Does Riot respond to the community on balance?

slippykitten·Feb 12, 2015·2 votes·590 views

Now don't misunderstand me here, I'm not saying Riot should balance everything according to the latest QQ threads, but I'm asking if balance decisions involve community participation or not.

I know they SAY that they consider community feedback important, but i want to know if anyone has historical evidence in the last 2 seasons where riot has balanced something because of community feedback.

I don't want to be a riot witch hunter, looking for reasons to poke at them, i just want to know if there is any real value in bringing up balance issues on the forums in the first place.

6 Comments

xLegendary TrollFeb 12, 20152 votes

League of Legends is an international game. It does not revolve around NA. There are some things that we consider OP that other regions do not (Lee sin). Their balance has to accommodate all regions. For instance, Kassadin is extremely over powered in China, yet nobody picks Kass in NA not even in soloQ. That's why you'll see random nerfs that you thought were not needed on certain champions.

slippykittenFeb 12, 20152 votes

[{quoted}](name=xLegendary Troll,realm=NA,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=rYKTAmJl,comment-id=0001,timestamp=2015-02-12T21:09:19.008+0000)

League of Legends is an international game. It does not revolve around NA. There are some things that we consider OP that other regions do not (Lee sin). Their balance has to accommodate all regions. For instance, Kassadin is extremely over powered in China, yet nobody picks Kass in NA not even in soloQ. That's why you'll see random nerfs that you thought were not needed on certain champions.

I totally get that, and i don't have an issue with it. My question is whether there is any value in discussing balance or if Riot internalizes balance completely with disregard to community feedback.

NightNinja13Feb 12, 20151 votes

Very rarely they do. However, Zed has been a topic for a while and not a whole lot of response.

Quinn had a big thread for a while and not one response. (I mention this because I would love Quinn to get some love)

I feel like they are focused in other places and probably weigh the responses differently. Internal dialogue seems to be higher priority than the peons down on the boards. I can't say I blame them though considering some posts. However, there are a few things that honestly should be addressed that have not been.

Art has been a priority as well as they seem to do a lot of changes there. Also skins are how they make the money so that probably has some priority over fixes, buffs, and nerfs.

slippykittenFeb 12, 20151 votes

{quoted}

Very rarely they do. However, Zed has been a topic for a while and not a whole lot of response.

Quinn had a big thread for a while and not one response. (I mention this because I would love Quinn to get some love)

I feel like they are focused in other places and probably weigh the responses differently. Internal dialogue seems to be higher priority than the peons down on the boards. I can't say I blame them though considering some posts. However, there are a few things that honestly should be addressed that have not been.

Art has been a priority as well as they seem to do a lot of changes there. Also skins are how they make the money so that probably has some priority over fixes, buffs, and nerfs.

Thanks. I like the game, and find some balance issues annoying that i would love to discuss, but I'm not really interested in pissing into the wind.

mvargusFeb 12, 20152 votes

They might take the posts into account, but not respond. Honestly, for them responding is a no win situation. If they respond to only a few the people pushing for other changes will get upset, and responding to all would mean nothing gets done. (especially as many champs have people on both sides of the buff/nerf divide posting.

I think Zed is a good example. In their patch notes and other places Riot has admitted that the champ does show some balance issues, but that overall they like the concept/kit, but that they will be tweaking it to try to find a good balance. They said somewhat the same with Ahri, when they started the round of buffs and nerfs after DFGs removal.

But I doubt we'll see posted responses here. Riot just doesn't have time and can't really afford to generate any arguments with them officially over the balancing of champs. They would be accused of showing even more favoritism than they are right now. (Lee Sin anyone?)

Big Nasty MèatFeb 13, 20151 votes

They take almost nothing from community posts unless it's a thoroughly argued point from a well-known high ranking player. Which is a good thing because 90% of the people posting about balance on these forums are clueless.