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League of Legends is indeed slowly losing players...

Snow Tea·7/22/2016, 9:00:07 PM·78 votes·20,980 views

This game may be gaining new players every day, but as of season 6 more players are going and we can all tell. -Queue times are longer -Game is not as fun as previous seasons ( not as livley for some reason )

  • The forced Dynamic q on all players that play ranked. ( removed ranked teams and solo/duo q but added dynamic q... and removal of Team builder.like wut?)

http://boards.na.leagueoflegends.com/en/c/gameplay-balance/m5kFadc5-so-you-say-league-of-legends-isnt-losing-players

Many LoL players have moved to Overwatch since its release. It is quite similar even though it is not necessarily the same game type. But this shouldn't be the sole reason because many games come out every year. Lets be honest here..... League seems like it is losing players more and more as of s6.

Gross gore just made a video on youtube saying he is quitting league.. very recently. well we all know gross gore. He said he was done with streaming but he went to hitbox instead. Twitch is getting lower views on esports.

What can Riot do to save this game???

158 Comments

Scary Door7/22/2016, 9:09:15 PM56 votes

{quoted}

This game may be gaining new players every day, but as of season 6 more players are going and we can all tell.

citation required.

-Queue times are longer

Anecdotal evidence is not evidence. I can easily say that I haven't noticed longer queue times at all.

-Game is not as fun as previous seasons ( not as livley for some reason )

That is an opinion. Certainly you are entitled to this view, but that doesn't make it true or accurate.

Very Hard Engage7/22/2016, 9:08:10 PM28 votes

if riot wants to save league the have to.

  1. throw dynamic queue out the window and make true solo Q.

  2. add in incentives for new players for a prolonged period of time until they can obtain ~25 champions or an equivalent in IP

  3. lower IP costs of EVERYTHING, no sense in having a disgraceful gap in stat power from a new player and a lvl 30

  4. free rune pages, literally shouldn't be a thing, its fine to have to buy extras but it shouldn't be a limiting factor at least 2 per role.

  5. reduce frustrating play

  6. teaching mode, whether it be two v two (good player + noob) vs 2 bots, or full team, but something constructed in a way where a good player can offer starting advice and show people important concepts to new/low levels or anyone who wants to improve.

  7. improve chances of playing with people with whom you've worked well with( + recommendation) and avoid players you just dont want to play with. ( - recommendation)

NinjaGuy697/23/2016, 12:02:56 AM16 votes

What can Riot do to save this game???

  1. Like a few other posters have also stated in this thread, Riot should reduce the barrier of entry to newer players by reducing or removing IP costs for many in-game items such as runes and rune pages.

  2. Reduce the amount of experience that's required to reach level 30. Even though they recently reduced this amount, it's still too high and I'm sure many new players have quit before reaching level 30 because it was such a tedious and time consuming process.

  3. BRING BACK SOLO QUEUE.

  4. Provide meaningful and consistent incentives to positive players who aren't toxic. It reflects very poorly on a company when they can't seem to create a non-toxic environment for their players (which is mostly dominated by griefing trolls who aren't punished nearly as hard as they should be).

  5. Actually give a shit about balance.

  6. Actually give a shit about balance.

  7. Implement the feedback that players give them in on the forums and on the Player Feedback Survey that pops up in the client every now and then. They only hurt themselves by ignoring recommendations and feedback that many in the community have requested for a long time now....like I don't know, maybe give us more bans?

  8. Actually give a shit about balance.

NinjaGuy69

1wolfpack7/22/2016, 9:45:51 PM12 votes

i don't know if for sure their are less players, or the same number of players all vying for the same role that causes the increased wait time... personally I prefer the old champ select because it forces you to be able to play multiple champions and roles. and teaches you how to better play against them too.

overall it was a better way of learning the game as a whole, instead of just learning one role and 2-3 champions for that specific role. then wait 10 mins for a game.

Arctic Snow Wolf7/22/2016, 9:07:10 PM9 votes

yeah, league is loosing alot of players. everything is just getting over powered, riot is just making everyone stronger and not trying to balance champions this season at all. i know alot of support players are leaving the game the only reason i havent left yet is im part of a team and i made a commitment. But the support community is getting smaller at all levels. riot needs to change some things if they hope to get back on track

ModCaptainMårvelous7/23/2016, 3:22:20 AM9 votes

Oh look it's another doomsaying thread.

First of all, dying is not the word you're looking for. "Plateau'd" is the word you're looking for. League gains/loses players at a rate that is either not worth reporting (1% increases is nothing to boast about), is equal or basically even or a decline. However, that's not "dying". That's just hitting your peak. WoW had the same scenario in 2008-2009 when it peaked with Wrath. That game is still around today with about half as many subs as it used to have. Hell, check out DoTA2. The game has an average of just over 600,000 players on Steamcharts and it only just broke 13 million unique logins in the last month. It's extremely unlikely it'll ever get higher.

On the topic of DQ: Guess what, it's probably fine for most people. Can there be less ranked players? Sure, but your average player honestly doesn't give a damn. They don't have a dog in this fight. Readding solo queue won't do much other than maybe make some people stop complaining about it. (Hell, if anything it probably brought more players in despite a drop in ranked play because you can get roles you specifically want in norms.)

Queue times are also not the real problem here because you're selecting by role. It's MUCH easier to get people into a game when there are 5 randoms all fighting for who gets to be mid than it is for finding 2 people to fill this and that role specifically. Remember team builder? Same exact issue with queue times. Only instead of going through champ select you looked through each character to figure out what you wanted to put up with.

Twitch is incorrect as well. There are less overall viewers because there's more overall to watch. There's also an increase in vods and like triple the amount of games. 200k viewers for 4 games vs. 120k viewers for 12 games. Also streamers/players saying they'll quit is nothing new.

You're also comparing incredibly broad and generic claims. "Many players" "Lots of people" etc. The only real proof is that there hasn't been any player statistics posted since 2014 or so and the whole PC Bang thing. For all we know, maybe us 100 people are the last people playing ever. Maybe the rumors of death are greatly exaggerated.

Finally: You can't save a game when it's in decline. You can triage and you can entice new players/bring old ones back (Which will happen whenever Riot has a new champ, the new client or a game mode) but you're not going to "save" the game. League peaked and Riot can basically do whatever they want. They're not going to magically save the game and make it more popular than it ever was before.

FantasySniper7/23/2016, 4:18:14 AM7 votes

I've noticed the queue times getting longer.

Used to be around 15 to 30 seconds based on time of day and week. Now it's at least 40+ all the time.

(I'm in high gold elo area.)

AsheGetsGanked7/23/2016, 3:34:01 AM6 votes

I'll comment on this.

I feel the same that as a veteran of this game, played since season 2, this game has gotten stale. But it's not only the veterans that feel somewhat irked by riot now. New players also have a hard time.

For new players:

  1. Really bad tutorials, that really don't teach much. Pretty much either have to make copious amounts of mistakes to learn anything, or go to outside resources, unless ur lucky to have a friend to teach you stuff.
  2. Toxicity: This is a huge problem, with them running into smurfs, smurfs can ruin and crush a new players hope so much that it's just sad. They may feel so defeated and get a horrible opinion of the game. I remember doing a smurf once, man I felt really bad after going like 42 something with galio, somebody who I suck with. I realized that can really defeat people.
  3. Bot accounts, they may run into this and that isn't fair.
  4. The IP costs can still be a huge pain in getting champs they want. Pile that on with rune pages and t3 runes, yeah it sucks.

For veterans:

  1. Dynamic Que (for some), I personally prefered solo que, as I NEVER made the reason of why i lost was "oh they had the better premade/better communication". Now I can make that excuse if I lose horribly lol. And I don't like playing with teams of 4, and sometimes a premade of 3. Hate it. Ranked integrity/ladder compromised.
  2. No new maps. seriously wtf we need a new map
  3. Balancing: Hly shit the balancing at times is awful
  4. Favoritism with certain champs, and others left in the dust, severely outdated.
  5. Age of the game, honestly it hasn't aged that well as we wanted it to be sadly.

Outside competition There's many many other reasons, like Overwatch, P Go, and others.

LCS is boring now. More opinion though idk.

MFTORANK17/22/2016, 9:45:37 PM5 votes

ill give you my honest opinion as an average player about the problems with this game and why I think many people have left ;

  • . Dynamic Q is frustrating and the game sometimes only revolve around who has the better 3-man premade. I don't want to play with friends all the time, I like playing solo and ranking is so much harder this season for that reason. I have improved a lot since the past season but my rank is lower and so many games just feel unwinnable and unfair not because the enemy team is better but because their communication is.

  • Towers are absolute garbage, they are just wards with a lot of HP , when you get ganked by a well coordinated premade team it doesn't matter if you are under-tower they will still kill you easily. And don't get me started on t3/t4 towers they are suppose to protect the most important objectives in the game and do zero dmg in the late game.

  • The new player experience is terrible, if you don't have any experience playing MOBAs you are pretty much screwed, there is no clear guideline on what to build and why, how to CS effectively, how to kite , why objectives are important, how to clear the jungle. You pretty much have to research everything by yourself and it take so much time.

  • Some champions in this game feel extremely old, outdated and underpowered. They need a rework but instead RIOT keeps creating new champions and completely disregard veterans who have put hours learning these old champs.

These are just a couple ideas I had on top of my head but im sure there is more !

MLDzXnRRR7/23/2016, 4:23:07 AM5 votes

The game isn't fun anymore. I used to play every day... Too much damage, overpowered keystone masteries, too much global gold making the game snowbally and fast, stale ADC+ sup botlane for 5 seasons, no new maps, no custom announcers, itemisation - mostly statsticks (some of the items from the black market brawlers were really cool), tanks get melted in seconds, but for some reason deal damage rivaling DPS charcters, competitive Lol = boring farmfest dominated by the same 10-15 champions, reworks of champions that aren't in need of reworks (the whole Mage update just made some champions overpowered, not balanced or more fun; same with the ADC update), instead of working on charcters with toxic, outdated gameplay and good only vs new players/ bronze - WW, Aatrox, Trynd, Katarina, Shaco and so on.

Teslyn7/23/2016, 4:27:33 AM5 votes

this feels like the same thing that happened in WoW..

Eedat7/22/2016, 9:16:54 PM5 votes

I agree except for one thing.

Queue times are longer

I believe that is a direct result of the new Champ Select and DQ. Before it just had to find 10 people of similar MMR. Now it has to do the same while trying to piece together preferred roles and party size for everyone. A low supply of people willing to queue as support makes this even worse

Aheadatime7/23/2016, 4:10:42 AM5 votes

I've quit this game. The main reason is dynamic queue. However, I also feel like League has lost its charm;

The "ye old" look and feel of the client, store, in-game shop, etc. The simplistic nature of champions. The skills acquired over time (timing dragon/baron/buffs)

Etc. Game is still good and won't completely 'die' any time soon. It's just lost its touch for me, and dynamic queue was the straw that broke the spell this game had on me since season 2.

Vallalan7/23/2016, 4:30:07 AM3 votes

I thought so too, but then someone posted the hard data on reddit and league is still growing at the fastest rate of all mobas, and yes...growing. not staying. not declining the slowest. growing.

its getting MORE popular. the diehards are getting frustrated, but the game still thrives.

until they royally do something to fundamentally change how the game is played and fuck it up hard, the game will thrive. eventually that day will come where Riot just ruins their game like all companies do, but for now they haven't done it yet. the game lives on.

TwitchInMyPants7/23/2016, 2:04:59 AM3 votes

I will say that while Overwatch is fun as hell its not a moba alternative really. If I wanted something like League that isn't League I'd probably be on DotA or HotS or something. When I'm in the mood to play something I play League and really its just to experience the characters I love and to play with friends. The game environment itself is kind of shit - gold swings like crazy, everyone has tons of damage and there really isn't such a thing as counterbuilding anymore. If you're counterpicked you're pretty much forced to crutch on your team. I'm hanging around and keeping fresh in hopes that S7 is better though Riot is always a mixed bag. I can at least say they've been active on tweaking champions to keep the numbers fair but it doesn't really matter to me if that's the case if one skillshot cc in a 1v1 means death from all the damage inflation.

Elewd7/23/2016, 5:44:05 AM2 votes

i didnt even know dynamic queue existed until i visited the forums, theres literally no difference to most players compared to solo queue and dynamic queue.