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Is the game really in a good balance state right now?

Catastrophic·11/16/2018, 3:29:19 AM·33 votes·11,958 views

I honestly feel like league is turning into a "everyone is broken so no one is broken" type of situation but what puzzles me is that I see no complaints about some of the champions I deem broken, so help me out here, tell me why these champions are healthy and balanced, maybe throw in some tips to fighting them.

These 2 fuckers. I just don't understand why someone building full tank should outdamage me when I'm going full damage. They bully me in lane, and even if I manage to be even in cs they get incredibly huge come late game, they beat me in the 1v1, and yet their team fight is much better. I feel so helpless playing against one of these things, I really want to kms just seeing them in the loading screen, cause I know I have to be at the top of my game just to not get shit on, and yet the reward is nothing.

I've played so many games where kayn gets absolutely destroyed early on, and as soon as he gets his red/blue form he's 12-6, his blue form one shots so effortlessly, while his red form is more of a duelist type character. Idk, I just feel there really is no shutting him down, that whatever I do, this guy will get fed.

Now this one I'm sure you're all familiar with, she's 0-3 in lane, 1 skirmish later she's 3-3, then gets gunblade and turns into 23-3. Much like Kayn it really feels like there is no situation where she can't comeback. And in lane, if I'm an immobile champion I really can't do anything, it's very difficult to punish her because of her dashes.

Gangplank's lane phase has changed from a dance of back and forth trades, mana management, wave control, and really close calls, to QQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQ Honestly is anyone happy with Gangplank's current state? I mean the mains used to spam Q even before grasp/klepto happened, but now it's ALL you have to do to win/survive lane, it feels so boring playing him right now. Winning lane feels cheap, losing lane feels like shit. And his late game doesn't even have the satisfaction it used to have, because now the build is all wonky. What with having to build PD to get the most out of stormrazor, and IE being horrible on him now, along with the latest sterak's nerf making it a sub-par item, but the best choice nonetheless.

Am I going insane? or is the game?

/rant

41 Comments

Anatera11/16/2018, 8:34:04 AM18 votes

No, the game isn't balanced right now and hasn't been since the last preseason. I won't argue the OPness of the characters you mentioned, but that's only because there's really no point in pointing out a handful of characters, since the current pool of viable champions has been narrowed down to about 1/5 -1/4 of the entire roster anyway. Riot is making an extremely piss poor attempt this season at controlling the meta (not that they haven't in the past, but this is the most pointlessly aggressive they've been about it), which is why you're seeing them ignore certain characters that are blatantly OP, while nerfing ones that are so obviously UP.

Riot genuinely believes they can control their company's revenue by controlling the meta (conveniently ignoring the fact that the meta is something that's flowing and everchanging, aka impossible to control), because the meta can also dictate people's spending habits, as well as the pro scene. All this is happening at the expense of the game's health. They don't care about that though. They've literally become like EA and Activision, more concerned with quarterly revenue and the happiness of their investors, as opposed to the players (You know, the people who brought them success in the first place). How do I know? Because they spent almost half a year completely ignoring all the people who brought up concerns about this exact issue, all while making changes that run contrary to the concept of balance.

JeaneGreene11/16/2018, 8:46:43 AM17 votes

The issue is that riot believes that damage = excitement, which in general leads to people playing safer, so they buff damage again etc.

Dukues11/16/2018, 5:50:55 PM6 votes

I want to say I got used to season 8 but honestly I never did. I been playing a lot more since worlds but I don't think I actually really enjoy the game lol. I pretty much just bitch the whole time I am playing (to myself and if in discord :( ). I don't want to but.... it's so frustrating seeing a 0-4 Kayn get red/blue form buy item 3147 and then destroy me with ult and like 1 ability as a say 4-1 adc.... Just feels so fucking dumb. They have really dumbed this game down a lot I feel.

woodvsmurph11/16/2018, 6:38:33 PM6 votes

The game used to be a back and forth dance... often with more skilled players backing out and conceding a fight without dying when possible because they could tell from the initial trade... oh, this guy is stronger than me or... their team focused a priority target down better. But you could also win a 4v5 if your adc got blown up at the start depending on how much the other team had invested in accomplishing that.

Now the game is largely everyone dies in 2.5 sec or less. If you lose your adc, you probably have 0 chance of winning the fight - which puts far too much importance on one role especially for solo queue rng and wondering if yours will be acceptable skill level. And it's either you 1-shot your opponent, or they kill you; no back and forth with outplay potential. It's like if every boxing match were a first round k.o. And if one guy fails to k.o. on the first punch he lands, the other guy gets guaranteed victory once he lands his punch. I want a match. I want ROUNDS. Not a single round k.o. every fight.

Bonipherus11/16/2018, 3:52:48 PM5 votes

ranged mages everywhere in top lane. sign of melee champs being shit except for those with the ridiculous kits/numbers to survive Aatrox Irelia

Vekkna11/16/2018, 4:11:42 PM5 votes

Sion Agreed. I'm legit sick to fucking death of this kind of thing. It takes Sion longer than the .5 seconds it takes an AD assassin to kill you, but you probably only have the same .5 seconds where you can actually do anything with your character. And people are like "this is fine." Totally do not get it.

Kayn Katarina These are ones that aren't fun to play against, but I just remind myself that I'm more likely to win the game if the enemy picks them. They're super obnoxious and demoralizing, but I get off tilt by remembering the odds are in my favor. I do have to say that it's very hard to not tilt against an assassin Kayn when his kill combo is the mechanical equivalent of CSing with Annie.

Garen This is similar to the assassin Kayn issue. It never feels like Garen wins any fight legitimately. He can lose trades and win them retroactively with his passive. He gets shitloads of free stats in his kit. It's generally obnoxious having to play around his Q and ult so carefully while knowing that he has perhaps the lowest-effort mechanics in the game.

Jax JarvanIV Irelia Renekton Warwick Udyr Basically deal assassin-level damage while killing you 100-0 in a hard cc while still being extremely difficult to kill.

Shaco Literally the most enraging thing in this game. Invisibility has absolutely no counter when there's a blink attached to it.

Twitch Detection radius on his pointlessly small, and it's completely asinine that he can use Q as a disengage without damage interrupting the fade or knocking him out of camo.

Arìes Wínd11/16/2018, 4:44:50 PM4 votes

No everything is broken because runes are broken and its fcking tiring too much dmg without counterplay.

Breezy Boyy11/16/2018, 3:48:18 PM4 votes

Personally, I'v always thought that Blitzcrank was incredibly broken, and he still is to this day in my opinion, but that's a whole other story.

About the state of the game, yes, it's pretty shitty. When Riot tries to balance the game, they either 1), destroy whatever class was currently broken by overnerfing them, and then a new class jumps up to being broken, or 2), completely ignore an issue until they finally give in and nerf it, but give the champion compensation buffs, which in turn cancels out the nerf, making it pointless.

It doesn't help that Riot is constantly pushing for damage because they think it makes games more fun and exciting to watch, which I feel, with the start of this upcoming preseason, they're finally starting to let go of.

Ameliea11/16/2018, 7:48:29 PM2 votes

If you say the game is balanced horrible right now, I feel sorry for you, because then it was and will be always horrible.

I voted for Good (sidenote: perfect vote is redundant, an asymmetric game can never be balanced perfectly)

Right now is a pretty good meta, despite the general consens on this forum Nearly the whole roster is viable in at least one position. Bot lane has finally found some diversity. Top lane can actually carry as does any other lane. Only adcs are kinda in a bad spot but still have strong champions that can impact the game. Some champs are op but if you think thats ever gonna change you dont understand game balance. Game length is on the short side but still healthy at just under 30 mins. Damage is high, but that is a neutral thing. Some like it some dont All in all excited for season 9

Lil Homie busta11/16/2018, 10:28:29 PM1 votes

Game's balance is average right now.

The true problem is the game's direction. Every patch it becomes more about action and less about strategy.

Riot has been trying to change league into something they believe is better, but in their quest, they have lost what made league a good game.

Ęsdeath11/16/2018, 10:36:33 PM1 votes

I will quote: " Katarina Now this one I'm sure you're all familiar with, she's 0-3 in lane, 1 skirmish later she's 3-3, then gets gunblade and turns into 23-3. Much like Kayn it really feels like there is no situation where she can't comeback. And in lane, if I'm an immobile champion I really can't do anything, it's very difficult to punish her because of her dashes."

Must be a joke right? She's useless as fuck, even scarra says so.

Along with kayn ... what are you even on about?

hi ìm groot11/16/2018, 11:48:39 PM1 votes

Season 8 perfectly balanced... I love that I can have a garen flash on me and Q, and no matter what champ I'm playing I will die from his E - ult before the silence fades. While the champ is simultaneously unkillable. Gud game.

But this is just an example, I don't even feel bans had a value this season because like you said... there's just so much shit that's broken, that if its not one thing then it will just be another.

Aotae11/17/2018, 3:07:23 AM1 votes

I've honestly hated the meta since stormrazor came out the changes to crit just broke the game for me

KOGMIDONLY11/17/2018, 5:46:09 AM1 votes

Games just gone stale and boring cus every champ isn’t rewarding to play when ahead Cus it’s all rather balanced whereas old seasons everything was broken which made the game fun. Now not so much

Śhunpo11/17/2018, 9:53:57 AM1 votes

"Now this one I'm sure you're all familiar with, she's 0-3 in lane, 1 skirmish later she's 3-3, then gets gunblade and turns into 23-3. Much like Kayn it really feels like there is no situation where she can't comeback. And in lane, if I'm an immobile champion I really can't do anything, it's very difficult to punish her because of her dashes."

Yep, that's why I'm personally in favour of reverting her, or at the very least removing Gunblade and balancing her accordingly. She's far too problematic in her current state, while also being subpar in terms of balance (she's not awful, but she's not "good" either) and incredibly anti-fun for the person playing Kat, since you're essentially not playing against your opponents, you're playing against your own kit with its delays.

Obviously reverting her would be sketchy, and I imagine a vast majority of players agree that this Kat is more healthy (despite hating her more) so in that case I say remove Gunblade. It's a stupid item in general, and it's only really bought on Kat and Akali. That item should be locked away just for Nexus Blitz and Odyssey (if it ever comes back). With Gunblade gone this Kat would be far more balanced, more likely to see positive changes and her build diversity would skyrocket, since currently Gunblade trumps every other first item option.

As for her dashes/blinks, that's where I personally say revert her. Before her rework immobile champions could more than easily deal with her unless she went on fire and became hyper-fed. Nowadays immobile champions just sigh in disgust as she blinks 3 times in one combo and as they exclaim "Wow, she really didn't die there....", which is understandable, multiple dashes in one kit is really quite gross.

I am sorry if I'm yet again discussing Kat, but as you can see by my name I have less than stellar opinions regarding this Katarina and you did bring her up so I thought I'd just state what should happen to Kat to fix this issue.

(Just for the record I agree with everything you've said about her if you couldn't tell already)

MLDzXnRRR11/16/2018, 9:07:02 AM1 votes

GP can't spam Q, it only looks like he does it - you get oom very fast. The thing is that you can't do much - if you manfight as GP, you will lose any trade, maybe die, if the enemy has ignite. The E barrel does no dmg early and people are scared for some reasons by it. It's useful only for mindgaming people that don't play GP. It can be problematic gameplay, if the enemy is squishy - like Fiora, Irelia, Camille, Riven (that doesn't shield properly), Wu, Trynda are the only characters that can lose lane early to poke, but they all-in GP later and completely destroy him. Anyway, playing vs GP is more fun than playing vs Akali, Yasuo, Nasus (uninteractive), Jayce/Syndra/Heimer/insert any lane bully etc.

BlackEyesBlue11/16/2018, 5:40:21 PM1 votes

Short answer is : no.

Longer answer is just no with more then I'm prepared to type right now. Worst problem right now is bonkers early game damage that has created this horrid snowball environment.

Toeknee9911/16/2018, 7:53:27 PM1 votes

I agree. I find myself looking at bans often and thinking "10 bans aren't enough". Everything in this game is broken and Riot is too afraid to do anything about it because the game is "exciting". I don't find Akali, Irelia, Sion, Aatrox, Urgot, Kai'sa, etc. to be very exciting. I wish they nerfed champs into the ground like they used to in the past. When's the last time they "olaf'd" someone?

Eleshakai11/16/2018, 7:54:31 PM1 votes

It's better than a lot of people think, but it's still not great.

Handy Sandy 11/16/2018, 9:08:25 PM1 votes

I just came back from a few months break, so this is my perspective.

Before, Udyr Varus Xayah Khazix etc were strong, so comparing that to now everything's pretty good because that was pretty cancerous.

Zoe is in the gutter so that's pretty nice.

Irelia Aatrox Akali Kaisa Leblanc The amount of FOTM champions seem less, and it's just one ADC this time instead of 2-3 so I think that's why it seems nicer for me. Also, they aren't junglers, which reduces the impact they have on the game.

Just sad that Taliyah is now a jungler, like what even happened?

no to toxic11/16/2018, 9:57:55 PM1 votes

Like other people said Riot is just making the meta themselves now. They pushed the game in a way where players can not affect it any longer. Back then if Katarina was OP you could find a champ wich could shut her down or disrrupt her enough. Now you can´t do that since the damage is so high that you can´t do anything. Atleast in Dota 2 it´s a 2 way street. You pick X and my Y ruins your day and doesn´t allow you to play the game, but someone could pick Z and do the same thing to my Y. League it is I pick Y and since I got a small lead your X lost and the guy who picked Z also can´t do anything against me. At the same time Riot is selling skins for Y and refuses to throw any nerfs at them.

sliceruser11/16/2018, 10:15:00 PM1 votes

This entire season has been a to much damage f***fest that rito admits is bad but didnt want to fix because it makes for flashy pro play. It seemed as if the preseason they would finally rectify this but seeing recent tank cjampions directly losing tankiness and cc for more damage. I dont know. Starting to ruin my faith in riot

imfoolish11/16/2018, 10:27:15 PM1 votes

Assassins too op tanks too op magea too op busier too op tunes r too op. Everything is too op. Ppl got no life but complain. Just ignore them