How would you balance League Champions?

What's happening everyone? Here are a couple of problems I've noticed with our current balancing system:

1. Balancing in League seems to be predominately reactionary. Many times, when champions are added, people complain that they are either too powerful or (on rare occasion) too weak. Once the community begins complaining, balancing begins as well. This suggests that the League balance team + champion concept team are not working in harmony. Now I understand that you cannot exactly foresee how players will respond to a certain champion. For instance, take Yasuo. This champion was picked up almost immediately by many players at the top level and lower levels too. I remember seeing him in an LCS tournament only a couple weeks after his release. This was an unprecedented response: new champions are not usually picked up by high level players that quickly. But he was just that strong. Even when this champion's kit was revealed, I remember thinking that this champion would be very strong. Other players seemed to agree as well. And it took many many tweaks (basically, just nerfs) to get the champion to a balanced state. Had there been some more thought with Yasuo's kit BEFORE release, he may have required much less balancing.

2. Newer champions can do what older champions do but on a better level. The target of balance changes seems to be based on what is currently popular or unpopular. It seems that newer champions get nerfed and balanced based on how many people are playing him/her or not playing him/her. Recently, many of the older champions have seen less play because the newer champions just do what they do so much better. For instance, take Thresh and Blitz. Blitz used to be an interesting and potentially powerful support pick because of his unique hook. But now, if you want to play Blitz you might as well play Thresh because he brings a hook and so much more utility to a team. Such examples suggest that more recent champions simply outshine older champions. This is a problem because if too many people play one champion for a certain role then the other champions get overlooked. This ends up hurting the overall diversity and depth of the game.

I think many of these issues can be addressed by communicating with the League community more often. I know there have been Q&A sessions after releasing new champions or big changes and this is a great step forward! However, I believe it is also important to have these sessions to be held before potential big changes or new additions are released. Right now, any future champion is kept secret so that there can be a spectacular reveal. But by that time, the champion concept, design, and kit have already gone through significant development. Though maybe SOME (not ALL) of the WOW factor would be removed, keeping the community involved in champion development can make for a more healthy concept and less balancing after a champion is released. This is my most reasonable suggestion.

What are your current thoughts on League champion balance? Love it, hate it? Any suggestions for improvement? Leave a comment if you would like to give some input. Have a good day!

From, Torrence