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Major Obstacle for League: The Game Discourages Risk-Taking

Crede777·2/20/2018, 9:46:00 PM·6 votes·610 views

This is not a new observation about the state of League as I feel that it's been true for the entirety of the 8+ seasons League has existed. However, I'm going to say that a major problem with this game is that it heavily discourages risk taking.

By that, I mean that the game disproportionately punishes failed decisions/strategies and does little to reward risky decisions which are successful. Not sure if you can win an all-in 1v1? Not sure if the enemy jungler is around? Not sure if you can kill Baron / Dragon before the enemy team reacts? The answer to all these scenarios is to play passively rather than take a chance and risk failure. If you lose that 1v1 and die (or even just waste your summoners), if you end up getting caught by the enemy jungler, or if the enemy team ends up stealing Baron / Dragon that often has a major impact on the outcome of the game.

That's not to say that the game should be "easier" or more "noob friendly." Situational awareness is perhaps the greatest skill a player can have -- more important even than mechanical skill if you want to climb in rank.

But in its current state, I think we can point to League's punishment of failed risks versus reward of successful risks as a reason why the game is stagnating (or at least in the state that it's in). Here are some examples:

  1. Riot, by their own admission, are constantly attempting to broaden the pool of champions we see in normal and professional play. While I won't get into the viability of some champs versus others, I think it's safe to say that there are currently a core set of "best" performing champs in each role. Take for instance Jungle where we see Jarvan IV, Sejuani, and sometimes Kha Zix / Warwick as the best performing Junglers. Taking a Jungler outside of that group in the current meta is a risk, especially at the professional level. Further, if that risk doesn't pay off, it comes at a MAJOR (sometimes game-deciding) cost to the team who decided to branch out from the "best champ" pool. This pool of champions, by the way, are marked by champions which are able to remain relatively safe while also fulfilling their role effectively (see: Malzahar).

  2. Runes and Builds. Like champions, there can be situationally effective rune and build strategies which pay off. However, there are undoubtedly "most efficient" setups which can be difficult to deviate away from. I know patch 8.4 will render this analogy moot, but as it stands right now if you're a mana using mage you almost always want to go Morellonomicon. Likewise, while Riot claims that they implemented the Rune changes to increase build diversity, we are seeing players fall into the same rut of having an "optimal" rune setup for each champion. Deviating from these optimal build paths is risky and puts the player at a major disadvantage if they don't end up working.

  3. Summoners and Stopwatch. The reason why almost every player takes flash as a summoner regardless of the champion is because of how punishing mistakes are in this game. Flash is almost a "get out of jail free" card if you have it up when you make a mistake. Stopwatch is another example. The reliability of Flash and Stopwatch for making up for mistakes combined with the punishment for making a mistake means that they pervade every game.

The point of this post is to draw attention to the fact that, if Riot wants to increase champion, build, rune, and summoner diversity I think they need to re-balance the game so that taking a risk and failing isn't as crippling as it is right now. Until then, I think we will continue to see players default to a limited pool of champions, rune setups, summoners, and items based on reliability.

3 Comments

SexRaptor2/21/2018, 3:12:58 AM4 votes

The problem with the undertaking you suggest, is it's such a MASSIVE amount of work to rebalance this game back to a state of where games feel fun, challenging and fair. Runes/Masteries have always been and will continue to be a pointless inclusion in a game that already has systems in place to apply stats and effects (items, duh). Summoner spells continue to be a pointless inclusion in a game that already has systems in place to apply effects (items, duh) and champion diversity would increase ten fold if those stats and effects were baked into items instead.

It creates unique and less 1-dimensional build paths for champions, not everyone would have flash every single game which would legitimize different characters immediately, and early game power would be toned down by a huge factor.

But they've built this game up a certain way for the better part of the decade and they're uninterested or unwilling to make the game slower and more nuanced.

Thats right, my solution is to remove summoner spells and runes/masteries. They're dumb systems that hinder game growth and health, champion diversity, item diversity and artificially hasten the end of games. Also Rift Herald is shit and Baron is too strong, but... yeah.

Eight Rocks2/21/2018, 3:12:33 AM1 votes

You're honestly right.

The best way to play League right now is to not play at all.