Have junglers been pushed to the back?
Now don't get me wrong. Some of the new jungle items in theory work great. But in play they don't work as well as they should.
Namely due to a few flaws I've noticed during a few game's I've played. The first was with the new Maokai. Sure, he isn't that new, but for a tank, how is it the wolves brought him down to 100 hp at level 2 when they use to be just a way to get some exp, gold, and a quick heal without using a potion too soon. That felt a bit odd, but then I looked at the full cost for the Tank Junglers item. The sheer sight of it made my jaw drop and ask, why is it so expensive? If it's in the top needed items, why does it cost nearly 2 k? You gotta by a machete, upgrade that by 350, then get a health stone for 450, then upgrade it for 400, then get another health stone for 400, then you can combine all three parts for 500. Sure it had some good things going for it, but at that point and noticing that the monsters were stronger, but still gave the same amount of gold as before, it made me question what Riot was going for. If they are stronger, why am I still just getting 50 gold a camp, roughly, at the start, and in between camps i have to go back and heal at base, buy a few pots, which raises the cost for the new item even more if you put that in. And when you do this and finally get your second buff, sometimes you're team is losing right off the bat and begging for help, but you can't because you can't get boots so you aren't fast enough. Then when you show up, the other team had gone to base, bought some items, and just see you as an easy source of gold. Killing you in seconds before going back to it. As if the Jungler is a jungle monster now.
And the same thing happened when I tried to play as Nocturne. Sure, I know he's squishy and all, but then the new flaw came into light. They don't give you enough gold to start with to even have three potions to sustain yourself. I looked away while playing for a second and the wolves had killed me. I go back to the red, after upgrading the machete, and the red buff killed me. Not the main monster himself, but his minions because they deal huge damage to you now without Life Steal.
So here's my two reason's why I think the jungle role has been put back to the side for lanes to take center stage and yell at us for trying to keep up.
- Costly starting items with little gold and sustain. Sure, the items do give some sustain, but if I have to go back to get potions and heal all the time, what's the point in having them?
- The sheer risk to reward is off balance. If I'm going to this camp to clear it and get some exp and gold, nearly dying even at level 5 with a partway finished item, why am I still getting only 5g per small monster and 45 per large?
If i'm missing something here, please inform me. It just really upset me where each game I've tried to play as a jungler now it just...fails in utter misery and I see the other jungler struggling as well. If it was just me, I'd do better, but seeing how I see a common theme of both teams junglers struggling to stay in the game, there has to be something wrong, right?
