Ideal state of the game, and a challenge to riot

Spacesuit Spiff·4/25/2018, 7:43:07 AM·1 votes·736 views

Been thinking on what I'd consider the best possible vrsion of league, and teamfights actually seemed most important so I'm going to try to describe how I'd want them to play out:

-Beefy frontlines crash into each other first and foremost. They want to get to the backline, but peel and kiting slows them enough that they also hit each other just for the sake of using abilities on someone in arm's reach. They will EVENTUALLY reach their real targets, but the initial clash phase is important and sets the tone for the fight. These frontliners should NOT die in 1.5 seconds. You don't watch a monster movie to see the Kaiju get taken out with one missile after all

-Carries have roles, patterns, and windows. Mages are distinct because they either have utility, or can operate at a higher effective range. This is often overlooked; a delayed AoE can kite without your pursuer ever entering your range, a projectile can scare an enemy into never coming into your range at all. Mages deal respectable damage to the frontline, but there's also the chance of them lining everything up to drop a combo on a priority target. Their presence turns the teamfight into a game of spatial awareness; if you've used an over-large weapon against a mob in Dark Souls you'll know what I mean.

-ADCs are the consistent damage, not the surprise burst that should be the territory of mages. Plink plink plink as the reliable way to whittle down hard targets is valuable to the game, if kept under control. What I'd like to see though is ADCs being able to take real risks in exchange for damage output. A maximization problem, like not orbwalking in exchange for getting more attacks off, to be used when your target isn't going to be able to reach you either way. Pure dps should be most effective under optimal circumstances, so that it feels good to strategically enable your ADC.

-Supports, as you might have guessed, are more about keeping enemies away from the squishy than giving the squishy 2 more health bars. Some shields are fine, but imo the duration should go way down so there's an option for the enemy to bait it out before laying in. I like supports that are battlefield controllers rather than stat fairies, but both being useful is fine.

-Assassins should be the coolest moment in the teamfight. They can't go in whenever they want; they shouldn't just throw themselves in and oneshot unless they die to the team's combined cc duration. But when they find that moment, the carry and support know they dun goofed. Make the assassination last just long enough to appreciate the tension (some Irelia-style skillshot is a final chance for the carry to redeem themself before the gray screen, and not an instant combo point blank. If this misses, the assassin might want to back off and wait for the next opening).

Essentially, beefy frontline clash is the stage, with backliners whittling them while trying not to die, and assassins looking for their big moment (which will likely be caused by a more obvious threat getting far enough to disrupt the backline). Teamfight lasts a good while because, well, league is a long game and this is a big part of what we came for.

I'm not gonna compare this to the current game (any more than I already have); we've all played and seen the disappointed threads.

Instead I put a challenge to Riot: show us your vision of the best realization of this game. I realize people who would rather win via the rpg elements than play the rest of the game exist, and push back against these visions in a massive way. Enforcing any clear vision of fun gameplay might well be impossible when the playerbase will studiously try to break it. But I think in this moment of the game's history we'd benefit from a summary, or even...

Create a RGM that showcases the best possible way to experience the game. Choose our champions, builds, and runes if you think it necessary. That experimentation is valuable, but so is the experience we're all chasing, which has seemed more elusive as time goes on. Remind us what this game can be, and then see about making it happen.

2 Comments

SEKAI4/25/2018, 7:50:58 AM1 votes

The ideal state of the game is that the game has more than 1 meta, and is not revolved around teamfight/death-ball meta 24/7.

What you're doing is the start of where Riot went wrong.