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Why are Tanks Overrewarded in this Game?

GorillazNtheMyst·8/26/2017, 3:25:19 PM·9 votes·938 views

Tl;DR: Why do tanks get to have ridiculous HP pools, defensive stats, hard CC, and beyond impactful damage? I DON'T HAVE AN ANSWER SEASON 7 IS A NIGHTMARE.

So I've been playing video games for an eternity, and one thing that has always been an RPG mainstay is the basic separation of powers that goes into classes and character types - i.e. damage carries do damage but are squishy and vulnerable, tanks are defensive and don't do much damage but have a lot of utility, etc. I suppose there are hybrid classes out there too, and not everything is this cut and dry, but I would like to think that the overwhelming majority of games I have played have had this as a core concept behind their character development.

So why in the heck is League of Legends the only game to actually give characters options to build tanky AF and still do crap tons of damage with those same items? Like, a Jax with one AD item and a bunch of bruiser tank items shouldn't be able to 3 shot a 3K HP character, I don't care how fed that dude is. With comparable item amounts and CS, that dude shouldn't be able to literally three shot me with a bunch of tank items just because he's Jax.

Now, to me, this seems brutally unfair - that Riot should time and again buff the heck out of tanks so that the game becomes actually unbearable, and reward them endlessly for being huge damage soakers and CC bots with free extra damage either in the form of base stats, or bizarre items like Titanic Hydra that say, "Sure, you can have a ridiculous HP pool AND a bucket of damage, have fun!" And to add insult to injury, there are basically no champs that are true "tank-shredders" in this meta because Riot's nerfed all of them to smithereens.

All this being said, I wonder how on earth anybody in Riot's balance team is still employed. How on earth do you manage to ruin a perfectly good game, turning it into the least balanced piece of poppycock out there, and still keep your job? MORE QUESTIONS I CANNOT ANSWER. Discuss.

19 Comments

Ralanr8/26/2017, 5:14:16 PM3 votes

RPGs with tanks aren't PVP. Straight up regular tank design from PVE doesn't work in PVP because there is no way to hold aggro.

Unless you want every tank to have a taunt.

Selegun8/26/2017, 4:01:38 PM3 votes

Based on the information given you are probably playing Helmet Bro. He has a cripplingly weak early game followed by a subpar mid game if only for the fact you are forced to rely on the enemy taking pity on you to be able to survive. Try playing someone a bit stronger like Karthus or Aatrox and see if things don't improve.

Dale Wardark8/26/2017, 6:15:38 PM2 votes

You say tanks get rewarded, but ADC and Fighters literally got an item that was available to the whole item (Guardian Angel) retooled specifically for them. Fighters and ADC several amazing resistance items (Maw, Mercurial Scimitar, Guardian Angel). Grievous wounds is available on two very good tank busting items for ADs and one near-core item for mage, while tanks have to build Thornmail, which has a crappy build path. On the subject of purely anti-adc items, Randuins is also pretty bad. Sunfire just doesn't work as a farm item anymore because you have to get stupid close to minions to use it so if you're playing against someone like a Darius or trundle who can easily out-trade you, guess what. The last decent tank items are Spirit Visage and Deadmans, and even then Deadmans slow, movespeed and bonus damage takes some walking to get charged, unlike zeal items which can charge on damage alone. /rant

Love, a salty tank lover

Shuyin1788/26/2017, 6:31:56 PM1 votes

Because building full tank and still getting shreded by a single champion is "being rewarded".

FantasySniper8/26/2017, 4:51:09 PM1 votes

There are barely any legitimate tanks worth playing right now, and they're still getting nerfed further out of the meta.

Zero Shingetsu8/26/2017, 4:11:24 PM1 votes

Yet another reason I prefer Heroes of the Storm's method. (Wow I'm gonna get banned, aren't I... But learning from competitors is good for a company.) Not only does their system give individual heroes more personality, but it creates branching utility.

You want D.Va to do damage? She won't be as tough. You want Valla to sustain? She won't have as much raw damage. You want more CC for Morales? Her healing won't be as strong.

League shoehorns by role, and it's all based on how pros play. That's been League's problem since they started trying to convince us video games constitute sport. They balance their game for top-tier play when the vast, VAST majority of players aren't at that level and have no intention to be. That means tanks have to be able to dish out damage, because top-tier players know how to melt tanks fairly fast and they need to have a way to back the enemy off.

But in low-tier play, it just means tanks can walk into fights and mutilate everything without effort. It also means ADCs can heal more damage per second than almost any non-ADC can put out, even with grievous wounds.

Glîtchy8/26/2017, 3:40:45 PM1 votes

Most do have the core concept, however to add onto this I have seen games where a tank can have like 1 INSANE damaging ability but as a result they either,

  1. Can't move or attack for a bit

  2. Deal sufficient damage to themself as well

  3. It eats up ALL (or almost all) their SP/Mana