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future Support patch

Aptest··1 votes·458 views

It is stated that patch 6.13 will focus on the support role.

Support is currently the least desirable role in the game. Increasing the desirability of support role has additional positive effects on the game: decreased queue times and also better matchmaking (mmr of players in game is with less variance).

I would like to open a discussion on how to improve the desirability of supports as a whole.

Here is a bunch of pet peeves i have:

  1. some characters in the game have a lot of kill potential but are hard to disengage from for the support. Supports not having a "reliable escape" makes it so supports have to be extra careful and assassin players can just b-line on the opposing support whenever.
  2. some character in the support's team are always unable to defend themselves against an assassin (assassins = single most common non-obligatory class in game). Supports are expected to provide the defense. This removes from their agency.
  3. overabundance of "lol no" moves from opposing players (spell shields, evasions, invul instances) make CC-based plays unreliable, whereas short TTK and difficuly in kiting against same players make kiting plays unfeasible.
  4. support item line overladen with "nice" must have effects and meh stats. not enough super-cool flashy effect like zonya though. too much stuff that makes other players feel good like extra def stats and extra attack stats for another player that makes them feel OP, not enough stuff that makes the support player feel "awesome" (chalice doesn't really give mega satisfaction).
  5. support items lack offensive upgrades. Too many provide the same stat lines of nice combination of defensive stats and some CDR. Need some variation in stats. Specificallly AD since we have a nice crit item why can't we have an AD item to go with it? Lots of supports like to AA.
  6. speaking about CDR and mana-regen - too much of both stats exist on the support item line. Specifically mikael's crucible is super annoying because by the time I buy it as a support i already have another item that gives me all the mana regen i'll ever need (my gold item final upgrade). I pay a lot of gold just to get the active and all the other stats, CDR excluded, are a complete waste of gold.
  7. Ardent censer : again im paying for a useless forbidden idol with no salary. Annoying.

What I would like to have:

  1. A "F.U." active on an item. Something offensive oriented and super flashy with the same level of impact and visibility as Zonya's hourglass that just makes the other team rage. Make the stats on the item complete garbage and the active deal 0 damage so that characters that need to deal some damage can't afford the opportunity cost of getting it.
  2. I want protobelt re-purposed into a support item. Remove the damage active and put something else on it. Like a spell shield on the active. And up the range. And make wall hopping possible. Don't give me that weak as shit slow flinging junk - give supports the "good stuff".
  3. Nomad's medallion. It's almost interchangeable with FQC right now. Organized team that use it better, but FQC has a lot more utility in it. Can you please change the active to be something completely different and also awesome?
  4. AD items. You gave ADCs a gold generating AD item. But you didn't give it to supports. Hell i don't need it to be a gold item, but I do want a support oriented item that buffs my AA and does something really cool. Again on the same lines of "shit stats, cool active" (otherwise i just buy funblade honestly).

thoughts?

3 Comments

Narvuntien1 votes

My thoughts. Its hard to explain why support is so undesirable, I kind of think that there are a lot of support players that only play normals and don't play ranked.

  1. making a reliable escape item is dangerous because that makes it so anyone has access to reliable escape and champions with a lot more gold are likely to buy it and sell it late game doesn't seem like this can be solved by items
  2. okay I get it you are anti assassin. protecting, saving staying close by.. that is your job that is what makes support support. Others in a team with team work can work together to protect an important teammate.
  3. Tricky because some champions need those tools to be effective, the overall mobility in the game is really high and not all supports can match it. Screw windwall stopping Nami Ultimate Hummph! A poke items active that knocks out spellshields is one of those interesting actives.
  4. Agreed, this is something they need, the tricky thing is not having other champions taking them. Say an item that is Tristana Buster shot for an active.. get away!. Say switching frost queen to say a magic missile thing that hits all the enemy team and the ghosts go onto the talisman. The key here is that the stats have to both useful and useless. Appropratiely costing item actives has been really hard.
  5. seems like a good idea, perhaps some on hit damage item, like Nami E, three hits give a slow a short burst of attack speed for braum passive or something just to give in your face action for some champions particularly those that want to be close.
  6. Is definitely annoying I have to agree a lot with this. that have decided CDR and Mana regen are the support roles stats there is just too much when there is a cap on CDR and Mana regen gets diminishing returns. There is too many CDR items these days in general
  7. needs a rework, I for example want to give an ally the speed boost not attack speed boost to just push them out of danger.perhaps this is where you put your anti assassin active (or passive)

There is a number of tricky things riot has to balance. They need to make sure its a good item but doesn't make everyone buy it, the item has to be cheap enough to be afforded by a support. When support is basically a gold staved Mage or Tank its really tricky to prevent Mid laners and Tanks buying the item for early game power spikes. People that like support because its not like the other roles, we kind of like our responsibilities of warding and protecting and that most supports have game changing ultimate's. You can't lose the support identity in the rework, but the identity doesn't appeal to everyone it might not be possible to do it.

  1. Better actives, more variety in items and stats.
  2. More Exp, I am getting underleveled especially since junglers recently got Exp buff its leaving supports behind and we neeeeed level 6 to be effective.
  3. Unchain us from bot lane, this is really tricky we need to be able to carry a whole team, sometimes the ADC is bad, gets a bad start, sometimes without assists we don't have gold or levels and everything negative snowballs from there. tanks can't tank healers can't heal/stop assassins. there needs to be a way for us to get back into a game after a bad start. we can't just farm a lane and try to get back into a game, we have to be active in the game but if we don't have it we don't have it.
OurLestrade1 votes

There needs to be more flashy supports that feel like they contribute something outside stat sticks if you ask me. You get your Lee Sins and your Leblancs and Zeds and Yasuos doing all their flashy plays, yet there's never been a true support that can do that sort of thing (People who say Bard is like that really baffle me. He goes through a tunnel and stuns you when you follow him, that's pretty much his one play. He's the Singed of supports, not the Leblanc or Zed :O)

My theory's always been that they purposefully design supports to be very basic because most people who play it don't main it and get stuck with it as last pick :P

Aptest1 votes

okay I get it you are anti assassin. protecting, saving staying close by.. that is your job that is what makes support support. Others in a team with team work can work together to protect an important teammate.

I want to have items that disjoint the support player from being "the ADC's protector". When I play "support", I do not feel, nor do I wish to feel, like the team's little slave helper and second fiddle: for me, the support role is miss-named - it is not "support" that I play, but "the pauper".

My vision of playing "support" is not "to help the ADC". or "to protect". or "to asssit". or any of that bullshit: and I think a lot of players would like to have an alternative playstyle that doesn't constitute grabbing leona or blitzcrank and going ham with them.

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