First off, thank you for staying on topic and this not turning into some flame match. It's been really great conversation.
- You say his play style was static and one-dimensional, but I disagree. I also found nothing at all awkward about it. I also feel all 4 of his Abilities, and his Passive, layered with each other and were complimentary.
He could be Defensive, waiting to bait you under Turret or waiting to Ult to an Team Mate being dove. He could be Offensive, diving under your Turret with a Taunt or Ulting onto a Diving/Ganking Champion to further increase the pressure. He could stick back and peel for the ADC or he could instead Split Push solo with Global Pressure.
Nothing One-Dimensional about that at all.
His Q gave him Sustain, but only if he Basic Attacked what he Marked... which lead to the eventually and consistent proc of his Passive to boost his generally low Damage to a healthy level IF he stayed engaged... with a Shield that allowed him to stay engaged for both the Regen and the Passive Damage. His Taunt off-set his lower damage to buy him time to get to that Passive, while also being a great Peel or Engage in Team Fights. The Ult generally worked with all of that, as he'd need all of that whether Ulting for Defensive or Offensive.
I fail to see where these things don't all display a synergy together.
- I think when you get to 'niche' is where I have the issue. The thing was, Shen was VERSATILE, not a Niche Champion. He could hold MANY Roles. He could do MANY things. THAT was the appeal. I do agree the changes absolutely put him in a niche... but that's exactly the OPPOSITE of what we should be doing.
Players are crying out for Less Meta, for More Diversity, for OUR Choices to matter. Shen allowed us to make choices... choice of Lane, choice or Role, choice of Build. Now, that's taken away from him.
For me, ESPECIALLY in the current state of people hating Meta and wanting to bring more variety and options to the game, sticking a Champion like Shen into a 'niche' is the absolute worst thing they could do.
Shen didn't need a Rework, he simply needed some adjustment to his Q and his W. Either up the Heal and lower the Damage (most sense, going with the Sustain) or drop the Heal and up the Damage (because, for some reason, people always think Tank/Utility needs more damage). His W just needed a different Scaling instead of AP.
That's it, Nerf/Buff to get things in the right spot... and even that wasn't NEEDED, it just would have been an Improvement.
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Nothing in 3 is any different from Old Shen. If Shen missed his E, he'd be lucky to have the Energy to toss a Q... and unless he got Rylia's why even bother with it? So you were rewarded heavily for dodging it.
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I have issue with the %HP Buff for Damage... Shen didn't need more damage, so why all this focus on pouring more damage into him? And he certainly didn't need Burst Damage. The only thing even remotely neat about the Rework is the Dodge Ability. I give them that... but why not just drop the old Shield for the new Dodge?
Again, we can obviously agree to disagree... and I am limited since I haven't played the New Shen. As I said, I may fall in love with the New Shen, I just doubt it will be as deep a love as I have for the Old Shen.
I'm not saying he's terrible, I'm in no position yet to say such. But I am saying he seems clearly limited from his former version, and I dislike that.