I honestly feel ashamed for wanting to work for Riot Games.

Hello, I'm Call Me Helpless, I've been playing League since season 3 and is currently ranked at Platinum 4 (and climbing). I also started my 3rd week of college at Full Sail University to become a Game Designer.

Now what made me want to write up this post was due to a college presentation I was drafting, my presentation was going to be on a self-pitch on a company that I personally wanted to work for, that company being Riot Games... And that's where things went down hill. As every time I tried to make a positive point, a negative quickly sprung into play and completely canceled out that positive point. Is it bad brainstorming skills? Maybe. But then the question got brought up: "Why do I want to work for a company who's ideas I cannot find a reason to agree with?".

Point #1: The biggest rule of design

Now I probably can't say too much since I've just started my path to a career, but from what I've read in books, articles, etc.... One of the largest rules that was commonly said was: "The designer should have no influence on the direction (or META) of the game". What does that mean? It means that the designer(s) should not have an influential power on who or what to play or build. Guidelines can be placed (for example, saying where a champion would best fit), but that's as far as it should go, as the player(s) are the ones who dictate what the meta is.

Where does this come into play? I hate to beat on a dead horse, but it's a perfect example. http://boards.na.leagueoflegends.com/en/c/player-behavior-moderation/FrILlWp7-14-day-ban-because-playing-nunu-support-with-smite-is-stealing-other-peoples-roles

The players should be allowed to test, and if it works; allow it. But if something is overly powerful, then it should be adjusted accordingly in the correct manner. And this brings me to my next point...

Point #2: The 1%

We all know that the game is heavily balanced around the LCS (or Platinum and above as Riot themselves had said, but actions have proved otherwise). And up to an extent, that's okay, but there is also a huge flaw in this... If the game is being designed around the LCS, then that means the game is being balanced around the 1%. So what's the problem? The problem with this, is that most of the changes that happen, are not going to affect the player base that make up the large majority of the game. HOWEVER, there are also certain changes that can HEAVILY affect the rest of the player base in a negative way.

For example, there were changes made to make the early game for the LCS more exciting to watch (since most of the early game was farming), and while this did succeed to a small extent... it caused dramatic negatives for the rest of the player base, AND to the health and balance of the game. Due to these changes, early game damage is STAGGERING, and it isn't uncommon for games to end in under 20 minutes (before the surrender vote can even take place). What other negatives did these changes bring?

_1. It shrunk the pool of champions that are viable. _ Considering that early game damage is high, it puts a focus on early game champions, or even champions that can get the most usage of the best items or stats. This means that a good amount of late game champions are currently struggling to even have a foothold, unless they do incredibly well early on and snowball.

2. It limited the available builds that are viable. Touching on itemization... Builds nowadays are probably more linear than ever before. There has always been a "best build" for each champion (based on situation, lane match-up, team comp, etc), however, certain stats have so much more power than other stats; Lethality being the largest culprit.

3. Team fights are almost a thing of the past. Remember what I said about early game champions? This is where is all comes together. Team fights still happen, but these fights are now dictated over who can deal the most damage first. The out-play potential is currently at an all time low, as there is little to no strategy involved in team fights. This is also a problem due to the fact of late game champions (and some mid game champions) having no way to truly participate in these fights, as the power spikes just haven't happened yet, nor will they.

Finally... these negatives bring up the final point.

Point #3: Balance and Favoritism

Flat out, the fact that "Flavor of the Month" exists in this game is truly disgusting, as it is directly correlated with Riot controlling the META, not the players. Favoritism is such a negative factor to bring into any game, regardless of it being PvP or PvE. There are FAR too many instances of favoritism being shown among the balance team, and it plays a huge part as to why players are quitting this game, why the LCS is boring to watch (what is enjoyable in watching the same champions from a pool of about 30 out of 134 get played every single match?), and why players are honestly upset. Damage creep is an obvious problem, and not only is taking fun out of the game, but obvious problem champions and items not being properly addressed is what is causing players to lose faith in the company.

The quality of life changes to the game are nice but... At the end of the day, they only prove as distractions to be honest. An added dragon timer isn't going to hide the fact that can be on the high tiers of the jungle for seasons on end. Adjusting the score board isn't going to hide the fact each newly released or re-worked champion is being over-loaded to an insane level Adding quality of life changes doesn't hide that fact that some champions haven't gotten a new skin in years.

Let me ask this, is there still excitement for champion reworks? There probably is, but how much longer will that last?

I'm probably just wasting my time writing this, but I don't want to see a game that I've personally enjoyed for so long fall victim to mistreatment, poor design, and favoritism. But it brings the question of, "If I work for them, would unbiased ideas become ignored?", because a lot of evidence shows that unbiased choices don't have a place in this game. I want to be proven I'm wrong.