Why is URF almost never a rotating gamemode

bberk·Dec 5, 2016·40 votes·4,618 views

I'm just curious. From what I understand, URF is undoubtedly one of, if not, the most liked game modes that appear in the rotation. Why then, does it appear the second least of all game modes (Nemesis Draft is the least). I miss the game mode dearly, and I am just curious why it is so rare, when the two most common game modes suck in my opinion. I understand opinion means that not everyone shares that sentiment with me, but I would wager a lot of many that URF is liked more than Ascension is.

52 Comments

Nameless VoiceDec 5, 201614 votes

I've never actually understood why anyone wants to play URF.

In theory it's interesting, but in practice everyone just picks the champions that everyone already hates to play against, and plays them in the game mode where they are even more obnoxious.

The first few games when it was first released were fun, before people had worked out what the most toxic champions were. After that, it was never even remotely playable.

MarshbouyDec 6, 20165 votes

Meanwhile on youtube "OMG super OP URG champion MUST PLAY"

GrReaper96Dec 6, 20163 votes

ARURF

Zane ZephyrDec 6, 20161 votes

Let me tell you how much fun the first time I played against wukong in urf...

LovelleDec 6, 20162 votes

[{quoted}](name=Nameless Voice,realm=EUW,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=j20kR2aI,comment-id=0002,timestamp=2016-12-05T21:45:30.359+0000)

I've never actually understood why anyone wants to play URF.

In theory it's interesting, but in practice everyone just picks the champions that everyone already hates to play against, and plays them in the game mode where they are even more obnoxious.

The first few games when it was first released were fun, before people had worked out what the most toxic champions were. After that, it was never even remotely playable.

I once queued up for URF and immediately had people trying to tell me who I could and couldn't play. I dodged and never tried it again.

At least with game modes like Ascension and Dominion, you can play whatever you want and no one cares (unless it's Shaco or Teemo, they're pretty much permabanned).

Glory ln DeathDec 6, 20161 votes

It's fun because everyone plays the "OP" champions, and there are tons of ways to destroy them with the actual OP champions.

HawkefireDec 6, 20163 votes

I disagree, sure there are some people that do that, but most certainly not everyone. There are plenty of people that just screw around in the mode (which is what I feel the mode is for), and frankly there were barely anyone that would say "oh you MUST pick this guy" or stuff like that, at least when I was playing it. Generally the only sort of thing that I saw that was along those lines, was people saying "please for the love of god ban X champ because holy hell he is extremely annoying."

Outside of that? No, I didn't see much of it at all. When people actually get in game and someone on either team gets grossly fed or something along those lines, sure there will be complaining (which is completely fuckin normal for every game mode), but given the extremely short que times and the sheerly massive amount of people that play it, I must say that it doesn't make much sense that they keep avoiding to put it on the rotational mode.

URF has been consistently one of the most played game modes and highest liked mode of all the other game types, and has some of the shortest que times out of any game mode out there.

JbelsDec 5, 20169 votes

It is in my opinion one of the worst game modes of all time. Every time it comes around, it's fun for a couple hours, until you keep seeing the same shit over and over, and then it gets old and boring. They couldn't even make ARURF feel less samey, and that shit's supposed to be random

MarshbouyDec 5, 20165 votes

Couple of hours? More like a game or two for me. I get really sick of ezreal really fast

ShadragonDec 6, 20164 votes

The problem with ARURF is everyone just hopped onto their ARAM accounts. They need to make the all random modes draw from the combined champion pool of all players, not just the champions you own.

PsyrikDec 5, 20168 votes

Agreed. Bring URF, Seige, and 1 for all around more often and less of Poro King and Ascension

RcGjWO640wDec 5, 201610 votes

Imo Nexus Siege kind of blows. Lol. It's just so limited into what you can pick to have fun. You really either play an early-game-bully-late-game-hypercarry like Yasuo or Draven and just stomp the whole game or you play something that doesn't scale and you don't have fun because you just get instakilled the whole game by any of the above. Rofl. Really, the only two fun game modes are ARURF and a One-for-All.

CookyPrinceDec 6, 20161 votes

Who doesn't love playing against Tryndamere Yasuo Draven

HSG IcewolfDec 6, 20161 votes

draven ok yasuo ok but not tryndamere no way not for 10000 years ( he can life that long he cant die )

RcGjWO640wDec 6, 20161 votes

Idk, One-for-All Ttryndamere is pretty AIDS. Rofl.

CµpcakkeOct 21, 20171 votes

There was a glitch where Syndra 's ult just ignored Tryndamere ult for some reason. It happened to me when trynd tower dived me and I panicked and ulted and he died even though he ulted. Not sure if its been patched tho.

CµpcakkeOct 21, 20171 votes

In urf, Yasuo isn't as strong as he is in regular sr. Because of urfs mad scaling, every champ can keep up with yasuo's burst. For example: Veigar would most likely be dominated by Yasuo in regular sr, but because Veigar can stack much faster and his event horizon basically doesnt allow Yasuo to move. Yeah yasuo still has his windwall but it doesn't matter if he is cc'd to death. Imagine full crit Leona Yasuo wont be able to move. Or full ap Alistar or Malphite would just blow Yasuo up instantly.

AtheosisXDec 5, 20168 votes

Regular URF sucks. All random URF was pretty fun.

HSG IcewolfDec 6, 20162 votes

but if you get an shit champ in all random urf and the enemy gets xin its shit

Ariel the CruelDec 6, 20166 votes

I personally like Ascension and dislike URF. (>_>) Baby's-First-Dominion isn't too bad, though I preferred the original.

However, part of the reason they probably don't do URF as often is resources. URF is very resource heavy compared to other game modes.

TheorcheroDec 6, 20161 votes

[{quoted}](name=Ariel the Cruel,realm=NA,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=j20kR2aI,comment-id=000e,timestamp=2016-12-06T04:39:24.906+0000)

I personally like Ascension and dislike URF. (>_>) Baby's-First-Dominion isn't too bad, though I preferred the original.

However, part of the reason they probably don't do URF as often is resources. URF is very resource heavy compared to other game modes.

What? This proves you have no idea what you are talking about.

Literally the only changes to URF are numbers. That's it. It doesn't "hog resources." All champions get a set of stats delivered by a colorful buff, and certain champions are disabled or have small scripts running to balance them. Ie, limited number of traps.

I mean sure it drains the playerbase some, but so does all of the other rotating game modes, and people who play those tend to not play competitive anyway.

Honestly URF should be available in custom games simply so that you can practice skills without massive cooldowns.

LeetriDec 6, 20161 votes

URF is extremely straining on the servers, that's what they meant with resource hog.

Ariel the CruelDec 6, 20161 votes

For a single game of URF, you basically take everything that happens (background) in a normal game and multiply it by 3 - in the same time window. Using that rough estimate as a base line: If a normal game calculates AA damage once per minute, and 3 times per minute in URF. Then in 30 minutes the servers have to pump out an additional 60 calculations. Now make 5 games of URF, and it's pumping out an additional 300 calculations. This amplification applies to every calculation in a game.

When I refer to "resources", I'm not referring to balance or UI changes. I'm referring to all the under-the-hood over-clocking the servers have to deal with. That's why Riot prepared to shut down non-SR game modes the first two times it was released.

TheorcheroDec 6, 20161 votes

[{quoted}](name=Ariel the Cruel,realm=NA,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=j20kR2aI,comment-id=000e00000001,timestamp=2016-12-06T22:28:25.379+0000)

For a single game of URF, you basically take everything that happens (background) in a normal game and multiply it by 3 - in the same time window. Using that rough estimate as a base line: If a normal game calculates AA damage once per minute, and 3 times per minute in URF. Then in 30 minutes the servers have to pump out an additional 60 calculations. Now make 5 games of URF, and it's pumping out an additional 300 calculations. This amplification applies to every calculation in a game.

When I refer to "resources", I'm not referring to balance or UI changes. I'm referring to all the under-the-hood over-clocking the servers have to deal with. That's why Riot prepared to shut down non-SR game modes the first two times it was released.

What? That's not how it works at all. Calculations are more frequent but it's no larger a load than adding cdr. You're assuming 5 players are casting spells 24/7 and are assuming those calculations are taking up large amounts of available resources. You're trying to make it sound like the game isn't meant to run under those circumstances when it has no real tangible effect apart from increasing the amount of calculations done for damage because spells are cast more frequently. I mean technically yeah, but it should have no real effect what so ever.

Unless you're talking about calculating total damage dealt for end game, which is asinine because it can be easily done locally or just adding the value together as it goes like it normally does. Honestly speaking the servers aren't anywhere near their max load as we've lost a lot of players. Adding urf compatibility is perfectly possible.

The real reason it's not available 24/7 is just like how the mcrib isn't always available. It doesn't sell well unless you take it off for a while then add it back on to prevent it being stale.

Ariel the CruelDec 6, 20161 votes

The real reason it's not available 24/7 is just like how the mcrib isn't always available. It doesn't sell well unless you take it off for a while then add it back on to prevent it being stale.

That the entire premise behind the rotating game queues. The question posed by OP is why URF is seen less than other modes. And I never claimed resources were the only reason. I stated it was likely "part of the reason".

As for resource costs: http://boards.na.leagueoflegends.com/en/c/summoners-rift/JzbtwbI8-urf-mode-and-queue-times?comment=00020000

Yes, Riot has seen hardware upgrades in the last two years, but that doesn't change the underlying fact: URF is still more resource intensive.

. . . However, alongside the skill spam and huge amounts of death and destruction, the game servers take a serious beating as well. . . . The sheer number of extra calculations taking place from all the skill spam and mayhem make things run pretty hot, especially when multiplied thousands of times over. . . . Resources are shared by all running game modes, so the only way to "transfer" those resources would be to throttle or disable certain queues. . . .

EDIT: There are more calculations than just damage. Almost everything that isn't art has a number in it somewhere.

TheorcheroDec 7, 20161 votes

[{quoted}](name=Ariel the Cruel,realm=NA,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=j20kR2aI,comment-id=000e0000000100000000,timestamp=2016-12-06T23:34:04.999+0000)

Snip.

Alright, point taken, URF is more resource intensive. But it still shouldn't be so that it actually affects how often it's in rotation. It's because people get tired of it.

HelmightDec 6, 20165 votes

Two reasons:

URF is a VERY popular game mode, so having it available all the time would ruin it's special-ness. Keeping it unavailable most of the time means that URF is more fun when it IS available.
URF is very tricky for Riot to balance, as its meta becomes degenerate faster than any other game mode. Instead of experimenting, as with other game modes, people just start picking stuff they know is strong and abusing it. As a result, keeping URF disabled for long amounts of time helps lessen abuse and gives Riot time to find a solution. ARURF was a good experiment, but I think there needs to be more work done for the mode.

ShadragonDec 6, 20162 votes

One thing I liked about ARURF was being forced to try champions I'd otherwise never given a chance. Like AP Volibear Protobelt, roar and ult were enough burst to kill almost anything, and it was actually really fun.

Rıots Bad ClientDec 6, 20164 votes

I really loved Arurf Mode. Will it return?Does anyone know?

Papa AndreiDec 6, 20164 votes

I would like to see dominion back permanently

Ariel the CruelDec 6, 20161 votes

I would like to see the True Dominon back. Not the watered down crap they put on rotation.

SukishooDec 5, 20163 votes

Because there were too many complaints when it was around that they held it back and made ARURF instead and well that's still not a good thing to fix it. Plus they said when the rotating game modes were announced they'd only have it a few times a year.

HSG IcewolfDec 6, 20161 votes

they said 2 times or more and then they bring it 2 times in 2 months and after that never again this year

OleandervineDec 6, 20161 votes

[{quoted}](name=HSG Icewolf,realm=EUW,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=j20kR2aI,comment-id=00050000,timestamp=2016-12-06T13:21:55.167+0000)

they said 2 times or more and then they bring it 2 times in 2 months and after that never again this year

They brought URF back more than 2 times this year, at least 3.

MogarlDec 6, 20163 votes

Urf is very polarizing. You either love it, hate it, or learn to hate it. If a champion you really like isn't brain numbingly broken on Urf chances are you aren't a huge fan, and you'll get sick of all the people that only pick the broken stuff.

ChaddyFantomeDec 5, 20162 votes

Because URF is the most popular and successful featured game mode Riot has ever made and they don't wanna have it be run into the mud too fast and get boring.

Also, it requires more investigating since all the buffs affect champs in different ways so URF actually needs to be balanced to some degree as silly as that sounds.

Mighty MorteinDec 6, 20162 votes

Once URF developed a meta of OP champions, not even ARURF solved it most of the time. You'd always see one annoying champion because too many are far too strong to deal with or just plain obnoxious.

Shaco Ezreal Evelynn Ekko Maokai Sona Morgana Urgot Zyra Zed Syndra Teemo Katarina Fizz

These champs were my main concerns. And if there were more than 3 of these champs in a game NOT on my team, I know I was in for a bumpy ride.

DrugothDec 6, 20162 votes

I think the main reason URF is left out of the regular rotation is to keep it from getting stale.

DolasaurDec 6, 20162 votes

Riot's explicitly stated this one a couple times, though I'm too lazy to find the source. I'll make a paraphrase quote.

"The meta devolved very quickly into a known set of perceived-to-be-OP champs. This led to many games feeling repetitive, and the dropoff in popularity for most players was pretty quick and severe."

BârdDec 6, 20162 votes

People only want to play URF when it's not here.

When it is here, people try it once or twice, but then ragequit the gamemode when the enemy gets Evelynn .

GULAG 4 UDec 5, 20161 votes

Gotta play fucking ascension

Hinu HyugaDec 6, 20161 votes

I would like to see URF a little bit more. I didn't play it when ARURF first came out, and I wanted to.

DeedlezDec 6, 20161 votes

its only a special gamemode, so its only in the rotation twice a year.

Yordle XayahDec 6, 20161 votes

The more I play the mode, the more I dislike it. The more it makes me appreciate how well balanced the regular game actually is.

HSG IcewolfDec 6, 20161 votes

where is black market brawlers and urf wtf rito pls

WAIT RITO BRING US " BLACK MARKET BRAWLERS HEXAKILL URF FOR ALL " would be the best mode ever

Maximum MordeDec 6, 20161 votes

Probably be cuz it sucks

LovelleDec 6, 20161 votes

I think the better question is why we only get one game mode a weekend. I could understand if there were only a couple of them, but it's very easy to only get the game mode you like to play once a month (if that) with how it currently works. I think we should at least get two a week. One for the chaotic/random game modes like One for all, URF, Nemesis and the other for PvP-heavy game modes like Ascension, Hexakill, and Not-Dominion.

JoseraphDec 6, 20161 votes

I think it's because it takes away from ranked queue times. Urf also gets stale FAST, because of the tier list. As far as I'm concerned, Ascension has no tier list (other than adc's being trash)

TrenitaliyahDec 6, 20161 votes

Seriously, BRING NEMESIS DRAFT BACK. URF is too random and boring after 3 games.

the weeabooDec 6, 20161 votes

Poroking and Dominion are boring as hell but they seem to be some of the most frequent. I'm okay with Ascension being popular. O4A and URF need to be around more.