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Why I'm Quitting League of Legends, A Rant About Change

ReaverCamera··98 votes·8,569 views

So while it's pretty obvious that Riot likes changing this game in an effort to prevent things from going stale, they either refuse to provide changes the community wants or outright ignore our protests to changes being worked into the game. I mean, honestly, it's been years, they still won't put an animation in the client to let us know when we've been dropped. It's not an easy game, and nor is it meant to be. For a long time, I liked the challenge associated with this game, and the success I felt at accomplishing things within it. But lately, it's no longer challenging. I either stomp or get stomped, due to a mix of recent changes to the gameplay elements (dragons, death timers, etc.) and the ever-devious matchmaking system, which makes every effort to make sure that I have to work to advance, even if that means making sure one of my teammates will feed and/or afk. Other games match you relative to your skill level, this game changes based on how well you're doing. So get a few good games going, then get instantly screwed by the teemo that won't even lane. It doesn't help that Riot, which was perfectly fine, sold out to a company known for draining games dry and moving on. And I'm not the only person who feels this way. More than half of my friends list has been cleared due to people leaving this game, a game they spent a lot of money and time on, because they realize it's never going to be a community game again. We no longer have any say in tribunal judgments, champion concepts, or even basic gameplay balance. Don't get me wrong, the game was never at our behest, but it at least felt like it was made for us. Now it's being made to screw us over. Look everywhere, you'll find numerous posts like mine, and Riot won't respond to a single one, because they are either unwilling to justify their choices or unable to do so. There's a massive gap in free to play moba's that League left behind, and I at least hope every other company trying to fill it does not repeat Riot's mistakes. TL;DR: Riot has had years to change, and with every passing one, they don't just repeat their mistakes, they make brand new ones.

73 Comments

FatesDefiler36 votes

no good game has ever come out of the territory that makes the decisions for LoL now, and it's a matter of time before they kill it with bad decisions.

PbJMpP4xzk9 votes

oh its already dying its bleeding from everywhere, ok they are patching the blood by pleasing the chiness market right now but eventualy they won't get much income from china and its gonna be over. thats actualy why they are working on getting rid of the old player base and getting a younger one profit is profit and blind peoples who think riot is god are blind

BoilTheOil5 votes

i give it 2 years till league dies

FastAsHeck26 votes

Overwatch coming out just in time [slayer-pantheon-popcorn]

Maszii2 votes

{quoted}

Overwatch coming out just in time [slayer-pantheon-popcorn]

Played the beta this weekend looks pretty fun!

A Superb Villain3 votes

#Ryūjin no ken wo kūrae!

Zydron5 votes

I still have ptsd from genji ult 1 shotting me

A Superb Villain4 votes

I get the jitters whenever I hear him, Junkrat, or McCree.

FastAsHeck4 votes

"well, it's high noon somewhere in the world"

JimmyTheTacoMan2 votes

What about Hanzo? Ryuu ga waga teki wo kurau [zombie-nunu-bummed]

RasCaelestis3 votes

Stellaris is my current addiction. This game is fantastic.

The writing (dialogue options between factions, situation reports, etc.) is amazing. My favourite mission so far has been when one of my scientists discovered a small ceramic object in orbit around a star. "Improbable Ceramics" was the name of the mission, and anyone familiar with The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy should know where this is going. My scientists weren't able to figure out how the small pot got there, and were eventually forced to admit that life, the universe, and everything else sometimes doesn't provide answers for the questions we ask.

Species/faction creation is also incredibly detailed. I'd not care to admit how many hours I've already spent just designing new empires and the aliens that rule them. One that I'm really starting to like are pacifist technocrats that look like ram-wolf hybrids. They just want to be left alone and do science, but their neighbours are these super xenophobic humans. At one point the humans got mad at me, and threatened that if I didn't become their vassals, they'd eat my cubs. My people didn't want anything to do with this horrible group, so I said no. They declared war, which we were able to with superior tech, and I was given two of their systems. They're still trying to rebel but eventually they will come to see how all species can live together, regardless of what they look like.

I've been relatively serious when it comes to factions, but one that my friend made is the "Kingdom of Magic". They're fungoid people, whose flag is a giant pink heart. Their star is "SUPER AWESOME PLACE" and their home world is "MAGIC WORLD". We played together when we were still learning the game, and started spamming insults at each other just to see the very interesting dialogues we got. Later, my friend DC'd, and the AI took over. It remembered all the insults, and was less than enthused with our shared borders. I paused the game, but I could see that the AI was planning on going to war for the human players' history of derping around.

Eedat18 votes

Good luck dude. I stopped playing at the end of last season. I saw the DQ changes coming and it was the last straw for me. All I've played this season is a few URF matches and a handful of ARAMS.

You forgot to mention while all this is going on with balance, they are still pumping out massive amounts of skins in some sort of desperate money grab. Riot, you really should fix your old content before adding new stuff

rescued3 votes

The team that designs/release skins are different from the rework team/balance team/ etc.

Also, Riot Games is a business, businesses make money.

Eedat5 votes

Yes, but businesses dont make money if they have no customers

season is doomed1 votes

So your telling me the millions of people playing this game are no customers. Hmmmm

earlsimmonz1 votes

If they keep going the way they are they wont have any customers.

ModAcademy Kayn2 votes

So you're telling me Riot making and selling skins, like they've always have done, is suddenly now a money grab?

Eedat5 votes

Yeah. Its not that theyre making skins, its that they're pumping them out at a ridiculous rate while ignoring the communities concerns for the actual game.

Cruk18 votes

I've played since season 3, still enjoy the game, people who complain about the amount of skins don't realize that people who are tasked with making skins work in different departments than gameplay and balance, and concept creation, and all other sorts of departments.

Also, the conspiracies about how Riot purposefully matches you with players to make you lose games is, and sounds, ridiculous. The system might not be perfect, but it tries to match you up to other people around your MMR with a similar amount of queued people grouped as you are.

Meaning if your solo, it'll try it's best to match you up with a bunch of other solo players. This isn't always the case, and when it comes to dynamic queue, well it'd be nice to have pure solo queue, but seriously, they don't have it out for players who are winning a bunch of matches.

Game might not be perfect, but it's different from when it started, which is good, people are afraid of change, and they might lose some players, but to leave the game in a stagnant state is asking for it to slowly die. Either embrace the game, or leave a rant post and leave. See the rest of you on the Rift.

[slayer-pantheon-thumbs]

Eedat6 votes

people who complain about the amount of skins don't realize that people who are tasked with making skins work in different departments than gameplay and balance, and concept creation, and all other sorts of departments.

People who try to use this excuse don't realize that Riot could get rid of people making skins then add to the gameplay and balance team.

resources = resources

Cruk15 votes

{quoted}

People who try to use this excuse don't realize that Riot could get rid of people making skins then add to the gameplay and balance team.

resources = resources

So just fire people who create skins because the balance team isn't up to par, to manage resources because somebody on the boards said that they were quitting the game? There are literally posts just like yours every patch, same complaints different champions. There will always be S tier champs, there will always be changes to be made. If you like games that don't change play checkers or chess.

But you can be absolutely sure that if there is a problem within the balance team, they should try to resolve those problems WITHIN the balance team, instead of trashing other departments. The latest skins have been great, so obviously they aren't going to receive the backlash you think they deserve because of the balance teams performance.

I don't think you've ever worked in the gaming industry, because that's literally not how it works at all.

Eedat7 votes

So just fire people who create skins because the balance team isn't up to par, to manage resources

Uh, yes. That is in fact how to manage resources

they should try to resolve those problems WITHIN the balance team

You think its a coincidence that Lyte conveniently just "left" after his DQ was received so poorly?

If the game is losing its player base, there will be less people to purchase skins. You cant really compare Riot to the rest of the industry because Riot isnt like other gaming developers where they can keep pumping out new titles to drive interest and sales back up. Riot is a one trick pony. LoL is all they've got. If people lose interest in their one product, Riot goes down with it.

It's not just one person quitting. I've quit myself and the 6 of my irl I used to play with all have quit too this season and we've all been playing since season 2/3. I'm sure its happening elsewhere too. Riot is making a ton of poor decisions and is driving away its customers. I haven't talked to anyone who actually will defend that the changes this season were good. I actually think Riot is aware of this which is why they're pumping out cash grabs like skins and those scam boxes.... I mean Hextech Boxes

Cruk12 votes

{quoted}

Uh, yes. That is in fact how to manage resources

You think its a coincidence that Lyte conveniently just "left" after his DQ was received so poorly?

If the game is losing its player base, there will be less people to purchase skins. You cant really compare Riot to the rest of the industry because Riot isnt like other gaming developers where they can keep pumping out new titles to drive interest and sales back up. Riot is a one trick pony. LoL is all they've got. If people lose interest in their one product, Riot goes down with it.

It's not just one person quitting. I've quit myself and the 6 of my irl I used to play with all have quit too this season and we've all been playing since season 2/3. I'm sure its happening elsewhere too. Riot is making a ton of poor decisions and is driving away its customers. I haven't talked to anyone who actually will defend that the changes this season were good. I actually think Riot is aware of this which is why they're pumping out cash grabs like skins and those scam boxes.... I mean Hextech Boxes

They aren't going to fire the skin team to bring more people onto the balance team. Also more conspiracy theories about Lyte and stuff, man you gotta prove this stuff, not just speculate. I personally like a lot of the changes this season, the Marksmen rework was awesome, and this is the first patch after the mage rework, I like the new abilities and kits, they just need to tune the numbers, it's the first patch for them and people are literally going insane.

Also "Cash grabs" would be something that everyone inherently needs to buy to stay relevant, or produce without a doubt, a reason to HAVE to buy this certain product. But skins, and chests, are completely optional as always, and in fact, I've gotten 4 free skins off the chests just by playing the game. I have never bought the chests themselves. That is a consumers responsibility to control what they buy when playing a completely free game, that is not pay-2-win.

PbJMpP4xzk4 votes

payroll is payroll and money is money i guess you didn't work in economics kk

chipi993 votes

That art guy will be pretty good at coding and balancing, amirite?

Eedat1 votes

I never said that the graphic artist would be moved to the gameplay team

PbJMpP4xzk3 votes

you didn't play before season 3 oh ok i get it that you don't get it thanks

Cruk1 votes

{quoted}

you didn't play before season 3 oh ok i get it that you don't get it thanks

Telling me that my opinion doesn't matter after me playing almost four years of this game is as dumb as me telling you my opinion is more valid than yours because you are unranked trash. See? Stupid. Also yeah, payroll is payroll, people need those payrolls to eat, I guess you don't eat. kk.

deadlychuck9 votes

Game might not be perfect, but it's different from when it started, which is good, people are afraid of change, and they might lose some players, but to leave the game in a stagnant state is asking for it to slowly die. Either embrace the game, or leave a rant post and leave. See the rest of you on the Rift.

I'm gonna rant at you, so strap in, clench and pray that burrito wasn't a mistake.

Yes people are afraid of change, but the more you take steps in the same direction the further you move from where your audience is. It's not a matter of the audience being scared of change, it's a matter of them losing their investment in the product, because it's no longer something they want. You're correct that a game can't be allowed to become stagnant, but expanding from the initial position isn't the same as moving away from it. I don't care if riot added a couple of champions who had massive crit synergy, i don't care if riot adds in more objectives, what it comes down to is pretty simple. Adding new things to the game is fine, until you start removing or strong arming the old stuff out.

This is why mobility creep, power creep, are bad. This is why when you set out the rework a champion you're taking a risk. This is why changing the fundamental formula is a MASSIVE risk. When riot changes the formula slightly over a prolonged period of time, until you reach the point that the whole equation is not in anyway reflective of what it use to be.

There's a question in philosophy called Theseus' paradox, where if you gradually exchange each component of a boat for a different one, at what point is it no longer the same boat? People will continue to consider it the same boat, until you reach a crisis point (just jargon don't worry), where that occurs depends, but what matters is that they recognize they are no longer on the same boat they set sail in. Some people will like this new boat more than the old one, while others will not. Though what matters is that it's NOT the same boat anymore, meaning a portion of your audience will leave.

Hinagiku334 votes

Nice reference to the Theseus' Paradox. Don't see much classic philosophy in places like this.

To elaborate a little on that though:

Theseus was a famous Greek war hero and his ship was kept in the Athens harbor for centuries. Naturally, parts of the ship started rotting over the years and planks of wood had to be replaced here and there. So philosophers wondered at what point the ship should no longer be considered the same ship - once enough had been replaced, only after all of it was replaced, or that it would always be Theseus' ship.

One could make the case that League would always be League as long as the feel of the game was preserved - much like the ship is basically the same ship as long as the new components matched the old ones. The whole, the concept, would be preserved so the identity could be the same.

Riot's problem is that the concept has changed, the new pieces are completely different than the old, and the "ship" is starting to look unrecognizable for us old veterans. New players who never saw the original League may say that everything is fine since they are just used to the game looking like it does now. But us older players know damn well that older League would never have tolerated some of the terrible elements in the game currently.

It's just not the same game we loved, change is fine but the concept is different and it no longer feels like League of Legends to us. I believe that I am far from alone when I say that I'm playing way less than I used to and will likely drop this game in the near future. Let the 4 man pre-mades have hour long wait times as we solo players stop playing. Let the rest of the champs we loved be made unrecognizable by bad reworks. For the old League of Legends I used to make time, but I just don't have time for whatever this new game is.

Spoofghoul3 votes

Except with DynQ mmr has become a joke

the system cant reliably make good matches anymore using mmr

ll League God ll14 votes

riot employees dont care about their base players. They literally ONLY CARE about the people in LCS / MSI etc

Eedat14 votes

I would strongly disagree

PB4UAME28 votes

In the past I would have; not anymore.

With their reworks (I used to be an Olaf and Cass main and I am still pissed off at how they've handled them, and those rework were the definitions of a shitstorm. The least they could do is make a formal apology to the mains of champions they fuck up that badly repeatedly) and overall game decisions (Hello there DQ, increased death timers and 20 minute Rift Herald buff, how nice of you to show your ugly heads) they have shown a clear disregard for their player base's wants and feedback far too often.

o Recovery o1 votes

How? Why? They literally only cater to the higher elos, check the stickied post. Furthermore, any attention they do give to lower elos is severely damaging to those trying to get out. Like allowing more new people into the ranked atmosphere who do not have the experience but jump in anyway, dragging the people trying to climb out.

Drunk Rummate10 votes

I like that they change it up dramatically every season. Even though I don't agree with many of the changes, I stick around because I know it's for a good underlying reason and they generally reach a decent balance soon enough. I mean, feel free to quit, its your choice really, but I don't agree with your reasoning.

Tufio6 votes

well, random change for the sake of change, is worse than no change.

Fovere6 votes

The truth is that for a long time the changes to the game were made with the goal of good gameplay.

Now the goals are more centered around having a game that broadcasts well and is more newbie/user friendly.

Eliminate the slow, "boring" laning phase. Expose timers for dragon and jg buffs, encourage more conflict, more encounters. Reduce the number of things you actually have to do or learn to be good at the time, while increase the convolutions of the individual champion, so you can be more entertained while you play.

deadlychuck1 votes

{quoted}

Reduce the number of things you actually have to do or learn to be good at the time, while increase the convolutions of the individual champion, so you can be more entertained while you play.

THIS this right here is exactly why i'm so bored of league right now, and even more after the mage update.

You can add all the cool effects that you want, but by making the champion easier to play, it makes it less satisfying and ultimately less fun. You might be distracted for a little while by the champion's cool kit, but it's quickly overlooked when you recognize that there is 0 learning curve to actually feel like you've gotten better at a champion.

If you want to win on most champions all you've got to do is look up a guide and play them competently. This also goes IMO for the champions with massively overloaded kits. It's not hard to win, and it doesn't test your skill, when you're dealt a hand that's twice as large as the opponent's or when you've won your lane, before you've even finished loading into the game.

agbudar6 votes

a huge chunk of the original staff or all of them (not entirely sure on that point) that was part of league during its creation no longer works at riot. all im hoping for is that those guys come together and make a LoL 2.0 with all the experience that those guys accumulated.

or hell who knows maybe they will come up with a complete new revolutionary game genre

and im pretty sure that if they would a huge crowd of the old to very old league players will play that game.

only time will tell though.

Atronthor5 votes

Yeah you are right but we cant do anything about that. All we can do is stop playing. But they still dont care. It is more important for them that the imbeciles of their team does not lose anymore in such games. And because they are imbeciles the only possibility to reach this goal is to change the game that skill does not matter anymore. Like in the real world, you know? The more retarded you are the more power you get.

Osaka 7785 votes

Very well said! I share the same feelings. All game companies become greedy and/or arrogant, that think every decision they make is amazing. It is sad to see such companies like Blizzard, telling you... "You think you do, but you don't".

50Shades0fTrynda5 votes

What i can say to this is that the riot isnt about quality but quantity,more i play it more i see how hollow this game becomes.

Adonna4 votes

case in point: another champion release or skin, still working on current bugs with champs/client/servers/etc. Idc if they release new champs at this point - the game is so bloated with them it's unreal. And the more champs you add, the more bugs pop up that add to the pre-existing ones that they can't seem to fix or don't care to.

Rand0mH3r0X4 votes

Not the first time I've heard this.

Riot has done away with the League of Yasuo/Vayne/Thresh comps. That was trashing the game for me, and if that was you, then you were trashing this game. Champion diversity is better than ever. I remember when picking Annie in ranked was laughed at and thought of as the most insane and idiotic thing to do. Picking Annie mid is normal.

True, the largest player base for League of Legends is not North America, so if you're here feeling like you're not being listened to, NA is not the majority base. Can you take a guess at who is?

As far as certain things go, I do feel that eventually as changes roll out that we get what we want. You just have to wait a really long time for it.

FatesDefiler5 votes

{quoted}

True, the largest player base for League of Legends is not North America, so if you're here feeling like you're not being listened to, NA is not the majority base. Can you take a guess at who is?

i'll take a stab. people with no ability to appreciate depth. people who are confused and infuriated by rng things that make games fun like dodge. people who don't want to contemplate counterbuilds and just like to have every decision automated because others have already determined the optimal path for them. people who can't deal with complex game mechanics like late-game hyper carries or having characters with specific strengths and weaknesses. people who can't arrange a team comp that's anything more complex than tank, ap, jg, sup, and adc, and are totally incapable of inventing strategies that exist in combinations of champs and insist every champ in every role perform accordingly exactly the same.

cow's retina?

Rand0mH3r0X1 votes

That wasn't the answer I was looking for. I was looking at the biggest group that Riot panders to.

There are champion combos which can ruin things like Vayne/Thresh/Yasuo like Brand/Orianna/Jinx in wombo combo's, however, people's lack of champion knowledge and thought just made every game about locking down Vayne/Thresh/Yasuo in every game lobby, even if they weren't on the same team because people couldn't counter for shit.

You'd think that, knowing Vayne and Jinx lack an escape, picking Ezreal would give a good enough early game to roll the game to an early finish. With games lasting beyond 30min, Vayne would always come back. Now the opposite is true, Games usually last 30min, and early game advantages are worth something. We can finally pick Ezreal into Vayne, something that would've been so idiotic in any season before.

ZT Xperimentor4 votes

{quoted}

It doesn't help that Riot, which was perfectly fine, sold out to a company known for draining games dry and moving on. And I'm not the only person who feels this way. More than half of my friends list has been cleared due to people leaving this game, a game they spent a lot of money and time on, because they realize it's never going to be a community game again. We no longer have any say in tribunal judgments, champion concepts, or even basic gameplay balance.

Sadly spot on

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