Just a league player's opinion (Quinn)

Hello, fellow League of Legends players! I'm writing today because I wanted to divulge some of my opinions on the recent marksman update, specifically Quinn.

I can't say that I'm particularly a Quinn player or a Quinn main. From playing League of Legends from the beginning of Season 4, I couldn't find a place for Quinn in the meta thus far, so I was never truly able to play her seriously in ranked or ranked teams while I was under 'training.' Despite this however, I absolutely loved playing Quinn for a variety of reasons.

The whole theme of Quinn, who she is, how she is played, and how she is portrayed in the game is so appealing to me. I've always imagined how she would be if Riot ever put her in a CGI cinematic, and just how awesome it would be if I saw her vault another champion, the way she would flip (slow-mo!), and while she's still in the air and before she hits the ground, Valor comes to sweep her up and take to the skies. On paper, I can't really explain her appeal so articulately as say if I were to describe another champion... like Azir, the risen God of the sands, or Zed, the assassin master of shadows, or Lee Sin, the blind master martial artist who utilizes sound to fight. Quinn's abilites just don't seem superhuman, but where I find the appeal personally is the solidity of her design and portrayal in-game.

Prior to the update, Quinn differed from the other Marksmen primarily because of her Vault and her ultimate, Tag Team. Her 'Q,' Aerial Assault, seemed interestingly enough because the projectile was Valor (awesome name for her bird), which was already unlike other projectiles compared to Caitlyn's 'Piltover Peacemaker,' or Jinx's 'Zap,' or Varus' 'Piercing Arrow.' The inclusion of Valor swifting through the air to damage and blind enemies is such a cool design, and it seems like it ties up more teamwork between Quinn and Valor--it would've just felt more distant if Quinn's 'Q' was an empowered arrow from her crossbow.

Quinn's passive, 'Harrier,' further establishes the teamwork between her and Valor, because it gives much more utility and usefulness to what Valor does and what he is there for--to assist. He comes by to target certain enemies for Quinn to deal extra damage to. Vault is an awesome skill that portrays Quinn's mobility (not by gameplay, mind you), and to me it just shows that, although Quinn may not have superpowers like Brand or Ahri, she is more than competent. And adding Valor to the mix is the icing on the cake. The ultimate 'Tag Team' was always interesting, because it switched from playing Quinn to Valor. In game, it seemed kind of useless, but I always found it awesome to switch from a Marksman style to an Assassin style.

So here's where I'm getting more to the point.

The latest Marksman update's goal was to diversify gameplay styles compared to how they did with the Juggernaut update. The most notable change I seem to find was Graves, and how is auto-attacks changed to more fit his weapon as a shotgun, and at a design perspective, is awesome because it establishes him as a closer range, marksman duelist. The mechanic of how he needs to reload is awesome!

So, when I first saw the update for Quinn's ultimate, I immediately thought... that is so fucking awesome. Because the champion to play is Quinn, not Quinn & Valor (although that could be cool too), so Valor upholding the assistance role instead of taking the spotlight was such a cool design aspect. But how would her skills change while she's under that ultimate ability?

I absolutely despise the new ultimate. What started off to me as a promising new mechanic just became a utility skill rather than this ultimate ability I thought it was going to be, and it just feels clunky. In the past, Tag Team was so fluid--it didn't stop your motion--it instantly swapped you with Valor. The ultimate ability now effectively stops you for a few seconds before gaining this extra movement speed. I don't ever want any marksman to stop what they are doing at any point if I could help it. Having that said, it's completely useless in team fights!

Prior to this, switching to Valor had a long cooldown, and I know this is a minor point, but it always gave me a giddy feeling when I switched to Valor because it was not only really fun, but I wasn't able to do it all the time. It's like Christmas--it only comes once a year, but if every day was Christmas, it would get boring really quick. Now that I can call Valor to 'help' me at any point, it doesn't give me that assassin rush anymore, that when I press 'R,' I no longer think 'it's GO time!' Now when I press 'R,' it's like calling a friend for a ride, wait a few minutes, picks me up, drops me off, and that was it. We didn't even hang out. I mean, the name Valor means bravery and courage, which was portrayed by the old ultimate by actually engaging in combat himself, diving in without any fear. I guess he got old and retired to be a taxi driver.

Skystrike was an ability that was just an awesome finisher, that after you swapped to this more assassin gameplay style, the finisher (that did more damage the lower your target's health was) was that it brought back Quinn to complete the kill in style. Now it just feels much more useless--her ultimate ability doesn't seem ultimate at all. Now her "ultimate" ability is just used to get to lane or roam a bit longer, and doesn't seem like Valor is any more useful in the whole aspect of teamwork between him and Quinn in fights. Valor's abilities were removed after Tag Team, mind you, and Skystrike is now forced to engage damage and it just feels so overused and much less useful. It honestly removed that 'giddy' feeling of seeing Skystrike just finish off a champion you chased to assassinate. What was a duality of Marksman/Assassin gameplay styles seems now like just a marksman whose ultimate isn't all that ultimate at all. Riot, honestly, I love you, but shit, I really think you downplayed Quinn a little too hard here.

It would have been amazing to see skill changes when Quinn's new ultimate was in effect and how it would change the dynamic of gameplay during it. Maybe her 'Q' fires a long-range crossbow shot? I keep imagining it cinematically, as if in a movie, Valor would be carrying Quinn as she does some awesome snipe shots that she couldn't normally do without Valor giving her the aerial advantage. Maybe 'Skystrike' could change to her 'W' with quite a long cooldown, or maybe she can only use it once per ultimate at any time during its duration. Maybe going into the ultimate, she would do a dash or a somersault dive before Valor sweeps her up, giving her a limited but slightly increased mobility and a chance for some more outplays?

I would honestly loved to see Valor flying around above Quinn while you played her, like surveying the area and always keeping an eye out for her, and Aerial Assault wouldn't be a colliding skill shot, but rather, kind of like Soraka's 'Starcall,' would dive to a specific area and deal a bit of AOE damage. Not that I find her current Aerial Assault has any problems. Maybe her W, 'Heightened Senses,' could tag all those who weren't visible to Quinn but are now revealed with Harrier, making for some more defensive plays from ganks. Again, I imagine it cinematically with Quinn fighting some baddies and Valor offering more information against hidden enemies, and now, with Valor marking them with Harrier, gives Quinn information on how to fend against the unsuspected. And I've always wanted Valor to detect invisible units, because that would just be so awesome (it has a huge cooldown anyway).

Vault is already awesome, and marking the vaulted target afterwards is even more awesome. That's one of the biggest reasons why I loved Quinn, because Vault, whether or not the idea of the skill is so simple, is just so awesome. To me, it portrays that she is amazingly adept and flexible at what she does, even though she may not have 'super powers.' Maybe during the new ultimate, Vault could be more of a dash like Lucian's dash or Graves' dash. Or perhaps it would still dive like the old ultimate, or just keep it the same as regular Quinn. Or maybe give it an entirely new ability like multiple arrow shots or kind of like Kindred's 'Mounting Dread' stacks.

What I've always wanted for Quinn was a more dynamic gameplay. A duality of Marksman and Assassin gameplay is interesting, but I've wanted a more finely tuned inclusion of Quinn, and Quinn and Valor--not Quinn and Valor, and Valor. I personally think Quinn's overall design aspects could be expanded to a much more higher quality of gameplay--one you could make more meaningful plays all the while actively portraying the artistic aspects of Quinn and Valor and their relationship.

Anyway, if you made it all the way down here, thanks for taking your valuable time to read. I love the game and I love the team that makes it so great. Have a good day!