Soraka is just bad game design.

dangopee·Dec 12, 2015·8 votes·2,255 views

This is not a thread about whether or not is balanced.

She makes the game antifun for the enemy team. She brings no fun or interesting gameplay to her own team. She is boring to play, completely braindead. She has no identity. "Healer" is not an identity, it is a generic character concept that makes more sense in an MMORPG and really has no place in a MOBA.

League of Legends is a good game, but provides nothing but disservice to this game and its players.

15 Comments

5000000000000000Dec 12, 20156 votes

She's a pure healer. All of her abilities except E heals someone. Her strength is massive healing. Let's see what other healers have. Bard has good roaming potential. Sona has good engage, and good poke/trade potential. Nami has good counter-engage and follow up CC. Janna has amazing disengage. Taric has tankiness and armor buff. She is different from other healers in that other healers can do stuff other than healing. She's the pure healer of the game. So there's her identity.

Fun/boring is pretty subjective. For example, her ult can save someone in top lane in laning phase. I'd consider that a fun gameplay. Healing the jungler during the first clear? I'd think that's fun for the jungler. Roaming mid lane to heal them would be fun for the midlaner. Her heals can save people from sticky situations, and even turn the fight around. Enemies have to make a decision when she casts her Q, because although it does minimal damage and possibly apply a weak slow, it heals Soraka as well. Sometimes it's worth it to ignore and go all-in, sometimes it's more important to dodge it. In teamfights, the enemies have to focus down Soraka. Soraka changes how the game is played, just like how squishies hide behind tanks before teamfight if there's a Blitzcrank/Thresh/Illaoi on the other side to avoid being grabbed, or how they spread apart when they group to not get caught out by the 5-man Malphite/Amumu/Hecarim/Sejuani ult.

I don't see how Soraka is a bad design from your arguments. She should not be able to nullify all the damage the opponent does. That would be bad design. So she has to pay for it with her health and mana. To regain health, she has to make herself vulnerable.

dangopeeDec 12, 20151 votes

Pure healers are for taking down raid bosses in an RPG. If people really enjoyed her being in the game in her current state, why does she have the highest ban rate in the game right now?

5000000000000000Dec 12, 20154 votes

Sure, there are moments where a champion is balanced and unbalanced. So she was unbalanced in the last patch. That doesn't mean that she's a bad design.

Ban rate according to champion.gg is Jax (~70%), Soraka (~56%), Tahm Kench (~51%), Yasuo (~50%) and so on. http://champion.gg/statistics/#?sortBy=general.banRate&order=descend

Ban rate is a statistic that represents perceived power (and thus actual power) and how unfun it is to deal with a certain champion. She was strong last patch, so her perceived power was high. So it doesn't accurately represent how unfun it was to deal with Soraka from her design, but rather from her power. Her ban rate was insignificant right after her rework. That goes to say that she isn't banned from being unfun to play against, but rather because she was strong last patch.

For some other examples, Nunu is generally considered very frustrating to play against, yet he has below 1% ban rate because he's not considered strong right now. Same goes with Yorick, Heimerdinger, or even Teemo. Ban rate isn't just about how unfun it is to play against. It's usually more about the power.

Anyway, the only argument you provided pertaining to why Soraka is a bad design is that pure healers are for PvE. Team Fortress 2 has a pure healer, yet nobody complains about how that's a bad design.

tldr: I do agree that Soraka was too strong in the last patch. I do not agree that Soraka is a bad design or that she's a poor addition to League.

Old Man TeetoDec 12, 20152 votes

Current Soraka doesn't function as you described.

Current Soraka forces you to focus her while she builds tank and can pump out more HPS than most champions do in damage if you don't focus her.

Soraka should be one of the squishiest champions in the game, but is actually deceptively durable with above average starting armor and health compared to Janna/Nami/Sona.

I compare to those three since she shares the same Mana Regen base/growth and plays a very similar role of heal/peel instead of Bard/Morganna/Karma who can be much more aggressive naturally.

 ----------------           Armor Level 1     ------     Health Level 1    ------        Armor 18    -------        Health 18

Janna ----------- 19.4 ------------------------ 487 ------------------------ 84 ----------------- 1813 Nami ----------- 19.7 ----------------- ----- 489 ------------------------ 87.7 ----------------- 1747 Sona ----------- 20.6 ------------------ ----- 482 ------------------------ 76.6 ----------------- 1791 Soraka --------- 23.4 --------------------- ----- 529 ---------------------- 88 ------------------ 1825

On every margin Soraka is ahead, in particular her early game stats. The only stat she truly has horrible is her health regeneration (2nd to worst only behind mini Gnar).

Knock her down 3.5 armor and 25 health from her starting stats and she might actually have a riskier laning phase to pay off for her insane team fighting and mid-game. It's possible she is still too strong and needs her base healing values knocked down a bit even after this but this at least puts her WHERE SHE SHOULD BE as a defensive support.

On Grievous wounds, this is pre-season, lots of experimentation is happening, if the current iteration of Grievous wounds is too weak (only affected self-heals) and the cause of this, then Grievous wounds was just a bad band aid anyways.

5000000000000000Dec 12, 20151 votes

Soraka has higher EHP because she expends HP quickly in combat. The following are effective physical HP.

Janna 581.5 Nami 585.3 Sona 581.2 Soraka 652.8

If Soraka heals once, she loses 10% of her health (and consequently, 10% of her effective HP). That brings her health down to 587.5. Still slightly higher compared to other squishy heal/peel supports, but keep in mind that Soraka is most likely going to use her heal more than once.

KrinuDec 12, 20152 votes

She isn't horribly squishy because of a small difference in base stats.

She's squishy because she can't build tanky without shooting her efficiency to hell, she has zero mobility tools to escape in the event that she's caught out, and she has no hard CC.

Catch Nami out? She can bubble you, give herself a movespeed buff with her heal, and her ult is a slow and knockback. Catch Janna out? She can toss a tornado to knock you up, slow you with her Zephyr, or ult to fling you away. Catch Sona out? She can ult and leave.

Soraka?

Well, her Q slows if you don't sidestep the sweet spot in the center, and if you hold still in her E it'll snare you, but that's it.

KrinuDec 12, 20153 votes

You're upset that she forces you to play differently.

I've been seeing a lot of that lately, and not just with Soraka. Any kit that forces people to take it into account - not counterbuild, just understand how it works - is derided as "bad for the game" or "terrible design."

ADCs complaining that they can't poke Soraka out of lane like they do with other supports. Bruisers and juggernauts complaining they can't all-in Illaoi. Assassins and ADCs moping about how Kayle is bullshit because they can't blow everything then spam taunt while ignite ticks down.

Part of mastery of the game is knowing how each champion's kit works, and how to best deal with it.

dangopeeDec 12, 20151 votes

How do you play against her then? Post laning phase.

KrinuDec 12, 20151 votes

The same way you deal with any squishy high-impact champion with weak mobility: Catch her out, use CC, or send an assassin after her.

She has zero mobility skills, a weak hard-to-land slow, and a silence that if you potato it up can root you. They just doubled her heal's mana cost early game (and mildly increased it late game), so she needs to build regen now. They also lowered the range on her Q, so she can't fire them from the back line any more.

BluePolarizerDec 12, 20152 votes

Soraka used to be a short ranged lane bully support that could also be played top as something like Karthus with strong short ranged AOE.

People said she was too much of a bully.

Lol now look what you get - a champion who is even less interactive, has longer range, has even stronger heals and even more safety.

I Eat ThyroidsDec 12, 20152 votes

Raka is fun if you play with her. She can turn any champion into a tank as long as the enemy team is stupid enough to not treat her like the second carry that she is or worse: not dodge the painfully easy to dodge skillshot. She's great for the trolls, baits, and has a unique global interaction that, if done right, gives a cool surprise for teammates losing a fight. she adds lots of strategy to the game, and can be incredibly fun to play with, and as. on a personal note, the sacrifice health for your teammate mechanic is super satisifying, and getting a q landed on an entire team and seeing your entire healthbar reappear late game is awesome. and that's neglecting the aoe silence's utility, which is it's own story. the claim that she is antifun for the enemy might be true since she's a bit of a troll champ (lol denied your klil again), but the claim that she's braindead, bad design or doesn't have interesting interactions with her own team is frankly ridiculous. plus, the "antifun" of raka is that she erases the enemy teams work IF they let her (she has plenty of counterplay honestly, she frikkin uses percent max health as a resource), but most champs just take you out of game for a minute or so by killing you, so technically she's less antifun then any assassin. food for thought.

in other news, i'm going to see if raka can build tear of the goddess and not suck, wish me luck.

NekusenDec 12, 20152 votes

i disagree, she is well designed, she is just really annoying to play against.

Togekiss24Dec 12, 20151 votes

Gee you should have played her back in Season 2...

ChronostempoNov 18, 20161 votes

Soraka is a bad champion now this does not mean she's weak... being strong does in no way mean good or vice versa... usually they even seem to be in opposition... soraka is bad because... she's not a healer anymore... the healer-mor of the game is a bad healer... when you rank support champions soraka should be on the far end of the least tanky and least aggressive champ... for that matter support champs should deal slightly less damage and should suck up the utility that many adcs have... now for soraka... her heal is a bad heal... depending on its level... her level and her itemization her heal can go from a very weak heal to a negative heal... because you cant consider just the hp gained by your team member... you have to consider the overall group's health... what happends its that her heal then has to have a short cooldown which in turn forces it to heal less for balance and you end up with a heal that... doesn't feel meaningful... so while it might seem for the enemy that her heal is un-fun because it heals her teammates too fast... its also un-fun from the soraka player because it doesn't actually heal and it doesn't feel good as meaningful... add to this that her heal is now on a very short range only makes it so much worse... it feels terrible her passive is also bad because it it doesn't add anything... usually at 40% health the teammate is as good as dead... well below the safe threshold... also saving said teammate usually requires soraka to actually dip below her own safe threshold... forcing her to return to base after returning from base which would be the most common use of said passive... so overall... feels bad as for her Q its now the unfortunate way of healing... forcing a weakened champion (from using W) to make aggressive plays when she shouldn't a very unreliable way of healing... with a very very weak heal... as for a soraka player it's usually not fun wasting too much mana having to nearly spam her Q to regain small amounts of heal only a few times... on the other team being constantly spammed by something that has a long range and that can slow is just plain annoying... and un-fun... so it doesn't feel good to use it... only barely when it hits... so overall... feels bad as for her E... its just... wrong... giving mana was a core of soraka... her E has a too long a cooldown and its barely able to be useful... sure... an instant aoe silence is something powerful and this skill is somehow the one it actually feels less bad... but its still incredibly hard to be used fully... the aoe silence zone is fairly easy to be walked off so using its full potential is uncommon, and when it does the pay off finally feels good... but only then... so... overall... it feels mostly bad her ultimate had the least changes... except it now has a longer cooldown... and this is unfortunately the actual only way she has of healing herself her health cost is 10% maximum health... so... she should have a percentage healing system... at least... every time you heal you pay more and more effective health unlike other health % costs meaning she cant build health because any hp regen becomes weaker... unless you build warmog's... a tanky item witch itself is badly design (but for other reasons)... and forces you to keep building HP witch is in a way building to make weaker until it activates and it becomes viable or you can build tanky to make more aggressive plays... but end up not being able to make decent heals or meaningful plays later in the game... you can build AP witch could make you an actual healer... the closest you can be to the role you should have but you end up reducing your plays to healing a few times in a very very small time and... doing nothing else because u cant regain health though any viable means... or you can build support items... being more useful for the team and forgetting you have a Q a W... or a mix of any of these but... in the end... they don't feel good... of all the champions i used to consider my main soraka was the one above all... the one that fit my play style the best... and this rework... it really hurt me... not just because of soraka... but because almost all my other main champions... safe for maybe 2 (for now as it seems)... were reworked and lost what made me chose them in the first place... i've played since season 2 and i main as a support... i'm one of those players who actually wants to play as a support... who's first pick IS support... and in the end... i think the problem with riot isn't as simple as most players end up thinking... riot designers have to work with the data and the players that play the game... but... unless the hypotheses of player archetypes is considered the game might not reach what the designers truly want... most players don't want to play as a support... they don't feel it as fur to play as... i do so it got me wondering as to why i like to play as a support and why other might not and why the champions i liked the most were reworked into ones i didn't i've considered that i could very easily be angry or frustrated at the change for change itself... but that only lasts before the change and for a short amount after the change... in this case... it didn't... i've also noticed that most players consider a good champion as a strong champion but the once i find or used to find most fun weren't usually the strongest ones... they usually felt fun for a certain play style i could have or for a theme... so i think the reason most reworked where made were because they fit the game better... for a certain player archetype... witch is the archetype of players in the majority... reason why even after reworks usually see more play it fits the majority's archetype... unfortunately... riot has be slowly weening out players that don't have that archetype... players that joined the game when there was a... place for them to play... but no anymore... unfortunate... the archetype of players riot seems to be focusing on... doesn't fit a supportive play style... sure there are other reasons why players don't play support... losing xp, losing gold... but i think that's only part of the reason... and why there have been so many reworks... soraka wasn't as good in her previous state... but she's worse now... as in less good

karma, xerath, soraka, mazalahr, zilean, heimerdinger, yorick... all of these... i got them for a reason... and it wasn't because they were powerful... it was because they felt good... because they fit me... i didn't get other champions... i got these... and after the rework... they had lost they spark to me... and i guess like me many other players... not most players...but many others... felt the same...

the game has changed... and i don't mean its a bad thing... it gained a lot of traction... its risen a lot... but... unfortunately... with each rework of one of these champions, and others like them... its slowly became less and less fun to the point it starts to become sad...and emotionally painful to play... riot made fun game but... for many players... that game is slowly disappearing and for some its gone Karma once a diplomat team player oriented support... now speaks in platitudes and is a self centered mage Xerath once a powerful archon with a fun mechanic ... now while still strong doesn't actually feel powerful at all, lost a fun mechanic and much more Malzahar a champion with some very interesting skills ... now strong but too much agency has been lost Zilean my first champion, fun mechanic ... now very downplayed mechanic, feels less useful Heimerdinger first champion to play as, fun turrets ... now is focused on annoying rockets (also gives me longing/nostalgia for karma's old ult) Yorick even though it had its problems, wonderful theme and cool mechanics, very diverse ... now, lost everything appealing to him and yes Soraka the arch-healer of the game ... now not an actual healer (i explained everything else about her already)