ARAM: Discussion (and poll!): Do healers ruin games?
Alright, so to start I'm going to throw out here that I know the game is balanced particularly around Summoner's Rift 5v5 ranked gameplay. That being said, they have in the past made changes specific to Twisted Treeline & Dominion, so this post isn't entirely without foundation.
The big thing I'm wondering here is, are there plans to do anything about the 'healer situation' in ARAMs? Currently, it has been my experience that any team fortunate enough to get a healer (in particular, Sona and New Raka) tends to glide along to an easy, unstoppable victory, because they simply cannot be poked down, an essential part of the pre-engage of ARAM combat. You can't soften up a rapidly, infinitely self-repairing wall, especially not if they feature heavily ranged presence themselves, and most healers build full AP, giving themselves massive counter-poke in their own right. Looking at you, Soraka Q.
What I would like to see is some kind of tweaks to the potency of healing in Howling Abyss to tone down the free win nature of getting one of these uber-healers. I shouldn't look at a team and go:
"OK, Lux. We can handle that. Dodge skillshots. Hm, Cait & Jinx, well that's annoying, gotta burn them down fast.. Oh, Garen, we have some CC we can stop him while we get th-- Oh hell, they have Sona(/Soraka/Karma/Nami/etc.). GG guys."
An otherwise strategic, interesting battle immediately becomes a war of attrition against heals/shields. One that will without a doubt be lost, especially if your team features primarily melee champions, or just plain doesn't have a healer, too.
