Should we be adding more to a champion's kit, in an attempt to balance them?
With the proposed malzahar changes with the PBE, it seems that between the pre-MYMU version and in the near future, the net mechanical difference is this...
+Spell Shield +Voidling AP scaling +E refresh
Is this a good idea though? By adding most of these changes to the champion, all riot has really accomplished will be to have defined what play style is "appropriate" for the champion, by giving power to mechanics which they want to add emphasis. I understand where this comes from, you want to make the champion fit some idea of the champion you have in your head, but rarely do players share an exact same prospective of the champion. So is it really a valuable trade, exchanging flexibility of play style for flexibility of balance?
After all, if riot wanted to address the number balance of the champion, it seems they could've made most of the changes to the numbers without actually changing the voidlings or adding the spell shield, and the product would've been almost identical. Instead through mechanical balancing, generally adding more to the champion's kit, they then redistribute the power of the kit (because they need to with the new mechanics) not only lowering it overall, but also enforcing the number of mechanics in the kit which you **must **utilize to viably play the champion.
Malzahar is by no means the first champion they've done this too, but it's the one i'm most familiar with and the line which i draw in the sand. On paper it seems like something the players would want... Oh they have more in their kit, of course this is better, but in practice i can see why players wouldn't want riot to rigidly define champions. Nothing about the changes really fix anything which could be said to have been mechanically wrong with the champion, instead by pigeonholing the players, riot just gets a better grip on the champion's power because they are no longer flexible enough to adjust their play style when different aspects of their kit change.
