[{quoted}](name=Dr Mercy,realm=NA,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=oFHhgUee,comment-id=0008000000000000000000000000,timestamp=2017-10-23T04:53:29.444+0000)
No, there are objectively bullshit champions that are unfun due to the concept of game design they break.
Yes, Riot's design philosophy of 'Everything must have outplay potential, except those things over there.' Which has lead to this wonderful meta everyone has been enjoying so much where the 'except those things over there' classes have been rolling over everyone else.
Poppy's old Ult,
Could be addressed either strategically (close the game out before she became a threat since she was a hyper-carry, good ward coverage to keep tabs on her) or tactically (intercept her before she gets close, have the Support CC her, run away like brave Sir Robin, avoid walls to minimize her damage).
In case you missed the icon, I was a Dominion player. That map minimized every single weakness that kept old Poppy in check while providing her with an ample supply of walls. She was massively more effective over there. I'm a Kog otp for heaven's sake and of all the times I had her chasing me down I never felt that it was any more unfair than Jman stomping me into a crater.
Yorick's old ghouls,
Commonly laned against Yorick bottom over in Dominionland, where the Health Shrines and ambient mana aura allowed him to spam to his undead heart's content. Since we actually had to deal with him (old Urgot, too!) we had to find strategies and counters to beat them. Were they strong? Sure! But I never found either of them particularly frustrating to lane against (unlike Ahri, that bitch).
Against Yorick, you wanted armor and sustain (or a ranged champ with good waveclear to freeze the lane). Against Urgot, you just had to Dodge The Thing, Riot's favorite form of counterplay!
Old Talon.
Oh Talon... There was counterplay against him, too. The most elementary sort, as it happens. Don't stand within range of his blink and don't try to solo him unless you can eat his combo and survive. Turns out people have these things called team mates that really help when trying to deal with Assassins.
They all had abilities that did not give the person playing against them any means of playing around their damage at all.
They all had means of playing around their damage. You just didn't like those means, weren't aware of those means, or refused to take advantage of those means. Possibly some combination of all three.
That's a core principle of game design "Can the player respond to this".
And they can! There's counterplay to everything. But not everything can be outplayed. Nor should everything have outplay potential.
What you're saying, is that Riot shouldn't care about things like "Can the player respond," because you want the player to be having fun always. That's ludicrous. News Flash, you should be able to be outplayed, because that's what makes the game challenging.
I think they should care about outplay potential. But I also think too much outplay potential is bad for champion design (and bad for the game, too). Players having agency over their own champion's success is more important than players having agency over their opponent's champion.
There is no guarentee that making both champions have zero outplayability, ensure fun for both players. One will always be more bullshit, and it becomes a case of Winning at champ select than winning your lane. Why do you want the basic principle of game design to be thrown out the window?!
And a champ can have plenty of outplay potential and people will still deride them as bullshit. See: any time that Blitz and Morg have been strong picks. People always complain when they lose to things they don't like. It doesn't matter how much or mow little outplay potential the champ in question has.
You can have champs lane against each other who have NOTHING but targeted abilities and it'll still be a skill matchup. There's more to this game than simply dodging skillshots.
) but it's not fun for the recipient.
would like a word with you.
or a 
. The only real assassination part she has is her ultimate.