The Day I Got Bored of League

I've been playing League for a long time now. Several years I think? Whenever Spirit Guard Udyr got his skin, because I remember that was log in picture. But I digress. I have seen many featured game modes, many different champion releases, and been through several major overhauls to both items and maps. I'm no pro, as someone never able to get out of bronze. I never really tried, I preferred the people in Team Builder more, as ranked felt to toxic to me. But I played. Probably thousands of hours, and who knows how much money on skins. And there was one reason that always kept me coming back.

It was fun. Really fun.

There were different ways to make builds, I loved playing with my friends. I loved keeping up with Riot and seeing what they were coming up with next. I loved learning a new champion, or overcoming a challenge. My friend and I hated Co-op vs AI Intermediate when we started, because we thought it was "too op". Now we don't play computers unless we are very bored. I mean really bored. I loved the challenges, the champions, and many times, even the people. Some of my favorite games were ones that went on as long as an hour, with both teams /all chatting funny stuff, regardless of who lost or won. So you may be wondering why I posted the title as such. Allow me to explain....

This past year, I have gotten bored of League of Legends.

It all came over a long period of time. Slowly, it started as a small issue, and up to now has terminated to a point I never saw coming. Allow me to explain my two biggest complaints.

1. The Newest Champions 2014 saw a lot of champions released. A lot more than I saw in season 3. Perhaps that's just because of when I began playing. Some of these champions I loved. Lucian, although a champion I could never seem to grasp, seemed cool. Jinx is still one of my favorites. Vel'Koz was a nice addition. And then there were more... Yasuo brought with him a whirlwind of issues I hate to this day. A champion built from the ground up around the one thing you can't defend against: mobility. Gnar has all the mobility in the world, until he becomes a nearly unbeatable enemy... to which he can easily escape upon returning to normal. Rek'sai can burrow all over the place using tunnels that last a long time unless you stand on them, and has very low cool downs on a lot of her abilities. Kalista can hop all over the place, just by auto attacking. Azir can use untargetable minions that attack and he can swap with. And all this leads to my issue with champions. It's not really that they're inherently "op", as I'm sure some of my gripes are related to my skill level and teamwork issues. But the counterplay for them isn't fun. And while champions like Le Blanc and Warwick got nerfed due to counterplay, these champions continued to not only exist, but be duplicated. Mobility became the new name of the game.

2. Riot and How They Do Business One of the many reasons I stayed so long is because of Riot. I loved getting the news on what they are doing and why. Their ideas, their newest champions. But the newest Riot.... they're quiet. The boards almost never hear from them. None of the "Hot" posts even have Riot responses. I remember ton of complaints about the new boards, and it was a long time until riot finally posted in the thread. Their patch launcher had links to news I would always click on. Now they have a new launcher, and I have to go to their website directly to get all the news. They used to give sneak peeks into new champions. Now they just get released. All I seem to see are issues with servers, lack of responses, and balancing issues. Again, I remember seeing tons of boards on Sona and her rework, as well as Cassiopa's rework. And yet they not only didn't get responses for a long time, but Riot didn't "fix" Cassiopa until many patches later. I understand it's a business. It's why I've bought so many skins. But lately their business model seems to be a lot of "saving face" and getting that bottom dollar. And of all the things I've listed, I won't even touch on their server issues, and complete lack of communication. Cause I have learned it is my firewall's fault, but will be fixed in a few weeks (this issue happened many times this year).

I have other issues, some of which are personal issues with where this game is going, and others are issues felt around the community. But with that being said, if you have happened to read this far, I'm sure you too have had a few issues. Just remember that Riot IS a business first. But to continue to thrive they should do well to listen. Not in some "revolution" style way. No need to get the pitchforks. I just feel like there may soon be more people like me. I enjoy League. Perhaps I'll come back. I'm certainly not deleting the game or anything, and it is still free. Until that day, I'm going to go try out some other MOBAs. I've heard good things of some of them, but will still keep my eye on how League will continue to evolve.