In all fairness to Quinn, top lane is one of the most oppressive and annoying lanes. Jax dodges, Riven shields (and stuns), Gnar kites, Nasus farms (and super slows), Darius bleeds, the list goes on. Most all of them have heavy CC too. Quinn's just happened to be a blind.
Like you said I didn't play Quinn top, I played Quinn ADC (although I tried top and it's pretty good). I don't doubt that the blind was useful top (the designers had explicitly promoted Quinn and Valor as a top champ because of it!), but blind is also useful against ADCs.
Now, Quinn has nothing against a Vayne and nothing against a Caitlyn and nothing against a Jinx, etc.
An ADC is an Attack-Damage-Carry. We all know this. But as someone who played Quinn ADC, I can recall one of my favorite games ever. It lasted some 50 minutes and I ended up losing from being ahead, but it emphasizes the role of the ADC. The ADC wins the game. If you get to the 50 minute mark, chances are the game is no longer 5v5 but maybe 2v2 and more likely 1v1. I was just more rigid than the Lucian against me, who stacked IEs and ended up one shotting my team.
Quinn kind of needed a rework, sure. She was kind of suicidy (although that was very fun!) But to make her a roamer with minimal CC and only two damaging skills (that pretty much do the same thing) is very bleh.
When I hit the 50 minute mark, and Vayne is fed or Caitlyn is fed or Graves is fed. What will make my team secure a victory? What can I do 1v1 against a Lucian? Live Quinn can do a lot. We lost by a hair. PBE Quinn doesn't compare.
Btw, here is the link to the original design thread: https://www.reddit.com/r/leagueoflegends/comments/18ys5s/quinn_and_valor_ama/
A different time when Riot cared more. And note where RiotVolty says:
**
"This was very interesting to develop. We started with a blind from the very beginning, so we were able to account for it on the kit.
The blind is short and can be dodged. Minion blocking is also a factor, yes. Its very potent if you use it at just the right moment."**
And later MorelloRiot says:
**
"She's a more powerful duelist, but a weaker team AD Carry. This allows us to make her have incomparable elements so she doesn't get into a power "arms race" with other AD Carries. When you pick Quinn, strategically that should mean something to your specific strengths - like how picking Kog'Maw means different things for how your team will function.
Additionally, Quinn has a realistic top lane game as a strong duelist, which can give her some flexibility."**
And here's MorelloRiot again:
**"One tool we have for champion creation is the "Champion Ideation Board." This is a place where ideas are started and teams can pick them up to work on them.
Quinn started as a loose concept simply called "Falconer." We knew we wanted to find a champion that played up the teamwork aspect that only could exist with a relationship like this, and it also let us do a ranger-style character without needing to be a full-out pet champion.
With this, we tried to make sure it delivered on everything important to that - it's why Valor is part of every skill, so they fight together. It's not master/servant like a lot of rangers, it's more like an Elite K-9 unit, where they're partners working together.
There's lots of champions on this board - and some die there if the concept looks cool but doesn't work out. Many of the champions you see come from this place at somepoint in their development."**
You can read for yourself, how in essence the design was Valor and Blind and now its Mobility and Passive.
Sure, she doesn't need Blind, per se, but from a MOBA standpoint, she's not a well-rounded champ now, and from an ADC standpoint, considering the field, she's not a great champion. At best she's a mobile burst champion; but if you look at her passive and you look at Lucian's . . . 150% damage at 3 procs compared to 160% damage and 4 additional on-hits at 4 procs, is a no brainer. Nevermind that Lucian also has relatively larger damage ratios and a dash. And that's just Lucian.
