Dear Riot: I'm peacing out, and this is why

Riot has put a lot of work into League of Legends lately: tons of reworks, item overhauls, new champions, and more, with new patches every 2-3 weeks. And while there have been some hiccups along the way ( ahem), I really do appreciate what they're trying to accomplish.

That being said, all these changes make the game continually more complicated, partially because any change is something that players have to adapt to, and partially because many of the changes are in the direction of increasing complexity (the sheer number of particles in some gamestates can get crazy just from items and buffs, and never mind if you have in the game).

For the very invested player, who puts in the work to be able to comprehend what's going on and react accordingly, this all may just help keep the game fresh. Even for someone who plays occasionally but has been in the game for a while, the changes may represent a small enough extra load compared to what they already know that it's not too bad. That isn't me. I started playing League about a year ago. I've probably got 500ish games under my belt (not totally sure), and there is still a ton of information in this game that would greatly benefit me if I knew better.

For a casual player who puts in 1-2 games per night, the information overload that comes with League of Legends can be insane. Mostly for life reasons (but also because the Mordekaiser rework irked me), I took a few months off the game. So much new stuff has been released or spoiled in that time that frankly, it doesn't feel worth it to me to come back. I'm not criticizing any specific change or saying that the changes make the game worse. I'm just saying that all these changes make the game very complicated, and that is a real cost for all but the most invested players.

If League of Legends continues down this path, I anticipate that Riot will soon have a problem with new player acquisition, and with holding onto less invested players. It's just too intimidating to learn the game when it's so complicated and keeps changing under your feet. Maybe the benefits outweigh the costs. That's not my call. I'm just here because for me, League doesn't feel worth it anymore, and it's been a big enough part of my life over the last year that I'm kind of sad about that fact and wanted to talk about it.

Just my two cents.