016, 3:44:10 AM·3 votes·623 views

tl;dr Unlock entire champion pool and punish dodges.

When every game pits you against an enemy team comp that feels just a little too perfect, you know there's a problem. They'll end up with just the right amount of poke, cc for peeling or locking you down, DPS, AND burst. I'm not saying that these "ARAM accounts" are the only thing causing problems but they represent something that shouldn't have ever been allowed in the first place:

A way to cheat the system.

Seeing a champion once or twice in a day is bound to happen, especially when you play a lot of ARAM (which I do). However, when this begins to happen every day you start to think, "Man, I sure do see a lot of [Insert Champion Here]. How is that possible given that this is a random gamemode?" Of course, there is the astronomically small chance that this could happen in a random mode, but I'm not the only one who experiences this "phenomenon".

The two biggest things that need to be done (in my opinion, of course) are this: 1.) Unlock the entire champion pool

  • Yeah we've seen this one a million times, but that's only because it would make things easier. No more ARAM accounts, and the gamemode would be true to its name for once. There's only once legitimate concern I've ever heard over this potential change, and that is that doing so would make hextech chests much harder, if not impossible, to obtain on ARAM. While I understand that telling people "Go play normals if you want a decent chance at chests." might sound stupid/controlling, it only makes sense. ARAM should NOT be a place you go to when you want to master a champion. The most one could learn about how to play a champ in ARAM is basic mechanics, and that's being generous. Tell the player straight up, "It is highly unlikely you will earn chests in this gamemode. If that's okay with you, then have at it. If you want to earn rewards, playing normal games is your best bet." ARAM has never been about being rewarded with loot to my knowledge, and that shouldn't become the standard now or ever. It's a gamemode to play a random champion. If you can't accept the negatives that come with that fact then don't play the mode.

2.) Punish dodges more harshly -Bet you didn't see this one coming eh? That was sarcasm, in case you couldn't tell. I'd say that, on average, I sit through four or five lobbies before I get into a game of ARAM. Sometimes it's only one, other times it can be seven or more. This is not acceptable. You are teaching people that dodging a game is not only something they can get away with, it's something that is acceptable or even admired. Riot implemented the re-roll system specifically to allow you to get rid of a champion you don't want to play. You can also trade it to someone else. But if you rr twice and still get something bad, or nobody will trade with you, you face the reality of playing a random gamemode and get over it. Interrupting the gaming of nine other people just because you were unhappy is selfish and obnoxious. And for those of you saying/thinking, "Well it's just a thirty second wait to get into another lobby!", that isn't the point. The point is that they are abusing the lack of punishment for their actions, something any sensible game developer would not allow. That said, I'm not a game developer so it's up to Riot to come up with a sensible solution for this. I would suggest an exponentially-increasing ban after the second dodge (because sometimes people have legitimate reasons, like emergencies). First an hour, then a day, then a week, etc.

Sorry for the wall of text guys, but I really want this mode to see some love. I'd like to believe that Riot wants a good experience for all of its player base, even the ones who play the less popular modes/maps. I'd love to hear some suggestions if you have any, or even hear why my opinions are a load of bs if you can be respectful about it. Remember, we're looking for intelligent and constructive discussions, not mindless bickering and insults.

10 Comments

BananaSlayerAMO9/8/2016, 4:18:00 AM3 votes

I don't mean to turn this into a b*tch fest, but there are numerous things that I don't agree with in your post:

ARAM is definitely random. The reason why you're seeing a number of champions more often than others is because more people own them. That's why you don't see a lot of Urgot or Yorick in ARAM. Also, almost nobody cheats in ARAM... I've played enough to know that team comps are truly random, although worse ones are sometimes avoided because of rerolls. It's highly uncommon for people to party together with 'role specific accounts'. Even so, I don't believe that the outcome of a game is decided in champ select; if played correctly, most team comps can end up looking 'good'.

Unlocking the entire champion pool would make it difficult for some players to start playing ARAM, and it gets worse the newer they are to the game. With a small champ pool, low level players will be faced with an unfamiliar character so often that they wouldn't actually be able to learn. They are already at the mercy of a free champ rotation that could force them to learn a completely new champ through a PvP game.

The ban on queue dodgers already increases exponentially, progressing from 5 mins, to 15 mins, an hour, and days. It does seem like an appropriate punishment since the amount of time that they cost others (0.5 mins x 9 = 4.5 mins) is quite small in proportion to the time that they get punished for. However, if dodging really occurs as often as you say, then the penalty may be something that Riot should revise.

Minarde9/8/2016, 5:18:59 AM2 votes

No more ARAM accounts, and the gamemode would be true to its name for once.

Pet peeve, but the name of the game mode has no relevance to this argument. "All (players) Random, All (players) Mid" is already an accurate name.

There's only once legitimate concern I've ever heard over this potential change, and that is that doing so would make hextech chests much harder, if not impossible, to obtain on ARAM.

Increased barrier of entry is an issue, as a wider champ pool requires beginners to be familiar with more champs. There's also the issue of people who are only interested in playing the specific champs they own, especially for reasons other than abusing champ power disparity. Furthermore, enabling all champs would make IP (and to a lesser extent, RP) essentially worthless for ARAM players.

ARAM should NOT be a place you go to when you want to master a champion. The most one could learn about how to play a champ in ARAM is basic mechanics, and that's being generous.

What? Mechanics are a major part of learning a champ, and ARAM is arguably even better for mechanics practice than SR. High Champ Mastery should be available on at least every permanent game mode, rather than being arbitrarily restricted to SR.

If you want to earn rewards, playing normal games is your best bet." ARAM has never been about being rewarded with loot to my knowledge, and that shouldn't become the standard now or ever.

Tricky issue here, since the lack of rewards and incentives is a significant reason why Alternate Maps are as (comparatively) unpopular as they are.