Wall-jumping abilities lack clarity: a reasonable price for mastery?
I think Riot should actually show a secondary indicator showing the final location of the displaced object.
Whenever you use a "wall-jumping" ability (warding, blinking, etc.), it always feels like a gamble whether the object will go over the wall or not.
The main counterargument here is the lack of clarity can offer a degree of mastery (a different design value): the "best" warders will use precision and landmarks to ensure their ward will be placed in the desired location, and similarly for other wall-jumping abilities. When it doesn't go over, or even if it doesn't land in precisely the correct location (warding tri-brush over dragon), the player complacently thinks "Darn, guess I should be more precise next time."
I'm arguing that it doesn't have to be so unclear in the first place (except for perhaps Flash; that's a special case because it's cast on-keypress).
To support this argument, here are examples where clarity is and is not implemented, taken from the in-depth discussion on clarity as a design value, as well as my reasoning for why it should be here:
1. A case FOR clarity:
As mentioned with the Karthus visual update regarding Lay Waste's AoE, Riot Nome states:
In approaching a change like this, the argument could be made that inaccurate particles create gameplay through deception, but this collides directly with clarity as a core value: the game should never deceive players; the player should deceive players!
However, using a wall-jumping ability on a wall does introduce some degree of uncertainty in the object's final location. Riot is actively removing as much game-introduced randomness as they can for precisely this reason (dodge, fear, GP ult) and while wall-jumping abilities are not exactly random, the player is still at odds with the game.
2. A case AGAINST clarity:
As mentioned with the turret aggro indicators, Riot Nome states:
Now here’s something turrets don’t feature: a persistent range indicator (outside of Co-Op vs AI and beginner games). Certainly a range indicator would improve clarity around the turret – no one denies this. A scenario where one player harasses another under the turret is rife for plays to be made, and this contributes heavily to our decision-making. When an indicator is present, the play is between the aggressor and the indicator rather than the aggressor and the defender. If we were to make turret range indicators permanent, then aggression would be boiled down to who can toe the line better, which ultimately decreases the potential for interesting plays to arise.
However, I would argue that exposing this information (the displaced object's final location) does not introduce stale play-patterns. A reasonably-skilled player would never whiff an ability against a static target - abilities are whiffed because they were dodged or the player incorrectly predicted where the enemy would move. Fail-warding or fail-blinking is effectively whiffing an ability against the static environment, not an enemy player.
I guess the argument boils down to whether Riot values clarity or mastery more in this case. Unless being precise against the environment is a skill they want to test, the uncertainty of wall-jumping is unjustified and should have final location indicators.