@Meddler At this point in time can we consider the possibility of reverting the Shen rework?
Now I say this for a number of reasons, but I won't act like I'm not a biased opinion. I'm not sure exactly how many games I have played on Shen, but I'm sure if the mastery system existed when I started I'd be at far over a million. This post comes out of my concern for balance, and the interest I have for my favorite champ who is the sole reason I came back to playing League on 3 separate occasions. I'll just itemize my points from this point forward.
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"We don’t think he’s completely hit the mark thematically, with the floating sword feeling a bit disconnected from his fantasy. It’s not something we have plans to change - there are other champions that would benefit significantly more from having update time spent on them - but a lesson for when we take on future projects." For that statement to be OK'ed, there must have been plenty of channels to go through and get approved by. If your company isn't very happy with the current rework (As a lot of us mains aren't) why not return it to the workshop for a while to have something you're truly proud of and receive more praise for, like Sion? (At least it appears you're very happy with him.)
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He wasn't by any means unbalanced or unhealthy, previously. Maybe his kit appeared as slightly outdated to some, but you can't honestly tell me a champion like
or 
don't have kits far more outdated and unmanageable. "A good Shen could lock you down and a bad Shen would struggle" as I saw in another recent post on the subject. Isn't that the point of LoL, anyway? -
These are all facts: He wins less, is picked less, and is picked in less roles. You can go to any LoL statistic website and find this. How does that constitute a successful rework? I know as a matter of principle reduced diversity, pick and winrate doesn't constitute as an achievement in your eyes.
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Shen's current kit isn't that bad. It's just not Shen. His current moveset has absolutely nothing to do with his old identity as a sustain tank. His moveset's now generally more focused on him than his teammates. His W could argue that fact, but since the removal of the damage reduction on his taunt you're almost padlocking his 3 abilities together. Ideally, I'd like to see a lore event that creates a split and creates 2 ninja champs out of it (The Nightmare/Siegfried split in Soul Calibur comes to mind) giving Shen's current kit a different ult and restoring the old one. I wouldnt want to see Riot's work on the new Shen go to waste. Riot has a tendency to steer clear of any champion too closely resembling another one, but I think that exact sentiment helped a lot of games. We can have a Ryu and Ken. Every champion doesn't need to have the contrast of Jhin and Aurelion, in my opinion.
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This item's a direct kit issue, in the fact that his taunt no longer has the 50% damage reduction that every other taunt in the game has. That's so thematically confusing, the point of a taunt is to scale with thornmail and force the opponent to hurt themselves. This one plainly doesn't do that.
The next chunk are points in direct relation to me.
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It really sucks to have completely mastered a champion's moveset, just have it taken away from you. One of the main reasons I picked Shen to master to begin with was the fact that he had a lot of subtleties to me maximized upon, and he was a champ who was considered viable at even top tier levels of play.
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Realistically speaking, there were champions that needed a rework so much more than him. It seemed like a weird allocation of resources.
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He's been the reason I've returned to the League community at least 3 times. I had so much fun playing him that I quit this game a number of times just to come back and play him alone more. It's unfortunate to say, but without him if I quit again this time I don't see that one thing here to draw me back anymore.
I really don't mean this post in a malicious way. It's just truly a shame that the same year my favorite champion started seeing a handful of worlds play he had to disappear, and nothing against any hyperfans of the new one but I really don't see this Shen or this kit ever seeing worlds play again. I'd love to hear some Rioter feedback on this, and thanks for reading. Hope you all have some great matches today. [slayer-jinx-catface]
TL:DR- Mixed feelings of their own rework at Riot games. Old kit wasn't unhealthy. Currently has a lower winrate, pick rate, and role diversity. Current kit doesn't reflect old champion well. Confusing taunt statistics. Alienated mains on a high skillcap champion. Other champions needed a rework way more. He was longstanding as the reason I played.
