A Player's Control, and Company Communication
League of Legends has been one of the most successful MMO/MOBA games that has ever existed. There is no denying that. It gave an incredible boost to E-Sports as an industry, and along with Starcraft has probably shaped E-Sports to be a widely accepted form of entertainment, beyond belief.
This game is fun to play. It gives satisfaction and a diverse way of playing the game, and while new tactics will seemingly need to be introduced from now on (instead of discovered, like jungling) it still offers many different ways to play the game. With so many champions, builds, sequences, compositions, lanes, the possibilities are endless.
The competitive scene and meta have taken full structure, and it's amazing yet strange to see new tactics and playstyles evolve from such minor changes, like a 200g decrease in an item, or a +10 ad to some skill. The players of this game are so intuitive that things endlessly come forth in a blossoming environment.
That said, over the course of my 4 years of playing this game, not everything is peach perfect. I think I have enough experience in the game to say that it's Frustrating to play sometimes. And in my experience, I think the main issue is the *lack of control, over anything *.
The game is so amazing to play when things go right, but from metas, to picks, to even the people you are paired with, the control is just ripped out of your hands. Sometimes games aren't satisfying to play, for some, that may seem "I didn't earn that win, and I didn't have fun, what is the point?" and that really sucks.
The lack of control translates into so much. From maybe not even getting a chance at getting a ban, to not getting the playstyles on a team you would want, to the lack of understanding, and direction on where the game is going.
This game is not casual, by any means. The games can be upwards of an hour long, and before then you can spend about 10 minutes in queue and another 5 in a champion select. We can't really change this without breaking the system, and that's just how hardcore games are. You are required to commit. Instead, I think we should further pursue this.
The lack of control I have in my games is so frustrating, that I would gladly commit an extra 20 minutes each game if I got paired with people I like, or with people who are all relatively the same in knowledge and skillcap. I would gladly trade off extra time in a game I'm already commiting to, for a grasp at control.
The lack of control makes it so frustrating, Riot doesn't really communicate with the people as often as they need to. The boards and reddit and other places are all vocal minorities yes, but the biggest issue is that pretty much anyones voice is lost in the wind about pretty much anything. I know you can't afford to respond to everyones comment on something, but shouldn't you at least try to do something?
Look at TF2. Valve has almost driven the game into the ground based on the lack of communication. Nobody is getting what they wanted. I don't want that to happen to a game that I have spent this much time in.
But then you have Old School Runescape. Before anything is even begun to be worked on, the options are polled in game for what the priorities would be, and when something arises, they poll that for if they want it. If a 75% isn't yes, it's held off.
Adding a better element of communication to the game would certainly be helpful for everyone to feel like they have a little bit of input, and as well as make things a little bit frustrating. I understand some things are a stretch, but lets be fair here, you are in fact owners of one of the most successful games ever created. You can afford to do something, and can't afford not to do something.
Don't be afraid of large changes. People adapt. New systems in place adding control to the game would really make it better as a whole. It may just be because I'm abnormally calm since I'm so terribly tired, but I just wanted to share my thoughts.
