Three Gameplay Suggestions Surrounding Pings and Wards

Invariel·3/22/2016, 1:18:58 PM·2 votes·461 views

I have three mostly-simple suggestions for changes that I would love to see added to the game: the first is a communication tool, the second removes a bit of frustration, and the third might actually encourage better use of the items in question.

  1. The communication tool: I think it would be a fantastic addition for the "on my way" ping to include the game-estimated time of arrival. The game already calculates a 'best path' for auto-movement between any two points on the Rift, and it knows your current movement speed. It should not be a complicated thing to divide one by the other and end up with an estimated time of arrival to the ping. This would be incredibly useful because people like to ping 'OMW' when they're leaving the base, as well as when they're in a good position to do some ganking or rendezvous with the team. Knowing that someone is 3 seconds off versus 30 seconds off with the giant visual indicator would be a great help. Yes, you could look over at the mini-map, but you don't always have that luxury.
  2. The frustration-removal change: I feel that stealth wards from all sources should have their time remaining connected to their current hit points. In the early game, if you see a ward, you don't have proper removal tools, which means that ward is going to sit around for about a minute and there's nothing you can do about it. Even if you manage to get one (or, in some cases, two) auto-attacks off on it, it's going to simply sit around at one hit point for its entire duration. If this change were made, it adds a level of depth to the vision game because that ward that was placed directly atop the in-brush support now only exists for 40/20 seconds instead of the full 60. It also offers the players some satisfaction when they damage a ward during the "sweep, clear, re-ward, clear, re-ward, clear, re-ward ..." cycle that happens when both sides are pressed against one another and are lobbying for vision - those last wards that get dropped get hit once or twice before the Sweeper times out, and the final ward lasts its entire duration.
  3. The better use change: I propose that some subset of item 2049, item 2045, item 2301, item 2302, and item 2303 gain a passive that lets them slowly regenerate wards while in the fray, in the same way that item 3340 does. Currently, the trinket does a better job of offering vision than the purchased items that fill the same role, especially during times when it would be devastating to have a teammate disappear from the fight in order to better serve the team. Having to go back to base to fill the items still makes sense, but perhaps letting them passively regenerate one or two wards would make the item a more attractive option to those who are forced to spend their first 800 gold on such things.

Thank you for reading.

1 Comments

Daddy the Chef3/24/2016, 7:33:13 PM1 votes

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